Well Known Coaches of the 1963-64 CPHL

1963-64 was the first year of the Central Professional Hockey League, a minor pro league that existed from 1963-64 to 1983-84. The league changed its name to the Central Hockey League in 1968-69 but is not related to the current CHL. The coaches of the five teams were all established hockey men who are still mostly well known today.

In 1963-64, the league consisted of five teams with each playing a 72 game schedule. The Omaha Knights finished first overall with 97 points, 17 better than the second place St. Paul Rangers. The Knights and Rangers met in the playoff finals with Omaha coming out victorious in five games. St. Paul took the first game of the series 2-1 before the Knights won four straight by scores of 11-0, 3-0, 7-4 and 6-2.

The league’s scoring leader was Alain Caron of the St. Louis Braves with 77 goals and 125 points. A young Phil Esposito was in his second year of professional hockey and split the season between the Chicago Black Hawks and the St. Louis Braves. Despite playing just 43 games, Esposito finished sixth in the league with 80 points.

Scotty Bowman – Omaha Knights

The Omaha Knights had two head coaches during the 1963-64 CPHL season. Scotty Bowman coached the team’s first eight games before heading to Montreal to coach a minor league team there. The Knights went a perfect 8-0 under Bowman. Scotty went on to coach in the National Hockey League from 1967-68 to 2001-02 with the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings. He won nine Stanley Cup championships, five with Montreal, one with Pittsburgh and three with Detroit.

Bill McCreary – Omaha Knights

Bill McCreary stepped in after Bowman left town. He acted as a player / head coach and it was his only year coaching with Omaha. McCreary coached three partial NHL seasons in the early 1970’s with the St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and California Seals. Bill was a veteran of 309 NHL regular season games between 1954-55 and 1970-71 with the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and St. Louis Blues.

Fred Shero – St. Paul Rangers

Fred Shero did not win a CPHL championship with the St. Paul Rangers in 1963-64 but did go on to win championships in the IHL, AHL, CHL and NHL. Fred was head coach in the National Hockey League from 1971-72 to 1980-81 with the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. He was the first ever recipient of the Jack Adams Award in 1973-74 as the NHL’s coach of the year.  He played 145 regular season NHL games between 1947-48 and 1949-50, all with the Rangers.

Harry Sinden – Minneapolis Bruins

Harry Sinden of the Minneapolis Bruins was another CPHL player / head coach. He played for Minneapolis for the 1963-64 and 1964-65 seasons. Sinden is most famous for his head coaching job with the Boston Bruins between 1966-67 and 1969-70. He led the Bruins to a Stanley Cup championship in 1969-70, with the help of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. Sinden also returned for interim stints behind the Boston bench in 1979-80 and 1984-85.

Walter ‘Gus’ Kyle – St. Louis Braves

Walter ‘Gus’ Kyle was in his last year of coaching with the 1963-64 St. Louis Braves. In 1958-59, he coached the Calgary Stampeders to a WHL championship. Kyle played 203 games in the NHL between 1949-50 and 1951-52 with the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins.

Tony Leswick – Indianapolis Capitols / Cincinnati Wings

Tony Leswick had the dubious job of coaching the Indianapolis Capitols in 1963-64. After an explosion wrecked their arena just nine games into the season, the Capitals moved east to Cincinnati for the remainder of the season and were known as the Cincinnati Wings. The team won just 12 of their 72 games and finished dead last in the league. Leswick played 740 regular season games in the NHL between 1945-46 and 1957-58 with the Rangers, Red Wings and Black Hawks. He scored the winning goal in overtime of game seven of the 1953-54 Stanley Cup finals to give Detroit the victory over the Montreal Canadiens.