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.
