1954 Stanley Cup Finals

The 1954 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the defending champion Montreal Canadiens, in their fourth-straight Finals. It was the third Detroit-Montreal Final series of the 1950s. The Wings would win the series 4–3 to win their first Stanley Cup since 1952, and sixth-overall.

Paths to the Final

Montreal defeated the Boston Bruins 4–0 to reach the final. Detroit defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–1 to reach the final.

The series

Tony Leswick scored the series-winning goal at 4:29 of overtime in the seventh game. In fact, Leswick's goal was one of the strangest Stanley Cup winning goals in history, as Leswick's shot was deflected off the glove of Montreal's Doug Harvey and in the net.^[1] The Canadiens immediately skated off the ice without shaking hands with the Red Wings.^[2]. This was the second time in NHL history that a Stanley Cup Final Game Seven was decided in overtime. As of 2010^[update], it is the most recent time that the Cup Final Game Seven has gone to overtime.

Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens

Detroit wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 3

Detroit Red Wings 1954 Stanley Cup champions

Roster

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&& had played 12 games for Detroit, but did not play in the playoffs. He was included on team picture. Gilles Dube was listed as 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.

See also

• 1953–54 NHL season
• List of Stanley Cup champions

Notes

References

• Diamond, Dan (2000). Total Stanley Cup. Toronto: Total Sports Canada. ISBN 978-1-892129-07-9. 

• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Bolton, Ont.: Fenn Pub. pp 12, 50. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7