Ed Sanford obit

Bruins Oldest Living Captain Ed Sandford Passes Away At 95

Sandford served as captain from 1954-55

 He was not on the list.

The Boston Bruins Alumni Foundation announced the franchise’s oldest living captain Ed Sandford passed away at the age of 95 on Thursday.

During the Original Six period of the National Hockey League, Sandford played eight seasons for the Bruins, serving as captain during the 1954-55 campaign.

The next year, Boston traded Sandford to the Detroit Red Wings along with Gilles Boisvert, Real Chevrefils, Norm Corcoran and Warren Godfrey for Marcel Bonin, Lorne Davis, Terry Sawchuk and Vic Stasiuk.

“I was mad as hell when they traded me,” Sandford recalled last February.

In his eight years with the Bruins, Sandford lit the lamp 94 times and added 136 helpers across 442 games. Even though he never saw himself as a goal-scorer, Sandford and his linemates of Fleming MacKell and Johnny Pierson led the Bruins to a semifinal upset of the first-place Red Wings in the 1952-53 playoffs.

Sandford was a point-per-game player in the postseason that year notching eight goals and three assists in 11 games. Unfortunately for Sandford, the Bruins fell to the Montreal Canadiens four games to one in the Stanley Cup Final.

Those who had the opportunity to visit Sandford in his twilight years often found him wearing his Boston Bruins Alumni hat.

“I wear the hat all the time,” he said during a visit last winter. “I’m proud to be an alumni.”

Sandford gave up skating quite a few years ago, but still tried to make it out for some of the Boston Bruins Alumni Association events. One event that was special was “Bowl with a Bruin”, where he joined the some of the other living captains including Johnny Bucyk, Terry O’Reilly, Ray Bourque and Rick Middleton.

Ahead of the Bruins centennial season, the club revealed the 100 most legendary players in franchise history. Sandford was among the players to earn a spot that was voted upon by “an independent committee of journalists and media members, historians and members of the hockey community.”

Sandford played junior hockey with the St. Michael's Majors and led the team to the Memorial Cup playoffs in 1945-46 and 1946-77. In the latter season, Sandford led the Ontario Hockey Association with 67 points in 27 games, and scored 24 points in nine OHA playoff games 28 points in ten Memorial Cup games, en route to St. Michael's third Memorial Cup title. He was awarded the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHA's most valuable player.

Sandford was signed by the Boston Bruins in 1947. He appeared in the NHL All-Star Game in five consecutive seasons from 1951 to 1955. In 1952-53 he led all scorers in the playoffs with eight goals and eleven points. His best season was 1953-54, when he scored 16 goals and 31 assists for 47 points, and finished in the top ten in league scoring. The next season, he succeeded the retiring Milt Schmidt as Bruins' captain.

After eight seasons with the Bruins, Sandford was traded in 1955 in a nine-player deal — the largest in NHL history to that date — which sent him to the Detroit Red Wings. After playing four games in Detroit, the Wings dealt Sandford to the Chicago Black Hawks, where he finished the season before retiring. Sandford finished his playing days with 106 goals and 145 assists for 251 points in 503 games, and recorded 355 penalty minutes.

For many years after his playing days, Sandford served in various off-ice capacities for the Bruins, as a goal judge, official scorer and supervisor of off-ice officials. He became a curling enthusiast and was a member of the Bruins' first alumni team. In 2001, the Society for International Hockey Research, in collaboration with the Hockey Hall of Fame and The Hockey News, selected a list of retroactive Conn Smythe Trophy winners for the NHL playoff MVP before the trophy was officially presented in 1965, and selected Sandford for the 1953 playoffs.

Sandford died in October 2023, at the age of 95.

Career statistics

                         Regular season              Playoffs

Season Team            League            GP            G            A            Pts            PIM            GP            G            A            Pts            PIM

1943–44            St. Michael's Buzzers            Big-10 Jr. B     3            1            0            1            0            —            —            —            —            —

1944–45            St. Michael's Buzzers            Big-10 Jr. B     11            12            11            23            9            11            10            14            24            8

1945–46            Toronto St. Michael's Majors OHA-Jr.        26            10            9            19            28            11            5            5            10            12

1946–47            Toronto St. Michael's Majors OHA-Jr.        27            30            37            67            38            9            12            12            24            31

1946–47            Toronto St. Michael's Majors M-Cup            —            —            —            —            —            10            11            17            28            26

1947–48            Boston Bruins   NHL            59            10            15            25            25            5            1            0            1            0

1948–49            Boston Bruins   NHL            56            16            20            36            57            5            1            3            4            2

1949–50            Boston Bruins   NHL            19            1            4            5            6            —            —            —            —            —

1950–51            Boston Bruins   NHL            51            10            13            23            33            6            0            1            1            4

1951–52            Boston Bruins   NHL            65            13            12            25            54            7            2            2            4            0

1952–53            Boston Olympics            EAHL            2            1            0            1            0            —            —            —            —            —

1952–53            Boston Bruins   NHL            61            14            21            35            44            11            8            3            11            11

1953–54            Boston Bruins   NHL            70            16            31            47            42            3            0            1            1            4

1954–55            Boston Bruins   NHL            60            14            20            34            38            5            1            1            2            6

1955–56            Detroit Red Wings            NHL            4            0            0            0            0            —            —            —            —            —

1955–56            Chicago Black Hawks            NHL            57            12            9            21            56            —            —            —            —            —

NHL totals            502            106            145            251            355            42            13            11            24            27