1964-65
OFF-SEASON
Ken Dryden highlights the list of new players entering the league. Joining the 16 year old goaltender in Montreal will be fellow 16 year old Mickey Redmond. Other players of note include Walt Tkaczuk and Syl Apps Jr in New York, Don Marcotte in Boston along with Jim Dorey and Brian Glennie with Toronto.
Goaltending great Harry Lumley retired after 911 career NHL games, although he had not played a game in either of the past two seasons. He retires second to only Terry Sawchuk in games played by a goaltender. Lumley spent two seasons as a backup in Detroit before getting a chance to play every day in Boston. His lifetime record on some bad Bruins teams was 297-472-118 with a 2.96 GAA. Lumley also played 71 postseason games, going 25-38-7. He appeared in three Stanley Cup finals - once with Detroit and twice for Boston - but was on the losing side each time.
Toronto's Bill Barilko has hung up his skates after 18 seasons and 6 Stanley Cups. The Conn Smythe Trophy winner in the 1956 playoffs, Barilko played 958 regular season games, scoring 113 goals and 519 points. Injuries limited him to 18 games with the Leafs last year.
Defenseman Jack 'Tex' Evans retired after 983 career NHL games with all but 52 of them for the Rangers. He had 186 points including 8 points last year when he suited up for Boston after 15 seasons with the Blueshirts.
REGULAR SEASON
This was a breakout year for the Chicago Black Hawks as they set a team record for points with 89 and finished in second place for the first time in the original six era. The Hawks excitement was severely tempered when Bobby Hull suffered a season-ending injury with 2 weeks remaining in the season, something that makes their chances of knocking off first place Montreal in the semi-finals even tougher.
The Hawks had steady goaltending from veteran netminder Eddie Johnston and a strong defense anchored by all-stars Bill Gadsby and Pierre Pilote but the real key to the Hawks was the league's best offense which really started to gel when second line centre Phil Esposito was shifted to right wing and placed on the top line alongside league scoring champ Stan Mikita and goal leader Bobby Hull.
A year after winning the Cup the Detroit Red Wings slumped to fifth and missed the playoffs altogether. The benefactor of the Wings troubles was the New York Rangers, who made the playoffs for the first time since 1950.
Despite the fact he lost the scoring race to Chicago's Mikita it was a big year for Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau. His 91 points this season allowed Beliveau to pull ahead of veteran Detroit winger Ted Lindsay and become the NHL's all-time scoring leader with 1,245 career regular season points. Beliveau and Detroit's Alex Delvecchio both joined the 1000 game club, boosting it's ranks to 13 skaters plus goaltender Terry Sawchuk.
Beliveau also had a 20 game point streak, passing his old mark of 19 set in 1960-61 as the second longest of all-time. The record which may never be broken is 44 set by Maurice Richard in 1943-44. Beliveau also tied the record for most assists in a game with 6 in Montreal's 6-1 win over Detroit on January 5th. The mark was originally set by Toronto's Bob Pulford in 1960, also in a game against Detroit.
In the same game Beliveau picked up 6 assists his linemate Claude Provost had 5 goals and an assist. The record for goals in a game is 7 set by Montreal's Dickie Moore 1957.
Code:
GP W L T PTS
Montreal Canadiens 70 44 17 9 97
Chicago Black Hawks 70 39 20 11 89
Toronto Maple Leafs 70 37 28 5 79
New York Rangers 70 25 29 16 66
Detroit Red Wings 70 22 35 13 57
Boston Bruins 70 13 51 6 32
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Stan Mikita CHI 70 33 71 104
Bobby Hull CHI 65 43 48 91
Jean Beliveau MON 70 36 55 91
Gilles Tremblay MON 63 28 53 81
Norm Ullman NYR 64 28 43 71
Frank Mahovlich TOR 69 39 29 68
Claude Provost MON 70 28 40 68
Alex Delvecchio DET 70 29 36 65
Ron Stewart TOR 69 27 37 64
Gordie Howe DET 70 26 37 63
Phil Esposito CHI 70 27 34 61
PLAYOFFS
The Chicago Black Hawks will be without league goal scoring leader Bobby Hull for their semi-final series with Montreal but the Canadiens will also be missing a key cog as veteran defenseman Doug Harvey was limited to just 11 games this season due to injury.
