The three were famously attached and lived together in a single room in Brookline, Massachusetts. The line was so accomplished that, in the 1939–1940 season, the trio placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in NHL scoring. Schmidt led the league in scoring with 22 goals and 30 assists; Dumart was second in the league with 22 goals and 21 assists; and Bauer was third with 17 goals and 26 assists. While the line was intact, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in the 1938–1939 and 1940–1941 seasons.
In the midst of World War II, the line enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a trio in 1942.[4] On February 10, 1942, their last game before reporting for duty, the line accounted for half of the 22 points in goals and assists that the Bruins accumulated on the way to an 8–1 victory over Montreal at the Boston Garden. The Kraut line produced three goals and eight assists.[5][6] Not long after enlisting, the trio played for the Ottawa RCAF Flyers, helping them to win the 1942 Allen Cup.[7] During the war, contests were held to change towards a non-Germanic name for the line; "The Kitchener Kids" became one of the favorites, but the old name returned at the end of the war.[8]
Bobby Bauer's retirement in 1947 ended the line. On March 18, 1952, the line participated in a special reunion game in which Schmidt scored his 200th career goal and Bauer had a goal and an assist, despite having been retired the five previous years, in a 4-0 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks.[9]
After their days as players, Schmidt eventually became the coach, and later general manager, of the Bruins.[10][11] Bauer went back to the Kitchener area and coached several teams.[12] Dumart retired in Boston, where he worked for some years as the official scorer at the Garden.[5] All three were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame: Schmidt in 1961, Dumart in 1992, and Bauer in 1996.[2]
The trio is deceased. Bauer died on September 16, 1964, at age 49; Dumart died on October 19, 2001, at age 84; Schmidt died on January 4, 2017, at age 98.
Statistics
Note: These are statistics from the seven regular seasons in which the three players generally played on the same line.
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty in Minutes
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Kraut_Line, and is written by contributors.
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