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History of the National Hockey League (1942–1967)
Encyclopedia
The Original Six
era of the National Hockey League (NHL) began in 1942 with the demise of the Brooklyn Americans
, reducing the NHL
to six teams. The NHL, comprising the Boston Bruins
, Chicago Black Hawks
, Detroit Red Wings
, Montreal Canadiens
, New York Rangers
and Toronto Maple Leafs
, remained stable for a quarter century. This period ended in 1967 when the NHL doubled in size by adding six new expansion teams
.
Maurice Richard
became the first player to score 50 goals in a season in 1944–45. In 1955, Richard was suspended for assaulting a linesman, leading to the Richard Riot
. Gordie Howe
made his debut in 1946. He retired 35 seasons later as the NHL's all-time leader in goals and points. Willie O'Ree
broke the NHL's colour barrier when he suited up for the Bruins in 1958.
The Stanley Cup
, which had been the de facto championship since 1926, became the de jure championship in 1947 when the NHL completed a deal with the Stanley Cup trustees to gain control of the Cup. It was a period of dynasties, as the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup nine times from 1942 onwards and the Canadiens ten times, including five consecutive titles between 1956 and 1960. However, the 1967 championship is the last Maple Leafs title to date.
The NHL continued to develop throughout the era. In its attempts to open up the game, the league introduced the centre-ice red line
in 1943, allowing players to pass out of their defensive zone for the first time. In 1959, Jacques Plante
became the first goaltender to regularly use a mask for protection. Off the ice, the business of hockey was changing as well. The first amateur draft
was held in 1963 as part of efforts to balance talent distribution within the league. The National Hockey League Players Association was formed in 1967, ten years after Ted Lindsay
's attempts at unionization failed.
The Great Depression
and World War II
had a detrimental impact on the NHL in the 1930s and early 1940s. The league peaked at ten teams between 1926 and 1931; however financial pressures led to the demise of several teams. The Pittsburgh Pirates
relocated to become the Philadelphia Quakers
in 1930 before folding in 1931. The Ottawa Senators
became the St. Louis Eagles
in 1934, and likewise ceased operations after one year in their new market. The Montreal Maroons
suspended operations in 1937 as the Montreal market was unable to support two teams. The New York Americans, renamed the Brooklyn Americans
, suspended operations in 1942, citing financial difficulty and a lack of players due to the war. By the 1942–43 season
, the league was reduced to six teams.
There was also change at the top; in February 1943, league President Frank Calder
collapsed during a meeting, dying shortly after. Red Dutton
agreed to take over as president after receiving assurances from the league that the Brooklyn franchise he had operated would resume play after the war. When the other team owners reneged on this promise in 1946, Dutton resigned as league president. With Dutton's recommendation, Clarence Campbell
was named president of the NHL in 1946. He remained in that role until his retirement in 1977. Campbell's tenure matched the stability of the league. For the first 21 years of his presidency, the same six teams competed for the Stanley Cup and that period has been called the "golden age of hockey". The NHL featured increasingly intense rivalries coupled with rule innovations that opened up the game.
World War II had ravaged the rosters of many teams to such an extent that by the 1943–44 season, teams were battling each other for players. In need of a goaltender, The Bruins won a fight with the Canadiens over the services of Bert Gardiner
. Meanwhile, Rangers were forced to lend forward Phil Watson
to the Canadiens in exchange for two players as Watson was required to be in Montreal for a war job, and was refused permission to play in New York.
With only five returning players from the previous season, Rangers general manager Lester Patrick
suggested suspending his team's play for the duration of the war. Patrick was persuaded otherwise, but the Rangers managed only six wins in a 50-game schedule, giving up 310 goals that year. The Rangers were so desperate for players that 42-year old coach Frank Boucher
made a brief comeback, recording four goals and ten assists in 15 games. The Canadiens, on the other hand, dominated the league that season, finishing with a 38–5–7 record; five losses remains a league record for the fewest in one season while the Canadiens did not lose a game on home ice. Their 1944 Stanley Cup
victory was the team's first in 14 seasons. The Canadiens again dominated in 1944–45, finishing with a 38–8–4 record. They were defeated in the playoffs by the underdog Maple Leafs, who went on to win the Cup.
NHL teams had exclusively competed for the Stanley Cup following the 1926 demise of the Western Hockey League
. Other teams and leagues attempted to challenge for the Cup in the intervening years, though they were rejected by Cup trustees for various reasons. In 1947, the NHL reached an agreement with trustees P. D. Ross
and Cooper Smeaton
to grant control of the Cup to the National Hockey League (NHL), allowing the league to reject challenges from other leagues. The last such challenge came from the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League
in 1953, but was rejected as the AHL was not considered of equivalent calibre to the NHL, one of the conditions of the NHL's deal with trustees.
The Hockey Hall of Fame
was established in 1943 under the leadership of James T. Sutherland
, a former President of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association
(CAHA). The Hall of Fame was established as a joint venture between the NHL and the CAHA in Kingston, Ontario
, considered by Sutherland to be the birthplace of hockey. Originally called the "International Hockey Hall of Fame", its mandate was to honour great hockey players and to raise funds for a permanent location. The first eleven honoured members were inducted on April 30, 1945. It was not until 1961 that the Hockey Hall of Fame established a permanent home at Exhibition Place
in Toronto
.
The first official All-Star Game
took place at Maple Leaf Gardens
in Toronto on October 13, 1947 to raise money for the newly created NHL Pension Society. The NHL All-Stars defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–3 and raised C$
25,000 for the pension fund. The All-Star Game has since become an annual tradition.
" of Elmer Lach
, Toe Blake
and Maurice "Rocket" Richard
. In 1944–45, Lach, Richard and Blake finished first, second and third in the NHL's scoring race with 80, 73 and 67 points respectively. It was Richard who became the focus of the media and fans as he attempted to score 50 goals in a 50 game season
, a feat no other player had accomplished in league history. During that season, Richard set a single-game scoring record, scoring five goals and three assists, in a 9–1 victory over Detroit on December 28, 1944. By later scoring his 45th goal in his 42nd game, he broke Joe Malone's goal scoring record. Opposing teams did all they could to prevent him from reaching the 50-goal mark: he was slashed, elbowed and held as no team wanted to be known as the one that gave up the goal. Richard finally scored his 50th goal in Boston at 17:45 of the third period of Montreal's final game of the season. No other player scored 50 goals in 50 games until Mike Bossy
in 1980–81.
In March 1955, Richard was suspended for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs, after he received a match penalty for slashing Boston's Hal Laycoe
then punching a linesman who attempted to intervene. The suspension touched off a wave of anger towards Campbell, who was warned not to attend a scheduled game in Montreal after receiving numerous death threats, mainly from French-Canadians accusing him of anti-French bias. Campbell dismissed the warnings, and attended the March 17 game as planned. His presence at the game was perceived by many fans as a provocation and he was booed and pelted with eggs and fruit; an hour into the game, a fan lobbed a tear-gas bomb in Campbell's direction, and firefighters decided to clear the building. Fans leaving the Forum were met by a growing mob of angry demonstrators outside, who overwhelmed the 250 police officers on the scene, and rioted outside of the Forum. Seventy people were arrested, 37 people injured, fifty stores were looted and $100,000 in property damage was reported in the melee, which became known as l'affaire Richard, or the Richard Riot
.
The following day, Richard went on the Montreal radio and asked the fans to stop rioting and instead to support the Canadiens in the playoffs; he also said he would take his punishment and come back the following year to win the Cup. While the Canadiens were eliminated in the 1955 Stanley Cup Finals
, Richard led Montreal to the 1956 Stanley Cup. The incident highlighted the growing cultural gap between French Quebec and English Canada and the riot is often described as an early manifestation of Quebec's Quiet Revolution
. Campbell's decision to suspend Richard was widely supported by fans outside of Quebec. Some, including Detroit's Ted Lindsay
, said the suspension did not go far enough and argued that Richard, a man who had paid more fines than any other player in league history, should have been banned for life.
Richard became the first player to score 500 career goals on October 19, 1957. He retired in 1960 as an eight-time Stanley Cup champion, as well as the NHL's all-time leading scorer with 544 goals. In 1961, the league waived the customary three-year waiting period and Richard was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame
.
watched special television
feeds of Maple Leaf games in an attempt to determine whether it would be a suitable medium for broadcasting hockey games. Television already had its detractors within the NHL, especially in Campbell who declared it to be "the greatest menace of the entertainment world". In 1952, even though only 10% of Canadians owned a television set, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
(CBC) began televising games. On November 1, 1952, Hockey Night in Canada
was first broadcast on television, with Foster Hewitt
calling the action between the Leafs and Bruins at Maple Leaf Gardens
. The broadcasts quickly became the highest-rated show on Canadian television. The broadcast came three weeks after Montreal radio host René Lecavalier
presented a French-language telecast of the Montreal Canadiens' opener against Chicago, marking the beginning of La Soirée du hockey
which Radio-Canada, the French arm of the CBC, broadcast until 2004. On that same night, Danny Gallivan
made his debut as the English language play-by-play announcer for the Canadiens.
