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1941-42 NHL season

From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.

The 1941-42 NHL season was the 25th season of the National Hockey League. Seven teams played 48 games each. This season was the last season for the storied franchise of the Quebec Bulldogs/Hamilton Tigers/New York Americans/Brooklyn Americans whose roots began in 1888 in the Amateur Hockey Association (AHA). The Bulldogs won two Stanley Cups while playing in the National Hockey Association (NHA) in 1912 and 1913. This season also marks the last season of the pre-modern NHL. The next season, 1942-43, is the first season of the Original six and the start of the modern era of NHL hockey.

Contents

1 Regular season

1.1 Final standings

2 Scoring leaders

3 Stanley Cup playoffs

3.1 Quarter-finals
3.2 Semi-finals
3.3 Stanley Cup finals

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Regular season

The New York Americans changed their name to the Brooklyn Americans in an attempt to build a civic relationship with those from Flatbush, but they finished last again. Harvey "Busher" Jackson became one of the longest holdouts on record when he refused to sign. He was then sold to Boston. But the Amerks had two positive notes: two defencemen, Tommy Anderson and Pat Egan, were now All-Star calibre. That didn't prevent them from finishing last, though.

Frank Patrick suffered a heart attack and had to sell his interest in the Montreal Canadiens, and the Habs almost had to move to Cleveland. But, Tommy Gorman kept the team alive. They added Emile "Butch" Bouchard to start his great career on defence and another very good player, Buddy O'Connor, at centre. Montreal had goaltending problems as Bert Gardiner slumped, and rookie Paul Bibeault replaced him. He showed flashes of brilliance, but his inexperience showed. Joe Benoit starred with 20 goals, the first Canadien to do that since 1938-39, when Toe Blake did it.

The New York Rangers had a new goaltender as Sugar Jim Henry replaced the retired Dave Kerr. Henry was one of the reasons the Rangers finished first, something they would not again do for the next 50 years.

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Final standings

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
New York Rangers	48	29	17	2	60	177	143	400
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	27	18	3	57	158	136	341
Boston Bruins	48	25	17	6	56	160	118	349
Chicago Black Hawks	48	22	23	3	47	145	155	365
Detroit Red Wings	48	19	25	4	42	140	147	440
Montreal Canadiens	48	18	27	3	39	134	173	504
Brooklyn Americans	48	16	29	3	35	133	175	425

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Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

PLAYER	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Bryan Hextall	New York Rangers	48	24	32	56	30
Lynn Patrick	New York Rangers	47	32	22	54	18
Don Grosso	Detroit Red Wings	45	23	30	53	13
Phil Watson	New York Rangers	48	15	37	52	58
Sid Abel	Detroit Red Wings	48	18	31	49	45

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Stanley Cup playoffs

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Quarter-finals

Boston Bruins vs. Chicago Black Hawks Game one of the series attracted 17,000 fans who saw the Black Hawks lose game one despite the great work of Max Bentley and Earl Seibert. Des Smith scored at 6:51 of overtime to win the game for Boston. Sam Lopresti was marvelous in goal for Chicago in game two and Earl Seibert was equally brilliant on defence as Chicago shut out the Bruins.Game three was Frank Brimsek's turn to star in goal as Boston beat Chicago to win the series.

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 22	Boston Bruins	2	Chicago Black Hawks	1	OT
March 24	Chicago Black Hawks	4	Boston Bruins	0
March 26	Chicago Black Hawks	2	Boston Bruins	3

Boston wins best-of-three series 2-1

Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens

Don Grosso scored a pair of goals as Detroit won game one. Paul Bibeault put on a stellar performance in game two, shutting out the Red Wings. Game three saw Mud Bruneteau and Carl Liscombe score two goals as Detroit wrapped up the series.

