1971-72
OFF-SEASON
Some big names join the league this season led by Guy Lafleur and Larry Robinson in Montreal. Others include Detroit adding Marcel Dionne, Rick Martin and Craig Ramsay join Buffalo while Terry O'Reilly debuts in the Boston system.
After 1094 career games defenseman Bobby Baun has decided to retire at the age of 34. Baun played 78 games for Minnesota last season, his 4th with the Stars, and had 5 goals and 20 points. He joined Minnesota in the expansion draft after 12 years with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Baun had 83 goals and 280 points in a career that included two Stanley Cup titles.
Another long-time Leaf in winger Dick Duff has also retired. The 35 year old Duff had 40 points for expansion Vancouver this year after playing 15 years with the Leafs. In 841 games the often-injured Duff had 191 goals and 617 points. He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1955-56 and was on a pair of Cup winning Toronto teams.
After a disappointing carere Vic Hadfield also retired. Just 30 years old Hadfield was stuck in the Chicago minor league system until expansion when he joined the Los Angeles Kings. Last year he had a career high 22 goals and 43 points. In three season spanning 224 games, Hadfield had 48 goals and 91 points.
The only off-season trade of note saw Philadelphia deal 21 year old Dave Schultz to Vancouver for 2 other minor leaguers.
REGULAR SEASON
The Chicago Black Hawks established a new regular season record with an amazing 135 points. Chicago also set the mark for wins in a season with 65. The Hawks were again led by a healthy Stan Mikita, who led the league with 149 points after missing half of the previous season with an injury. The big line did miss Phil Esposito for 5 weeks but he still managed to score 39 goals in 62 games. Bobby Hull played all 78 regular season games and his 63 goals were 3 shy of the record he set in 1968-69. Hull did suffer an injury in the final game of the season and is expected to miss the first round of the playoffs.
While the West Division was all Chicago, the East featured a tremendous playoff race that ended with just 2 points seperating first from fourth place. The Boston Bruins finished in first place for the first time since 1942-43 and they did so without Bobby Orr for the last two months of the season. Orr, who had 54 points in 55 games before suffering a shoulder injury, is expected to miss the entire post-season.
Alex Delvecchio became the first player in history to surpass the 1500 game mark. With 33 goals and 104 points in 78 games this year, the 39 year old ends the season with 1560 career games and he also leads in career goals with 606 having surpassed Jean Beliveau's total of 598. Beliveau had 40 points including 17 goals this season at the age of 40. Beliveau continues to lead in career points with 1,598 while Delvecchio is second at 1,587.
Montreal defenseman Carol Vadnais established a record for penalty minutes after picking up 465 this season. , breaking Pat Quinn's mark of 443. Vancouver's Dave 'The Hammer' Schultz had a huge year for penalty minutes as well, earning 441 minutes in the sin bin.
Chicago's Eddie Johnston had another dominant season between the pipes, winning a league high 53 games while also leading the league in save percentage and goals against average.
Code:
EAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Boston Bruins 78 56 16 6 118
Montreal Canadiens 78 56 17 5 117
Toronto Maple Leafs 78 54 16 8 116
New York Rangers 78 52 14 12 116
Detroit Red Wings 78 49 23 6 104
Buffalo Sabres 78 19 43 16 54
Vancouver Canucks 78 19 48 11 49
WEST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Chicago Black Hawks 78 65 8 5 135
Philadelphia Flyers 78 29 41 8 66
Los Angeles Kings 78 22 49 7 51
Minnesota North Stars 78 20 47 11 51
California Golden Seals 78 15 51 12 42
St Louis Blues 78 15 55 8 38
Pittsburgh Penguins 78 13 56 9 35
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Stan Mikita CHI 75 47 102 149
Bobby Hull CHI 78 63 64 127
Yvan Cournoyer MON 78 54 65 119
Alex Delvecchio DET 78 33 71 104
Pete Mahovlich DET 78 42 61 103
Brad Park NYR 78 31 71 102
Don Marcotte BOS 78 37 64 101
Carol Vadnais MON 78 23 76 99
Derek Sanderson BOS 78 46 45 91
Nick Libett DET 78 35 55 90
PLAYOFFS
Even without Bobby Hull the Chicago Black Hawks had little trouble with Minnesota in the opening round of the playoffs as the Hawks won 4 straight. Phil Esposito (3G 4A) and Ken Hodge (2G 3A) picked up the slack offensively for Chicago in the Golden Jet's absence.
