We were saddened to learn of the passing of Hockey Hall-of-Famer Bert Olmstead.
Olmstead played 14 seasons in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, and Toronto Maple Leafs. In those 14 seasons he played in the Stanley Cup final a remarkable 11 times, and won it five times. Four of those Stanley Cup victories came in eight seasons with Montreal.
Bert Olmstead was one of a select few players who played on a line with the two greatest Montreal Canadiens legends of all time: Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau. When he arrived to Montreal from Chicago in 1950 he was put on a line with Maurice Richard and Elmer Lach, replacing Hector “Toe” Blake, who had recently retired, on the fabled Punch Line. Five seasons later Olmstead tied Richard’s NHL record eight points in a game playing on a line with Jean Beliveau and Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion. Although the league record was broken by Darryl Sittler in 1976 with a 10-point game, the record stands for the team to this day.
Left unprotected during the Intra-League Draft in 1958, Olmstead was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and concluded his career there after four more seasons, adding another Stanley Cup to his name.
Bert Olmstead was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985.
We express our deepest condolences to his friends and family.
