In 1940, Milt Schmidt, Woodrow "Woody" Dumart, and Bobby Bauer finished the regular NHL season 1-2-3 in scoring.

They were remarkable in many ways. They were a "Line": a Centerman and two Wings that took regular shifts playing together as a unit. They grew up together and were best friends in Kitchener Ontario, in their childhood. They lived together when playing for the Boston Bruins. They won two Stanley Cups playing together. They were all of German descent. When WWII was in earnest, they all went to war together, serving Canada in the RCAF, in a bomber squadron.

In their last game before going off to war, the Bruins beat their arch-rivals, Montreal Canadiens, 8-1. The rivalry between Boston and Montreal was intense and the NHL of the time could be savage. After the game, the Canadiens players hoisted the Kraut Line to their shoulders, and took them off the ice in salute and in triumph. All three survived the war, and played pro hockey together again.

Today the last surviving member of the Kraut Line has passed. Milt Schmidt- who earned two Cup rings as a Bruins player and two as Bruins Management- left us today at 98 years old. Here in Boston he was an icon. To his countrymen he was a hero. To hockey fans he is a legend. To Boston Bruins fans he will always be Mr. Bruin, and they can still gaze at his retired number 15 hanging from the Garden rafters.

I hope somewhere, Milt Woody and Bobby are finally back out on the pond or the bay, just kids having fun again.

Great story and sendoff 462cid!

Now we need a script and a director for this movie. Epic.

Thanks for sharing that 426cid.

On my first trip to Canada I sat beside a couple that came from Kitchener, they told me that it was called City of Berlin before it changed to Kitchener during WW1 to show that they were patriotic. I have one friend that lives and works in Kitchener, it's been about 15 years since I last seen him, thanks for brining memories back 426cid.

I used to live in Kitchener Ontario as a kid and went to watch the Kitchener Rangers play a few times. Saw Walter Tkaczuk play for the Kitchener Rangers.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=5415

The story I heard is that it was renamed Kitchener from Berlin as punishment for the war and not to show they were patriotic.

There were/are lots of German people living in that area and the farm we lived on was owned by German Mennonites.

The movie would do well in Canadian movie theaters and that's about it.

The city renamed itself in 1916; so there was no punishment involved. You have to remember that in 1916 Canada was a Dominion of the British Empire and all Canadians were still technically British citizens. British patriotism was quite intense and Field Marshall Kitchener was a hero.

Wasn't my cup of tea, but I'll bet that would have been said about the Mighty Ducks
Movie of 1992 which all things considered did fairly well. 10 million to make grossing
just over Fifty million in the USA alone.

Not saying anyone is right or wrong because IMHO art whether it be a painting, a song a movie
etc is a purely subjective opinion.

Great story. I love original six hockey tales.

Great story. As I person who played hockey, and has been a life long fan, I would go see any movie about that era of the NHL.

P.S. I had to sit thru the Mighty Ducks movies. I am still traumatized. I can tell you any team that skated around banging there sticks while quacking like a duck would have been laughed right off of the ice.

Here's a really short clip of the film of the Krauts being carried off the ice. I was surprised to find anything on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFv-i4V1a7g


There is in my opinion (and I'm from Boston!) a very good film from 2005 called 'The Rocket', about Maurice 'Rocket' Richard, man for which the NHL trophy for most goals scored in a season is named.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460505/

It is a pro-French-Canadian film for sure, highlighting the prejudice a Qu�b�cois like Richard encountered. But it is also a cool hockey flick. Then-current NHL players like Pascal Dupuis (who portrayed Milt Schmidt), St�phane Quintal, and Vincent Lecavalier (who played Jean Beliveau) are in the film. They skated and played the old-fashioned way for the film.

I don't even consider The Mighty Ducks movies s hockey movies. They are just Disney nonsense.

