TheHockeyTOONS #026
Remembering Boston's courageous 'Kraut Line'
They were willing to go to war for their country and won Stanley Cups for the Boston Bruins. It's a truly remarkable story that few others can lay claim to these days.
Ryan Kennedy • Nov 11th, 2019
It’s Remembrance Day in Canada and Veterans Day in the United States and this is a hockey blog, so let’s talk hockey and remembrance. Specifically, the Kraut Line.
For whatever reason, I always tend to think of that trio of Boston Bruins at this time of year. To think of three hockey personalities literally going to war for their country, potentially giving their lives and certainly giving up parts of their careers is heady stuff.
For the uninitiated, ‘The Kraut Line’ was made up of Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer, three excellent forwards from Kitchener, Ont., a town known for German immigrants that had actually been called Berlin until 1916. The name, which was originally the ‘Sauerkraut Line,’ came from an opponent.
Joining the Bruins in the late 1930s, it didn’t take long for the trio to make their mark. Boston won the Stanley Cup in 1939 and 1941 and in 1940, Schmidt won the Art Ross Trophy with 52 points in 48 games. All three players were in their prime when they decided to pitch in for the Canadian effort during the Second World War: Bauer, Dumart and Schmidt all signed up for the Royal Canadian Air Force and headed overseas to fight the Nazis.
Proteau: Reflecting On Remembrance Day
Adam Proteau reflects on the lives lost and the service given in the line of duty during Remembrance Day and Veterans Day.
Adam Proteau • Nov 11th, 2022
Every year, on Nov. 11, North Americans are reminded, no matter what communities we’re part of, that we owe a massive “thank you” to our armed forces service-people who served and died in the line of duty.
Professional hockey is no different – over the decades, there has been a long list of players who’ve answered the call and gone into battle, not knowing if they’d ever see their loved ones again. Famous hockey names such as Conn Smythe, Milt Schmidt, Turk Broda, Syl Apps and Hobey Baker (who died in the First World War) and Dudley Garrett (who lost his life in the Second World War) all bravely stepped forward and fought for their cause. Together, they’ve sacrificed their minds and bodies, and the freedoms we enjoy so casually today would not have been there without them.
In some respects, it’s difficult to envision today’s NHLers doing the same. This is not a negative comment on their character, but rather, an acknowledgement that the money they make and the status they have could keep them out of the line of fire.
Indeed, in Russia’s current war of aggression against Ukraine, the authoritarian Russian government has forced some of its elite hockey players into the fray: Flyers goalie prospect Ivan Fedotov was reportedly conscripted into service in July and sent to a military base in the remote city of Severomorsk, and Russian player Vladislav Lukin was convicted by a Ufa, Rus. court of bribery in an attempt to avoid military service in 2019, according to official state news agency TASS. Otherwise, Russian NHLers have stayed out of the fray, and it’s hard to blame them.