1945-46
OFF-SEASON
The big news this offseason is the addition of Gordie Howe to the Detroit Red Wings organization. The 17 year old is the highlight of this year's rookie crop that also includes Bill Barilko in Toronto, Cal Gardner with the Rangers and Leo Reise joining Chicago.
The only retirement of note is John Mariucci's decision to hang up the skates after 5 seasons with the Chicago Black Hawks. The defenseman played in 214 career games, scoring 10 goals and adding 39 assists.
No trades of any significance over the offseason. In the preseason I did see that Carl Liscombe had a 6 point game (4G 2A) in a 9-2 Detroit win over Toronto. Liscombe is best known in this sim for setting the single game record for goals (6) and points (9) in a Wings playoff win over Toronto a couple of years back.
REGULAR SEASON
Toronto's Syl Apps became just the third player in NHL history to reach the 600 point plateau. The veteran Toronto Maple Leaf pivot finished the season with 637 points. Charlie Conacher (788) and Dit Clapper (746), both still active, are 1-2 in career points.
The gap between the playoff clubs and have-nots Chicago and New York widened as neither the Hawks or Rangers managed to win 10 games on the season while the other 4 clubs were all well over .500. Montreal, led by Elmer Lach tying his own record with 87 points on the season, finished with the best regular season record for the third straight season.
Maurice Richard missed 6 games with an injury but still led the league with in goals with 37. In 4 seasons the Rocket has scored 141 regular season goals which already has him tied for 30th all-time in the NHL. Gordie Howe, still just 17 years old, spent the entire season in the minor leagues.
Code:
GP W L T PTS
Montreal Canadiens 50 31 11 8 70
Toronto Maple Leafs 50 29 15 6 64
Detroit Red Wings 50 29 17 4 62
Boston Bruins 50 27 20 3 57
Chicago Black Hawks 50 9 35 6 24
New York Rangers 50 8 35 7 23
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Elmer Lach MON 50 28 59 87
Sid Abel DET 50 32 47 79
Milt Schmidt BOS 49 33 35 68
Toe Blake MON 50 25 42 67
Roy Conacher BOS 49 19 44 63
Syl Apps TOR 50 21 39 60
Maurice Richard MON 44 37 21 58
Bobby Bauer BOS 50 20 37 57
Max Bentley CHI 47 21 35 56
Gus Bodnar TOR 50 20 35 55
PLAYOFFS
The Boston Bruins seem to love long playoff series and they had another 7 game semi-final with the Detroit Red Wings. The Bruins rallied to overcome a 3 games to one deficit, taking Game Six in overtime and winning the 7th game 5-3 thanks to a hat trick from Milt Schmidt. The Bruins have a habit of comeback wins over Detroit as they overcame a 3 games to none deficit in the semi-finals two years ago. Last season Boston was forced to a 7th game in both of their series wins including the finals over Montreal to claim their third Stanley Cup.
The other semi-final saw Montreal easily top Toronto in 5 games setting up a Boston-Montreal rematch.
Game One went to Montreal by a 3-2 score as Buddy O'Connor scored twice for the Habs and defenseman Glen Harmon assisted on all 3 Canadiens markers.
O'Connor was the star of Game Two as he scored again and added a pair of helpers in a 4-2 Montreal victory. A 5th year pro, the 29 year old centre is normally overshadowed by the big guns Lach, Blake and Richard. O'Connor scored 11 times in the regular season this year and added 20 assists. He has 88 career regular season goals in 235 games with another 23 in 44 playoff contests.
Back on home ice the Bruins took a quick lead in Game Three when Herb Cain scored in the first period but Montreal evened the contest when O'Connor set up Wally Stanowski in the second period. The winning goal came off the stick of Montreal's Bob Fillion early in the third period and Turk Broda made that 2-1 lead stand up for the rest of the game
With their back against the wall, Boston got two goals from Cain including the overtime winner to stay alive in the series with a 4-3 victory.
There would be no miracle comeback this time as the Bruins went out meekly in Game Five, falling 6-1 in the Montreal Forum. Kenny Mosdell had a goal and 2 assists in the deciding contest while Rocket Richard added a pair of goals.
Roy Conacher led all playoff performers with 16 points, including 4 goals. His Boston teammate Bobby Bauer was the top goal scorer with 7 but the Conn Smythe Trophy went to Montreal defenseman Wally Stanowski. The 26 year old had 2 goals and 8 assists in 10 games and was dominant on the Canadiens defense logging extra minutes with Kenny Reardon and Butch Bouchard both sidelined for the entire playoffs.
Other Award winners:
HART TROPHY: Sid Abel Detroit (50 GP 32-47-79)
VEZINA TROPHY: Turk Broda Montreal (31-11-6, 2.34)
NORRIS TROPHY: Jack Stewart Detroit (50 GP,11-33-44)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Elmer Lach Montreal (50 GP 28-59-87)
CALDER TROPHY: Marty Pavelich Detroit (50 GP 8-18-26)
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 Turk Broda Montreal Chuck Rayner Detroit
D Ken Reardon Montreal Jack Crawford Boston
D Jack Stewart Detroit Wally Stanowski Montreal
C Sid Abel Detroit Elmer Lach Montreal
LW Toe Blake Montreal Roy Conacher Boston
RW Maurice Richard Montreal Bobby Bauer Boston