1953–54 Detroit Red Wings season

1953–54 Detroit Red Wings
Division	1st NHL
1953–54 record	37–19–14
Goals for	191
Goals against	132
Team information
General manager	Jack Adams
Coach	Tommy Ivan
Captain	Ted Lindsay
Alternate captains	Red Kelly Bob Goldham Marty Pavelich
Arena	Olympia Stadium
Team leaders
Goals	Gordie Howe (33)
Assists	Gordie Howe (48)
Points	Gordie Howe (81)
Penalty minutes	Ted Lindsay (110)
Wins	Terry Sawchuk (35)
Goals against average	Terry Sawchuk (1.93)

The 1953–54 Detroit Red Wings season was the Red Wings' 28th season. The Red Wings finished 1st in the league and defeated the Montreal Canadiens in the 1954 Stanley Cup Finals 4 games to 3.

Regular Season

Dave Gatherum held the record for longest shutout streak to start an NHL career until 2011.

In October, 1953, Dave Gatherum was called up by the Detroit Red Wings to replace the injured Terry Sawchuk in goal. In his first game, Gatherum shut out the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 on October 11, 1953. He then held the Chicago Black Hawks scoreless until early in the third period of the 2-2 tie game on October 16. He ended up with a 2-0-1 record in three games but was never recalled to the NHL. His name was put on the Stanley Cup as the Wings won it in 1953-54. Gatherum held the record for longest shutout streak to start an NHL career (100.21 minutes) until the 2011–12 NHL season when it was surpassed by Matt Hackett.

Detroit Red Wings Prison Game

The Red Wings take to the ice at Marquette Prison, February 2, 1954.

On February 2, 1954 the Red Wings played an exhibition game outdoors at the Marquette Branch Prison. Invited by the warden, they played a team of convicts called the "Marquette Prison Pirates." It was the first ever outdoor game played by the Detroit Red Wings. After the first period the Red Wings were winning 18–0, and the scores for the remainder of the match were not kept. To make things interesting, the Wings swapped a few players, trading goalie Terry Sawchuk, among others, and exchanged one set of defensemen. Ted Lindsay, skated on the opposite wing as Gordie Howe with an inmate as their centerman. Howe then skated the second half of the game with the prisoners, wearing a #16 Pirates jersey. Jack Adams presented a "trophy" (a bucket) at the end of the game.

Final Standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Detroit Red Wings	70	37	19	14	88	191	132
Montreal Canadiens	70	35	24	11	81	195	141
Toronto Maple Leafs	70	32	24	14	78	152	131
Boston Bruins	70	32	28	10	74	177	181
New York Rangers	70	29	31	10	68	161	182
Chicago Black Hawks	70	12	51	7	31	133	242

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Game Log

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 8, 1953	4–1	New York Rangers (1953–54)	1–0–0
2	L	October 10, 1953	1–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	1–1–0
3	W	October 11, 1953	4–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	2–1–0
4	T	October 16, 1953	2–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	2–1–1
5	W	October 17, 1953	2–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	3–1–1
6	W	October 18, 1953	4–0	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	4–1–1
7	T	October 21, 1953	1–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	4–1–2
8	L	October 24, 1953	0–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	4–2–2
9	W	October 25, 1953	2–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	5–2–2
10	L	October 31, 1953	1–3	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	5–3–2
11	W	November 1, 1953	5–1	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	6–3–2
12	T	November 7, 1953	2–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	6–3–3
13	T	November 8, 1953	2–2	New York Rangers (1953–54)	6–3–4
14	T	November 11, 1953	2–2	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	6–3–5
15	W	November 14, 1953	3–2	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	7–3–5
16	W	November 15, 1953	4–1	New York Rangers (1953–54)	8–3–5
17	W	November 19, 1953	3–2	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	9–3–5
18	L	November 21, 1953	0–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	9–4–5
19	W	November 22, 1953	3–2	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	10–4–5
20	W	November 26, 1953	2–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	11–4–5
21	W	November 28, 1953	9–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	12–4–5
22	W	November 29, 1953	9–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	13–4–5
23	W	December 3, 1953	4–0	New York Rangers (1953–54)	14–4–5
24	L	December 5, 1953	0–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	14–5–5
25	L	December 6, 1953	0–5	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	14–6–5
26	T	December 9, 1953	3–3	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	14–6–6
27	L	December 10, 1953	3–6	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	14–7–6
28	W	December 12, 1953	7–1	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	15–7–6
29	W	December 13, 1953	4–3	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	16–7–6
30	W	December 17, 1953	5–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	17–7–6
31	W	December 18, 1953	3–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	18–7–6
32	W	December 20, 1953	4–2	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	19–7–6
33	L	December 23, 1953	1–2	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	19–8–6
34	L	December 26, 1953	2–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	19–9–6
35	W	December 27, 1953	2–1	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	20–9–6
36	T	December 31, 1953	2–2	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	20–9–7
37	L	January 1, 1954	2–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	20–10–7
38	T	January 3, 1954	0–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	20–10–8
39	W	January 7, 1954	3–1	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	21–10–8
40	W	January 10, 1954	2–1	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	22–10–8
41	W	January 13, 1954	3–1	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	23–10–8
42	W	January 14, 1954	2–1	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	24–10–8
43	L	January 17, 1954	2–3	New York Rangers (1953–54)	24–11–8
44	W	January 21, 1954	1–0	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	25–11–8
45	L	January 23, 1954	1–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	25–12–8
46	W	January 24, 1954	2–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	26–12–8
47	T	January 28, 1954	3–3	New York Rangers (1953–54)	26–12–9
48	W	January 30, 1954	4–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	27–12–9
49	W	January 31, 1954	5–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	28–12–9
50	W	February 4, 1954	5–0	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	29–12–9
51	W	February 6, 1954	4–2	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	30–12–9
52	T	February 7, 1954	1–1	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	30–12–10
53	L	February 10, 1954	2–3	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	30–13–10
54	W	February 14, 1954	5–0	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	31–13–10
55	W	February 15, 1954	3–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	32–13–10
56	T	February 17, 1954	0–0	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	32–13–11
57	L	February 18, 1954	2–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	32–14–11
58	L	February 20, 1954	0–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	32–15–11
59	W	February 22, 1954	3–0	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	33–15–11
60	W	February 25, 1954	3–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	34–15–11
61	T	March 4, 1954	3–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	34–15–12
62	W	March 6, 1954	3–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	35–15–12
63	T	March 7, 1954	2–2	Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	35–15–13
64	W	March 11, 1954	6–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1953–54)	36–15–13
65	L	March 13, 1954	2–5	New York Rangers (1953–54)	36–16–13
66	L	March 14, 1954	0–2	@ New York Rangers (1953–54)	36–17–13
67	L	March 16, 1954	2–4	@ Boston Bruins (1953–54)	36–18–13
68	T	March 18, 1954	3–3	Boston Bruins (1953–54)	36–18–14
69	L	March 20, 1954	1–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (1953–54)	36–19–14
70	W	March 21, 1954	6–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1953–54)	37–19–14