Great stuff. I started skating when I was 4 I think. Grew up outside of Boston, had a pond in the back yard and dad was a hardcore hockey and Bruins fan. I probably went to my first bruins game in the garden at age 6 or so. Hockey was really the only sport I ever excelled at, especially for my age group. I "think" I was playing in adult/older kids pick up and semi-league games by the time I was 9 or 10. Got to play in a couple of college scrimmages also, Holy Cross and Boston College I think before I was 12. I do remember being told I could skate backwards faster than most people could skate period. In the winter all I did was skate and shoot goals for hours and hours. My dad had built a couple of regulation nets and had me shooting thru rings in the corners.

Coulda been a contender......

Packed up and moved to Florida at age 12 and hockey was history. I do remember my dad seriously not wanting to take the job because of my hockey. I blew it off and said lets go when he asked me.

Great stories guys, thanks.

That's too bad Nixer that you couldn't keep playing. Hockey is a wonderful sport. It was amazing how much fun I had as a kid. I think it taught me great life lessons. I made great lifelong friends. I was never the best on the team or played for the best teams (although I played on a high school state championship team on year. I was a fourth liner though). The sport has a rich history (such as this story). I think every kid should get a chance at playing it. And for some reason, beer tastes really good after a two hour drop in game.

Nixer, NASA in the late '50s tried to recruit Dad and one of the perks to get him to go was a hockey rink. We didn't go. Us kids were disappointed.

The little community I grew up in had a hockey league. It was an outdoor rink so some years the schedule was short. There was 5 games per night Mon to Fri beginning at 6 o'clock. If it snowed we shoveled the ice. The penalty box was the snow bank - no one wanted to sit in the box as there was no protection from the wind unlike the players bench. There was a hut heated with a potbelly stove where we would put on our skates. There was many a night I walked home with semi frozen feet.

There was 12 players per team and every one got about equal ice time.

I ice skated exactly once in my life and fell on my a$$ about every 3 minutes. That was the extent of my curiosity with ice skating.

This rink is almost 5 miles long.



It would take you forever PM to skate it.

It's a great movie. It's portrays an amazing time period revolving around some of the greatest players to play the game. It does tend to focus in on the Anglo / Franco difficulties, but I thought it did so in an interesting, and I think, fairly accurate way.

If you're a Habs fan at all, I'd consider it a "must have".



It's a shame you had that opportunity pass you by, Nixer. It's also interesting to consider how times change. These days there are couple of NHL teams in Florida, and heck a kid from the desert here in AZ becomes the #1 overall NHL draft pick...

...and speaking of the AZ desert, I'm actually going ice skating here in Phoenix, in a couple of hours... ( although these days I just hope I don't break a hip or have a heart attack ... a far cry from my playing days).


Cheers,
4 <S!>

It always freaks me out that they play hockey in Florida ,Arizona and California....they must have one helluva refrigeration plant When I was a kid there were still organized local league games held on outdoor rinks around here

Well, don't forget that let's say, in Montreal, right now, the arena that the Canadiens play in is not 32* F in the stands.

It was due to anti-German sentiment and not because they were patriotic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchener,_Ontario

On 9 June 1912, Berlin was officially designated a city.[17] Anti-German sentiment during World War I led to the abandonment of much of this heritage. For example, churches switched to English-language services. In 1916, following much debate and controversy, the name of the city was changed to Kitchener; named after the late British Field Marshal The 1st Earl Kitchener.[17] After the war, local historians and civic groups promoted a new heritage that emphasized the county's Pennsylvania Dutch roots. Illustrated souvenir books, a popular novel, and site markers celebrated this simplified, nationalistic version of the founding.[18]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_to_Kitchener_name_change

Through the latter half of the 19th century and into the first decade of the 20th, the City of Berlin, Ontario, Canada, was a bustling industrial centre celebrating its German heritage. However, when World War I started, that heritage became the focus of considerable enmity from non-German residents within the city and throughout Waterloo County.

OK, "punishment" was a bad word to use but so is due to "patriotism".

On that farm we lived on we had a pond so we had our own ice rink in the winter.