"I saw (Gordie) Howe coming to check me. I stepped aside and he crashed headlong into the boards." - Toronto's Ted Kennedy. The Red Wings not only lose Howe for the 1950 playoffs, they almost lose him for good. Howe sustains a concussion, nose and cheekbone fractures and a lacerated right eyeball. Doctors drill through the skull to relieve the pressure on his brain. Howe's family is rushed to his bedside, but he recovers to play the next season. "The Lord and 12 apostles couldn't have kept the Red Wings under control tonight." - Toronto Maple Leafs GM Conn Smythe, after Detroit sought retribution in the first game following Gordie Howe's injury in the 1950 semi-final. The circus bumped the Rangers from Madison Square Garden for games two and three of the 1950 Final. As a result, those games were played in Toronto. Pete Babando's overtime Cup-winning goal for Detroit marked the first time a seventh game was decided by sudden death. Tony Leswick, also a Red Wing, duplicates the feat four years later. In 1952 Terry Sawchuk made his debut in the finals and rose to the occasion, recording two shutouts and limiting Montreal to just two goals in the four game series. In 1954, Marguerite Norris, President of the Detroit club, becomes the first woman ever to be presented with the Stanley Cup. She also becomes the first female to have her name engraved on the Cup.

Stanley Cups: 4 Stanley Cup Finals Record: 16-9 Regular Season Winning %: .669 Regular Season 1st-Place Finishes: 6 Individual Trophy Winners: 15 Individuals Selected To All-Star Teams: 27 Hockey Hall of Fame Members: (13) Sid Abel, Jack Adams, Keith Allen, Alex Delvecchio, Glenn Hall, Gordie Howe, Tommy Ivan, Red Kelly, Ted Lindsay, Harry Lumley, Marcel Pronovost, Terry Sawchuk, Jack Stewart Players On All 4 Stanley Cup Champions: (5) Gordie Howe, Red Kelly, Ted Lindsay,Marcel Pronovost, John Wilson