1945 Stanley Cup Final

Lore & Background

The 1945 Stanley Cup Final was the first 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 substituted for regular Maple Leafs netminder Turk Broda, who was in Europe with the Canadian army at the time. In the first three games, 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 Final history. Toronto stood one win away from sweeping Detroit, as the Red Wings' Mud Bruneteau noted after game three.

Reader's Guide

The 1945 Stanley Cup Final is significant for several reasons. It was the last Finals until 2024 where a team forced a seventh game after being down 3–0. Detroit is also the most recent NHL team to host a seventh game after falling 3–0 in the series. The series featured the first time in Stanley Cup Final history that both teams started rookie goaltenders, and the first time one team shut out the other for the first three games. The Maple Leafs' victory prevented a repeat of their own 1942 comeback, when they had beaten Detroit after trailing 3–0. Toronto coach Hap Day almost had to eat his words of a few years back when he said of the Leafs' 1942 comeback, 'There will never be another experience like this.' Babe Pratt 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 crowd chant of 'We want Lumley!' brought him back. Lumley would go on to a Hockey Hall of Fame career, while McCool played just 22 more games in the NHL.

Did You Know?

• This was the first Stanley Cup Final in NHL history where both teams started rookie goaltenders.
• The Maple Leafs' 1942 comeback from being down 3–0 in games was the first by a professional sports team in North America.
• Harry Lumley went on to a Hockey Hall of Fame career, while Frank McCool played just 22 more games in the NHL.

The 3-0 Echo and a Historic Comeback

The 1945 Stanley Cup Final carried the weight of a haunting precedent. Three years earlier, in 1942, Toronto had fallen three games to none against Detroit before staging the first professional sports comeback from a 3-0 deficit in North American history. Now the roles had reversed: the Maple Leafs held a 3-0 lead over the Red Wings, and the Wings were poised to deliver the very reversal Toronto had once pulled off. Mud Bruneteau of Detroit acknowledged after game three that Toronto stood one victory away from a complete sweep. What made the eventual seven-game finish so remarkable was its rarity — this would remain the last Stanley Cup Final in which a team forced a decisive Game Seven after trailing 3-0 until 2024. Detroit also became the most recent NHL franchise to host that seventh contest after having been down three games to nothing. The series thus became a mirror image of 1942, with the Red Wings finally avenging what they had once suffered.

Rookie Netminders and the Shutout Duel

This was the first Stanley Cup Final in NHL history in which both franchises took to the ice with rookie goaltenders. For Detroit, Harry Lumley — who had become the youngest goaltender in the league the previous season — manned the net. For Toronto, Frank McCool stepped in as a substitute for their regular netminder Turk Broda, who was serving with the Canadian army in Europe at the time. The early games became a low-scoring battle between the two young keepers. In the first three contests, McCool did not concede a single goal to Detroit, marking the first time in Stanley Cup Final history that one team had been shut out for three straight games. His streak stretched to 193 minutes and 9 seconds before Flash Hollett finally broke through in Game Four. In Games Five and Six, the spotlight shifted to Lumley, who delivered shutouts of his own, including an overtime blanking in the sixth contest that sent the series to a decisive Game Seven in Detroit.

Game Seven and the Aftermath

Toronto coach Hap Day had once declared, after Toronto's 1942 rescue from a 3-0 hole, that there would never be another experience like it. In Game Seven of 1945, he nearly had to eat those words. The Red Wings, determined to avenge their 1942 choking, pushed hard, but Babe Pratt scored the winning goal in a 2-1 Maple Leafs victory, saving Toronto from becoming the victim of the very comeback they had once executed. At the final buzzer, Lumley left the ice almost immediately, but the Detroit Olympia crowd erupted in a chant of 'We want Lumley!' that brought him back for a moment of recognition. The goaltenders' fates diverged sharply after this series: McCool would play just 22 more NHL games before Broda's return to the Leafs in January 1946, while Lumley went on to a career that earned him a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Roads to the Cup and the Engraving

The road to the 1945 Finals was itself a tale of two different gauntlets. Toronto dispatched the defending champion Montreal Canadiens in six games to claim a spot in the championship round. Detroit's path was longer, requiring a seven-game battle to eliminate the Boston Bruins. Once the two met, the best-of-seven format set the stage for what became one of the most dramatic Finals in league history. Following Toronto's 2-1 Game Seven triumph, NHL President Red Dutton presented the Stanley Cup to Maple Leafs captain Bob Davidson. The names of the 1944-45 Toronto Maple Leafs players and staff were then engraved on the trophy, cementing their place in the Cup's long lineage of champions. The series stood as a testament to the era's competitive balance, with both teams reaching the summit through hard-fought semifinal battles against formidable opponents.