Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.
In this week's playoff edition Stan zeroes in on Game 7 of the 1954 Stanley Cup Final between the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens, when there was a strange goal, an unlikely hero and a most unlikely goat.
The Montreal Canadiens were back in the Stanley Cup Final in 1954 after having won the Cup the season before on center Elmer Lach's overtime goal against the Boston Bruins in Game 5.
This time their opponent was the Detroit Red Wings.
"The Canadiens were our biggest rivals," Detroit's Hall of Fame defenseman Marcel Pronovost said. "We'd play them twice on a weekend and it was a 120-minute game for four points. In the second game you'd pick up right where you left off in the first. The intensity was unbelievable."
It was intense off the ice as well. After the first of the two weekend games, the teams would share the same Pullman train rolling from Montreal to Detroit. There could be a player altercation even on an express train.
As a result, the New York Central's conductor was instructed not to allow the rival team to be in the dining car until the other one had left.
"I hated them all," Red Wings forward Ted Lindsay said. "Even on the train, the rivalry was there. No fights, but there were times when it wasn't too far away from that."
The teams were evenly matched but the two chief protagonists were right wings Maurice "Rocket" Richard of Montreal and Detroit's Gordie Howe.
Dick Irvin, Jr., son of the Canadiens coach in 1953-54 (Dick Irvin, Sr.), chronicled the rivalry in his book, "The Habs."
"The height of the teams' rivalry," wrote Irvin, "coincided with the height of the rivalry between Howe and Richard. Theirs were the names mentioned when fans argued about who was hockey's best player."
As to which was the better team, that would be settled in the 1954 Cup Final. Montreal swept the Bruins in the semi-final in four straight games while Detroit needed five games to eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Final opened at Detroit's Olympia Stadium, where the Red Wings and Canadiens split the first two games. At The Forum in Montreal, the Red Wings won Game 3 and Game 4, giving them a 3-1 series lead.
At that point Irvin changed goalies. He substituted the veteran Gerry McNeil for young Jacques Plante and McNeil played the game of his life, winning 1-0 in Game 5 on Ken Mosdell's overtime goal.
Montreal then tied the series with a 4-1 win in Game 6 at home, setting the stage for the finale, three nights later on the night of Good Friday. This time Detroit's goalie, Terry Sawchuk, was the star, keeping Game 7 tied 1-1 after three periods.
"We were keeping our eyes on Howe and Rocket once overtime started," Hockey News publisher Ken McKenzie said. "Rocket especially since he'd scored so many sudden-death goals."
Richard was being shadowed by Detroit's checking forward Tony Leswick, who previously with the New York Rangers, had made a career out of guarding the best forwards. The Rocket was his favorite target.
"One thing I could do was skate and I was pretty strong on my feet," Leswick said. "So, when it came to checking the Rocket, I could keep up with him."
Overtime proceeded to an exciting and thrilling conclusion. It started innocently with Leswick looking for a line change and Richard chasing him across the ice.
From the crease, McNeil watched Leswick head toward the boards, looking to dump the puck into the Montreal zone.
Montreal's best defenseman, Doug Harvey, who had been a professional baseball outfielder, thought Leswick's dump in looked like a Texas Leaguer. He figured he'd "field" the puck and then spearhead a counterattack.
"I was by the boards when the puck came right to me," Leswick recalled. "As soon as I got it, I figured it would be best to just send it up to their zone. The last thing I wanted was for them to steal it and come in on our zone.
"So, I decided to make the safe play and flipped it nice and high figuring it was the smartest thing I could do, and then get off the ice."
McNeil was not concerned.
"It was just a flip," he said. "Leswick was near center ice, over by the boards, and he just lifted it into our zone."
The flying puck was heading in Harvey's direction. His next move should have been no problem at all as he readied his glove to catch the flying puck. After all, this was like a routine "out" for Harvey who played Double-A ball.
"Had he not taken to hockey," Associated Press NHL columnist Ben Olan said, "Doug could have been a major league ballplayer; he was that good in the field."
As Leswick's flip headed downward, Harvey raised his glove to nab the flying puck, then drop it and speed on the attack. For sure, McNeil wasn't worried; he could tell that Doug planned to push the puck forward from his glove.
"It was the most dramatic overtime situation in hockey," Irvin, Jr. wrote "And Leswick was the unlikely hero."
And Harvey, the goat.
"The puck went real nice and high and then I turned to get off the ice," Leswick said. "I never saw where the puck went after that. Next thing I knew everyone on the bench was cheering.
"They said the darn thing had gone in and I said to myself, 'They gotta be kidding. It went in -- get out of here'!"
"The puck hit somewhere on the side of Doug's hand and then he hit it -- right into the corner of my net!," McNeil said. "I saw it all the way. For me, it was like the end of the world."
And with that unlikely blunder, the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1954.
Leswick recalled seeing Harvey not long after that strange Cup-winning goal.
"Afterwards," he said, "Harvey told me that he could read the label on the puck as it was coming to him!"
But Harvey failed to read the puck right; and that reinforced the adage that anything can happen in the Stanley Cup Playoffs!
June 23, 2021 at 11:21AM
https://www.nhl.com/news/tony-leswick-unlikely-hero-for-red-wings-in-1954-cup-final/c-325431356
Leswick was unlikely hero for Red Wings in 1954 Stanley Cup Final - NHL.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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