Playing career

Sandford played his junior hockey for the St. Michael's Majors program, leading his team to the Memorial Cup playoffs in 1946 and 1947. In 1947, Sandford devastated the Ontario Hockey Association with 67 points in 27 games, adding a Gretzkyesque 52 points in nine OHA playoffs and ten Memorial Cup games en route to St. Michael's third Memorial Cup title. For his efforts, he was awarded the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHA's most valuable player.

Sandford was signed by the Bruins in 1947. In the low scoring era of the late 1940s and 1950s, Sandford was no sniper - save for the 1953 season, when he led all scorers in the playoffs with eight goals and eleven points - but proved to be an effective and tenacious defensive left winger, and was named to play in the NHL All-Star Game in five consecutive seasons starting in 1951.

His best scoring season was 1954, when he scored 16 goals and 31 assists for 47 points, finishing in the top ten in league scoring, and earned citation as a Second Team All-Star, one of the lowest scoring forwards to do so in the post-War era. The next season he was named to succeed the retiring Milt Schmidt as Bruins' captain.

He played eight seasons in all for the Bruins, only to be traded in the 1955 offseason in a blockbuster nine-player deal - the largest in NHL history to that date - which sent him to the Detroit Red Wings. After playing only four games in Detroit, the Wings promptly dealt Sandford to the Chicago Black Hawks where he finished out the season before retiring.

Retirement

Sandford finished his playing days with 106 goals and 145 assists for 251 points in 503 games, recording 355 penalty minutes.

For many years after his retirement, Sandford served in various off-ice capacities for the Bruins, as a goal judge, official scorer and eventually supervisor of off-ice officials. He became a curling enthusiast after his playing days and was one of the players of the Bruins' first alumni team.

In 2001, the Society for International Hockey Research, in collaboration with the Hockey Hall of Fame and The Hockey News, selected a list of would-be Conn Smythe Trophy winners for the NHL playoff MVP before the trophy was officially presented in 1965, and determined on Sandford's selection for his efforts in the 1953 playoffs.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1943-44	St. Michael's Buzzers	OHA-B		3	1	0	1	0		—	—	—	—	—
1944-45	St. Michael's Buzzers	OHA-B		11	12	11	23	9		11	10	14	24	8
1945-46	Toronto St. Michael's Majors	OHA-Jr.		26	10	9	19	28		11	5	5	10	12
1946-47	Toronto St. Michael's Majors	OHA-Jr.		27	30	37	67	38		9	12	12	14	31
1946-47	Toronto St. Michael's Majors	M-Cup		—	—	—	—	—		10	11	17	28	26
1947-48	Boston Bruins	NHL		59	10	15	25	25		5	1	0	1	0
1948-49	Boston Bruins	NHL		56	16	20	36	57		5	1	3	4	2
1949-50	Boston Bruins	NHL		19	1	4	5	6		—	—	—	—	—
1950-51	Boston Bruins	NHL		51	10	13	23	33		6	0	1	1	4
1951-52	Boston Bruins	NHL		65	13	12	25	54		7	2	2	4	0
1952-53	Boston Olympics	EAHL		2	1	0	1	0		—	—	—	—	—
1952-53	Boston Bruins	NHL		61	14	21	35	44		11	8	3	11	11
1953-54	Boston Bruins	NHL		70	16	31	47	42		3	0	1	1	4
1954-55	Boston Bruins	NHL		60	14	20	34	38		5	1	1	2	6
1955-56	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		4	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
1955-56	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL		57	12	9	21	56		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				502	106	145	251	355		42	13	11	24	27

[ Source: Wikipedia ]