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Harry (Apple Cheeks) Lumley

NHL, the National Hockey League is a premier professional North American Sports League played in indoor stadiums. It’s divided into two conferences, each comprising of three divisions of ice hockey teams. Every outstanding player is inducted to the NHL’s Hall of Fame amongst which Harry Lumley is one. He was inducted to the hall of fame in the year 1980.

Nicknamed as Apple Cheeks due to his ruddy complexion when he blushed, Lumley was born on November 11, 1926 in Owen Sound, Ontario and passed away on September 13, 1998. He played 16 NHL seasons from 1943 to 1960. Early in his career, as a junior with the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey Association, he didn't let many pucks escape him, and consequently he was signed by the Detroit Red Wings at the tender age of 15.

Lumley didn't look as though he was professional material in his first two games in the NHL during the 1943 to 1944 season after being called up from the Indianapolis Capitols of the American Hockey League. He was especially effective in the playoffs, backstopping Detroit to within one game of the 1945 Stanley Cup. Lumley rebounded in games five and six to post two shutouts of his own to force a seventh and deciding game, a 2-1 thriller won by Toronto.

In the 1950 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Detroit team overcame the loss of Gordie Howe to a serious injury in the semifinal series against Toronto. Lumley won his first and only Stanley Cup. He had three shutouts in the playoffs and a minuscule 1.85 goals-against average. During the tail end of the 1949 to 1950 season, Lumley was injured and young Terry Sawchuk was called up to man the Detroit net for seven games. Lumley had his best individual seasons in Toronto. Later, Lumley won his only Vezina with a 1.86 average. His 13 shutouts also set a modern record that would stand until Tony Esposito registered 15 in 1970.

Lumley was selected to the league's First All-Star Team and was brought back to the NHL by the Boston Bruins in 1957 when the team was having injury problems. He stayed with the Bruins, playing sporadically, until he retired in 1960. He is still remembered as a potential and dominating player with a versatile playing skill that made him unique.

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