While Campbell feared televised hockey would cause people to stop attending games in person, Smythe felt the opposite. "There'll be thousands of people seeing hockey as played by the pros for the first time. They'll be sold on it because it's a great game, and they won't be satisfied to stay [at home] but will turn out to the rinks." CBS
first broadcast hockey games in the United States in the 1956–57 season as an experiment. Amazed with the initial popularity of the broadcasts, it inaugurated a 21-game package of games the following year. The NHL itself adapted to be viewer-friendly. In 1949, the league mandated that the ice surface be painted white to make the puck easier to see. In 1951, it required that the home team wear coloured jerseys, and the road team wear white so that each team was distinguishable on black and white television. For the same reason, teams began to paint the centre red line in a checkered pattern to set it apart from the solid blue lines.
In the 1951 Stanley Cup Finals
, the Maple Leafs defeated the Canadiens four games to one in the only final in NHL history when all games were decided in overtime. The Cup-winning goal was scored by Leafs' defenceman Bill Barilko
after he dashed in from his defensive position, despite an earlier warning from Smythe not to take unnecessary chances, and hammered the puck past Montreal goaltender Gerry McNeil
. The goal completed Toronto's fourth Stanley Cup championship in five seasons and made Barilko a national hero. Four months later, Barilko and a friend disappeared in Northern Ontario
, where they had flown out on a fishing trip. Barilko's disappearance became front page news across Canada, and a massive search failed to locate the missing plane. Barilko's remains were not found until 1962, the first year the Maple Leafs won the Cup since Barilko's overtime winner eleven years previous. Barilko's disappearance was immortalized 40 years later by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip
in their 1992 song "Fifty Mission Cap
".
By 1962, the disappearance of Bill Barilko and the Maple Leafs' subsequent failure to win the Stanley Cup had led fans in Toronto to believe a curse had been placed on the team. The Leafs won the 1962 championship shortly before Barilko's remains were discovered. They repeated as champions in 1963. In 1964, the Leafs again played for the Stanley Cup against the Red Wings. Trailing the series 3–2, Maple Leafs' defenceman Bobby Baun
suffered a broken ankle from a Gordie Howe
slap shot in the third period of game six. Despite the injury, Baun returned with his ankle taped up and scored the winning goal in overtime. Baun also played the seventh game as the Maple Leafs defeated the Red Wings to win their third consecutive title.
that the Legend of the Octopus
was created. Brothers Pete and Jerry Cusimano brought a dead octopus to the Detroit Olympia
for the fourth game of the finals. They reasoned that the eight tentacles of an octopus represented the eight wins required to win the Stanley Cup at the time. The Wings had already won seven consecutive playoff games, and they hoped that the octopus would inspire Detroit to an eighth victory. Detroit went on to defeat Montreal 3–0 and the tradition was born.
The Wings were led by Gordie Howe
. In 1943, Howe was invited to the Rangers player camp in Winnipeg
at the age of 15 but quickly became homesick and failed to make an impression on the Rangers coaches. The Red Wings invited him to their camp the next season where coach Jack Adams called him "the best prospect I've seen in 20 years." Two years later, Howe made his NHL debut for Detroit at the age of 18. On March 28, 1950, he was nearly killed during a playoff game against the Leafs. Howe mistimed an attempted check on Toronto's Ted Kennedy, causing him to slam into the boards head first. Howe was rushed to a hospital where doctors drilled a hole into his skull to relieve pressure on his brain. Despite fears that he would never play again, "Mr. Hockey" not only recovered to start the following season, he won his first of four consecutive scoring titles in 1950–51 and was 52 years old when he retired from professional hockey.
The Red Wings faced the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals in three consecutive seasons between 1954 and 1956. Detroit won the first two match-ups, however Montreal captured the 1956 Stanley Cup, ending one dynasty and starting another. The Canadiens won five consecutive championships between 1956 and 1960, a feat no other team has duplicated.
The Canadiens signed Jean Beliveau
, a prospect whose arrival in the NHL had been anticipated for years, in 1953. Beliveau had repeatedly refused to turn professional with Montreal, as his Quebec Senior Hockey League
team, the Quebec Aces
, matched any contract offer the Canadiens made. Montreal ultimately bought the entire league outright, along with the rights to all players, and turned it professional. Beliveau finally signed with Montreal for $105,000 over five years and a $20,000 bonus, an unprecedented contract for a rookie. Beliveau ultimately won ten Stanley Cups in Montreal.
Led by Richard and Beliveau, the 1950s Canadiens had so much offensive ability the NHL was forced to amend its rules to slow their offence down. The 1955–56 Canadiens frequently scored multiple goals during the same two-minute powerplay
. In one game against Boston, Beliveau scored three goals in 44 seconds on the same Bruins penalty. The league instituted a rule for the following season that permitted a player serving a minor penalty to return to the ice early if one goal was scored against his team.
joined the Bruins as an injury call-up for a game in Montreal. In doing so he became the first black
player in the NHL. O'Ree played only two games with the Bruins in the 1957–58 season. He returned to the NHL in 1960–61, playing another 43 games with Boston. Although he only played 45 NHL games, scoring four goals, it was enough for him to be labeled the "Jackie Robinson
of hockey".
O'Ree faced blatant racism from opponents throughout the season, remarking that "people just wanted a piece of me, maybe because they thought I was different, so I had to defend myself. I wasn't going to be run out of any rink." He faced racial slurs from fans when he played in Chicago, Detroit and New York, though the taunts were mostly absent in Montreal and Toronto. O'Ree was supported by his teammates and the fans in Boston. He stated that "they were mean to me in places like Detroit and New York, too. But never in Boston. I'll never forget how my teammates there—men like Johnny Bucyk
, Doug Mohns
, Charlie Burns
and Don McKenney
—took care of me. They accepted me totally. All of them had class." O'Ree was traded to Montreal in 1961 but was unable to crack the Canadiens' line-up. He played over 20 minor league seasons, twice winning the Western Hockey League
's scoring title, with the Los Angeles Blades
in 1964 and the San Diego Gulls
in 1969.
O'Ree's breakthrough came several years after another black player, Herb Carnegie
was denied the same opportunity. Playing junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey Association
's Toronto Rangers
in 1938–39, Carnegie was pulled aside by his coach during a practice: "See that man sitting in the blues? That's Conn Smythe, owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He says he'd take you tomorrow if he could turn you white." Stung by the comments, Carnegie resolved to excel at the game. He was offered a tryout with the Rangers in 1950, and a spot on their lowest minor league team. "They told me that if I signed with the Rangers and went to New Haven, I would make international headlines. I told them my family couldn't eat headlines. That was probably when the Rangers decided to forget about me."
and fashioned the Red Wings logo to resemble the Montreal team's logo. When he died in 1952, he passed his interests along to his sons. James D. Norris
was a co-owner of the Black Hawks along with Arthur Wirtz
, while his brother Bruce
inherited ownership of the Red Wings. James D. Norris was also the largest shareholder in Madison Square Garden
, giving him control over the Rangers.
The Black Hawks qualified for the playoffs only once between 1949 and 1957. The team's fortunes turned in 1958–59, following the acquisition of Ted Lindsay
and Glenn Hall
from Detroit. The Black Hawks made the playoffs, losing to Montreal in the semi-finals in 1959 and 1960 before capturing their first championship in 23 years in the 1961 Stanley Cup Finals
. This stood as the longest active cup drought in the NHL until the 2009-10 season
when Chicago won the cup.
The Hawks' resurgence in the 1960s led Norris and Wirtz to take advantage of their customers. Dubbed the "Chicken Wings" by fans, the Hawks were famous for fleecing their fans. Ticket sellers were arrested for scalping from the box office, while the team charged $9 for playoff tickets in 1965, $3 more than Detroit, Toronto or Montreal. The Hawks also refused to broadcast road playoff games in Chicago, preferring to charge fans to watch the games via closed-circuit television at Chicago Stadium
. Fans responded to the announcements by littering the ice and passing out leaflets urging a boycott of the team during Chicago's last regular season game in 1964–65.
introduced to his peers the idea of expanding the league to the American West Coast by adding two new teams for the 1964–65 season. His argument was based around concerns that the Western Hockey League intended to operate as a major league in the near future. He also hoped that teams on the west coast would make the league truly national, and improve the chances of returning to television in the United States as the NHL had lost its deal with CBS. While the governors did not agree to the proposal, the topic of expansion came up every time the owners met from then on out. In 1965, it was decided to expand by six teams, doubling the size of the NHL. San Francisco–Oakland and Vancouver were declared "acceptable cities" with Los Angeles and St. Louis as potential sites. Fourteen applications were received from across Canada and the United States, including four from Los Angeles.
In February 1966, the governors met and decided to award franchises to Los Angeles
, Minnesota
, Philadelphia
, Pittsburgh
, San Francisco and St. Louis. The league rejected bids from Baltimore, Buffalo and Vancouver. The six winning bids each paid $2 million for their franchises. St. Louis was awarded despite no bid being received. The league's decision to grant the city a team if a potential owner stepped forward was influenced by the Norris and Wirtz families, who owned the St. Louis Arena
.
Canadians were outraged that none of the expansion teams was awarded to Canada. Prime Minister
Lester B. Pearson
stated that "the NHL decision to expand only in the U.S. impinges on the sacred principles of all Canadians." Maple Leafs coach Punch Imlach
stated that Vancouver was "sold out" and that Toronto and Montreal did not want to share television revenue with another Canadian team. Leafs co-owner Stafford Smythe
put the blame on the city of Vancouver. Smythe had offered to build and operate an $8 million facility in the city's downtown area but a proposal to sell a $2.5 million section of land to Smythe for $1 was defeated in a municipal referendum. "Vancouver lost its chance the day it turned down the referendum on our arena proposal", Smythe said. "That proved to me that the people out there aren't interested in going major league."
The Original Six era ended with the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals
between the two-time defending champion Canadiens, and the Maple Leafs. The oldest team in the league, the third place Leafs were led in goal by 37-year old Terry Sawchuk
and 42-year old Johnny Bower
. Known as the "over the hill gang", Toronto became the oldest team to win the Cup by defeating the favoured Canadiens in six games. The Maple Leafs have not appeared in the Stanley Cup finals since.
, league president Frank Calder
abolished the 10-minute overtime
for regular season games in 1942 so that teams could catch their trains without delays. Regular season overtime did not return with the conclusion of the war, though playoff games continued until a winner was decided. Overtime was not re-introduced for the regular season until the 1983–84 season.
In 1943, the rules committee was looking for ways to increase the speed of the game and make it more entertaining. Rangers coach Frank Boucher
proposed that the neutral zone be divided by a centre red line
, and that teams be allowed to pass the puck out of the defensive zone into their half of the neutral zone. Previously, the league required that defensive players skate the puck out of their defensive zone, not permitting a pass across the blue line. Introduced in 1943–44, the new rule changed how the game was played. Where strong forechecking teams were previously able to pin their opponents in their own zone for minutes at a time, teams were able to create rushes up the ice by having defencemen pass to forwards across the blue line. Scoring increased 10% league-wide, and four of six teams topped 200 goals, the first teams to do so.
Stan Mikita
inadvertently introduced the curved blade to the hockey stick
in the early 1960s. Having cracked his blade during a practice and not wanting to go get another, Mikita shot the puck in anger. He noticed that the curve made by the crack caused the puck to behave differently. Mikita and Bobby Hull
experimented with heating and bending the blade of their sticks to create different curves. Mikita went on to win four Art Ross Trophies
as the NHL's leading scorer using a curved blade. He later said that he regretted the idea. "It's one of the worst inventions in hockey, because it eliminated the use of the backhand."
The NHL Amateur Draft
was first held on June 5, 1963 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel
in Montreal, Quebec. It was created by Campbell as a means to distribute talent on a more even basis. To that point, teams had sponsored junior
clubs directly, buying the rights to players on those teams. The first player selected in the 1963 draft was Garry Monahan
, a 16-year-old player with the St. Michaels Juveniles. Monahan remains the youngest player ever selected in an NHL draft. The Entry Draft system did not fully replace the sponsorship system until 1969.
Clint Benedict
was the first goaltender to wear facial protection, donning it in 1930 to protect a broken nose. He quickly abandoned his mask as its design interfered with his vision. Twenty-nine years later, Jacques Plante
made the goalie mask a permanent fixture in hockey. Plante began wearing a mask in practice in 1956 after twice suffering broken cheekbones on shots from his teammates during workouts. Montreal coach Toe Blake
refused to allow Plante to wear his mask in games. That changed on November 1, 1959 when Plante was struck in the face early in a game at Madison Square Garden
. As teams did not dress backup goaltenders during this time, the game was delayed 20 minutes while doctors frantically stitched Plante up. When Blake asked Plante if he was ready to return to play, Plante refused to return to the ice unless he was allowed to wear his mask. Blake was livid, but agreed only if Plante removed the mask when his face was healed. Wearing the mask, Plante led the Canadiens on an 18-game unbeaten streak. He finally removed the mask at Blake's urging and promptly lost the first game. Defeated, Blake relented. Plante's mask became a permanent fixture as he led the Canadiens to their fifth consecutive Stanley Cup. Other goalies followed Plante's lead soon after.
Despite not wearing a mask for most of his career, Terry Sawchuk
played goal crouched down so low that his shoulders nearly touched his knees, a technique which became known as the "gorilla crouch". Sawchuk relied on his ability to see the puck under the players' bodies, his increased mobility and his own reflexes to win four Vezina Trophies
during his career. By 1955, he was regarded as the greatest goaltender to ever play the game. Sawchuk's career was cut short when he died in 1970 from injuries suffered in a drunken incident with teammate Ron Stewart
. The Hall of Fame waived its waiting period, immediately inducting Sawchuk, who died as the NHL's all-time record holder in wins (447) and shutouts (103). Sawchuk's style of play was a precursor to the modern butterfly style
of goaltending.
The butterfly style, which is used by almost all modern goaltenders, was invented by Glenn Hall
: considered both unique and foolish, Hall's style of dropping to his knees and kicking his pads out in a V formation forced shooters to aim for the top half of the net. Hall adopted the technique as a youth when he lacked the arm strength to stop shots with his stick. Hall, an eight-time All-Star, became an NHL regular at the start of the 1955–1956 season and began a sequence of 502 consecutive games as a goaltender for Detroit and Chicago, a record that has been hailed as one of the NHL's most unbreakable.
who had sat on the board of the NHL's Pension Society since 1952. Lindsay and his fellow players were upset by the league's refusal to let them view the books related to the pension fund. The league claimed that it was barely breaking even financially, and so could not contribute more than it did. Players on the Pension Committee suspected otherwise, leading Lindsay and Doug Harvey of the Canadiens to discussions on forming a union in 1956. The idea quickly gained popularity and when the union's founding was announced publicly, every NHL player had signed up with the exception of Ted Kennedy, who was retiring.
The owners immediately worked to crush the union. Toronto owner Conn Smythe
compared the players association to communism: "I feel that anything spawned in secrecy as this association was certainly has to have some odour to it." Red Wings president Bruce Norris
responded by trading Lindsay to his brother's team, the Black Hawks. The move was widely seen as punitive, as the Hawks had finished last in the NHL every season, save one, from 1949 until 1957. Lindsay was not the only player sent to Chicago as punishment; Glenn Hall was included as he refused to distance himself from Lindsay. In Toronto, Smythe repeatedly benched Jim Thomson, who was the union's secretary, before also dealing him to the Black Hawks. The Players' Association responded by filing a $3 million anti-trust
lawsuit against the NHL. Persuaded by teammates Gordie Howe
and Red Kelly
, the Red Wings players voted to withdraw from the association in November 1957. Other teams quickly followed, and the union capitulated. Union leadership ultimately agreed to drop the lawsuit in exchange for small concessions, which included a minimum annual salary of $7,000, increases to the pension contributions and moving expenses for traded players.
Led by Alan Eagleson
, the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) was formed in 1967. Eagleson became the sport's first player agent
in 1966 when he negotiated a deal on behalf of Bobby Orr
with the Bruins that saw the 18-year-old rookie become the highest paid player in the NHL. At its peak, Eagleson's practice represented 150 professional athletes. Eagleson had also helped settle an American Hockey League
players strike sparked by mistreatment of players. In June 1967, the NHLPA was announced, and quickly received acceptance from the owners.
File:NHL Timeline (1942-1967).PNG|
rect 0 34 710 50 Montreal Canadiens
rect 0 49 710 67 Toronto Maple Leafs
rect 0 66 710 84 Boston Bruins
rect 0 83 710 101 Chicago Black Hawks
rect 0 100 710 118 Detroit Red Wings
rect 0 117 710 134 New York Rangers
desc none
Notes
Original Six
The Original Six is a term for the group of six teams that composed the National Hockey League for the 25 seasons between the 1942–43 season and the 1967 NHL Expansion. These six teams are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and the...
era of the National Hockey League (NHL) began in 1942 with the demise of the Brooklyn Americans
New York Americans
The New York Americans were a professional ice hockey team based in New York, New York from 1925 to 1942. They were the third expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League and the second to play in the United States. The team never won the Stanley Cup, but reached the semifinals...
, reducing the NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
to six teams. The NHL, comprising the Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
, Chicago Black Hawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
, Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
, Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
, New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
and Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, remained stable for a quarter century. This period ended in 1967 when the NHL doubled in size by adding six new expansion teams
1967 NHL expansion
The National Hockey League undertook a major expansion for the 1967–68 season, adding six new franchises to double the size of the league. This marked the first change in the composition of the league since 1942, when the Brooklyn Americans folded. Thus, the expansion ended the era of the Original...
.
Maurice Richard
Maurice Richard
Joseph Henri Maurice "the Rocket" Richard, Sr., was a French-Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League from 1942 to 1960. The "Rocket" was the most prolific goal-scorer of his era, the first to achieve the feat of 50 goals in 50...
became the first player to score 50 goals in a season in 1944–45. In 1955, Richard was suspended for assaulting a linesman, leading to the Richard Riot
Richard Riot
The Richard Riot was a riot on March 17, 1955 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The riot was named after Maurice Richard, the star ice hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League...
. Gordie Howe
Gordie Howe
Gordon "Gordie" Howe, OC is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League , and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association . Howe is often referred to as Mr...
made his debut in 1946. He retired 35 seasons later as the NHL's all-time leader in goals and points. Willie O'Ree
Willie O'Ree
Willie Eldon O'Ree, OC, ONB is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, known best for being the first black player in the National Hockey League. O'Ree played as a winger for the Boston Bruins...
broke the NHL's colour barrier when he suited up for the Bruins in 1958.
The Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
, which had been the de facto championship since 1926, became the de jure championship in 1947 when the NHL completed a deal with the Stanley Cup trustees to gain control of the Cup. It was a period of dynasties, as the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup nine times from 1942 onwards and the Canadiens ten times, including five consecutive titles between 1956 and 1960. However, the 1967 championship is the last Maple Leafs title to date.
The NHL continued to develop throughout the era. In its attempts to open up the game, the league introduced the centre-ice red line
Hockey rink
An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a team sport. It is rectangular with rounded corners and surrounded by a wall approximately 40 inches high called the boards.- Name origins :...
in 1943, allowing players to pass out of their defensive zone for the first time. In 1959, Jacques Plante
Jacques Plante
Joseph Jacques Omer Plante was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. During a career lasting from 1947–1975, he was considered to be one of the most important innovators in hockey...
became the first goaltender to regularly use a mask for protection. Off the ice, the business of hockey was changing as well. The first amateur draft
NHL Entry Draft
The NHL Entry Draft is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League systematically select the rights to available amateur ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirements...
was held in 1963 as part of efforts to balance talent distribution within the league. The National Hockey League Players Association was formed in 1967, ten years after Ted Lindsay
Ted Lindsay
Robert Blake Theodore Lindsay is a former professional ice hockey player, a forward for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League . He scored over 800 points in his Hockey Hall of Fame career, won the Art Ross Trophy in 1950, and won the Stanley Cup four times...
's attempts at unionization failed.
Background
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
had a detrimental impact on the NHL in the 1930s and early 1940s. The league peaked at ten teams between 1926 and 1931; however financial pressures led to the demise of several teams. The Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL)
The Pittsburgh Pirates were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League , based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1925–26 to 1929–30. The nickname comes from the baseball team also based in the city...
relocated to become the Philadelphia Quakers
Philadelphia Quakers (NHL)
The Philadelphia Quakers were an American professional ice hockey team that played only one full season in the National Hockey League , 1930–31, at the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
in 1930 before folding in 1931. The Ottawa Senators
Ottawa Senators (original)
The Ottawa Senators were an amateur, and later, professional, ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934...
became the St. Louis Eagles
St. Louis Eagles
The St. Louis Eagles were a professional ice hockey team and a former member of the National Hockey League based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Eagles existed for only one year, playing in the 1934–35 NHL season....
in 1934, and likewise ceased operations after one year in their new market. The Montreal Maroons
Montreal Maroons
The Montreal Maroons was a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey League . They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935...
suspended operations in 1937 as the Montreal market was unable to support two teams. The New York Americans, renamed the Brooklyn Americans
New York Americans
The New York Americans were a professional ice hockey team based in New York, New York from 1925 to 1942. They were the third expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League and the second to play in the United States. The team never won the Stanley Cup, but reached the semifinals...
, suspended operations in 1942, citing financial difficulty and a lack of players due to the war. By the 1942–43 season
1942–43 NHL season
-NHL awards:-All-Star teams:-Scoring leaders:Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes-Leading goaltenders:...
, the league was reduced to six teams.
There was also change at the top; in February 1943, league President Frank Calder
Frank Calder
-External links:*...
collapsed during a meeting, dying shortly after. Red Dutton
Red Dutton
Norman Alexander "Mervyn" "Red" Dutton was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach and executive. He played for the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League and the Montreal Maroons and New York Americans of the National Hockey League...
agreed to take over as president after receiving assurances from the league that the Brooklyn franchise he had operated would resume play after the war. When the other team owners reneged on this promise in 1946, Dutton resigned as league president. With Dutton's recommendation, Clarence Campbell
Clarence Campbell
Clarence Sutherland Campbell OBE, QC was the third president of the National Hockey League from 1946 to 1977.-Early life and career:...
was named president of the NHL in 1946. He remained in that role until his retirement in 1977. Campbell's tenure matched the stability of the league. For the first 21 years of his presidency, the same six teams competed for the Stanley Cup and that period has been called the "golden age of hockey". The NHL featured increasingly intense rivalries coupled with rule innovations that opened up the game.
Post-war period
Bert Gardiner
Wilbert Homer Gardiner is a former professional ice hockey player who played 144 games in the National Hockey League. He played with the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers.-References:...
. Meanwhile, Rangers were forced to lend forward Phil Watson
Phil Watson
Henri Phillip Watson was a professional ice hockey player and coach in the NHL.-Coaching career:Soon after retiring as a player Phil Watson became a coach...
to the Canadiens in exchange for two players as Watson was required to be in Montreal for a war job, and was refused permission to play in New York.
With only five returning players from the previous season, Rangers general manager Lester Patrick
Lester Patrick
Curtis Lester "The Silver Fox" Patrick born in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, was a professional ice hockey player and coach associated with the Victoria Aristocrats/Cougars of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association , and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League...
suggested suspending his team's play for the duration of the war. Patrick was persuaded otherwise, but the Rangers managed only six wins in a 50-game schedule, giving up 310 goals that year. The Rangers were so desperate for players that 42-year old coach Frank Boucher
Frank Boucher
François-Xavier "Raffles" Boucher was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and executive. Boucher played the forward position for the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League and the Vancouver Maroons in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association...
made a brief comeback, recording four goals and ten assists in 15 games. The Canadiens, on the other hand, dominated the league that season, finishing with a 38–5–7 record; five losses remains a league record for the fewest in one season while the Canadiens did not lose a game on home ice. Their 1944 Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
victory was the team's first in 14 seasons. The Canadiens again dominated in 1944–45, finishing with a 38–8–4 record. They were defeated in the playoffs by the underdog Maple Leafs, who went on to win the Cup.
NHL teams had exclusively competed for the Stanley Cup following the 1926 demise of the Western Hockey League
Western Canada Hockey League
The Western Canada Hockey League , founded in 1921, was a major professional ice hockey league originally based in the prairies of Canada. It was renamed the Western Hockey League in 1925 and disbanded in 1926.-History:...
. Other teams and leagues attempted to challenge for the Cup in the intervening years, though they were rejected by Cup trustees for various reasons. In 1947, the NHL reached an agreement with trustees P. D. Ross
Philip Dansken Ross
Philip Dansken Ross was a Canadian journalist, newspaper publisher, sportsman and ice hockey pioneer builder....
and Cooper Smeaton
Cooper Smeaton
J. Cooper Smeaton was a Canadian professional ice hockey referee and head coach.Smeaton was born in Carleton Place, Ontario. In his first game in 1913, between the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers of the National Hockey Association, he was confronted by Newsy Lalonde after calling an...
to grant control of the Cup to the National Hockey League (NHL), allowing the league to reject challenges from other leagues. The last such challenge came from the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
in 1953, but was rejected as the AHL was not considered of equivalent calibre to the NHL, one of the conditions of the NHL's deal with trustees.
The Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
was established in 1943 under the leadership of James T. Sutherland
James T. Sutherland
James Thomas Sutherland was a Canadian ice hockey player, coach, administrator, and developer. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame....
, a former President of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association
Canadian Amateur Hockey Association
The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey play in Canada from 1914 until 1994 when it merged with the Canadian Hockey Association or Hockey Canada....
(CAHA). The Hall of Fame was established as a joint venture between the NHL and the CAHA in Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
, considered by Sutherland to be the birthplace of hockey. Originally called the "International Hockey Hall of Fame", its mandate was to honour great hockey players and to raise funds for a permanent location. The first eleven honoured members were inducted on April 30, 1945. It was not until 1961 that the Hockey Hall of Fame established a permanent home at Exhibition Place
Exhibition Place
Exhibition Place is a mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The 197–acre area includes expo, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, parkland, sports facilities, and a number of civic, provincial,...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
The first official All-Star Game
National Hockey League All-Star Game
The National Hockey League All-Star Game is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held at the midway point of the regular season of the National Hockey League , with many of the league's star players playing against each other...
took place at Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens is an indoor arena that was converted into a Loblawssupermarket and Ryerson University athletic centre in Toronto, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto's Garden District.One of the temples of hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the...
in Toronto on October 13, 1947 to raise money for the newly created NHL Pension Society. The NHL All-Stars defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–3 and raised C$
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
25,000 for the pension fund. The All-Star Game has since become an annual tradition.
"Rocket" Richard
The 1940s Canadiens were led by the "Punch linePunch line (ice hockey)
The Punch line was a famous ice hockey line for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1940s. It consisted of Elmer Lach at center, Toe Blake on left wing, and Maurice Richard on the right side....
" of Elmer Lach
Elmer Lach
Elmer James Lach is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played 14 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League. He was part of the Punch line, along with Maurice Richard and Toe Blake. He led the league in scoring twice, and was awarded the Hart Memorial...
, Toe Blake
Toe Blake
Hector "Toe" Blake, CM was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach in the National Hockey League .-Nickname:His nickname came out of his childhood for his younger sister was unable to pronounce his name...
and Maurice "Rocket" Richard
Maurice Richard
Joseph Henri Maurice "the Rocket" Richard, Sr., was a French-Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League from 1942 to 1960. The "Rocket" was the most prolific goal-scorer of his era, the first to achieve the feat of 50 goals in 50...
. In 1944–45, Lach, Richard and Blake finished first, second and third in the NHL's scoring race with 80, 73 and 67 points respectively. It was Richard who became the focus of the media and fans as he attempted to score 50 goals in a 50 game season
50 goals in 50 games
"50 goals in 50 games" refers to the act of scoring 50 goals in the first 50 games of a National Hockey League season. Scoring fifty goals in fifty games in the NHL is a rare achievement....
, a feat no other player had accomplished in league history. During that season, Richard set a single-game scoring record, scoring five goals and three assists, in a 9–1 victory over Detroit on December 28, 1944. By later scoring his 45th goal in his 42nd game, he broke Joe Malone's goal scoring record. Opposing teams did all they could to prevent him from reaching the 50-goal mark: he was slashed, elbowed and held as no team wanted to be known as the one that gave up the goal. Richard finally scored his 50th goal in Boston at 17:45 of the third period of Montreal's final game of the season. No other player scored 50 goals in 50 games until Mike Bossy
Mike Bossy
Michael Dean Bossy is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Islanders for his entire career and was part of their four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions in the early 1980s...
in 1980–81.
Hal Laycoe
Harold Richardson Laycoe was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman.Laycoe started his National Hockey League career with the New York Rangers. He would also play with the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. His playing career lasted from 1945 to 1956...
then punching a linesman who attempted to intervene. The suspension touched off a wave of anger towards Campbell, who was warned not to attend a scheduled game in Montreal after receiving numerous death threats, mainly from French-Canadians accusing him of anti-French bias. Campbell dismissed the warnings, and attended the March 17 game as planned. His presence at the game was perceived by many fans as a provocation and he was booed and pelted with eggs and fruit; an hour into the game, a fan lobbed a tear-gas bomb in Campbell's direction, and firefighters decided to clear the building. Fans leaving the Forum were met by a growing mob of angry demonstrators outside, who overwhelmed the 250 police officers on the scene, and rioted outside of the Forum. Seventy people were arrested, 37 people injured, fifty stores were looted and $100,000 in property damage was reported in the melee, which became known as l'affaire Richard, or the Richard Riot
Richard Riot
The Richard Riot was a riot on March 17, 1955 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The riot was named after Maurice Richard, the star ice hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League...
.
The following day, Richard went on the Montreal radio and asked the fans to stop rioting and instead to support the Canadiens in the playoffs; he also said he would take his punishment and come back the following year to win the Cup. While the Canadiens were eliminated in the 1955 Stanley Cup Finals
1955 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1955 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Montreal Canadiens, appearing in their fifth of ten straight Finals and the defending champion Detroit Red Wings, in the fourth Detroit-Montreal Final series of the 1950s and the second consecutively. The Wings would win the...
, Richard led Montreal to the 1956 Stanley Cup. The incident highlighted the growing cultural gap between French Quebec and English Canada and the riot is often described as an early manifestation of Quebec's Quiet Revolution
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution was the 1960s period of intense change in Quebec, Canada, characterized by the rapid and effective secularization of society, the creation of a welfare state and a re-alignment of politics into federalist and separatist factions...
. Campbell's decision to suspend Richard was widely supported by fans outside of Quebec. Some, including Detroit's Ted Lindsay
Ted Lindsay
Robert Blake Theodore Lindsay is a former professional ice hockey player, a forward for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League . He scored over 800 points in his Hockey Hall of Fame career, won the Art Ross Trophy in 1950, and won the Stanley Cup four times...
, said the suspension did not go far enough and argued that Richard, a man who had paid more fines than any other player in league history, should have been banned for life.
Richard became the first player to score 500 career goals on October 19, 1957. He retired in 1960 as an eight-time Stanley Cup champion, as well as the NHL's all-time leading scorer with 544 goals. In 1961, the league waived the customary three-year waiting period and Richard was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
.
Hockey Night in Canada
In the fall of 1951, Conn SmytheConn Smythe
Constantine Falkland Cary Smythe MC was a Canadian businessman, soldier and sportsman in ice hockey and horse racing. He is best known as the principal owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League from 1927 to 1961 and as the builder of Maple Leaf Gardens...
watched special television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
feeds of Maple Leaf games in an attempt to determine whether it would be a suitable medium for broadcasting hockey games. Television already had its detractors within the NHL, especially in Campbell who declared it to be "the greatest menace of the entertainment world". In 1952, even though only 10% of Canadians owned a television set, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
(CBC) began televising games. On November 1, 1952, Hockey Night in Canada
Hockey Night in Canada
Hockey Night in Canada is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the National Hockey League...
was first broadcast on television, with Foster Hewitt
Foster Hewitt
Foster William Hewitt, OC was a Canadian radio broadcaster most famous for his play-by-play calls for Hockey Night in Canada. He was the son of W. A. Hewitt, and the father of Bill Hewitt.-Early life and career:...
calling the action between the Leafs and Bruins at Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens is an indoor arena that was converted into a Loblawssupermarket and Ryerson University athletic centre in Toronto, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto's Garden District.One of the temples of hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the...
. The broadcasts quickly became the highest-rated show on Canadian television. The broadcast came three weeks after Montreal radio host René Lecavalier
René Lecavalier
René Lecavalier, OC, CQ was a Canadian French language radio show host and sportscaster on SRC in Quebec. During his career in radio Lecavalier won several Radiomonde Trophies. He was also the first commentator for La Soirée du hockey, the French language version of Hockey Night in Canada...
presented a French-language telecast of the Montreal Canadiens' opener against Chicago, marking the beginning of La Soirée du hockey
La Soirée du hockey
La Soirée du hockey was a popular ice hockey show in Quebec. It was the French language SRC equivalent of the English Canadian CBC show Hockey Night in Canada...
which Radio-Canada, the French arm of the CBC, broadcast until 2004. On that same night, Danny Gallivan
Danny Gallivan
Danny Gallivan was a Canadian radio and television broadcaster and sportscaster.-Early life and career:Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Gallivan began his broadcast career at a local radio station in Antigonish, Nova Scotia while attending St. Francis Xavier University...
made his debut as the English language play-by-play announcer for the Canadiens.
While Campbell feared televised hockey would cause people to stop attending games in person, Smythe felt the opposite. "There'll be thousands of people seeing hockey as played by the pros for the first time. They'll be sold on it because it's a great game, and they won't be satisfied to stay [at home] but will turn out to the rinks." CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
first broadcast hockey games in the United States in the 1956–57 season as an experiment. Amazed with the initial popularity of the broadcasts, it inaugurated a 21-game package of games the following year. The NHL itself adapted to be viewer-friendly. In 1949, the league mandated that the ice surface be painted white to make the puck easier to see. In 1951, it required that the home team wear coloured jerseys, and the road team wear white so that each team was distinguishable on black and white television. For the same reason, teams began to paint the centre red line in a checkered pattern to set it apart from the solid blue lines.
Toronto Maple Leafs
1951 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1951 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. The Maple Leafs would win the series 4–1. It was the Toronto franchise's ninth Stanley Cup win and the last in a series of six wins starting in 1942...
, the Maple Leafs defeated the Canadiens four games to one in the only final in NHL history when all games were decided in overtime. The Cup-winning goal was scored by Leafs' defenceman Bill Barilko
Bill Barilko
William "Bashin' Bill" Barilko was a Canadian ice hockey player who played his entire National Hockey League career for the Toronto Maple Leafs.- Personal life :Barilko was of Ukrainian descent and had a brother, Alex, and sister, Anne....
after he dashed in from his defensive position, despite an earlier warning from Smythe not to take unnecessary chances, and hammered the puck past Montreal goaltender Gerry McNeil
Gerry McNeil
Gerald George McNeil is a former professional ice hockey goaltender who won two Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1950s....
. The goal completed Toronto's fourth Stanley Cup championship in five seasons and made Barilko a national hero. Four months later, Barilko and a friend disappeared in Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
, where they had flown out on a fishing trip. Barilko's disappearance became front page news across Canada, and a massive search failed to locate the missing plane. Barilko's remains were not found until 1962, the first year the Maple Leafs won the Cup since Barilko's overtime winner eleven years previous. Barilko's disappearance was immortalized 40 years later by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as The Hip, is a Canadian rock band from Kingston, Ontario, consisting of Gordon Downie , Paul Langlois , Rob Baker , Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay . Since their formation in 1983 they have released 12 studio albums, two live albums, and 46 singles...
in their 1992 song "Fifty Mission Cap
Fifty Mission Cap
"Fifty Mission Cap" is a song by Canadian rock group The Tragically Hip from the band's third full-length album, Fully Completely. The song was released as a single in 1992....
".
By 1962, the disappearance of Bill Barilko and the Maple Leafs' subsequent failure to win the Stanley Cup had led fans in Toronto to believe a curse had been placed on the team. The Leafs won the 1962 championship shortly before Barilko's remains were discovered. They repeated as champions in 1963. In 1964, the Leafs again played for the Stanley Cup against the Red Wings. Trailing the series 3–2, Maple Leafs' defenceman Bobby Baun
Bobby Baun
Robert Neil "Bob, Boomer" Baun is a retired professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League for 17 seasons from 1956–57 to 1972–73.-Playing career:...
suffered a broken ankle from a Gordie Howe
Gordie Howe
Gordon "Gordie" Howe, OC is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League , and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association . Howe is often referred to as Mr...
slap shot in the third period of game six. Despite the injury, Baun returned with his ankle taped up and scored the winning goal in overtime. Baun also played the seventh game as the Maple Leafs defeated the Red Wings to win their third consecutive title.
Detroit Red Wings
Beginning in 1948–49, the Red Wings won seven consecutive regular season titles, a feat that no other team has accomplished. During that time, the Wings won four Stanley Cups. It was during the 1952 Stanley Cup Finals1952 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1952 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens in the first of the four Detroit-Montreal Final series of the 1950s. The Canadiens were appearing in their second straight Finals series, while Detroit was returning after winning...
that the Legend of the Octopus
Legend of the Octopus
The Legend of the Octopus is a sports tradition during Detroit Red Wings home playoff games where octopuses are thrown onto the ice surface. The origins of the activity go back to the 1952 playoffs, when a National Hockey League team played two best-of-seven series to capture the Stanley Cup...
was created. Brothers Pete and Jerry Cusimano brought a dead octopus to the Detroit Olympia
Detroit Olympia
Olympia Stadium, better known as the Detroit Olympia and nicknamed The Old Red Barn, stood at 5920 Grand River Avenue in Detroit, Michigan from 1927 until 1987. It was best known as the home of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team of the National Hockey League from its opening until...
for the fourth game of the finals. They reasoned that the eight tentacles of an octopus represented the eight wins required to win the Stanley Cup at the time. The Wings had already won seven consecutive playoff games, and they hoped that the octopus would inspire Detroit to an eighth victory. Detroit went on to defeat Montreal 3–0 and the tradition was born.
The Wings were led by Gordie Howe
Gordie Howe
Gordon "Gordie" Howe, OC is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League , and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association . Howe is often referred to as Mr...
. In 1943, Howe was invited to the Rangers player camp in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
at the age of 15 but quickly became homesick and failed to make an impression on the Rangers coaches. The Red Wings invited him to their camp the next season where coach Jack Adams called him "the best prospect I've seen in 20 years." Two years later, Howe made his NHL debut for Detroit at the age of 18. On March 28, 1950, he was nearly killed during a playoff game against the Leafs. Howe mistimed an attempted check on Toronto's Ted Kennedy, causing him to slam into the boards head first. Howe was rushed to a hospital where doctors drilled a hole into his skull to relieve pressure on his brain. Despite fears that he would never play again, "Mr. Hockey" not only recovered to start the following season, he won his first of four consecutive scoring titles in 1950–51 and was 52 years old when he retired from professional hockey.
Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens signed Jean Beliveau
Jean Béliveau
Jean Arthur "Le Gros Bill" Béliveau, is a former professional ice hockey player who played parts of 20 seasons with the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens. As a player, he won the Stanley Cup 10 times, and as an executive he was part of another seven championship teams, the most Stanley...
, a prospect whose arrival in the NHL had been anticipated for years, in 1953. Beliveau had repeatedly refused to turn professional with Montreal, as his Quebec Senior Hockey League
Quebec Senior Hockey League
The Quebec Senior Hockey League was an ice hockey league that operated between 1941 and 1959 in Québec, Canada. From 1941, it operated on an amateur basis, before becoming the semi-professional Quebec Hockey League in 1953...
team, the Quebec Aces
Quebec Aces
The Quebec Aces, also known in French as Les As de Québec, were an amateur and later a professional men's ice hockey team from Quebec City, Quebec. The Aces were founded in 1928, and played until 1971. The team played home games at the Quebec Coliseum from 1930 to 1971.The Aces were Allan Cup...
, matched any contract offer the Canadiens made. Montreal ultimately bought the entire league outright, along with the rights to all players, and turned it professional. Beliveau finally signed with Montreal for $105,000 over five years and a $20,000 bonus, an unprecedented contract for a rookie. Beliveau ultimately won ten Stanley Cups in Montreal.
Led by Richard and Beliveau, the 1950s Canadiens had so much offensive ability the NHL was forced to amend its rules to slow their offence down. The 1955–56 Canadiens frequently scored multiple goals during the same two-minute powerplay
Powerplay
"Power play" is a sporting term used in various games.*In ice hockey, a team is said to be on a power play when at least one opposing player is serving a penalty, and the team has a numerical advantage on the ice...
. In one game against Boston, Beliveau scored three goals in 44 seconds on the same Bruins penalty. The league instituted a rule for the following season that permitted a player serving a minor penalty to return to the ice early if one goal was scored against his team.
Breaking the colour barrier
On January 18, 1958, Willie O'ReeWillie O'Ree
Willie Eldon O'Ree, OC, ONB is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, known best for being the first black player in the National Hockey League. O'Ree played as a winger for the Boston Bruins...
joined the Bruins as an injury call-up for a game in Montreal. In doing so he became the first black
Black Canadian
'Black Canadians is a designation used for people of Black African descent, who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The term specifically refers to Canadians with Sub-Saharan African ancestry. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin...
player in the NHL. O'Ree played only two games with the Bruins in the 1957–58 season. He returned to the NHL in 1960–61, playing another 43 games with Boston. Although he only played 45 NHL games, scoring four goals, it was enough for him to be labeled the "Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
of hockey".
O'Ree faced blatant racism from opponents throughout the season, remarking that "people just wanted a piece of me, maybe because they thought I was different, so I had to defend myself. I wasn't going to be run out of any rink." He faced racial slurs from fans when he played in Chicago, Detroit and New York, though the taunts were mostly absent in Montreal and Toronto. O'Ree was supported by his teammates and the fans in Boston. He stated that "they were mean to me in places like Detroit and New York, too. But never in Boston. I'll never forget how my teammates there—men like Johnny Bucyk
Johnny Bucyk
John Paul "Chief" Bucyk is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey left winger and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Having played most of his career with the Boston Bruins, he has been associated in one capacity or another with the Bruins' organization since the late 1950s.-Early life:Bucyk...
, Doug Mohns
Doug Mohns
Douglas Allen "Diesel" Mohns is a retired professional ice hockey player who played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1953–54 until 1974–75. Mohns twice won the most coveted prize in junior hockey, the Memorial Cup...
, Charlie Burns
Charlie Burns (ice hockey)
Charles Frederick Burns is a retired professional ice hockey forward who played 749 games in the National Hockey League. He played for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Oakland Seals, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Minnesota North Stars...
and Don McKenney
Don McKenney
Donald Hamilton McKenney is a retired Canadian ice hockey forward...
—took care of me. They accepted me totally. All of them had class." O'Ree was traded to Montreal in 1961 but was unable to crack the Canadiens' line-up. He played over 20 minor league seasons, twice winning the Western Hockey League
Western Hockey League (minor pro)
The Western Hockey League was a minor pro ice hockey league that operated from 1952 to 1974. Managed for most of its history by Hockey Hall of Fame member Al Leader, it was created out of the merger of the Pacific Coast Hockey League and the Western Canada Senior Hockey League...
's scoring title, with the Los Angeles Blades
Los Angeles Blades
The Los Angeles Blades were a professional inline hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. The Blades played in Roller Hockey International from 1993-1997 and played their home games at the Great Western Forum....
in 1964 and the San Diego Gulls
San Diego Gulls (1966-1974)
The original San Diego Gulls team was founded in 1966 as part of the Western Hockey League. The Gulls played at the San Diego Sports Arena.Willie O'Ree, the first black athlete to play in the NHL, was an All-Star for the Gulls. His jersey is retired and presently hangs in the rafters at the San...
in 1969.
O'Ree's breakthrough came several years after another black player, Herb Carnegie
Herb Carnegie
Herbert H. Carnegie, CM, O.Ont is a former Canadian ice hockey player. Born in Toronto, Ontario to Jamaican parents, Carnegie was the first African-Canadian hockey player to be offered an opportunity to play in the National Hockey League.-Playing career:Carnegie’s hockey career began in 1938 with...
was denied the same opportunity. Playing junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey Association
Ontario Hockey Association
The Ontario Hockey Association is the governing body for the majority of Junior and Senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. Other Ontario sanctioning bodies along with the...
's Toronto Rangers
Toronto Young Rangers
The Toronto Young Rangers were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association from the league's early days until 1948. They played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto...
in 1938–39, Carnegie was pulled aside by his coach during a practice: "See that man sitting in the blues? That's Conn Smythe, owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He says he'd take you tomorrow if he could turn you white." Stung by the comments, Carnegie resolved to excel at the game. He was offered a tryout with the Rangers in 1950, and a spot on their lowest minor league team. "They told me that if I signed with the Rangers and went to New Haven, I would make international headlines. I told them my family couldn't eat headlines. That was probably when the Rangers decided to forget about me."
"Norris House League"
During the 1960s, it was often joked that "NHL" stood for "Norris House League" as the Norris family held interests in several of the league's teams. Family patriarch James E. Norris had once played ice hockey for the Montreal Hockey ClubMontreal Hockey Club
The Montreal Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was a senior-level men's amateur ice hockey club, organized in 1884. They were affiliated with Montreal Amateur Athletic Association and used the MAAA 'winged wheel' logo. The team is notable for winning the first Stanley Cup in 1893, and in a...
and fashioned the Red Wings logo to resemble the Montreal team's logo. When he died in 1952, he passed his interests along to his sons. James D. Norris
James D. Norris
James Dougan Norris was an American sports businessman, with interests in boxing, ice hockey, and horse racing. He was the son of James E. Norris and half-brother of Bruce Norris and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.Born in Chicago, Norris served as a Lieutenant with the United States Navy...
was a co-owner of the Black Hawks along with Arthur Wirtz
Arthur Wirtz
Arthur Michael Wirtz was a powerful figure in sports and arena operation. He was the owner of Chicago Stadium, the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago, the Chicago Black Hawks, and the Chicago Bulls...
, while his brother Bruce
Bruce Norris
Bruce Arthur Norris was owner of the Detroit Red Wings from 1952 to 1982. He was the son of James E. Norris and half-brother of James D. Norris. Members of the Norris family owned the Red Wings for almost fifty years before selling the franchise to Mike Ilitch in 1982. Bruce and Marguerite Norris...
inherited ownership of the Red Wings. James D. Norris was also the largest shareholder in Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
, giving him control over the Rangers.
The Black Hawks qualified for the playoffs only once between 1949 and 1957. The team's fortunes turned in 1958–59, following the acquisition of Ted Lindsay
Ted Lindsay
Robert Blake Theodore Lindsay is a former professional ice hockey player, a forward for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League . He scored over 800 points in his Hockey Hall of Fame career, won the Art Ross Trophy in 1950, and won the Stanley Cup four times...
and Glenn Hall
Glenn Hall
Glenn Henry "Mr. Goalie" Hall is a former professional ice hockey goaltender. During his National Hockey League career with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Black Hawks, and St. Louis Blues, Hall seldom missed a game and was a consistent performer, winning the Vezina Trophy three times, and the...
from Detroit. The Black Hawks made the playoffs, losing to Montreal in the semi-finals in 1959 and 1960 before capturing their first championship in 23 years in the 1961 Stanley Cup Finals
1961 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1961 Stanley Cup Final was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago was making its first appearance since in the Final, and Detroit, their first appearance since . The Blackhawks would win the best-of-seven series four games to two to win their third Stanley Cup,...
. This stood as the longest active cup drought in the NHL until the 2009-10 season
2009–10 NHL season
The 2009–10 NHL season was the 93rd season of operation of the National Hockey League , and the 100th season since the founding of the predecessor National Hockey Association . It ran from October 1, 2009, including four games in Europe on October 2 and 3—until April 11, 2010, with the 2010...
when Chicago won the cup.
The Hawks' resurgence in the 1960s led Norris and Wirtz to take advantage of their customers. Dubbed the "Chicken Wings" by fans, the Hawks were famous for fleecing their fans. Ticket sellers were arrested for scalping from the box office, while the team charged $9 for playoff tickets in 1965, $3 more than Detroit, Toronto or Montreal. The Hawks also refused to broadcast road playoff games in Chicago, preferring to charge fans to watch the games via closed-circuit television at Chicago Stadium
Chicago Stadium
The Chicago Stadium was an indoor sports arena and theater in Chicago. It opened in 1929, and closed in 1994.-History:The Stadium hosted the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL from 1929–1994 and the Chicago Bulls of the NBA from 1967–1994....
. Fans responded to the announcements by littering the ice and passing out leaflets urging a boycott of the team during Chicago's last regular season game in 1964–65.
Expansion
In 1963, Rangers governor William JenningsWilliam M. Jennings
William M. Jennings was an executive in the National Hockey League.Born in New York, New York, Jennings graduated from Princeton University and then earned a law degree from Yale University...
introduced to his peers the idea of expanding the league to the American West Coast by adding two new teams for the 1964–65 season. His argument was based around concerns that the Western Hockey League intended to operate as a major league in the near future. He also hoped that teams on the west coast would make the league truly national, and improve the chances of returning to television in the United States as the NHL had lost its deal with CBS. While the governors did not agree to the proposal, the topic of expansion came up every time the owners met from then on out. In 1965, it was decided to expand by six teams, doubling the size of the NHL. San Francisco–Oakland and Vancouver were declared "acceptable cities" with Los Angeles and St. Louis as potential sites. Fourteen applications were received from across Canada and the United States, including four from Los Angeles.
In February 1966, the governors met and decided to award franchises to Los Angeles
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
, Minnesota
Minnesota North Stars
The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, and the team's colors for most of its history were green, yellow, gold and white...
, Philadelphia
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
, San Francisco and St. Louis. The league rejected bids from Baltimore, Buffalo and Vancouver. The six winning bids each paid $2 million for their franchises. St. Louis was awarded despite no bid being received. The league's decision to grant the city a team if a potential owner stepped forward was influenced by the Norris and Wirtz families, who owned the St. Louis Arena
St. Louis Arena
The St. Louis Arena was an indoor arena located in St. Louis, Missouri, that stood from 1929 to 1999...
.
Canadians were outraged that none of the expansion teams was awarded to Canada. Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
stated that "the NHL decision to expand only in the U.S. impinges on the sacred principles of all Canadians." Maple Leafs coach Punch Imlach
Punch Imlach
George "Punch" Imlach , was an NHL coach and general manager. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.-Early career:...
stated that Vancouver was "sold out" and that Toronto and Montreal did not want to share television revenue with another Canadian team. Leafs co-owner Stafford Smythe
Stafford Smythe
Conn Stafford Smythe was the son of Conn Smythe and president of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. and the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team from 1961–1969 and from 1970 until his death.-Early years:...
put the blame on the city of Vancouver. Smythe had offered to build and operate an $8 million facility in the city's downtown area but a proposal to sell a $2.5 million section of land to Smythe for $1 was defeated in a municipal referendum. "Vancouver lost its chance the day it turned down the referendum on our arena proposal", Smythe said. "That proved to me that the people out there aren't interested in going major league."
The Original Six era ended with the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals
1967 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1967 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series played between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs would win the series four games to two to win their thirteenth Stanley Cup...
between the two-time defending champion Canadiens, and the Maple Leafs. The oldest team in the league, the third place Leafs were led in goal by 37-year old Terry Sawchuk
Terry Sawchuk
Terrance Gordon Sawchuk was a Ukrainian-Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers.-Early life and playing career:Sawchuk was born and raised...
and 42-year old Johnny Bower
Johnny Bower
John William Bower , nicknamed "The China Wall", is a Hockey Hall of Fame goalie.-Playing career:...
. Known as the "over the hill gang", Toronto became the oldest team to win the Cup by defeating the favoured Canadiens in six games. The Maple Leafs have not appeared in the Stanley Cup finals since.
Rules and innovations
Due to travel restrictions required during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, league president Frank Calder
Frank Calder
-External links:*...
abolished the 10-minute overtime
Overtime (ice hockey)
Overtime is a method of determining the winner and loser of an ice hockey match when the scores are tied after regulation. The two main methods are the overtime period and the shootout.-Overtime periods:...
for regular season games in 1942 so that teams could catch their trains without delays. Regular season overtime did not return with the conclusion of the war, though playoff games continued until a winner was decided. Overtime was not re-introduced for the regular season until the 1983–84 season.
In 1943, the rules committee was looking for ways to increase the speed of the game and make it more entertaining. Rangers coach Frank Boucher
Frank Boucher
François-Xavier "Raffles" Boucher was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and executive. Boucher played the forward position for the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League and the Vancouver Maroons in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association...
proposed that the neutral zone be divided by a centre red line
Hockey rink
An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a team sport. It is rectangular with rounded corners and surrounded by a wall approximately 40 inches high called the boards.- Name origins :...
, and that teams be allowed to pass the puck out of the defensive zone into their half of the neutral zone. Previously, the league required that defensive players skate the puck out of their defensive zone, not permitting a pass across the blue line. Introduced in 1943–44, the new rule changed how the game was played. Where strong forechecking teams were previously able to pin their opponents in their own zone for minutes at a time, teams were able to create rushes up the ice by having defencemen pass to forwards across the blue line. Scoring increased 10% league-wide, and four of six teams topped 200 goals, the first teams to do so.
Stan Mikita
Stan Mikita
Stanislav "Stan" Mikita , is a Slovak-born Canadian retired professional ice hockey player, generally regarded as the best centre of the 1960s. In 1961, he won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks, with whom he played his entire career.-Early life:Mikita was born in Sokolče, Slovak Republic...
inadvertently introduced the curved blade to the hockey stick
Ice hockey stick
An ice hockey stick is a piece of equipment used in ice hockey to shoot, pass, and carry the puck. Ice hockey sticks are approximately 150–200 cm long, composed of a long, slender shaft with a flat extension at one end called the blade. The blade is the part of the stick used to contact the...
in the early 1960s. Having cracked his blade during a practice and not wanting to go get another, Mikita shot the puck in anger. He noticed that the curve made by the crack caused the puck to behave differently. Mikita and Bobby Hull
Bobby Hull
Robert Marvin "Bobby" Hull, OC is a former Canadian ice hockey player. He is regarded as one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time and perhaps the greatest left winger to ever play the game. Hull was famous for his blonde hair, blinding skating speed, and having the hardest shot, earning...
experimented with heating and bending the blade of their sticks to create different curves. Mikita went on to win four Art Ross Trophies
Art Ross Trophy
The Art Ross Trophy is awarded to the National Hockey League player who leads the league in scoring points at the end of the regular season. It was presented to the NHL by former player, general manager, and head coach Art Ross. The trophy has been awarded 61 times to 25 players since its inception...
as the NHL's leading scorer using a curved blade. He later said that he regretted the idea. "It's one of the worst inventions in hockey, because it eliminated the use of the backhand."
The NHL Amateur Draft
NHL Entry Draft
The NHL Entry Draft is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League systematically select the rights to available amateur ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirements...
was first held on June 5, 1963 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel
Queen Elizabeth Hotel
The Queen Elizabeth Hotel is a grand hotel in Montreal, Quebec. Completed in 1958, it was built by the Canadian National Railway, but was later sold to Canadian Pacific Hotels, now Fairmont Hotels and Resorts...
in Montreal, Quebec. It was created by Campbell as a means to distribute talent on a more even basis. To that point, teams had sponsored junior
Junior ice hockey
Junior hockey is a catch-all term used to describe various levels of ice hockey competition for players generally between 16 and 20 years of age...
clubs directly, buying the rights to players on those teams. The first player selected in the 1963 draft was Garry Monahan
Garry Monahan
Garry Michael Monahan is a retired Canadian professional hockey player who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League.- Playing career :...
, a 16-year-old player with the St. Michaels Juveniles. Monahan remains the youngest player ever selected in an NHL draft. The Entry Draft system did not fully replace the sponsorship system until 1969.
Goaltending
Clint Benedict
Clinton Stevenson "Praying Bennie" Benedict was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Maroons. He played on four Stanley Cup-winning squads. He was the first goaltender in the National Hockey League to wear a face mask...
was the first goaltender to wear facial protection, donning it in 1930 to protect a broken nose. He quickly abandoned his mask as its design interfered with his vision. Twenty-nine years later, Jacques Plante
Jacques Plante
Joseph Jacques Omer Plante was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. During a career lasting from 1947–1975, he was considered to be one of the most important innovators in hockey...
made the goalie mask a permanent fixture in hockey. Plante began wearing a mask in practice in 1956 after twice suffering broken cheekbones on shots from his teammates during workouts. Montreal coach Toe Blake
Toe Blake
Hector "Toe" Blake, CM was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach in the National Hockey League .-Nickname:His nickname came out of his childhood for his younger sister was unable to pronounce his name...
refused to allow Plante to wear his mask in games. That changed on November 1, 1959 when Plante was struck in the face early in a game at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. As teams did not dress backup goaltenders during this time, the game was delayed 20 minutes while doctors frantically stitched Plante up. When Blake asked Plante if he was ready to return to play, Plante refused to return to the ice unless he was allowed to wear his mask. Blake was livid, but agreed only if Plante removed the mask when his face was healed. Wearing the mask, Plante led the Canadiens on an 18-game unbeaten streak. He finally removed the mask at Blake's urging and promptly lost the first game. Defeated, Blake relented. Plante's mask became a permanent fixture as he led the Canadiens to their fifth consecutive Stanley Cup. Other goalies followed Plante's lead soon after.
Despite not wearing a mask for most of his career, Terry Sawchuk
Terry Sawchuk
Terrance Gordon Sawchuk was a Ukrainian-Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers.-Early life and playing career:Sawchuk was born and raised...
played goal crouched down so low that his shoulders nearly touched his knees, a technique which became known as the "gorilla crouch". Sawchuk relied on his ability to see the puck under the players' bodies, his increased mobility and his own reflexes to win four Vezina Trophies
Vezina Trophy
The Vezina Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's goaltender who is "adjudged to be the best at this position". At the end of each season, the 30 General Managers of the teams in the National Hockey League vote to determine the goaltender who was the most valuable to his team...
during his career. By 1955, he was regarded as the greatest goaltender to ever play the game. Sawchuk's career was cut short when he died in 1970 from injuries suffered in a drunken incident with teammate Ron Stewart
Ron Stewart
Ronald George Stewart is a retired professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League from 1952 to 1973, as well as an NHL coach.- Hockey career:...
. The Hall of Fame waived its waiting period, immediately inducting Sawchuk, who died as the NHL's all-time record holder in wins (447) and shutouts (103). Sawchuk's style of play was a precursor to the modern butterfly style
Butterfly style
In ice hockey, "butterfly style" is a technique of goaltending distinguished by the goaltender guarding the lower part of the net by dropping to the knees to block attempts to score. The butterfly style derives its name from the resemblance of the spread goal pads and hands to a butterfly's wings...
of goaltending.
The butterfly style, which is used by almost all modern goaltenders, was invented by Glenn Hall
Glenn Hall
Glenn Henry "Mr. Goalie" Hall is a former professional ice hockey goaltender. During his National Hockey League career with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Black Hawks, and St. Louis Blues, Hall seldom missed a game and was a consistent performer, winning the Vezina Trophy three times, and the...
: considered both unique and foolish, Hall's style of dropping to his knees and kicking his pads out in a V formation forced shooters to aim for the top half of the net. Hall adopted the technique as a youth when he lacked the arm strength to stop shots with his stick. Hall, an eight-time All-Star, became an NHL regular at the start of the 1955–1956 season and began a sequence of 502 consecutive games as a goaltender for Detroit and Chicago, a record that has been hailed as one of the NHL's most unbreakable.
Unionization
The first players' union was formed February 12, 1957 by Red Wings player Ted LindsayTed Lindsay
Robert Blake Theodore Lindsay is a former professional ice hockey player, a forward for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League . He scored over 800 points in his Hockey Hall of Fame career, won the Art Ross Trophy in 1950, and won the Stanley Cup four times...
who had sat on the board of the NHL's Pension Society since 1952. Lindsay and his fellow players were upset by the league's refusal to let them view the books related to the pension fund. The league claimed that it was barely breaking even financially, and so could not contribute more than it did. Players on the Pension Committee suspected otherwise, leading Lindsay and Doug Harvey of the Canadiens to discussions on forming a union in 1956. The idea quickly gained popularity and when the union's founding was announced publicly, every NHL player had signed up with the exception of Ted Kennedy, who was retiring.
The owners immediately worked to crush the union. Toronto owner Conn Smythe
Conn Smythe
Constantine Falkland Cary Smythe MC was a Canadian businessman, soldier and sportsman in ice hockey and horse racing. He is best known as the principal owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League from 1927 to 1961 and as the builder of Maple Leaf Gardens...
compared the players association to communism: "I feel that anything spawned in secrecy as this association was certainly has to have some odour to it." Red Wings president Bruce Norris
Bruce Norris
Bruce Arthur Norris was owner of the Detroit Red Wings from 1952 to 1982. He was the son of James E. Norris and half-brother of James D. Norris. Members of the Norris family owned the Red Wings for almost fifty years before selling the franchise to Mike Ilitch in 1982. Bruce and Marguerite Norris...
responded by trading Lindsay to his brother's team, the Black Hawks. The move was widely seen as punitive, as the Hawks had finished last in the NHL every season, save one, from 1949 until 1957. Lindsay was not the only player sent to Chicago as punishment; Glenn Hall was included as he refused to distance himself from Lindsay. In Toronto, Smythe repeatedly benched Jim Thomson, who was the union's secretary, before also dealing him to the Black Hawks. The Players' Association responded by filing a $3 million anti-trust
Competition law
Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is law that promotes or maintains market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies....
lawsuit against the NHL. Persuaded by teammates Gordie Howe
Gordie Howe
Gordon "Gordie" Howe, OC is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League , and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association . Howe is often referred to as Mr...
and Red Kelly
Red Kelly
Leonard Patrick "Red" Kelly, CM is a retired Canadian ice hockey player in the NHL. He played on more Stanley Cup winning teams than any player who never played for the Montreal Canadiens, and is the only player to be part of two of the nine dynasties recognized by the NHL in its history...
, the Red Wings players voted to withdraw from the association in November 1957. Other teams quickly followed, and the union capitulated. Union leadership ultimately agreed to drop the lawsuit in exchange for small concessions, which included a minimum annual salary of $7,000, increases to the pension contributions and moving expenses for traded players.
Led by Alan Eagleson
Alan Eagleson
Robert Alan Eagleson is a disbarred Canadian lawyer, convicted felon in two countries, former politician, hockey agent and promoter...
, the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) was formed in 1967. Eagleson became the sport's first player agent
Sports agent
A sports agent procures and negotiates employment and endorsement contracts for an athlete.In return, the sports agent generally receives between 4 and 10% of the athlete's playing contract, and 10 to 20% of the athlete's endorsement contract, though these figures vary...
in 1966 when he negotiated a deal on behalf of Bobby Orr
Bobby Orr
Robert Gordon "Bobby" Orr, OC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Orr played in the National Hockey League for his entire career, the first ten seasons with the Boston Bruins, joining the Chicago Black Hawks for two more. Orr is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest...
with the Bruins that saw the 18-year-old rookie become the highest paid player in the NHL. At its peak, Eagleson's practice represented 150 professional athletes. Eagleson had also helped settle an American Hockey League
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
players strike sparked by mistreatment of players. In June 1967, the NHLPA was announced, and quickly received acceptance from the owners.
Timeline
File:NHL Timeline (1942-1967).PNG|
rect 0 34 710 50 Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
rect 0 49 710 67 Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
rect 0 66 710 84 Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
rect 0 83 710 101 Chicago Black Hawks
rect 0 100 710 118 Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
rect 0 117 710 134 New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
desc none
Notes
- "SC" denotes won Stanley Cup
See also
- History of the Detroit Red WingsHistory of the Detroit Red WingsThe history of the Detroit Red Wings begins with the Detroit Red Wings joining the National Hockey League in 1926. With the demise of the Western Canada Hockey League , the rights to the players of the Victoria Cougars, were purchased by a Detroit group. The new NHL franchise began play as the...
- History of the Montreal CanadiensHistory of the Montreal CanadiensThe Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, formally , was founded on December 4, 1909. It is the oldest professional hockey franchise in the world, and one of the four founding teams of the National Hockey League . The Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup 24 times: once while part of the National Hockey...
- History of the New York RangersHistory of the New York Rangers-Early years:In 1925, the New York Americans joined the National Hockey League, playing in Madison Square Garden. The Amerks proved to be an even greater success than expected, leading Garden president Tex Rickard to go after a team for the Garden despite promising the Amerks that they would be the...
- History of the Toronto Maple LeafsHistory of the Toronto Maple LeafsThis is a history of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League.-Early years :The beginnings of the Maple Leafs NHL franchise arose out of a long-running dispute between Eddie Livingstone, owner of the National Hockey Association's Toronto Blueshirts, and his fellow NHA owners...
External links
- NHL.com—History
- Hockey: A People's History by the Canadian Broadcasting CorporationCanadian Broadcasting CorporationThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...