1963 Stanley Cup Finals

1963 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 Total Detroit Red Wings 2 2 3 2 1 1 Toronto Maple Leafs 4 4 2 4 3 4
Location(s)	Toronto: Maple Leaf Gardens (1, 2, 5) Detroit: Olympia (3, 4)
Coaches	Detroit: Sid Abel Toronto: Punch Imlach
Captains	Detroit: Alex Delvecchio Toronto: George Armstrong
Dates	April 9–18, 1963
Series-winning goal	Eddie Shack (13:28, third, G5)
Hall of Famers	Red Wings: Alex Delvecchio (1977) Bill Gadsby (1970) Gordie Howe (1972) Marcel Pronovost (1978) Terry Sawchuk (1971) Norm Ullman (1982) Maple Leafs: George Armstrong (1975) Johnny Bower (1976) Dick Duff (2006) Tim Horton (1977) Red Kelly (1969) Dave Keon (1986) Frank Mahovlich (1981) Bob Pulford (1991) Allan Stanley (1981) Coaches: Sid Abel (1969, player) Punch Imlach (1984)
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The 1963 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1962–63 season, and the culmination of the 1963 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the defending champion Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings. The Maple Leafs won the best-of-seven series, four games to one, to win the Stanley Cup, their second straight NHL championship and their 11th title overall.

Toronto defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4–1 to advance to the finals and Detroit defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 4–2

Johnny Bower limited the Wings to 10 goals in the five games, and five different Leafs had multiple-goal games: Duff, Nevin, Stewart, Kelly and Keon.

The Leafs had finished first in the regular season, and were installed as 13–5 favourites by oddsmakers.^[1]

April 9	Detroit Red Wings		2–4		Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	Recap
No scoring		First period			00:49 - Dick Duff (3) 1:08 - Dick Duff (4) 14:42 - sh - Bob Nevin (1)
Larry Jeffrey (2) - 5:36 Larry Jeffrey (3) - pp - 8:05		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			5:08 - Bob Nevin (2)
Terry Sawchuck		Goalie stats			Johnny Bower

April 11	Detroit Red Wings		2–4		Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	Recap
No scoring		First period			5:31 - Ed Litzenberger (1) 18:42 - Ron Stewart (3)
Gordie Howe (5) - 1:32		Second period			00:49 - Bob Nevin (3) 8:55 - pp - Ron Stewart (4)
Gordie Howe (6) - 2:03		Third period			No scoring
Terry Sawchuck		Goalie stats			Johnny Bower

April 14	Toronto Maple Leafs		2–3		Detroit Red Wings	Olympia Stadium	Recap
Dave Keon (4) - 14:56		First period			00:33 - Vic Stasiuk (3)
Tim Horton (1) - 13:06		Second period			8:13 - Alex Faulkner (4) 13:39 - Alex Faulkner (5)
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Johnny Bower		Goalie stats			Terry Sawchuck

April 16	Toronto Maple Leafs		4–2		Detroit Red Wings	Olympia Stadium	Recap
No scoring		First period			2:54 - Gordie Howe (7)
George Armstrong (3) - 1:17 Red Kelly (1) - 17:41		Second period			2:38 - pp - Eddie Joyal (1)
Dave Keon (5) - 9:42 Red Kelly (2) - pp - 17:45		Third period			No scoring
Johnny Bower		Goalie stats			Terry Sawchuck

April 18	Detroit Red Wings		1–3		Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	Recap
No scoring		First period			17:44 - sh - Dave Keon (6)
Alex Delvecchio (3) - 00:49		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			13:28 - Eddie Shack (2) 19:55 - sh - Dave Keon (7)
Terry Sawchuck		Goalie stats			Johnny Bower

Toronto won series 4–1

In the first 68 seconds, Dick Duff scored twice on Detroit's Terry Sawchuk, the fastest two goals to start a game in Stanley Cup history. The Leafs would suffer a second-period letdown but would win 4–2 to take the lead in the series. Because of the second period letdown, Punch Imlach would put the team through a morning practice the next morning.^[2]