Playoffs

Detroit Red Wings 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 1

Ted Lindsay scored the series winning goal in overtime in Game 5.

Detroit Red Wings 4, Montreal Canadiens 3

Tony Leswick scored the Cup winning goal in overtime in Game 7.

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 4	Montreal	1	Detroit	3
April 6	Montreal	3	Detroit	1
April 8	Detroit	5	Montreal	2
April 10	Detroit	2	Montreal	0
April 11	Montreal	1	Detroit	0	OT
April 13	Detroit	1	Montreal	4
April 16	Montreal	1	Detroit	2	OT

Player Stats

Regular Season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Howe, GordieGordie Howe	RW	70	33	48	81	109
Lindsay, TedTed Lindsay	LW	70	26	36	62	110
Kelly, RedRed Kelly	D/C	62	16	33	49	18
Reibel, DutchDutch Reibel	C	69	15	33	48	18
Wilson, JohnnyJohnny Wilson	LW	70	17	17	34	22
Delvecchio, AlexAlex Delvecchio	C/LW	69	11	18	29	34
Pavelich, MartyMarty Pavelich	LW	65	9	20	29	57
Skov, GlenGlen Skov	C/LW	70	17	10	27	95
Prystai, MetroMetro Prystai	C	70	12	15	27	26
Dineen, BillBill Dineen	RW	70	17	8	25	34
Leswick, TonyTony Leswick	W	70	6	18	24	90
Pronovost, MarcelMarcel Pronovost	D	57	6	12	18	50
Goldham, BobBob Goldham	D	69	1	15	16	50
Stasiuk, VicVic Stasiuk	LW	42	5	2	7	4
Allen, KeithKeith Allen	D	10	0	4	4	2
Peters, JimmyJimmy Peters	RW	25	0	4	4	10
Woit, BennyBenny Woit	RW/D	70	0	2	2	38
Arbour, AlAl Arbour	D	36	0	1	1	18
Sawchuk, TerryTerry Sawchuk	G	67	0	1	1	31
Bonin, MarcelMarcel Bonin	W	1	0	0	0	0
Johnson, EarlEarl Johnson	LW	1	0	0	0	0
Stankiewicz, EdEd Stankiewicz	C	1	0	0	0	2
Hay, JimJim Hay	D	12	0	0	0	0
Wilson, LeftyLefty Wilson	G	1	0	0	0	0
Gatherum, DaveDave Gatherum	G	3	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Sawchuk, TerryTerry Sawchuk	4004	67	35	19	13	129	1.93	12
Gatherum, DaveDave Gatherum	180	3	2	0	1	3	1.00	1
Wilson, LeftyLefty Wilson	16	1	0	0	0	0	0.00	0
Team:	4200	70	37	19	14	132	1.89	13

