ESPN’s Arda Ocal discusses the Red Wings’ participation in the first unofficial NHL outdoor game–which took place at Marquette Prison in 1954:
In June 1953, Wings general manager Jack Adams and team captain Ted Lindsay, both of whom have NHL trophies named after them, went on a promotional tour around Michigan. One of the stops was Marquette State Prison, a maximum security facility nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the North.” While they were there, the warden, Emery Jacques, repeatedly asked Adams to bring his team to the prison to play a game against his inmates, who called themselves “The Pirates.” After some back and forth, Adams said that if Jacques could provide funding for transportation, lodging and food, he would return with his team.
Jacques called Adams’ bluff and got everything sorted. And so, in the middle of the 1954 season, the Red Wings were true to their word and went to the prison to play a game of hockey against the inmates.
It was said to be a brisk 22 degrees. The official score wasn’t kept, but with the likes of Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuck and Lindsay on the ice, by some accounts it was a pretty lopsided first period. The teams made “trades” and played out the rest of the game, with goalie Sawchuck tending net against Detroit. Sid Abel and Alex Delvecchio switched jerseys as well. An inmate got the hockey thrill of a lifetime, centering Howe and Lindsay.
Howe did recall one particular moment that made him laugh: “I deked around their goaltender, put in the far side and their defenseman was laughing,” Howe said after the game. “The goalie says to him, ‘I’ll kill you, you bastard.'”
The ice at the prison was created by Marquette athletic director Leonard “Oakie” Brumm, who played for Michigan, winning the inaugural NCAA men’s ice hockey national championship in 1948. At the time, Marquette was the only penal institution in the nation with either an organized “varsity” hockey team or a boarded regulation hockey rink.
There are differing reports of the final score — as eye-opening as 5-2, and a more realistic-seeming 9-0 and 18-0. After the game, the Wings were awarded the Doniker Trophy, also known as the Honey Bucket.