April 9

Detroit Red Wings

2–4 0 – 3, 2 – 0, 0 – 1

Toronto Maple Leafs

Maple Leaf Gardens Attendance: 13,848

Game reference
	Terry Sawchuk	Goalies	Johnny Bower	Referee: Frank Udvari Linesmen: Matt Pavelich Ron Wicks
	0 – 1 :49 – Dick Duff 3 (Dave Keon, Allan Stanley) 0 – 2 1:48 – Dick Duff 4 (Tim Horton, Allan Stanley) 0 – 3 14:42 – Bob Nevin 1 (SH) Larry Jeffrey 2 (Norm Ullman, Floyd Smith) – 5:36 1 – 3 Larry Jeffrey 3 (Gordie Howe, Norm Ullman) (PP) – 8:05 2 – 3 2 – 4 5:08 – Bob Nevin 2 (Bob Pulford, Eddie Shack)
	23	Shots	30

The Leafs would again win 4–2 and would again have to have a morning after workout assigned by Imlach.^[2]

The series now moved to Detroit. The team was sequestered out of town in a Toledo, Ohio hotel. The Red Wings, led by rookie centre Alex Faulkner's two goals, including the winner, captured the game three–2. It was his third game-winning goal and all had been scored on Sundays. Faulkner was a native of Newfoundland and Howie Meeker, exclaimed that there would be "dancing in the streets tonight".^[2]

The Leafs felt that they had let game three slip away due to overconfidence and were determined to not repeat the mistake in game four. The game was close, and was tied 2–2 until with ten minutes to go Dave Keon scored. Red Kelly added another to make the score 4–2. On the way to the dressing room the Leafs' players were pelted with paper cups, programs and food containers.^[3]

Back in Toronto, the Red Wings kept the score close. After Keon scored a short-handed goal, Marcel Pronovost scored for Detroit to tie the game. The game and series winner was scored by Eddie Shack with seven minutes to go on a deflection. Shack had scored the goal unintentionally as he later admitted. Keon then scored another short-handed goal to put the game out of reach for Detroit.^[3]

The Leafs celebrated their second consecutive Stanley Cup by throwing Imlach, Harold Ballard and Stafford Smythe into the showers fully clothed. The team was given a victory parade along Bay Street with a reception at Toronto City Hall.^[4]

As of 2019, this is the only one of the last seven big four championship series involving a Toronto team (all of which have been won by Toronto) which did not last exactly six games.

The 1963 Stanley Cup was presented to Maple Leafs captain George Armstrong by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Maple Leafs 3–1 win over the Red Wings in game five.

The following Maple Leafs players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1962–63 Toronto Maple Leafs

• *Larry Hillman played only 5 regular-season games, and spent most of the year in the minors. His name was still engraved on the Stanley Cup.
• Toronto Maple Leafs was engraved as the TORONTO MAPLE LEAES, with an "E" instead of an "F". This mistake was corrected on the Replica Cup.
• John MacMillan was engraved as C. MacMILLAN, but his first name starts with a "J". MacMillan name was not corrected on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.
• Bob Davidson (Chief Scout), Dr. Karl Elieff (Physiotherapist), Dr. Jame Murphy, Dr. Hugh Smythe (Team Doctors) - left off
• The large shoulder with all the Stanley Cup winning team names, first added in 1948, was replaced with a new stronger shoulder in 1963.

• 1962–63 NHL season

• Total Stanley Cup. NHL. 2000.
• Jenish, D'Arcy (1992). The Stanley Cup: A Hundred Years of Hockey at its best. Toronto, Ontario: McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-4406-2.
• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 1-55168-261-3.
• "All-Time NHL Results".

Preceded by Toronto Maple Leafs 1962

Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Champions 1963

Succeeded by Toronto Maple Leafs 1964