The 1945 Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-seven series between the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference, and are ...

and the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

. The Maple Leafs won the series four games to three, despite leading 3-0 in a situation similar to 1942.

Paths to the Finals

Toronto beat the defending champion

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

in six games to advance to the Finals. Detroit defeated the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making ...

in seven games to reach the Finals.

Game summaries

This was the first Stanley Cup Finals in NHL history where both teams started rookie goaltenders. Harry Lumley, who had become the youngest goaltender to play in the league the previous year, was in the Wings' net, while

Frank McCool Tobias Francis McCool (October 27, 1918 – May 20, 1973) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the National Hockey League. He was born in Calgary, Alberta. Playing career McCool played ...

substituted for regular Maple Leafs netminder Turk Broda, who was in Europe with the Canadian army at the time. In the first three games, which were low-scoring goaltenders' duels, McCool did not allow the Wings a single goal, the first time one team shut out the other for the first three games in Stanley Cup Finals history. In addition, Toronto now stood one win away from sweeping Detroit, as the Red Wings'

Mud Bruneteau Modere Fernand "Mud" Bruneteau (November 28, 1914 – April 15, 1982) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League between 1935 and 1946. He was teammates for a time with his ...

noted after game three. The last time the two teams had met in the Finals, in , Toronto had beaten Detroit—after going down three games to none, becoming the first professional sports team in North America to win a playoff round in such a fashion. Fittingly enough, the Red Wings did the coming back this time, as their offense finally caught fire. In game four, the Maple Leafs had a chance to win the Cup on

Maple Leaf Gardens Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was initially constructed in 1931 as an arena to host ice hockey games, though it has sinc ...

ice, but the Red Wings got on the board for the first time in the series when

Flash Hollett Frank William "Bill, Flash" Hollett (April 13, 1911 – April 20, 1999) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins and Detroit R ...

opened the scoring 8:35 into the game, ending McCool's shutout streak at 193:09 (dating back to the semifinals against Montreal). Four other Detroit players, including rookie Ted Lindsay (who scored what transpired to be the game-winner at 3:20 of the third period), scored to overcome

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

. Games five and six were Lumley's time to shine, shutting out the Leafs, including an overtime shutout in the sixth game, and extending the Finals. The series returned to Detroit for a seventh game, the Wings hoping to avenge their "choking" against the Leafs in 1942.

Game seven

Toronto coach Hap Day almost had to eat his words of a few years back when he said of the Leafs' 1942 comeback from being down 3–0 in games, "There will never be another experience like this." Babe Pratt, however, scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory that saved the Maple Leafs from being the victim of a great comeback win by the Red Wings. Lumley left the ice almost immediately after the end of the game, but a

Detroit Olympia Detroit Olympia, also known as Olympia Stadium, was a multi-purpose arena in Detroit. Nicknamed "The Old Red Barn", it was best known as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) from its opening in 1927 to 1979. Hist ...

crowd chant of "We want Lumley!" brought him back. Lumley would go on to a

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame (french: Temple de la renommée du hockey) is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) rec ...

career. and McCool played just 22 more games in the NHL, as Broda returned to the Leafs in January 1946. This was the first time in the history of game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals that the home team lost. Of the next fifteen finals that went the full seven games (as of the end of the 2021 series), this only happened four more times: , , , and .

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1945 Stanley Cup was presented to Maple Leafs captain Bob Davidson by NHL President

Red Dutton Norman Alexander Dutton (July 23, 1897 – March 15, 1987) was a Canadian ice hockey player, coach and executive. Commonly known as Red Dutton, and earlier by the nickname "Mervyn", he played for the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey ...

following the Maple Leafs 2–1 win over the Red Wings in game seven. The following Maple Leafs players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup 1944–45 Toronto Maple Leafs

Notes

References and notes

* * Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). ''Lord Stanley's Cup''. Bolton, Ont.: Fenn Pub. pp 12, 50. * {{Toronto Maple Leafs

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

Stanley Cup Finals Detroit Red Wings games Toronto Maple Leafs games April 1945 sports events in the United States April 1945 sports events in Canada Sports competitions in Detroit Sports competitions in Toronto 1945 in Detroit 1940s in Toronto