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Howe, GordieGordie Howe	RW	12	4	5	9	31
Delvecchio, AlexAlex Delvecchio	C/LW	12	2	7	9	7
Lindsay, TedTed Lindsay	LW	12	4	4	8	14
Kelly, RedRed Kelly	D/C	12	5	1	6	0
Pronovost, MarcelMarcel Pronovost	D	12	2	3	5	12
Prystai, MetroMetro Prystai	C	12	2	3	5	0
Leswick, TonyTony Leswick	W	12	3	1	4	18
Pavelich, MartyMarty Pavelich	LW	12	2	2	4	4
Reibel, DutchDutch Reibel	C	9	1	3	4	0
Wilson, JohnnyJohnny Wilson	LW	12	3	0	3	0
Skov, GlenGlen Skov	C/LW	12	1	2	3	16
Goldham, BobBob Goldham	D	12	0	2	2	2
Woit, BennyBenny Woit	RW/D	12	0	1	1	8
Dube, GillesGilles Dube	LW	2	0	0	0	0
Allen, KeithKeith Allen	D	5	0	0	0	0
Peters, JimmyJimmy Peters	RW	10	0	0	0	0
Dineen, BillBill Dineen	RW	12	0	0	0	2
Sawchuk, TerryTerry Sawchuk	G	12	0	0	0	2

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Sawchuk, TerryTerry Sawchuk	751	12	8	4	20	1.60	2
Team:	751	12	8	4	20	1.60	2

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts

Detroit Red Wings 1954 Stanley Cup Champions

Roster

  Centers

• 10 Metro Prystai
• 12 Glen Skov
• 14 Earl Reibel
• 17 Alex Delvecchio
• 19 Vic Stasiuk&

  Wingers

• 7 Ted Lindsay (A. Capt.)
• 8 Tony Leswick
• 9 Gordie Howe
• 15 Marty Pavelich
• 16 Johnny Wilson
• 17 Bill Dineen
• 20 Jimmy Peters, Sr.
• 21 Gilles Dube
• 21 Earl Johnson†

  Defensemen

• 2 Bob Goldham (A. Capt.)
• 3 Marcel Pronovost
• 4 Leonard Red Kelly (A. Capt.)
• 5 Benny Woit
• 18 Al Arbour
• 19 Keith Allen
• 20 Jim Hay&&

  Goaltenders

• 1 Terry Sawchuk
• 1 Dave Gatherum (Sub)
• 1 Ross Wilson (playing-Trainer)†

  Non-players

• Marguerite Norris (President/Owner), Jack Adams (Manager)
• Bruce Norris (Vice Presidents/Owners), Tommy Ivan (Coach)
• John Mitchell (Chief Scout), Fred Huber Jr. (Publicity Director)
• Carl Mattson (Trainer), Wally Crossman (Ass't Trainer/Stick Boy)

Stanley Cup Engraving

• Earl Johnson name was engraved on the Stanley Cup, even though he only played 1 Regular Season game. Johnson spent the rest of the year in the minors
• Vic Stasiuk& played 43 games, but was sent to minors. His name was left off the Cup, because he played in the minors, during the playoffs.
• Jim Hay&& was played 12 games for Detroit, but did not play in the playoffs. He was included on team picture. Gilles Dube was listed by Ed Dube by mistake on the team picture.
• Marguerite Norris was first woman to be engraved on the Stanley Cup in 1954.
• Tommy Ivan was misspelled as THOMAS NIVAN COACH instead of Thomas N. Ivan when cup was redone in 1957–58. His name was spelled THOMAS IVAN COACH on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.
• Alex Delvecchio was misspelled ALEX BELVECCHIO with a "B" instead an "D". Mistake was corrected on the Replica Cup.
• Tony Leswisk was misspelled TONY LESWICH with a "H" instead of a "K". Mistake was corrected on the Replica Cup.
• When cup was redone in 1957–58, the names of Earl Johnson†, and Ross Wilson† were removed from the new version of 1954 Detroit. Ross Wilson also played goal on October 10, 1953 for 16 minutes when Terry Sawchuk got injured.

Awards and Records

• Prince of Wales Trophy: Detroit Red Wings
• Art Ross Memorial Trophy: Gordie Howe
• James Norris Memorial Trophy: Red Kelly
• Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Red Kelly
• Ted Lindsay, Left Wing, NHL First Team All-Star
• Gordie Howe, Right Wing, NHL First Team All-Star
• Red Kelly, Defence, NHL First Team All-Star
• Terry Sawchuk, Goaltender, NHL Second Team All-Star

Gallery

Jack Adams presents the trophy, Marquette Prison game, February 2, 1954.

Gordie Howe and Ted Kennedy are separated by Red Storey during Howe's second Gordie Howe hat trick game, March 21, 1954.

Video

Nearly 25 minutes of highlights featuring all goals and many penalties from all seven games of the 1954 Finals.

1954 Stanley Cup Finals

Narrated highlights of all seven games of the 1954 Finals featuring nearly all goals.

1954 NHL STANLEY CUP WINNERS ARE THE DETROIT RED WINGS DEFEATING THE MONTREAL CANADIENS

References

• Red Wings on Hockey Database

Detroit Red Wings
Team	Franchise • Players • Coaches • GMs • Seasons • Draft Picks • Little Caesars Arena
Stanley Cups	1936, 1937, 1943, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008
Affiliates	Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL), Toledo Walleye (ECHL)