The ankle inside Bob Baun’s skating boot was broken. It is the hockey player’s creed to never be helped from the ice unless amputation is on tap, but that’s what happened to Baun on April 23, 1964, at Detroit’s Olympia Stadium—he was the wounded warrior, and his Toronto Maple Leaf teammates were his platoon members carrying him off the battlefield.
This was Game 6 of the 1964 Stanley Cup Finals. The Red Wings led the Leafs, 3 games to 2 and were poised to win the Cup on their home ice. As Baun, one of the Maple Leafs’ best defensemen, was being removed from action, it looked like the hockey gods were smiling down on the Red Wings.
But this is hockey, and it was the Stanley Cup Finals, and Bob Baun’s ankle was broken, not missing, so Baun did what the hockey player does, as much as his body is willing—he returned to the game, his boot taped to his ankle like a tourniquet.
The game went into overtime, with every rush up the ice by the Red Wings being potentially the one that could lead to the Cup-winning goal. The old red barn on Grand River and McGraw shook every time the vulcanized rubber disc ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Greg Eno
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