Hall of Famer Schmidt, 98, dies
BOSTON — Milt Schmidt, the hockey hall of famer who led Boston to two Stanley Cup championships as the center of the “Kraut Line,” served Canada in World War II and returned to the NHL to win its MVP award and two more titles as the Bruins general manager, has died, Bruins spokesman Matt Chmura said Wednesday.
He was 98 and he had been the oldest living NHL player.
No other details were immediately available about Schmidt’s death.
Schmidt is the only Bruin in franchise history to serve as on-ice captain, coach and general manager. His Boston teams won the Stanley Cup in 1939 and in ’41, and when he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force two months after the Pearl Harbor attack along with linemates Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer, they were carried off the ice on the shoulders of the archrival Montreal Canadiens.
“When they grabbed Bobby, Woody and myself, we felt like saying, ‘What are they doing?’ Well we found out in a hurry that they all grabbed us and carried us off the ice,” Schmidt said before a 2016 ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of his NHL debut.
“That goes to show you that you have friends, although you are bitter enemies, you had friends in the National Hockey League,” he said. “Not necessarily on the ice, but off the ice.”
A native of Kitchener, Ontario, who was born on March 5, 1918, Milton Conrad Schmidt played with Bauer and Dumart in the junior leagues before they were reunited as the “Kraut Line” in the NHL for the 1936-37 season. With the three players of German heritage, the Bruins won NHL championships in 1939 and again in ’41, when Schmidt led playoff run with 5 goals and 6 assists in 11 playoff games.
During the war against Germany, Schmidt considered changing his name — to Smith — but decided against it. He missed three full seasons during the war, but returned to score career highs of 27 goals and 62 points in the 1946-47 season. He won the 1951 Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s most valuable player after totaling 61 points in 62 games.
Wednesday’s games
RANGERS 5, FLYERS 2: In Philadelphia, Kevin Hayes and Michael Grabner each scored two goals, Henrik Lundqvist stopped 30 shots and the Rangers beat the Flyers.
Chris Kreider also scored to lead the Rangers to their fourth win in five games and match Columbus (27) for the most wins in the NHL.
Kreider continued to shine following a stout December when he scored 11 goals and became the first Ranger to score at least 10 goals in a month in almost three years.
JETS 4, PANTHERS 1: In Sunrise, Fla., Patrik Laine had a goal and an assist to lead Winnipeg.
Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Shawn Matthias also scored for the Jets and Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves. Bryan Little notched two assists as Winnipeg won its second straight after losing two in a row. CANADIENS 4, STARS 3 (OT): In Dallas, Max Pacioretty’s second goal of the game, on a breakaway 19 seconds into overtime, lifted Montreal.
Pacioretty took a pass from Jeff Petry and skated in on Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for the win. Montreal was playing its fifth straight overtime game and improved to 3-0-2 in the stretch.
Pacioretty has 33 game-winning goals since 2013-14, trailing only Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (35) during that stretch.