Sports
Al Arbour
1932–2015 · ice hockey defenceman, later coach
Future Hockey Hall of Fame coach who began his pro playing career with the Red Wings and won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 1954, decades before building a coaching legacy with the New York Islanders.
- Born
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada- Died
Sarasota, Florida
aged 82- Birth name
- Alger Joseph Arbour
- Detroit years
- 1953–1958
- Field
- Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Long before he became the second-winningest coach in NHL history behind the bench of the New York Islanders, Arbour was a young defenceman out of the Windsor Spitfires who began his professional career with the Red Wings in 1953. He won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 1954, the first of four championships he would collect as a player, with Chicago and Toronto, before his playing days ended with St. Louis. It was that Stanley Cup pedigree, and later a mid-season coaching stint with the Blues, that set him on the path to Long Island, where from 1973 he built the Islanders into a dynasty, winning four straight Stanley Cups as coach from 1980 to 1983 and a record nineteen consecutive playoff series. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996, and the Islanders retired the number 1188 in his honor, one for every game he coached the team.
Highlights
- Began his NHL playing career with the Red Wings, 1953
- Stanley Cup champion as a player with Detroit, 1954
- Later won four straight Stanley Cups as coach of the New York Islanders, 1980–1983
- Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, 1996
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Played here · 1953–1958
Olympia Stadium
Demolished · 1927–1987
The Red Wings' arena for his playing years in Detroit, including the 1954 Stanley Cup; demolished in 1987.