1st Stanley Cup Playoff Action For The 1967 NHL Expansion Teams

For the 1967-68 hockey season, the National Hockey League added six expansion teams to double the number of teams in the league. Although the six new franchises were dismal, their odds of reaching the post-season were quite good. The NHL, in all their wisdom, created two divisions, the East and West. In the East, they placed all the existing ‘Original 6’ teams. In the West were all the expansion clubs. No matter their record, the top four in each division qualified for the playoffs.

That said, four of the six expansion teams, despite none having a .500 record, saw their first playoff action in their first year of existence. Because of the odd division setup, one of these four teams would get a chance to play in the Stanley Cup finals.

Here’s a little history into each of the six 1967 expansion team’s first experience with the Stanley Cup post-season, in no particular order.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins were slow out of the gate and did not qualify for the playoffs until their third year in the NHL. In 1969-70, Pittsburgh placed second in the West Division with just 64 points in 76 games, 26 points behind the division leader, the St. Louis Blues. During the regular season, the team was led offensively by Dean Prentice with just 51 points in 75 games. The Penguins were coached by Red Kelly.

Pittsburgh came up against the Oakland Seals in the quarter-finals and swept the series in four games. Oakland had finished the regular season fourth with 58 points. The Seals were tied in points with the Philadelphia Flyers but were awarded the final playoff spot on more wins. Two games were decided by just one goal and the fourth game went into overtime. In the semi-finals, the Penguins fell to St. Louis in six games.

In the post-season, Pittsburgh was led by Michel Briere. The rookie had five goals and eight points in ten games and was said by many to be on his way to super-stardom. Unfortunately, in the off-season, Briere was involved in a car accident that placed him in a coma. He died a year later.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings finished their inaugural NHL season with 72 points, placing second in the West, one point behind the Philadelphia Flyers. Another Red Kelly coached team, Los Angeles was led by Eddie Joyal during the regular season, contributing 57 points in 74 games.

Los Angeles came up against the Minnesota North Stars in the quarter-finals and the series went the full seven games. The Kings held a 3-2 lead in the series but Minnesota won game six in overtime then blew out the Kings in game seven, 9-4. L.A. was led offensively in the series by Lowell MacDonald and Doug Robinson who totalled seven points each.

The Kings would win their first playoff series the following year. In the 1968-69 Stanley Cup quarter-finals, Los Angeles beat their California Rivals, the Oakland Seals, in seven games to advance.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers were the first of the six 1967 expansion teams to capture the Stanley Cup, but that wouldn’t come until 1973-74. In 1967-68, Philadelphia qualified for the post-season, finishing first in the West with just 73 points in 74 games. The team was led by Lou Angotti with just 49 points in 70 games.

Philadelphia met the Blues in the quarter-finals with the series going the full seven games before St. Louis came out victorious. The Flyers were led offensively by Forbes Kennedy and Andre Lacroix with five points each. Philly would not win their first playoff series until 1972-73 when they beat the North Stars 4-2 in the quarter-finals.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues were the top expansion franchise right out of the gate, reaching the Stanley Cup finals in their first three years of existence. As mentioned earlier, the Blues beat the Flyers in their first playoff series, a quarter-final meeting that went the full seven games. St. Louis then took out Minnesota in seven games to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup finals. The Montreal Canadiens swept the Blues in four.

During the 1967-68 regular season, the Blues finished third in the West with 70 points, just three points out of first place. In regular season play, it was Red Berenson leading the way with 51 points in 55 games. In the playoffs, a Hockey Hall of Famer had his last kick at the can. Dickie Moore led the team with 14 points over 18 games.

Oakland Seals

The Oakland Seals played in the Stanley Cup playoffs just twice in an NHL existence that lasted from 1967-68 to just 1975-76. After that, the franchise moved to Ohio, where they became the Cleveland Barons for two years. Somewhere in the Dallas Stars bloodlines lie this ill-fated California team.