The series went back and forth with the team's alternating victories until Chicago broke that trend. After the Hawks evened things at 3 wins apiece with a 4-1 win on home ice in Game Six, Chicago earned a berth in the finals for the second time in 3 years with a 2-1 win in Game Seven. The hero was 29 year old Willie O'Ree, who was playing his first full season in the NHL at age 29 after a decade spent mostly in the minors. O'Ree scored on a pass from Pierre Pilote with 1:47 remaining in regulation to break the tie and give Chicago a 2-1 victory.
New York's first visit to the playoffs in well over a decade was a very short stay as the Rangers were swept in 4 straight by Toronto. Bob Nevin had 4 goals and 8 points in the four games while Frank Mahovlich, Parker MacDonald and Dave Keon also scored 4 times in a series that saw Toronto pump 21 goals past Rangers goaltender Glenn Hall.
Toronto took the Cup opener 3-1 before 18,472 hostile fans at the Chicago Stadium. Frank Mahovlich, Parker MacDonald and Eric Nesterenko were the Leaf goal scorers.
Chicago rebounded with a 3-1 win of their own in Game Two as Stan Mikita and Phil Esposito scored third period powerplay goals while Pierre Pilote and Floyd Smith each had 2 assists.
A trend was developing with another 3-1 score in Game Three, this time in favour of the hometown Maple Leafs. Bob Nevin, Dick Duff and Bob Pulford scored for Toronto while Phil Esposito had the lone Chicago goal.
Another Leaf victory but by a 3-0 score this time made the series 3 games to one in Toronto's favour. Terry Sawchuk was the story on this night as the Leafs netminder turned aside all 36 Black Hawks shots he faced. Toronto managed 28 on Eddie Johnston with Bobby Baun, Bob Nevin and Bob Pulford scoring.
The Leafs wrap up another Stanley Cup title with a 4-3 victory on the road in Game Five. Defenseman Tim Horton led the Leafs attack with a goal and 2 assists. Mahovlich, Pulford and Parker MacDonald also scored for Toronto with MacDonald snapping a 3-3 tie with the winner midway through the third period. Chico Maki, Fred Stanfield and Esposito responded for Chicago.
Tim Horton was presented the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after finishing the postseason with 1 goal and 11 points in 9 games. Leaf winger Bob Nevin led the playoffs in points with 13 and tied for the goal scoring lead at 6 with teammates Bob Pulford, Frank Mahovlich and Parker MacDonald.
Other Award winners:
HART TROPHY: Stan Mikita Chicago (70GP 33-71-104)
VEZINA TROPHY: Jacques Plante Montreal (44-17-9, 2.25)
NORRIS TROPHY: Pierre Pilote Chicago (69GP 12-49-61)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Stan Mikita Chicago (70GP 33-71-104)
CALDER TROPHY: Fred Stanfield Chicago (68GP 14-17-31)
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 Terry Sawchuk Toronto Jacques Plante Montreal
D Pierre Pilote Chicago Red Kelly Toronto
D J Laperriere Montreal Bill Gadsby Chicago
C Stan Mikita Chicago Jean Beliveau Montreal
LW Bobby Hull Chicago Gilles Tremblay Montreal
RW Frank Mahovlich Toronto Claude Provost Montreal
Code:
CUP WINS BY TEAM ALL-TIME (sim plus pre-1931)
TEAM SIM ALLTIME
Toronto Maple Leafs 16 18
Montreal Canadiens 12 16
Boston Bruins 3 4
Detroit Red Wings 3 3
Ottawa Senators 0 3
New York Rangers 0 1
Montreal Maroons 0 1
Chicago Black Hawks 0 0