1935-36
Another first place finish for the mighty Boston Bruins, a team that has not missed the playoffs since the league's first year in 1917-18. The Bruins have retooled their roster a fair bit over the last few seasons but continue to win. Boston's newest star is 26 year old winger Neil Frank. A former first overall pick in the CJHL draft by Peterborough and then a first overall pick in the NHL draft by Toronto, Frank bounced around the American Hockey League before being signed by Boston 2 years ago. After a 55 point season that earned him NHL rookie of the year honours last season the 26 year old led the Bruins this year with 83 points.
The only young player considered to be better than Frank right now is Toronto's Chris Maxwell. Despite just turning 25 Maxwell is already a 5 year veteran of the NHL and enjoyed a career season with 93 points including a record 53 goals. However, it was not enough to help the Leafs into the playoffs.
Speaking of the playoffs, the Montreal Maroons took care of Boston in 6 games to reach the finals where they faced off with the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks needed an overtime goal from Micheal Fillion in game seven to beat Detroit in the other semi-final. The finals also went the full seven games and the Hawks needed a win in game six and then an overtime goal in the 7th game from Christian Valente to claim their second Stanley Cup title in franchise history.
Code:
1935-36 STANDINGS W L T PTS
Boston 40 25 13 93
Detroit 39 29 10 88
Chicago 37 30 11 85
Mon Maroons 36 29 13 85
NY Americans 31 32 15 77
Toronto 28 34 16 72
Mon Canadiens 26 39 13 65
NY Rangers 22 41 15 59
SCORING LEADERS TM G A PTS
Anton Kazanski CHI 35 62 97
Chris Maxwell TOR 52 41 93
Christian Valente CHI 41 50 91
Nicolas Cloutier NYA 29 56 85
Neil Frank BOS 31 52 83
Andy Krueckl BOS 25 57 82
Jeff Brace NYA 29 50 79
Mason Menegakis TOR 28 50 78
AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
The Quebec Aces finished 4th in the regular season but beat first place Buffalo and second place Providence in the playoffs to win the Calder Cup for the second time in 3 years.
CANADIAN JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
The Quebec Remparts won the Memorial Cup by sweeping the Windsor Spitfires in the finals. The Remparts were led by 17 year old winger Chad Sumi, who led the CJHL in goals with 50. The points leader was another 17 year old in Sudbury's Lenny Larson, who had 48 goals and 53 assists for 101 points.
Larson would be selected 7th overall by Detroit in the NHL entry draft while Sumi would last until the end of the second round when the Boston Bruins selected him. The first overall pick was smooth-skating Ottawa 67s defenseman Bill Schneekloth (19-64-83) by the New York Rangers.