Their first series came in 1968-69 when they met the St. Louis Blues in the quarter-finals. The Seals extended the series to seven but couldn’t conquer the Blues. During the regular season, the Seals had their best year in their short history, finishing second in the West with 69 points. The team was led in the regular season by Ted Hampson with 75 points in 76 games. In the post season, it was Earl Ingarfield leading the way with ten points in seven games.

Oakland, later known as the California Golden Seals, would reach the post season on just one other occasion. In 1969-70, the Seals met the Pittsburgh Penguins in the quarter-finals. The Penguins made haste with a four game sweep.

Minnesota North Stars

The direct descendant of the modern day Dallas Stars, Minnesota clung to the fourth and final playoff spot in their first year with 69 points in 74 games. The North Stars were led during the regular season by Wayne Connelly with 56 points in 74 games.

Minnesota faced off against the Los Angeles Kings in the quarter-finals and took the full seven games to eliminate their foes. The North Stars then went another full seven games in the semi-finals before falling to the St. Louis Blues. In the post season, it was Bill Goldsworthy leading the way with 15 points in 14 games.

HC Innsbruck Retired Numbers

HC Innsbruck was established for the 1995-96 season. Die Haie (the Sharks) played in the elite Erste Bank Eishockey Liga from 2000-01 to 2008-09, before dropping back down to tier 2. After winning the tier 2 championship in 2011-12, Innsbruck returned to the EBEL. Previous to HC Innsbruck, Innsbrucker EV was the pro team in town.

Three retired numbers hang from the rafters at the Tiroler Wasserkraft Arena in Innsbruck, Austria. The venue opened in 2004 and seats 3,058. Two of the retired numbers belong to Canadian born players Greg Holst and Rem Murray. The third number belongs to long time Austrian National Team goaltender Claus Dalpiaz.

14 – Greg Holst

Holst played for Innsbrucker EV from 1978-79 to 1991-92, except for 1981-82, 1987-88 and 1988-89. The Canadian born player from Montreal also played internationally for Austria at IIHF World Championships in 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986. Greg’s totals in Austria are impressive with 533 games played, 501 goals socred and 478 assists for 979 points. It should be noted that those stats include regular season and playoffs.

Greg was involved with Austria’s National Team Program at the coaching level from 1997-98 to 2005-06. He was assistant coach for Austria at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Holst briefly coached HC Innsbruck for the last half of the 2008-09 season. In 2005-06, he was head coach for HC Villacher as the team won the national championship.

Greg Holst started out with two years playing for the University of New Brunswick in 1971-72 and 1972-73. He followed that up with a year of Major Junior A in the OHA (the current Ontario Hockey League) with the Kingston Canadians.

Before moving to Austria, Holst played four years of pro hockey in North America in the SPHL, IHL, AHL and NHL. At the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, Greg was an eighth round pick by the New York Rangers, 139^th overall. It was the Rangers that he played his eleven National Hockey League games for. The games were scattered over a three year span from 1975-76 to 1977-78.

Spending most of the 1975-76 season in the American Hockey League with the Providence Reds, Greg scored 37 and assisted on 44 for 81 points over 69 games. He was honoured with the Dudley ‘Red’ Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL’s rookie of the year.

17 – Rem Murray

Stratford, Ontario born Rem Murray played for HC Innsbruck in the EBEL in 2008-09. He then played two more years with the club in the tier 2 league, 2010-11 and 2011-12. In 2011-12, Murray led the league with 31 goals and helped the team to a championship and promotion back to the EBEL.

The Los Angeles Kings selected Murray in the sixth round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, 135^th overall, right out of the Junior B Stratford Cullitons. However, Rem chose to spend the next four years in the NCAA with Michigan State. When he finally made his way to the National Hockey League, it was not with the Kings.

Rem played pro hockey in North America from 1995-96 to 2005-06, mostly in the NHL but he also spent some time in the AHL. Murray played 560 regular season games in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and Nashville Predators, scoring 94 and assisting on 121 for 215 points. He also appeared in 62 Stanley Cup playoff games, adding 17 points.

