Bruins Oldest Living Captain Ed Sandford Passes Away At 95

The Boston Bruins Alumni Foundation announced the franchise’s oldest living captain Ed Sandford passed away at the age of 95 on Thursday.

During the Original Six period of the National Hockey League, Sandford played eight seasons for the Bruins, serving as captain during the 1954-55 campaign.

The next year, Boston traded Sandford to the Detroit Red Wings along with Gilles Boisvert, Real Chevrefils, Norm Corcoran and Warren Godfrey for Marcel Bonin, Lorne Davis, Terry Sawchuk and Vic Stasiuk.

“I was mad as hell when they traded me,” Sandford recalled last February.

In his eight years with the Bruins, Sandford lit the lamp 94 times and added 136 helpers across 442 games. Even though he never saw himself as a goal-scorer, Sandford and his linemates of Fleming MacKell and Johnny Pierson led the Bruins to a semifinal upset of the first-place Red Wings in the 1952-53 playoffs.

Sandford was a point-per-game player in the postseason that year notching eight goals and three assists in 11 games. Unfortunately for Sandford, the Bruins fell to the Montreal Canadiens four games to one in the Stanley Cup Final.

Those who had the opportunity to visit Sandford in his twilight years often found him wearing his Boston Bruins Alumni hat.

“I wear the hat all the time,” he said during a visit last winter. “I’m proud to be an alumni.”

Sandford gave up skating quite a few years ago, but still tried to make it out for some of the Boston Bruins Alumni Association events. One event that was special was “Bowl with a Bruin”, where he joined the some of the other living captains including Johnny Bucyk, Terry O’Reilly, Ray Bourque and Rick Middleton.

Ahead of the Bruins centennial season, the club revealed the 100 most legendary players in franchise history. Sandford was among the players to earn a spot that was voted upon by “an independent committee of journalists and media members, historians and members of the hockey community.”