Showing posts with label bernie geoffrion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bernie geoffrion. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

1960-61 NHL Top 5 Goal Scorers

boom boom geoffrion montreal canadiens 1961-62 parkhurst
The hockey gods looked down with irony on the National Hockey League in 1960-61. Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard became the first 50 goal scorer in the NHL with 50 goals in 50 games in 1944-45. The next 50 goal scorer didn’t come until 1960-61, the first year that Richard was absent from the league after retiring. Let’s take a look at the top five goal scorers in that 1960-61 NHL season.

Bernie Geoffrion – Montreal Canadiens


Bernie ‘Boom Boom’ Geoffrion of the Montreal Canadiens led the NHL with 50 goals while playing in 64 of the team’s 70 regular season games. He also led the league with 95 points, earning the Art Ross Trophy. To top things off, Geoffrion was named the recipient of the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s MVP. It was a career season for Bernie, who played in the NHL from 1950-51 to 1967-68.

Frank Mahovlich – Toronto Maple Leafs


Frank Mahovlich of the Toronto Maple Leafs came a close second with 48 goals. In a National Hockey League career that lasted from 1957-58 to 1973-74, Mahovlich would have just one season with more goals, 1968-69, scoring 49 with the Detroit Red Wings.

Dickie Moore – Montreal Canadiens


Dickie Moore was a two time winner of the Art Ross Trophy in 1957-58 and 1958-59. 1960-61 was Moore’s swan song, finishing third in the NHL with 35 goals. His numbers would drop drastically over the next two years before retiring. Dickie would make two comeback attempts in 1964-65 with Toronto and 1967-68 with the St. Louis Blues but neither were lengthy or successful.

Jean Beliveau – Montreal Canadiens


Jean Beliveau was the third member of the Canadiens among the top five goal scorers. Beliveau finished with 32 goals, a far cry from his career best of 47 in 1955-56. Beliveau played his entire NHL career with the Canadiens from 1953-54 to 1970-71.

Bobby Hull – Chicago Blackhawks


Bobby Hull of the Chicago Black Hawks had a lull in his NHL career in 1960-61 but still finished fifth in the league with 31 goals. The season before, he scored 39. The following season, he would become just the third NHLer to score 50. Hull would score 50 or more five times during his career with the Black Hawks, including a career high 58 in 1968-69.

With all that goal scoring power, the Canadiens finished first overall in the six team league during the regular season. Montreal finished just two points ahead of second place Toronto but scored 20 more goals. Despite finishing in third, fifteen points behind the Canadiens, the Chicago Black Hawks eliminated Montreal in the opening round of the playoffs. Chicago met the Detroit Red Wings in the finals and won the Stanley Cup in six games.

 

Thursday, June 5, 2014

1950-51 NHL Season By The Numbers


 bill barilko toronto maple leafs
1950-51 was quite an important year in the National Hockey League. Many say that that season marked the NHL’s entry into the modern era. For the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it was an infamously significant season. The Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup championship on an overtime goal by Bill Barilko. However, Barilko would die in a plane crash not long after the celebration. Take a look back at the 1950-51 season by the numbers.

1


Milt Schmidt won his only Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. Schmidt played his entire NHL career with the Boston Bruins from 1936-37 to 1954-55, appearing in 776 regular season games in an era of much shorter schedules. Milt was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.

In 1950-51, Milt totalled 61 points in 62 regular season games, finishing fifth in the NHL. His 22 goals placed him ninth in the league while his 39 assists placed him fourth. Milt helped the Bruins squeak into the Stanley Cup playoffs, finishing just one point ahead of the New York Rangers for the final post season position. The Toronto Maple Leafs were too much for the Bruins in the opening round, winning the series in five games. Boston was able to score just five goals on the Maple Leafs over the series.

3


Three future Hockey Hall of Fame players played their first NHL games in 1950-51. Alex Delvecchio appeared in one game for the Detroit Red Wings and would play his entire NHL career with the club. Delvecchio appeared in 1,550 regular season games between 1950-51 and 1973-74 with Detroit. He directly followed that up with a four year stint as the head coach of the Red Wings.

Montreal greats Bernie ‘Boom Boom’ Geoffrion and Jean Beliveau both began their careers with the Canadiens in 1950-51. Geoffrion played 18 games in 1950-51 and posted an impressive 14 points. Bernie played with Montreal until the end of the 1963-64 season. Beliveau played just two games for the Habs in 1950-51 and wouldn’t be a regular with the team until 1953-54. Jean played his entire NHL career with the Canadiens, retiring after the 1970-71 season with 1,125 regular season games under his belt.

Delvecchio entered the Hall of Fame in 1977 while both Geoffrion and Beliveau were inducted in 1972.

5


Each of the five games in the Stanley Cup finals series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens went to overtime. With each of the games decided by a single goal, the Toronto outscored Montreal 13-10 over the series. The Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in overtime of the fifth game when defenseman Bill Barilko pinched in and scored on Montreal goalie Gerry McNeil.

10


It took the Toronto Maple Leafs ten games to win the 1951 Stanley Cup. As with any Original Six era season, there were just two rounds of playoffs with only four teams qualifying for the post season. In the first round, Toronto took out the Milt Schmidt led Boston Bruins in five games. In the other semi-final, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings in six. Toronto took five more games to eliminate Montreal and win the Cup.

11


Terry Sawchuk shutout his opponents eleven times, en route to earning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie. Sawchuk’s total while playing all of Detroit’s 70 games was equalled by the duo of goaltenders in Toronto, Al Rollins and Turk Broda. Toronto was the first team in the NHL to use a two goalie system.

Terry had appeared in seven games for the Red Wings the previous season but it was not enough to erase his rookie status. Sawchuk’s 1.99 goals against average was not enough to win the Vezina Trophy in 1950-51 but he won the award three out of the next four years. He was a four time Vezina winner over his National Hockey League career.

13


The Chicago Black Hawks won just 13 games in 1950-51, while the Detroit Red Wings lost just 13. Highlighting Chicago’s disastrous season was an 11-3 loss to Detroit, a 10-2 loss to Boston and a 12-2 loss to Montreal. Chicago finished 25 points behind the fifth place New York Rangers in the six team league. Detroit ended the year with 65 more points.

Chicago was not without big name players. Roy Conacher, Bill Mosienko, Doug Bentley, Gus Bodnar and Bill Gadsby were in the lineup. In net was eventual member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Harry Lumley.

70


1950-51 marked the first season the National Hockey League moved to a 70 game schedule. The previous season, each team played 60 games. The 70 game schedule would remain an annual tradition until the expansion year of 1967-68 when six teams and four games each were added. At that point, the schedule increased to 74, changing several times over the next few decades to settle on the current day 82 games.

86


Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top point-getter in 1950-51 with 86 points. Howe finished an astonishing 20 points ahead of the next player, Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard of the Montreal Canadiens. Gordie led the NHL in goal scoring with 43, just one more than Richard. He tied Ted Kennedy of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the league lead in assists with 43.