He spent the entire 1939-40 season with the Indianapolis Capitols of the IAHL and returned to Indianapolis again in the 1940-41 season for 19 games prior to moving to the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League, with whom he played in 37 games.
He was back with the Reds once again in 1941-42, where he had a fine season offensively, scoring 12 goals and 36 points in 36 games, which attracted the attention of the Red Wings, who called Bush up for his second stint with Detroit. Back in the NHL, his game benefitted from the experience he had gained playing in the minors the previous two seasons. In 18 games with Detroit, Bush scored his first NHL points with 4 goals and 10 points.
During the playoffs, Bush contributed two assists prior to the Red Wings game on this date in 1942, when he cut loose to set and NHL record for points by a defenseman in a Stanley Cup Finals game with a goal and four assists for five points in a 5-2 Red Wings win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals to take a 3 games to none lead.
Amazingly, after setting his scoring record, Bush would never score another point in the NHL again as he would be held scoreless for the remainder of the seven game series as the Maple Leafs would shock the hockey world by winning the next four to take the championship 4 games to 3.
World War II would disrupt Bush's career and his hockey playing over the course of the next three years of his four years of military service would be limited to 11 games with the Royal Canadian Air Force team in Toronto and seven games with the Darmouth RCAF over the course of the next two seasons before taking off the 1945-46 season entirely to concentrate on his military obligations.
Bush while with the Toronto RCAF squad
He returned to the ice in 1946-47 with the St. Louis Flyers of the AHL before returning to Providence for the second half of the season before joining the Philadelphia Rockets, also of the AHL for 1947-48. There, Bush had the season of his career, with an offensive outburst that would make one wonder if he had been moved up to forward, as the defenseman pumped in 24 goals while generating 48 assists for a total of 72 points, good for fourth on the team and just short of double his points from the previous season and 35 more than he would ever score in a single season throughout his entire career. Additionally, he found the time to spend 163 minutes in the penalty box, 52 more than any other season of his career.
Normality returned in 1948-49 when he totaled 26 points divided between the Rockets (68 games) and the Cleveland Barons (21).
His final games in the AHL were spent with the Cincinnati Mohawks for eight games in the 1949-50 season before moving to the Louisville Blades of the US Hockey League for another eight games to close out the professional stage of his career.
He then joined the Sherbrooke Saints of the Quebec Senior Hockey League for the remainder of the season to close out his playing days.
In all, Bush played 26 NHL games, all with Detroit, scoring 4 goals and 10 assists, as well as 11 playoff games, scoring one goal and six assists, but somehow managing to group nearly all of them in a single game to set one of the most unlikely scoring records in NHL history!
Bush then went into coaching, first with the Guelph Biltmores of the OHA and later the Hamilton Red Wings, Memphis Wings of the CHL, the same Pittsburgh Hornets he played for, as well as the Quebec Aces and Richmond Robins of the AHL. the Kitchener Rangers back in the OHA before eventually rising to become head coach of the Kansas City Scouts of the NHL during the 1975-76 season, but unfortunately he inherited a dismal club in midseason, which saw the club go 1-23-8 during his time at the helm.
Today's featured jersey is a 1938-39 Kansas City Greyhounds Eddie Bush jersey. The Greyhounds were previously known as the Pla-Mors from 1927 until 1933 before changing their name to the Greyhounds in 1933-34, which they celebrated by winning the AHA championship that same season.
They would remain known as the Greyhounds until 1940, when they were sold and renamed the Kansas City Americans.
Today's video segment is a photographic tour of the Greyhounds league, the American Hockey Association from 1926 to 1942.
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