Celebrating Hockey's History The Original 6 Table of Contents 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 Hockeytown U S A The NHL at 100 The Stanley Cup Dominant in Detroit Great Goalies Red Wings Records Red White and Winged Trophy Winners Behind the Bench Red Wings Bits and Pieces Rivalries Fan Frenzy On Home Ice Glossary Further Reading and Websites to Check Out Test Your Red Wings Knowledge Places to Go and About the Author 31 Index 32 30
Hockeytown U S A Detroit isn’t the first city to call itself Hockeytown It won’t be the last either Still it’s a pretty fitting nickname It’s not just because the Red Wings have more Stanley Cup wins than any other American NHL team It’s also because the Detroit area has become a hotbed of youth hockey HOCKEYTOWN est. 1926 HOME OF THE 1997 1998 2002 2008 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS Minors to Majors In many American states high school hockey is the highest level for young players There’s plenty of high school hockey in Michigan too but the Detroit area is also home to some of the very best minor hockey programs for boys and girls If you play minor hockey in Canada especially in southern Ontario there’s a good chance you might play in a tournament against Detroit teams such as Little Caesars Compuware Belle Tire or HoneyBaked 4 Detroit was originally awarded an NHL franchise on May 15 1926 on September 25 1926 Official approval was given at an NHL meeting The first NHL game in Detroit was played on November 22 1927 The original Ottawa Senators won 2 1 that night
In the Beginning Still there wasn’t much of a hockey tradition in Detroit when its NHL story began The team originally known as the Cougars then as the Falcons even had to play its home games during its first season of 1926 27 across the border in Windsor Ontario There was no rink ready in Detroit yet Detroit lost that first game 2-0 to the Boston Bruins on November 18 1926 Success was slow at first but things started to get better before the 1932 33 season James Norris bought the team He changed the name to Red Wings and made sure that coach and general manager Jack Adams had enough money to run the team properly A year later Detroit reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time They won the cup in 1936 and 1937 and were a strong team throughout the 1940s Top Team By the start of the 1950s the Red Wings were the best team in hockey Led by players such as Gordie Howe Ted Lindsay Red Kelly and Terry Sawchuk Detroit finished first overall in the NHL standings for seven straight years from 1948 through 1955 They also won the Stanley Cup four times Still it would be 42 years before Detroit won its next Stanley Cup in 1997 when players such as Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom helped build a modern dynasty Detroit Red Wings vs Toronto Maple Leafs 1961 5