The other West Division quarterfinal series was an outstanding battle between Los Angeles and Philadelphia with the Kings needing an overtime goal from Red Berenson in Game Seven to advance. Berenson had a tremendous series, earning 10 points to lead the Kings.
The Boston Bruins knocked off the New York Rangers in 5 games despite missing Bobby Orr. Bernie Parent was the difference in the series as the Bruins netminder had a pair of shutouts and a 1.60 GAA in the series.
Goaltending was also the difference for Montreal as Tony Esposito backstopped the defending Cup champion Canadiens to a 6 game win over Toronto. 23 year old Jude Drouin had 4 goals for the Habs in the series including a pair of game winners.
The playoff format was changed slightly this year so the division's would cross-over for the semi-finals meaning Boston would play Los Angeles while Montreal and Chicago would stage a rematch of last year's finals a round early.
Bernie Parent had another shutout and continued his strong play as the Bruins swept the Kings 4 straight. Chicago beat Montreal in 5 games in the other series as Bobby Hull made a dramatic return, getting a goal and an assist in Game Four before earning 4 assists in a 5-3 series clinching victory in Game Five. Phil Esposito scored 3 times in that game while Stan Mikita continues to lead the league in playoff scoring with 14 points after 9 games.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
This marks the first time Boston and Chicago have ever met in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Bruins, who won 3 Cups (1940,42,45) are in the finals for the first time since 1959-60. Chicago makes it's 8th straight finals appearance with 4 wins in the previous 7 years.
Game One at the Boston Garden needs overtime to determine a winner and it is Bobby Hull who provides the heroics for the visiting Black Hawks. Hull had 2 goals and an assist in the game. Boston's Jean Pronovost also had a 3-point night.
The Hawks beat Bernie Parent 3 times in the first period as Doug Jarrett, Terry Harper and Ken Hodge light the lamp. That is all Eddie Johnston and the Chicago defense need as they outshoot the Bruins 33-23 and win the game 3-1. Bill Goldsworthy broke the shutout with Boston's only goal late in the third period.
Boston rebounds on the road with a 3-1 victory of their own. Parent makes 31 saves while the Bruins get goals from Derek Sanderson, Dallas Smith and Don Marcotte. Phil Esposito scores the only Chicago goal.
Eddie Johnston fails to survive the first period as Boston pumps 5 goals past the Hawks netminder in the first 12 minutes of the game and then coasts to a 7-2 victory knotting the series at two wins apiece. The Bruins get goals from 7 different players with Rick Smith and Don Marcotte leading the way with 3 points each.
Boston wins it's third game in a row to go up 3 games to two in the series. Dallas Smith is the hero with the winner in overtime after Don Marcotte tied the game late in the third. Bobby Hull had both Chicago markers.
Game Six sees the Cup in the building as the Bruins look to clinch their first title since 1945. However, the Hawks have other ideas and ride first period goals from Pat Stapleton and Cliff Koroll to a 2-1 victory. Ross Lonsberry had the lone Bruin goal.
Game Seven winner take all starts in Chicago's favour quickly as rookie Gerry Pinder stakes the Hawks to a 1-0 lead just over 4 minutes into the game. However, before the first period is over the Bruins have a 2-1 lead thanks to goals from JP Parise and Jean Pronovost.
Bobby Hull evens things in the second with his 6th goal in 9 playoff games but the Bruins get third period goals from Bill Goldsworthy and Jim Harrison to win the game 4-2 and claim the Stanley Cup.
With a playoff leading 20 points including 16 assists Chicago defenseman is named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy despite being on the losing side. It is the third time Jarrett is named playoff MVP - a record.
Boston's offense is led by Jean Pronovost with 18 points and Derek Sanderson, who led all playoff performers with 10 goals in 16 games.
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Stan Mikita Chicago (75GP 47-102-149)
VEZINA TROPHY: Eddie Johnston Chicago (53-6-4, 1.41)
NORRIS TROPHY: Brad Park New York Rangers (78GP 31-71-102)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Stan Mikita Chicago (75GP 47-102-149)
CALDER TROPHY: Rick Martin Buffalo (75GP 36-34-70)
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 Bernie Parent Boston
D Carol Vadnais Montreal Doug Jarrett Chicago
D Brad Park NY Rangers Pat Stapleton Chicago
C Stan Mikita Chicago Pete Mahovlich Detroit
LW Bobby Hull Chicago Don Marcotte Boston
RW Yvan Cournoyer Montreal Alex Delvecchio Detroit