Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction Spring 2025
A stirring, fascinating piece of hockey history, according to Elmer Lach, this puck was the one he fired past Boston Bruin goaltender Sugar Jim Henry to give the Montreal Canadiens the Stanley Cup on April 16, 1953. The stage was the Montreal Forum, with the Canadiens leading the Cup finals three-games-to-one. Henry and Montreal’s Gerry McNeil fended off all shots in regulation time and the game went into overtime. Early in the extra period, Lach crossed the blueline and let one fly, Henry blocked it and then Rocket Richard pounced on the rebound. Richard’s pass from the corner found Lach in the right face-off circle and Elmer whacked a 20-footer, sending the puck past Henry’s right elbow and the Forum faithful into hysterics. The Canadiens won the Cup and Lach and Richard jumped into each other’s arms, with the image captured by a rink-side photographer. It was Lach’s first goal of the ’53 playoffs after six assists and the Rocket’s first assist after scoring seven times! The Art Ross Tyer game puck with rubber logos on both sides was somehow retrieved in the mayhem and later had the date, score and “Coupe Stanley” stenciled-on in matching orange letters and numbers. With a thin layer of shellac, the puck has a small character-enhancing skate slice on the back edge and has game marks noticeable on both logos of the puck. An autographed reproduction photograph of Lach kissing the puck on that memorable night will be included with this gem that he cherished for over 50 years, along with an Elmer Lach signed LOA. Phenomenal! Accompanying the historic puck, we have an original black & white film reel of the 1953 Stanley Cup finals. Appearing complete and in viewable condition, the original somewhat worn cannister has a paper label with "Stanley Cup Finals 1953" and "1-Comp (complete) B+W Print" (there is some paper loss to the label). A vintage cannister case is also included, with the original sealing straps.
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