The 1950 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

and the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. It was the Rangers' first appearance in the Finals since their

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

victory in

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

. The Red Wings would win the series 4–3 to mark their franchise's fourth Cup win, and first since

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

. This was the last Stanley Cup Finals to feature a team that did not host any games and also the last to feature neutral site games until . The neutral site games were held in Toronto on account of scheduling conflicts at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

Paths to the Finals

New York defeated the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

4–1 to reach the Finals. Detroit defeated the three-time defending

champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, an ...

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

(who had swept the Red Wings in the Finals two years running) 4–3 to reach the Finals.

Game summaries

Two games were played in Toronto as the

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

had taken over

in New York. New York's

Don Raleigh James Donald Raleigh (June 27, 1926 – August 21, 2012) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played centre with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League between 1943 and 1956. Playing career Raleigh played most of his caree ...

scored two overtime winners and

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scored the Cup-winning goal in double overtime of game seven, the first time ever in which the Stanley Cup was won in extra frames in game seven. Detroit won the Cup without

Gordie Howe Gordon Howe (March 31, 1928 – June 10, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. From 1946 to 1980, he played 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA); his first 25 seaso ...

, injured in the first game of the playoffs. As Stanley Cup runner-up, the Rangers were awarded the

O'Brien Cup The O'Brien Trophy, or O'Brien Cup, as labelled on the trophy itself, is a retired trophy that was awarded in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) ice hockey leagues of North America from 1910 to 1950. It was ...

, and they became the last team to win this trophy, which was retired after the season. Originally, the O'Brien Cup was the championship trophy of the

National Hockey Association The National Hockey Association (NHA), officially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey Lea ...

, the NHL's precursor, and later awarded to the NHL champion before the league took over control of the Stanley Cup in 1927.

Series

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1950 Stanley Cup was presented to Red Wings captain Sid Abel by NHL President

Clarence Campbell Clarence Sutherland Campbell, (July 9, 1905 – June 24, 1984) was a Canadian ice hockey executive, referee, and soldier. He refereed in the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1930s, served in the Canadian Army during World War II, then s ...

following the Red Wings 4–3 double overtime win over the Rangers in game seven. The following Red Wings players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup 1949–50 Detroit Red Wings

Notes

References

* * * {{Navboxes, list1= {{1949–50 NHL season by team {{Stanley Cup Finals {{Detroit Red Wings {{New York Rangers

Stanley Cup Finals Detroit Red Wings games New York Rangers games Sports competitions in Detroit Sports competitions in Toronto

Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...