Sawchuk, "Terry" (Terrance G.)
Hockey
b. Dec. 28, 1929, Winnipeg, MAN
d. May 31, 1970
When Sawchuk was ten, his older brother Mike died of a heart disease and Sawchuk inherited his goalie pads. Eight years later, he began playing professional hockey in the minor leagues, and he joined the NHL's Detroit Red Wings in 1950. He won the 1951 Calder Trophy as the league's rookie of the year.
Sawchuk used a strange, gorilla-like crouch, explaining, "When I'm crouching low, I can keep better track of the puck through the players' legs on screen shots."
It was effective. He had a goals-against average of under 2.00 in each of his first five NHL seasons, and he was sensational in Detroit's 1952 Stanley Cup victory. Sawchuk had 4 shutouts and gave up only 5 goals as the Red Wings won all 8 of their playoff games.
Sawchuk was traded to the Boston Bruins in 1955 but Detroit re-acquired him two years later. He went to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1964, was picked up the Los Angeles Kings in the 1967 expansion draft, returned to Detroit in 1968, and was traded to the New York Rangers in 1969.
Shortly after the 1969-70 season ended, Sawchuk and Ranger teammate Ron Stewart had a fight at Sawchuk's home in Mineola, NY, and he died of the resultant injuries.
During his 21-year career, Sawchuk had several nervous attacks that caused brief retirements. He also missed more than his share of games with injuries, including a ruptured appendix, punctured lungs, ruptured discs, severed tendons in a hand, a broken instep, and bone chips in his elbows that required three operations.
Sawchuk won the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender in 1952, 1953, and 1955 and shared the trophy with Johnny Bower in 1965. He holds records for most games by a goaltender, 971, and most shutouts, 103.