1969-70
OFF-SEASON
In what came as a shock to the hockey community 41 year old Gordie Howe has decided to retire. The Red Wing great was coming off a fantastic season that saw him score a career high 119 points. The past decade has been outstanding for Howe but a slow start that saw him languish on the Wings third or fourth line through most of his twenties means Howe will come no where near his real life accomplishments.
Howe leaves the game having played 1,414 career regular season contests, scoring 463 goals and 1,107 points. Howe failed to win a major award although he did lead the league in goals once in his career. He was a first team all-star at centre twice in his career and named to the second team behind Jean Beliveau on numerous ocassions. He was a part of 3 Stanley Cup winning teams in Detroit and had 111 points in 176 playoff games.
Jacques Plante also decided to go out as a Stanley Cup winner as the 40 year old goaltender announced his retirement over the off-season. Plante won 9 Stanley Cups and an amazing 14 straight Vezina Trophy's. He played 1,195 career games and is the all time leader in wins with an 804-237-140 record. He is also the career leader with 194 shutouts and has a lifetime GAA of 1.90.
Legendary defenseman Tom Johnson also retired at the age of 41. A 4-time Norris Trophy winner and 2 time Conn Smythe winner Johnson spent most of his career with Montreal, helping the Habs to 9 Stanley Cups, before moving to the expansion Pittsburgh Penguins two years ago. He played 1,455 regular season games and collected 802 points in his career.
There are a few big names coming in to replace them this year. The top one is Bobby Clark as a 19 year old to Philadelphia while the Los Angeles Kings get 19 year old Butch Goring. Other newcomers include Marc Tardiff and Bob Murdoch to Montreal, Ivan Boldirev to Boston, Andre Dupont to the Rangers and Ron Stackhouse to Oakland. While they don't get Moose Dupont the Flyers do get a pair of key pieces for their Broadsteet Bullies era as Dave Schultz and Don Saleski enter the game.
REGULAR SEASON
Another dominant year for the East Division in general and the Chicago Black Hawks in particular. Stan Mikita fully recovered from the knee injury that derailed the Hawks bid for a fourth straight Stanley Cup title and that allowed him to lead the league in scoring for the 3rd year in a row. Mikita's 141 points were a drop off from last year's record setting total but he and linemate Bobby Hull, with 136 points, dominated the league.
The breakout player for Chicago this year was defenseman Doug Jarrett, who led all rearguards with 98 points despite missing 13 games. The 25 year old won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP 2 years ago and his confidence has soared since then.
The Montreal Canadiens had a terrible slide, going from Cup winners a year ago to missing the playoffs altogether and finishing last in the East Division. Injuries to defensemen Jacques Laperriere and Serge Savard hurt but the absence of the now-retired Jacques Plante was a key loss. Youngsters Tony Esposito and Ken Dryden split the goaltending duties but while both have great potential, they are each still young and have room to improve.
Boston was the benefactor of Montreal's slump as the Bruins made the playoffs for the first time since 1961-62. 23 year old Derek Sanderson led the Bruins in points with 90 while linemates Bill Goldsworthy and Don Marcotte also had strong years. Defenseman Bobby Orr (26-48-74) teamed with veteran Doug Mohns to give Boston one of the best D-pairings in the league.
Code:
EAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Chicago Black Hawks 76 57 7 12 126
Detroit Red Wings 76 51 16 9 111
Toronto Maple Leafs 76 48 17 11 107
Boston Bruins 76 48 22 6 102
New York Rangers 76 46 21 9 101
Montreal Canadiens 76 44 25 7 95
WEST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Los Angeles Kings 76 24 42 10 58
Pittsburgh Penguins 76 21 43 12 54
Minnesota North Stars 76 18 47 11 47
St Louis Blues 76 15 50 11 41
Philadelphia Flyers 76 15 52 9 39
Oakland Seals 76 10 55 11 31
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Stan Mikita CHI 76 45 96 141
Bobby Hull CHI 75 49 87 136
Alex Delvecchio DET 76 48 54 102
Frank Mahovlich TOR 76 47 54 101
Phil Esposito CHI 71 47 51 98
Doug Jarrett CHI 63 24 74 98
Derek Sanderson BOS 70 34 56 90
Fred Stanfield CHI 76 31 59 90
Yvan Cournoyer MON 76 45 41 86
Johnny Bucyk DET 72 28 58 86
PLAYOFFS
The Chicago Black Hawks made Boston's first playoff appearance in 8 years a short stay as the Hawks swept the Bruins in 4 straight games. The series was closer than it sounds as each game was decided by just 1 goal including 2 of them in overtime. Bobby Orr had 3 assists in his first taste of playoff action for the Bruins. Meanwhile, Phil Esposito scored 4 goals including 2 game winners in the series for Chicago.
