He was one of the great goaltenders of the National Hockey
league in the 1940’s, yet it took 16 years after he retired for Frank Brimsek
to finally get inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Brimsek spent all but one
of his seasons in the NHL with the Boston Bruins, leading the club to a Stanley
Cup championship in his rookie year.Frank Brimsek – Minor Pros
Before his big break with the Bruins in 1938-39, Brimsek
played a few years in the minor pros. In 1935-36 and 1936-37, he appeared with
the Pittsburgh Yellowjackets of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League. The EAHL
evolved into the EHL, a pro league that existed until the end of the 1972-73
season before splitting in to the NAHL and SHL.
In his first year with the Yellowjackets, the team placed
second in the five team league and was led offensively by Gordie
Drillon. Drillon would go on to be a scoring leader in the NHL with the
Toronto Maple Leafs. The following year, the team fell to fourth as most of the
star players had moved on.
In 1937-38, Brimsek played all 48 regular season games for
the Providence
Reds of the IAHL. The ‘I’ in IAHL was dropped as the league became the
present day American Hockey League. The Bun Cook coached Reds were crowned
Calder Cup champions with a win over the Syracuse Stars in the finals.
Frank Brimsek – NHL Career
‘Mister Zero’ played goal in the National Hockey League from
1938-39 to 1949-50 with the Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks. Shortly into the
1938-39 season, Boston shipped their number one goaltender Tiny
Thompson to the Detroit Red Wings and relied solely on the rookie Brimsek.
Frank started the year with nine games in the AHL with
Providence. Over 43 games with the Bruins, he posted a 1.56 goals against
average and recorded ten shutouts. Brimsek won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s
rookie of the year. He also won the Vezina Trophy and was named First Team
All-Star goalie.
The Art Ross coached Bruins placed first overall in the
1938-39 NHL. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Boston ousted the Toronto Maple Leafs
in the finals for the championship. Frank played all 12 playoff games, posting
a 1.25 GAA.
Brimsek played every game for the Bruins in five different
seasons between 1939-40 and 1947-48. He would do the same in his final year of
NHL hockey in 1949-50 for the Chicago Blackhawks. He won his second and final
Vezina Trophy in 1941-42, playing 47 games for the Bruins with three shutouts
and a 2.35 GAA. His only other Stanley Cup championship came in 1940-41 when
the Bruins swept the Red Wings in the finals after finishing first overall
during the regular season.
After missing the 1943-44 and 1944-45 seasons because of military
commitments during the Second World War, Frank stormed back into the NHL for
the 1945-46 season. The Dit
Clapper coached Bruins finished second overall in the six team league.
Brimsek played 34 games during the regular season, sharing duties with Paul
Bibeault.
In the 1945-46 Stanley Cup playoffs, Frank played in all ten
games for Boston. The Bruins fell to the Montreal Canadiens in the finals, winning
just one of the five games. The series was closer than it looked, though, with
three of the five games going to overtime to decide a victor.
His final year in the NHL was Frank’s only year not with the
Bruins. He played all 70 games for Chicago with five shutouts and a 3.49 goals
against average. The Charlie
Conacher coached Blackhawks finished last in the six team league, six
points behind the fifth place Bruins. It was the only year during his NHL
career that Brimsek did not compete in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Frank was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966,
along with eight others. The group included hockey greats Max Bentley, Toe
Blake, Emile Bouchard, Ted Kennedy, Elmer Lach, Ted Lindsay, Ken Reardon and Babe
Pratt. Brimsek was inducted into the U.S.A. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973.
