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SIDNEY GERALD ABEL
Hall of Fame Professional Hockey Player. An integral part of the Detroit Red Wings "Production Line" of the 1940s and 1950s, he was often overshadowed by his team mates on that line - Hall of Famers Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe - yet is considered today by many Hockey historians as being the backbone of the Red Wings teams of the era. Nicknamed "Old Bootnose", he played for the Red Wings from 1938 to 1943, and from 1946 to 1952 (the two year break was the result of his serving in the Canadian Army Air Force during World War II). During his tenure with the team he helped them to three Stanley Cup championships (1943, 1950, 1952), was named a First Team All-Star (1949, 1950) and a Second Team All-Star (1942, 1951). He played in three National Hockey League All-Star contests, and was named the NHL's MVP in 1949. In the 1949-1950 Stanley Cup finals, when his Red Wings were trailing the series 3 games to 2 against the New York Rangers, he assisted on the tying goal and scored the winning goal in the 6th game. The Red Wings would go on to win the seventh game and the Cup. His last two seasons were spent with the Chicago Black Hawks. His number, 12, has been retired by the Red Wings. After his playing days were over he continued to remain in the game as a coach, General Manager and broadcaster for the Red Wings until 1971, when he joined with the St. Louis Blues as coach and GM. In 1969 he was inducted into the National Hockey League Hall of Fame, joining linemates Lindsay and Howe. (bio by: Russ Dodge)
Source: Russ Dodge
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Sidney Abel starred as the play-making center of the "Production Line" along with Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay. Abel started his NHL career in 1938, and became part of the famous line when Red Wings Coach Jack Adams put the trio together in 1947.
"They could score goals in their sleep," Adams said.
In the next season, Abel's best, he won the Hart Trophy as league MVP and also was named first-team All-Star. He skated with the Wings until 1951. In his 610 regular games he scored 189 goals, had 283 assists, with 28 goals and 30 assists in playoff games. The next year he became coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. In 1957 he rejoined the Wings as coach and later became general manager, remaining in that position until 1971.
Picture: Sid Abel embraces the Stanley Cup after the Wings defeated the New York Rangers in the finals in 1950.
Excerpt from the "The Glorious Wings of Old" Detroit News
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OBITUARY
Sidney Gerald Abel, the Hockey Hall of Famer who starred with the Detroit Red Wings and was later a coach, general manager and broadcaster in the National Hockey League, died Tuesday at a hospital in Farmington Hills, Mich. He was 81.
Abel won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player in 1949 and for several seasons he centered Detroit's Production Line, with Gordie Howe on right wing and Ted Lindsay on left wing.
Inducted as a player into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969, Abel knew the hockey business from many perspectives. As a player, he married the secretary to the Red Wings' general manager and later he was considered a ''players' coach'' who was sensitive to their moods and needs.
Although Abel's career lasted long into the modern era of expansion, his roots were in the old six-team league, when players traveled by train, salaries were low and grudges were well nursed.
''We played hockey for money, but we would play the Toronto Maple Leafs for nothing,'' he once said.
The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup three times when Abel played for them, with their most memorable championship coming in 1950, when they beat the Rangers.
In the first series of the two-round tournament, Detroit lost Howe when a collision with a Toronto player left him in the hospital with a life-threatening brain injury. In the final game of the finals, Abel, the captain, scored a goal in a game at Olympia Stadium that went into overtime tied at 3-3. The Red Wings won on a goal by Pete Babando.
Many hockey books include pictures of a weary, sweat-soaked Abel kissing the silver trophy that night.
Abel's Production Line got its name because it produced goals and because his team played in the Motor City, where the economy was based on cars produced on assembly lines.
Howe was known as Mr. Hockey, Lindsay was Terrible Ted and Abel was called Boot Nose because of an altercation with Montreal's Maurice (the Rocket) Richard. After Howe flattened Richard in a fight, Abel skated by and asked him, ''How do you like that?'' and added a reference to Richard's French-Canadian ethnicity. Richard responded by re-arranging Abel's nose with a punch.
Howe, reflecting on the fight, said: ''Today, if you called someone what Sid called Rocket, you'd get called up before a judge.''
''There was never any question about his leadership,'' Howe said. ''Sid was very much respected.''
In a playing career that spanned 12 seasons with the Red Wings and 2 with the Blackhawks, Abel scored 189 goals and had 283 assists during the regular season.
Sidney Gerald Abel was born on Feb. 22, 1918, in Melville, Saskatchewan, played as a junior for the Saskatoon Wesleys and the Flin Flon Bombers before turning professional with Detroit in the 1938-39 season. His career was interrupted for almost three seasons during World War II, when he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
He left Detroit in 1952 to play and coach for the Chicago Blackhawks. He returned to the Red Wings in 1957 as a coach, and added general manager's duties in 1962, but left the organization in 1971 and worked with teams in St. Louis and Kansas City.
Abel returned to Detroit as a broadcaster in 1976 and became popular for his insights and speech patterns. Speaking in a Western Canadian accent and verb forms, Abel would tell his Motor City listeners ''Montreal are a skating club'' or ''Detroit are pressing on the power play.''
Abel was blunt on the air and sometimes angered management with his tart observations. But fans admired his honesty even while mimicking his voice. For several seasons, when the Red Wings struggled in the early 1980's, Abel the broadcaster was more popular than any player.
His No. 12 was retired in 1995, hung between Howe's 9 and Lindsay's 7.
Before Tuesday night's Red Wings game at Joe Louis Arena, hours after his death, the fans stood for a moment of silence in memory of Abel, and the banner that bears his number was briefly lowered.
Abel is survived by his wife, Gloria; a son, Gerald; a daughter, Linda Johnson; a brother, Don; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Obituary by Joe Lapointe Published: Thursday, February 10, 2000 New York Times
Buried at Glen Eden Cemetery
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