The Hawks will face Minnesota in the semi-finals after the North Stars swept Pittsburgh 4 straight in the opening round. 32 year old centre Ed Hoekstra and 28 year old defenseman Lou Nanne each had 7 points in the series for the Stars.
The Detroit Red Wings knocked off Toronto in 6 games despite a first round leading 8 points from Leafs winger Bob Nevin. Alex Delvecchio, playing Pete Mahovlich as his centre instead of the now-retired Gordie Howe, led the way in goals in the opening round with 5.
Detroit's opponent in the semi-finals will be the Los Angeles Kings, who beat St Louis in 5 games. Kings goaltender Gerry Cheevers was the difference in the series, allowing just 6 goals against in the 5 games and posting a .953 save percentage.
As expected Chicago and Detroit easily won their semi-final series as both teams swept their West Division opponents. Detroit's Johnny Bucyk would head into the finals as the playoff scoring leader with 14 points including 5 goals. Linemate Alex Delvecchio was next with 12 points and a playoff high 9 goals.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
The playoffs are a rematch of the final year of the original six when Chicago beat Detroit to win it's second straight Cup in 1966-67. This is only the third time in sim history that the finals featured two American teams. 1967 featuring Chicago-Detroit and 1940 when Boston beat the Red Wings are the other two.
Game One featured plenty of offense as Chicago outscored the Red Wings 7-4. Hawks defenseman Gary Bergman had two goals while Phil Esposito had a goal and 3 assists. Stan Mikita and Ken Hodge each had a goal and 2 helpers for the winners. Johnny Bucyk led Detroit with 2 goals.
Detroit evened the series with a 3-1 win in Game Two as Red Wings netminder Jack Norris made 30 saves while defenseman Noel Price assisted on all 3 Detroit goals. Norris is an interesting story as the 27 year old took the starting job away from Don McLeod, who had been the Wings number one goaltender the past two seasons. McLeod also lost the backup role as Detroit brought back 40 year old Gump Worsley from Minnesota in the off-season. Norris was the real surprise as he bounced around the minors with several organizations for most of the decade before getting 2 NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers last year. The Flyers released him and he signed with Detroit and won the starting job - posting a 1.96 GAA in 59 appearances while posting a 39-13-6 regular season record.
Keith Magnuson's second goal of the game came shorthanded 4 minutes into overtime and lifted Chicago to a 3-2 win in Game Three. The Black Hawks outshot Detroit 39-23 in the contest and now lead the series two games to one.
After being kept fairly quiet the past two games, Chicago's big line explodes in a 7-2 Black Hawks victory in Game Four. Phil Esposito gets 3 goals, Stan Mikita a goal and 3 assists while Bobby Hull scored once and assisted on two others. After 6 goals and 41 Chicago shots Detroit netminder Norris was pulled from the game early in the third period.
Game Five was much tighter but the result was another Chicago Stanley Cup as the Hawks won 3-2 to take the series in 5 games. Bill Hicke got the game winner with 3 minutes remaining in regulation just over a minute after Paul Henderson had tied the series for Detroit. All-World Chicago defenseman Doug Jarrett assisted on all 3 Hawks goals giving the 26 year old 13 points in 11 playoff games.
For his efforts Jarrett was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy for the second time in 3 years. An argument could be made that Phil Esposito, with a playoff high 10 goals and 18 points should receive the award. Alex Delvecchio of Detroit tied Esposito for the goal lead with 10 of his own but Detroit did play two more games than Esposito's Black Hawks.
Other Award winners:
HART TROPHY: Stan Mikita Chicago (76GP 45-96-141)
VEZINA TROPHY: Eddie Johnston Chicago (49-6-11, 1.62)
NORRIS TROPHY: Doug Jarrett Chicago (63GP 24-74-98)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Stan Mikita Chicago (76GP 45-96-141)
CALDER TROPHY: Bobby Clarke Philadelphia (76GP 6-44-50)
I would have given it to Jack Norris of Detroit, as the Red Wings goalie went 39-13-6 with a 1.96 GAA, a performance good enough to make my second all-star team.
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Eddie Johnston Chicago Jack Norris Detroit
D Doug Jarrett Chicago Bill White Toronto
D Bobby Orr Boston Brad Park NY Rangers
C Stan Mikita Chicago Derek Sanderson Boston
LW Bobby Hull Chicago Johnny Bucyk Detroit
RW Frank Mahovlich Toronto Phil Esposito Chicago