Irvin plays 94 NHL games
during his final three seasons as a player, but he spends 27 seasons as one of the most successful coaches in League history. His teams win the Stanley Cup four times (
1932
with the Toronto Maple Leafs, after taking over early in the season when Art Duncan is fired;
1944
,
1946
and
1953
with the Montreal Canadiens). He coaches the Chicago Blackhawks for two seasons and the Maple Leafs for nine before taking over the Canadiens in 1940-41. Irvin's 15 seasons with the Canadiens are the most by any coach in their history, and he goes 431-313 with 152 ties in 896 games with Montreal while helping groom numerous players who go into the Hockey Hall of Fame, including
Maurice Richard
and
Jean Beliveau
.
Irvin is let go by the Canadiens after the 1954-55 season, which ends with a
3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings
in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. He coaches Chicago in 1955-56 before retiring for health reasons. Irvin finishes with 691 wins, the most by any NHL coach at the time of his retirement and still ninth on the all-time list.
He dies May 16, 1957, one year before his induction into the Hall of Fame.
MORE MOMENTS
1962:
Craig Muni
, a defenseman and three-time Stanley Cup winner with the Edmonton Oilers, is born in Toronto. The Oilers sign Muni as a free agent on Aug. 18, 1986, after he plays 19 games during four seasons with the Maple Leafs, and he's a member of Edmonton's Cup-winning teams in
1987
,
1988
and
1990
. Muni finishes his NHL career with three more championship rings than playoff goals; he has 17 assists but no goals in 113 Stanley Cup Playoff games, the most postseason games played by any player who doesn't score a goal.
2011:
Chris Osgood
announces his retirement
. Osgood, a goalie who plays 14 of his 17 NHL seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, finishes his career with 401 wins in 744 games, a 2.49 goals-against average and 50 shutouts, 39 with the Red Wings. He's a member of three Stanley Cup-winning teams with Detroit and is the No. 1 goalie in Cup championships in
1998
and
2008
, when he has a 1.55 GAA in 19 games.
