Terry Sawchuk

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Sawchuk was born in the North End of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and raised there until his family moved to Bowman Avenue in East Kildonan. He was the third of four sons and one adopted daughter of Louis Sawchuk, a tinsmith who had immigrated to Canada as a boy from Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine), and his wife Anne. At age twelve, Sawchuk injured his right elbow playing rugby and hid the injury, preventing proper healing, leaving his right arm with limited mobility and several inches shorter than the left. After inheriting a friend's goalie equipment, he began playing ice hockey in a local league. At age fourteen, a local scout for the Detroit Red Wings had him work out with the team, who later signed him to an amateur contract and sent him to play for their junior team in Galt, Ontario, in 1946. He excelled in many sports, playing baseball for the Elmwood Giants starting in 1948 as a pitcher and outfielder.

In Their Own Story

The pressure on Sawchuk was relentless. Ordered by General Manager Jack Adams to lose weight before the 1951–52 season, he became sullen and withdrawn, struggling for years to regain his strength while playing through severe pain. He endured three operations on a right elbow injured at age twelve that left it shorter than his left, along with a collapsed lung, ruptured discs, and severed tendons. Despite this, he was the sole goaltender for long periods. In 1957, after a season with the Boston Bruins where he suffered from mononucleosis and exhaustion, he announced his retirement but was labeled a "quitter." Detroit reacquired him by trading Johnny Bucyk to Boston. Later, in 1964, when Detroit had a new prospect ready, they left him unprotected; he was claimed by Toronto, where he shared duties with forty-year-old Johnny Bower. Together, they won the 1967 Stanley Cup, with Sawchuk stopping 40 of 41 shots in the clinching Game Six victory over Montreal.

Reader's Guide

Sawchuk led the Red Wings to three Stanley Cup wins in five years, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the top rookie and three Vezina Trophies. He was selected as an All-Star five times in his first five years in the NHL, had fifty-six shutouts, and his goals-against average remained under 2.00. In the 1951–52 playoffs, the Red Wings swept both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, with Sawchuk surrendering five goals in eight games (for a 0.625 GAA), with four shutouts. During the last of these eight games, the Legend of the Octopus began as the first of the eight-limbed molluscs was hurled onto the ice from the stands. Sawchuk was ordered by Detroit general manager Jack Adams to lose weight before the 1951–52 season. After his weight loss, his personality seemed to change and he became sullen and withdrawn. He frequently played through pain, and during his career he had three operations on his right elbow, an appendectomy, countless cuts and bruises, a broken foot, a collapsed lung, ruptured discs in his back, and severed tendons in his hand. He adopted a crouching stance to see through the legs of skaters, which caused him to walk with a permanent stoop and resulted in lordosis. He also received approximately 400 stitches to his face before finally adopting a protective facemask in 1962. The Red Wings traded Sawchuk to the Boston Bruins on June 3, 1955. Detroit reacquired him on June 10, 1957. Detroit left Sawchuk unprotected in the 1964 NHL Intra-League Draft, and he was claimed by the Maple Leafs on June 10, 1964. With Sawchuk sharing goaltending duties with Johnny Bower, the veteran duo won the 1964–65 Vezina Trophy and led Toronto to the 1967 Stanley Cup. Left unprotected in the June 1967 expansion draft, Sawchuk was the first player selected, taken by the Los Angeles Kings. In June 1969, the Red Wings traded Sawchuk to the New York Rangers. On February 1, 1970, he recorded the 103rd and final shutout of his career. At the time of his death, Sawchuk was the all-time leader among NHL goaltenders with 447 wins and with 103 shutouts. In the decades following his death, his NHL win record has been surpassed by eight goaltenders, and his NHL shutout record has been surpassed by one goaltender, though Sawchuk was the all-time leader in wins and shutouts by goaltenders who played in the Original Six era (1942–1967). In 2017, Sawchuk was name

Did You Know?

• Sawchuk was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, not in Ukraine.
• He won the Vezina Trophy four times, but the source does not state that this is a record or tied record.
• The Legend of the Octopus began when a fan hurled an octopus onto the ice during the 1951–52 playoffs, not directly by Sawchuk's performance.
• Sawchuk's right arm was several inches shorter than his left due to a hidden childhood injury.