Claus Dalpiaz – 31

Dalpiaz played goal in Austria and Germany from 1989-90 to 2010-11. He played for HC Innsbruck from 2000-01 to 2006-07 and was the team’s goaltending coach in 2011-12.

A mainstay on the Austrian National Team, Claus was on the roster for the 1994, 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympic Games. At the IIHF World Hockey Championships, Dalpiaz was on the team for an amazing 12 straight years from 1993 to 2004.

Claus is from Kufstein, Austria but carries dual Austria/Germany citizenship.

  

6 Hershey Bears To Win The Les Cunningham Award

In the American Hockey League, the Les Cunningham Award has been given each year to the league’s most valuable player since the 1947-48 season. The Hershey Bears, the league’s oldest franchise, have had six players win the Cunningham Award.

Red Sullivan 1953-54

George ‘Red’ Sullivan won the Cunningham Award in 1953-54. Sullivan played 69 games for the Bears, scoring 30 goals and adding 89 assists for 119 points. He was also awarded the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the AHL’s leading point getter. The 89 assists George contributed remain today as the Hershey Bears single season record.

Sullivan played with the Bears from 1949-50 to 1953-54, as a prospect of the National Hockey League’s Boston Bruins. George came to the Bruins system after playing junior with the OHA’s St. Catherines Teepees. He played sparingly in the NHL during that time but didn’t become a regular until the 1954-55 season, after being traded by the Bruins to the Chicago Blackhawks. In all, Red played 556 NHL regular season games between 1949-50 and 1960-61 with Boston, Chicago and the New York Rangers.

Mike Nykoluk – 1966-67

Mike Nykoluk became the next player from Hershey to win the Les Cunningham Award in 1966-67. In 72 games that season, Nukoluk scored 16 goals and assisted on 68 for a total of 84 points. Mike played with Hershey from 1958-59 to 1971-72. In all, he played 1,069 games in the AHL, totalling 881 points and was inducted to the AHL Hall of Fame in 2007. Mike appeared in 32 NHL games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1956-57.

Tim Tookey 1986-87

Another AHL Hall of Fame member was awarded the Cunningham in 1986-87. Tim Tookey scored 51 goals and added 73 assists for 124 points in 80 games for the Bears that season. The 124 points remains as a team record and was the highest total in the AHL, earning him the Sollenberger Trophy. Tookey was inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame in 2008.

Tim Tookey was a fifth round pick of the Washington Capitals in 1979 after playing junior with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. He played in 106 NHL games with Washington, the Quebec Nordiques, Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings. He played in 824 AHL games between 1980-81 and 1994-95, contributing 974 points.

Jean-Francois Labbe 1996-97

In 1996-97, Jean-Francois Labbe became the only Hershey goalie to be named AHL MVP. Labbe played in 66 games, posting a 2.52 goals against average and .914 save percentage. Jean-Francois led the Bears to a Calder Cup victory that season, as he would do with the Hartford Wolf Pack three years later. Over his career, Labbe appeared in 15 NHL games with the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets.

Alexandre Giroux 2008-09

Alexandre Giroux set the Hershey Bears single season record for most goals with 60 in 2008-09, while playing in just 69 games. His performance earned him the Cunningham Award. Giroux was a seventh round pick of the Ottawa Senators at the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. He has appeared in 48 NHL games at the time this article was written, with the New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, Edmonton Oilers and Columbus Blue Jackets. Alexandre has recently been playing in Switzerland’s National League A with Ambri-Piotta.

Keith Aucoin 2009-10

In 2009-10, Keith Aucoin scored 35 goals and added 71 assists for 106 points in 72 games and was awarded the Cunningham Award. To date, he has appeared in 769 AHL games, totalling 857 points. He has also played 145 games in the NHL with the Carolina Hurricanes, Washington Capitals, New York Islanders and St. Louis Blues. For 2014-15, Keith has joined Alexandre Giroux with Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland.