1966-67
OFF-SEASON
Two legendary defensemen elect to retire this off-season. 38 year old Bill Gadsby went out a champion as his final game was the night he won his first Stanley Cup. He endured some trying seasons during his 20 year career in Chicago but was a 3-time first team all-star. Gadsby played 1196 carer games and had 232 goals and 743 points in his career.
Red Kelly also retires at the age of 38 after a 20 year career that saw him play 1131 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Kelly had 192 goals and 885 points in his career. He won 2 Conn Smythe Trophy's as playoff MVP and hoisted the Stanley Cup on 7 occasions. Kelly was an 8-time first team all-star including this past season when he had 53 points in 67 games.
Newcomers joining the league this year include Brad Park, Dennis Hextall and Don Luce with the New York Rangers, Garry Unger and Rick Ley in Toronto along with Boston Bruins Gregg Sheppard and Tom Webster.
Chicago will be challenged right away in their Cup defense. The Hawks defense has lost it's top three from last year with the retirement of Bill Gadsby and now word that Pierre Pilote will miss the first month of the season with a knee injury. Doug Jarrett is also sidelined for most of the year due to an injury suffered in the playoffs.
REGULAR SEASON
Despite a number of injuries to their blueline the Chicago Black Hawks finished with the best regular season record for the second straight season. In addition to Pilote and Jarrett, the Hawks also lost rearguards Pat Stapleton and Wayne Hillman for an extended period. Chicago's offense, led by Bobby Hull's second straight Art Ross Trophy, was more than strong enough to make up for the injuries.
Montreal just managed to wrestle second place away from the Toronto Maple Leafs but it was a much different Canadiens team than fans were used to. No more Flying Frenchmen as the team that normally boasts a number of the league's top forwards actually had a defenseman- Jacques Laperriere (15-39-54) lead the team in scoring.
Jean Beliveau reached the 500 career goal plateau in a 4-2 Montreal win over Toronto on November 16th. It was one of just 16 goals Beliveau would score as his 53 points was his lowest total since he recorded 10 points in 1949-50 as an 18 year old rookie. Donnie Marshall, Gilles Tremblay, Henri Richard and Claude Provost also saw their production drop, and substantially so in some cases, while the next wave of young forwards like Bobby Rousseau (15-34-49) and Yvan Cournoyer (8-13-21) have not stepped up to fill the gap.
Boston's 18 year old rookie defenseman Bobby Orr played in 69 games this season and had 10 goals and 39 points. The highlight to Orr's campaign was a 4 assist, 5 point night in a 5-3 win over Chicago on March 7th.
Veteran Montreal blueliner Tom Johnson and Detroit's Gordie Howe each surpassed the 1250 game mark while Leafs netminder Terry Sawchuk became the first goalie to appear in 1200 regular season games.
Code:
GP W L T PTS
Chicago Black Hawks 70 39 17 14 92
Montreal Canadiens 70 34 23 13 81
Toronto Maple Leafs 70 33 23 14 80
Detroit Red Wings 70 27 29 14 68
New York Rangers 70 19 37 14 52
Boston Bruins 70 20 43 7 47
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Bobby Hull CHI 70 36 54 90
Stan Mikita CHI 63 21 64 85
Alex Delvecchio DET 70 21 58 79
Phil Esposito CHI 70 38 39 77
Frank Mahovlich TOR 70 36 38 74
Johnny Bucyk DET 70 27 45 72
Gordie Howe DET 70 25 46 71
Paul Henderson DET 67 42 26 68
Ron Stewart TOR 66 22 44 66
Norm Ullman NYR 70 28 36 64
PLAYOFFS
The Chicago Black Hawks, led by 12 points from Stan Mikita, beat the Montreal Canadiens in 5 games in their semi-final series. In the other series Detroit beat Toronto in 6 games with Johnny Bucyk emerging as the offensive hero for the Red Wings. The 31 year old had 12 points, including 11 assists, in the 6 games. Five of those assists came on goals from his linemate Gordie Howe, who at 39 years of age is playing the best hockey of his career.
For the first time since Boston and Detroit met in 1939-40 the Stanley Cup Finals would not involve a Canadian team.
First place Chicago would host the opening two games of the finals and the Hawks won them both, taking the opener 3-1 before winning 7-2 in Game Two. Bobby Hull scored twice and assisted on Phil Esposito's goal to account for the Chicago scoring in the opener while the third member of that line - Stan Mikita - assisted on all 3 goals. In Game Two the second line led the way as Ken Hodge and Eddie Shack each had 2 goals and 2 assists. The Game Two win came at a price as second line center Fred Stanfield suffered an injury in the second period that ended his season.
Back on friendly ice at The Olympia for Game Three, the Red Wings rebounded with a 5-1 victory. Bucyk, Alex Delvecchio and Gordie Howe each earned 2 points in the win while veteran goaltender Gump Worsley was outstanding for Detroit.
Gump Worsley was the difference in Game Four as he stopped all 29 shots he faced allowing Detroit to even the series with a 3-0 victory. Despite getting only 16 shots on Chicago's Eddie Johnston, the Wings got goals from Delvecchio, John Miszuk and Nick Libett.
Home ice would again be the charm as the Hawks took a 3 games to two lead after winning Game Five 5-2. Mikita had a goal and 2 assists to pace the Chicago offense with Esposito, Hull, Ted Hampson and Chico Maki also scoring for the Black Hawks.
Chicago hoisted the Stanley Cup for the second straight year as the Hawks earned a 5-3 victory on Detroit ice in Game Six to clinch the series. Bobby Hull had 2 goals and an assist in the final game as Chicago scored 4 times in the 3rd period to earn the win.
Stan Mikita had 2 more assists in the final game to finish the playoffs with 23 points on 6 goals and 17 helpers in 11 games. Detroit's Johnny Bucyk finished second with 17 points while Phil Esposito led all playoff performers with 8 goals.
It was the impressive work of Mikita that caused him to recognized with the Conn Smythe Trophy for the second straight year. In 22 playoff games the past two seasons Mikita has 44 points and has 90 points in 65 career postseason contests.
Other Award winners:
HART TROPHY: Bobby Hull Chicago (70GP 36-54-90)
VEZINA TROPHY: Eddie Johnston Chicago (30-12-11, 2.06)
Ends an amazing 14 year run by Jacques Plante.
NORRIS TROPHY: Pierre Pilote Chicago (58GP 15-36-51)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Bobby Hull Chicago (70GP 36-54-90)
CALDER TROPHY: Bobby Orr Boston (69GP 10-29-39)
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 Terry Sawchuk Toronto
D Pierre Pilote Chicago Harry Howell Detroit
D J Laperriere Montreal Pat Stapleton Chicago
C Stan Mikita Chicago Gordie Howe Detroit
LW Bobby Hull Chicago Johnny Bucyk Detroit
RW Alex Delvecchio Detroit Phil Esposito Chicago