How do you measure success? There are individual records, and team achievements. For Ed Litzenberger, the line between the two groups got blurred. He wound up winning 6 Championships in a row with 3 different teams - 4 Stanley Cups and 2 Calder Cups.

When the Chicago Blackhawks won their last Cup in 1961, it was Litzenberger with the "C" on the front of his sweater, overcoming personal tragedy to lead the team to the Promised Land.

He came to the Hawks during his rookie season from the Canadiens. Montreal was ass-deep in forwards, so there was no way to get Litzenberger any ice time. Litzenberger finished that season (1954-55) by scoring 40 points in 44 games with the Hawks, and becoming one of only two players (Carl Voss being the other) to win the Calder Trophy while playing for two different teams in the season.

He was a damn fine center for the Hawks, manning the pivot for Bobby Hull and Lorne Ferguson, and having a 3-year run of 30 goals or more. He was a Second Team All-Star in 1957, and was named Captain of the Hawks before the 1958-59 season.

During the 1959-60 season, Litzenberger was involved in a tragic automobile accident. "We were coming home after a game in Chicago Stadium," Liztenberger said. "My wife was driving, and the road was slippery. We his a viaduct, and the next thing I know I was in the emergency room of the hospital." He was badly injured in the accident. "I had a couple cracked ribs, contusions of the liver, and a bad concussion. I was in shock for seven days and couldn't remember a thing."

Worse than that, his wife perished in the accident. Litzenberger said, "When I realized what had happened, my morale was shot. I wanted to quit hockey."

Litzenberger was not the same player on the ice after that. After putting up 12G 18A during that season, he only managed a 10G 22A season in the Cup-winning 1960-61 season.

After the Cup-winning season, Litzenberger remarried and was traded to the Red Wings, the team the Hawks beat for the Stanley Cup. "She's one of the big reasons I was able to get back to myself," Litzenberger said of Gale, his new wife. "That and the trade have made me a different man."

"For a while I wasn't happy about leaving Chicago, I had made so many friends there, " Litzenberger said. "Then we both realized that moving to Detroit was all for the best. New friends, new surroundings and new teammates, It's given me more of a chance to forget. It's like starting a new life."

He wasn't a Red Wing for long. During the 1961-62 season, he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he was part of the team that won 3 straight Stanley Cups. However, his name was left off the Cup after the 1963-64 season, since he spent most of the season in the minors.  After the 1963-64 season, he was sent to the Rochester Americans of the AHL. He was part of a team that won 2 consecutive Calder Cups. No other North American player ever won 6 professional championships in a row.

Litzenberger still lives in Ontario. This is a man who deserves a Heritage Night, at the very least.