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The last time the Red Wings played the Bruins in the playoffs, the world was pretty different

Antti Niemi

Hockey great Gordie Howe watches the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks play during an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Thursday Nov. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

AP

I don’t personally remember the series (it happened in 1957), but I know for a fact the Wings were expected to win the semifinal matchup after finishing the regular season with the best record in the league (granted, there were only six teams) while boasting the likes of Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay.

From a Sports Illustrated article dated March 18, 1957:

In the brash motor metropolis of Detroit, where all industry and seemingly all life revolves around auto-making, tradition is eyed with suspicion. “Last year’s sales records don’t sell 1957 models,” they tell you at the Detroit Athletic Club, social headquarters of the auto world.

The same attitude pervades an equally successful Detroit industry—that of producing championship hockey teams. Perhaps that is why no other city can claim a more consistently winning hockey tradition (if you will excuse the expression) than the one assembled by that city’s ever-changing Red Wings.

Yeah, Detroit’s economy has changed a bit since then.

Oh, and I’m not sure an NHL general manager could get away today with what Detroit GM Jack Adams said here:

“Hockey is the greatest spectator sport in the world—it’s a man’s game, but it’s best for women because the basic rules are so simple that it’s easy to understand.”

But I’d sure like to see one of them try! Just imagine the page views.

Anyway, the Bruins actually upset the Wings, 4-1, only to lose to Montreal in the Stanley Cup Final.