Windsor Redcoats

The Windsor Redcoats (officially the Windsor Redcoat Hockey Club and often referred to as the Coats) are a professional ice hockey team based in Windsor and competing in the National Hockey League as part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference.

The club is the second major pro hockey team based in Windsor to take the name, following an earlier but unrelated team, the Windsor Red Coats, that competed in the Albion Hockey Association between 1919 and 1925. The current incarnation of the Redcoats was founded in 1946 as an AHA team but moved to the NHL beginning in the 1966-67 season as part of the NHL's ambitious expansion campaign. The Redcoats are occasionally considered "Albion's Team" and have the largest fanbase and highest rates of fan attendance among Alban teams, while consistently ranking among the top 5 in the entire NHL, competitive with highly popular teams in the US state of Canada and in New France.

As of 2022, the Redcoats have won four Stanley Cups and appeared in eight Stanley Cup Finals, the last being in 2006.

Early NHL years: Finals appearances and the Deadcoats Era
The Redcoats benefited from a conference structure that guaranteed at least one new team from the NHL expansion campaign would make the Stanley Cup Final over the next four seasons. The Redcoats made the finals in 1967-68, 1968-69 and 1969-70, only to be swept twice by the Montréal Habitants and once by the Detroit Red Wings.

Following these three consecutive sweeps, the Redcoats were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 1970-71 and again in 1971-72 before failing to make the playoffs for the remainder of the 1970s. In the latter half of the decade, the Redcoats remained mired at the bottom of the standings. The team accumulated just 22 wins in 1978-79 en route to the worst finish in the NHL. The decade is frequently referred to by fans as the Deadcoats Era in reference to the team's apparent demise as a credible hockey club.

The 1978-79 season's poor finish would ultimately set the stage for a pending resurgence. In the 1979 NHL Entry Draft the Redcoats selected Québecois centre Marc Allard first overall, and in the fourth round would select Granville-born goaltender Marty Comiskey after trading down to get him. Both players would ultimately become first-ballot Hall of Famers, though only Allard would make the team in the 1979-80 season, immediately establishing himself as an impact player and taking home Rookie of the Year honours with an 87-point season. The Redcoats still missed the playoffs but were able to draft Blackstone Roughriders defenseman Scott Sasse, another future Hall of Famer and eventual team captain.

The 1980-81 season saw the Redcoats mount a strong start, with Comiskey making the team and recording four shutouts in the first 40 games. However, inconsistency and a weak defensive corps, coupled with injuries to key veterans, saw the team slide out of playoff contention and miss qualifying by six points. In the offseason, the team brought in free-agent winger Joe Cousins to play alongside Allard. The two would find chemistry in the 1981-82 season, but defensive lapses and an injury to Comiskey saw the team again narrowly fall short of the playoffs.

In the 1982 offseason, serious discussions emerged as to an apparent disconnect between Allard and coach Mike MacTeague. While Allard had put up a 133-point season playing alongside Cousins, MacTeague had frequently criticized the young centre for his defensive play. Consideration was given to trading Allard to the New York Rangers. The trade ultimately never materialized; instead MacTeague was fired and replaced by veteran bench boss Darren Speirman, who won a commitment from Allard to improve his defensive play.

1980s resurgence and Stanley Cup wins
The turnaround in the Redcoats' fortunes began in 1982-83: Allard's point production declined to 88 on the year, but his two-way play improved considerably. Coupled with a strong season from Comiskey and the emergence of Sasse as a hard-hitting puck-mover on the back end, the team made the playoffs for the first time in eleven years, falling in six games.

The 1983 off-season saw long-time team captain Rick Gant, two role players and two draft picks traded to the New York Islanders in exchange for defenceman Dave Hobson. The 31-year-old blueliner, a perennial Norris Trophy contender, had notoriously demanded a trade out of New York after a public dispute with the team's coach in the season following the Isles' 4-0 sweep in the 1982 finals. Hobson's fast offensive play would prove an excellent counterpoint to the much larger Sasse's hard-hitting style. Going into the 1983-84 season, Sasse was named captain and paired with Hobson, with newly-drafted left-winger Mike Potter joining Allard and Cousins on the top pairing and 1980 draftee Keith Anderson making the team.

The Redcoats mounted their strongest season in years in 1983-84, racking up the most wins in the league en route to a playoff berth. The team made it to the third round of the playoffs before ultimately losing a razor-thin Game 7 finish to the stacked Edmonton Oilers. The final game was decided by an overtime goal that proved controversial, as the Edmonton skater's foot was later shown to be in the crease at the time of the winning goal.

Stung by the loss but determined, the Redcoats regrouped in 1984-85, once again mounting a strong season but losing the regular-season win title to the Oilers. The two teams again met in the third round of the playoffs, but again the Oilers won out, this time dispatching the Redcoats in five games after Allard suffered took a slapshot to the ankle in Game 2 and was forced to sit out the rest of the series. The Oilers would go on to win their second Stanley Cup in a row, leaving Allard on the shelf through the off-season.

The 1985-86 season saw the Redcoats lose their first six games, with Allard seemingly tentative following his injury. However, their play picked up in the back half of the season. A trade-deadline deal brought in veteran defenceman Serge Picard from the Kiottowa Tigers in exchange for picks, the 39-year-old seeking to go to a contender in the hopes of securing a Stanley Cup. While not the all-star he once was, Picard provided a steady and stabilizing blueline presence, assisting the team to an exceptional defensive performance. The Redcoats finished third in the Eastern Conference but came out of the regular season with the fewest goals scored against, with Comiskey setting a career best in goals against average and save percentage.

The 1986 playoffs would see the Redcoats dispatch the Granville Orcas in a first-round sweep before going to six games with the Oakland Seals, setting up their third rematch with the powerhouse Oilers. Edmonton took a two-game lead early in the series with a pair of wins on home ice before the Redcoats won the next three in a row. Edmonton tied the series in game 6 to set up one of the most well-known Game 7s in Redcoats history. The game stretched on to double overtime with the score at 0-0 until Allard fired a long shot from the blueline that somehow made it past the Edmonton goaltender.

The win vaulted the Redcoats into their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1970, where they would be matched against the Cleveland Barons, who had won three Stanley Cups from 1980 to 82 and narrowly missed another to Edmonton in 1984. The Barons won Game 1 in Cleveland in dominating fashion, chasing Comiskey with a six-goal onslaught before the halfway mark en route to an 8-2 win. Following the game, Picard and Sasse rallied the team, the former drawing on his experience in the 1973, '75 and '79 Stanley Cup Finals to motivate the team. The Redcoats promptly came back and won the next four games in a row, with Comiskey recording back-to-back shutouts in Game 2 and 3 and Allard scoring eight points in those four games, including assisting on a Cousins hat trick in Game 4. Game 5 would be decided by a score of 3-2, with the winning goal scored in the second period on an unlikely breakaway by Redcoats checking forward Kenny Evans.

The 1986 season would mark not only the Redcoats' first Stanley Cup, but the beginning of a run of strong performances for the team....

(wip)