Format best-of-five Start date April 5, 1936 | ||
Dates April 5 to April 11, 1936 Similar 1929 Stanley Cup Finals, 1940 Stanley Cup Finals, 1933 Stanley Cup Finals, 1927 Stanley Cup Finals, 1920 Stanley Cup Finals | ||
The 1936 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. This was Detroit's second appearance in the Final and Toronto's sixth. Detroit would win the series 3–1 to win their first Stanley Cup.
Contents
Path to the Final
Detroit defeated the defending champion Montreal Maroons in a best-of-five 3–0 to advance to the final. The Leafs had to play a total-goals series; 8–6 against Boston Bruins, and win a best-of-three 2–1 against the New York Americans.
The series
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings
Detroit wins best-of-five series 3–1.
Stanley Cup engraving
Detroit: "City of Champions"
When the Red Wings won the 1936 Stanley Cup, the City of Detroit was mired in the Great Depression, which had hit Detroit and its industries particularly hard. But with the success of the Red Wings and other Detroit teams and athletes in the 1935/36 sports season, Detroit's luck appeared to be changing, as the city was dubbed the "City of Champions". The Detroit Tigers started the winning streak by winning the 1935 World Series, and the Detroit Lions continued the process by capturing the 1935 NFL Championship Game. When the RedWings completed their own championship drive, the city had seen three major sporting league championships in less than a year. Detroit's "champions" also included Detroit's "Brown Bomber", Joe Louis, the heavyweight boxing champion; native Detroiter Gar Wood, who was the champion of unlimited powerboat racing and the first man to go 100 miles per hour on water; and Eddie "the Midnight Express" Tolan, a black Detroiter who won gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter races at the 1932 Summer Olympics.