Gordie Bruce
Most of his action came in 1941-42 as a war replacement player. The famous Kraut Line of Milt Schmidt, Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart were all serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. Fellow star Bill Cowley was unable to play with an injury. Bruce came up for 15 games, scoring a respectable 4 goals and 12 points.
The highlight of that season came in the playoffs. Bruce played in 5 post season games, scoring 2 goals and 5 points. His two goals came in a 3-2 win in the clinching game against Chicago. He then notched three assists in game one against Detroit, setting up all of Jack McGill's hat trick goals.
It appeared that the Bruins had found themselves an up and coming player in Gordie Bruce. Then, like so often happened during the War, Bruce was enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces. He would spend the next three hockey seasons serving his country, essentially costing him a NHL career.
When he returned to hockey in 1946 he played 4 strong seasons in Hershey but aside from a 5 game stint (0 points) he never got a shot at the NHL again.
1 comments:
You may hear me ramble about war years and the depletion of rosters. In 1941-42 the Bruins were the only team effected by the war. The 3 Krauts were the only top notch players that departed during that season. The following 3 years marked the exodus. This gives credit to the kids Bruce, McGill, Mario, and McReavy who were forced to fill big shoes for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
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