Milt Schmidt came out of Kitchener with his two closest friends - Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer - and the trio stayed together the rest of their lives, on ice and off. Schmidt played part of the 1936-37 season with Providence, Boston's farm team, but he was recalled halfway through the year and never looked back. His friends joined Schmidt on a line for the final game of that season, and to start '37-'38 they were a troika forever. A centreman, Schmidt was the most physical of the Kraut Line, as they were called. He liked to bully his way over the opposition blueline and then pass to one of his wingers. The three helped Boston to a Stanley Cup victory in 1939, the team's first in a decade, and the next year Schmidt led the league in assists (30) and points (52), and his linemates finished second and third in scoring. It was the first time all three members of a line finished 1-2-3 in the points race. In 1941, the Bruins repeated as Cup champions, and in 1942 the three players joined the Canadian war efforts. In one of the most poignant moments in NHL history, the trio played their final game on January 10, 1942, at home to Montreal. Everyone knew the Krauts were going off to war, so at the game's conclusion members of the Canadiens hoisted the three on their shoulders and danced them around the rink to huge ovations. Schmidt and his friends returned to Boston three years later, in 1945, and it was as if, in hockey terms, time had stood still. They were again dominating, and Schmidt won the Hart Trophy in '50-'51 for an outstanding year, his first as Bruins' captain. In 1952, the three men were honoured by the Bruins (Bauer had retired in 1947), and to make the occasion all the more memorable Dumart played the game and Schmidt scored the 200th goal of his career. Schmidt extended his career by playing defence for the last three years (1952-55), and he retired during the '54-'55 season to become the team's coach. For a decade he led the Bruins during its toughest years leading up to the Bobby Orr era in 1966, but by this time he had been with the team some 30 years and the Bruins retired his number 15. He remained friends with Bauer and Dumart the rest of their lives, living just blocks from each other in the Boston area, and Schmidt remained the last surviving member of the line. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.