Apr. 18, 1963 - Eddie Shack’s goal in the final 7 minutes gave Toronto its second consecutive Stanley Cup championship tonight in a hard-earned 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Maple Leaf Gardens. (Pictured below, Toronto winger George Armstrong holds the Cup in the Leafs’ dressing room. The Toronto captain assisted on goals by Dave Keon in the first and third periods.) The Leafs, winning the best-of-7 series, 4-1, broke a tie that had lasted for nearly 33 minutes of play on Shack’s goal at 13:28 of the final period. Kent Douglas, playing defense when Carl Brewer was hurt, started the winning play with a long slap shot from the blue line. It struck several players on its way to the goal before Shack deflected it past goalie Terry Sawchuk. Detroit came within inches of tying the score in the final minute with a Toronto man in the penalty box. The Wings had six skaters on the ice, and Norm Ullman fired the puck toward an open net while goalie Johnny Bower was lying on the ice with Detroit’s Gordie Howe on top of him. But the bouncing puck hopped wide of the cage. With five seconds left, Dave Keon fired the puck the length of the ice into the empty Detroit net for Toronto’s insurance goal. It was the ninth time Toronto captured hockey’s highest trophy, and the victory was worth $2,000 to each of the Maple Leafs. Each of the losing Red Wings will receive $1,000. The Maple Leafs were presented with the Cup immediately after the game in a center-ice ceremony while the crowd of 14,403 cheered wildly.
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