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
March 22	Montreal Canadiens	1	Detroit Red Wings	2
March 24	Detroit Red Wings	0	Montreal Canadiens	5
March 26	Montreal Canadiens	2	Detroit Red Wings	6

Detroit wins best-of-three series 2-1

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Semi-finals

New York Rangers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Game one featured great play by the Apps-Nick Metz-Drillon line and Nick Metz scored the winning goal as Toronto won. In game two, Johnny McCreedy scored two goals and Gordie Drillon scored the winner as Toronto took another game. Jim Henry racked up his first career playoff shutout in game three as the Rangers won. Game four saw Sweeney Schriner score the winner as Toronto took command of the series. The Rangers staved off elimination in game five as Alex Shibicky scored two goals in a Rangers win. In game six, Nick Metz scored the winner again as Toronto wrapped up the series.

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
March 21	New York Rangers	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	3
March 22	Toronto Maple Leafs	4	New York Rangers	2
March 24	Toronto Maple Leafs	0	New York Rangers	3
March 28	New York Rangers	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	2
March 29	Toronto Maple Leafs	1	New York Rangers	3
March 31	New York Rangers	2	Toronto Maple Leafs	3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4-2

Boston Bruins vs. Detroit Red Wings Detroit won game one as Carl Liscombe scored a pair of goals. Jack McGill had the hat trick in a losing cause. Game two attracted 13,523 fans, the largest crowd in Olympia history to this time, and they watched Detroit complete its upset as Joe Carveth scored two goals, one of which was scored when Frank Brimsek was pulled for a sixth attacker, and was fired almost the length of the ice. Detroit now would play Toronto in the finals.

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 29	Detroit Red Wings	6	Boston Bruins	4
March 31	Boston Bruins	1	Detroit Red Wings	3

Detroit wins best-of-three series 2-0

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Stanley Cup finals

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings

In game one, Detroit went ahead 2-0 and played tenaciously, so much so that when Jimmy Orlando got a major penalty for cutting Bob Goldham's head, the Leafs could only fire one shot at Johnny Mowers in the Detroit goal. Toronto tied the game, but Don Grosso won the game for Detroit on a high shot while being checked by Bingo Kampman of Toronto. Game two was a virtual carbon copy of game one: Don Grosso scored two goals to tie a playoff record of 8 playoff goals as Detroit won the game. Coach Hap Day of Toronto was tempted to make lineup changes for game three, but held off. Lorne Carr scored twice for Toronto, but Gerry Brown and Joe Carveth tied it up for Detroit. Sid Abel was lost to Detroit with a fractured jaw and Pat McReavey replaced him, and McReavey scored what proved to be the winning goal in the third period to give Detroit a commanding 3 games to none lead in the series. The Leafs decided to bench Gordie Drillon and Bucko McDonald, replacing them with Don Metz and Ernie Dickens. The Leafs seemed finished in game four as Mud Bruneteau and Sid Abel scored while Johnny Mowers held Toronto scoreless. Then Bob Davidson broke the shutout at 13:54 of the second period and then Carr flicked in a Billy Taylor rebound to tie the game. In the third period, the Olympia rocked as Carl Liscombe scored at 4:18 of the third period to put the Wings ahead 3-2. Then the Leafs reawakened: Syl Apps, without a goal in the finals so far, put in one of his own to tie it up, then at 12:45 he fed Nick Metz a pass for the winning goal. As the game ended, the Wings received penalties for too many men on the ice while trying to put in a sixth attacker when Mowers was pulled and Don Grosso and Eddie Wares got into a heated argument with referee Mel Harwood. Wares was fined $50 and Grosso $25. At the bell to end the game, Detroit manager Jack Adams erupted and skimmed across the ice to trade blows with Harwood. NHL president Frank Calder became involved when he tried to get the referee's report on the incident. Spectators joined in the battle before police separated them. Both president Calder and referee Harwood needed a police escort to get safely out of the Olympia. Calder announced that Adams was suspended indefinitely and forbade Adams any bench management of the Red Wings during the series. Both Grosso and Wares were fined an additional $100 for their part in the brawl. Ebbie Goodfellow became the Wings player-coach. In game five, Gaye Stewart was brought up from the minors for Toronto. The Leafs were in command the entire game and clobbered Detroit 9-3. Don Metz had the hat trick and assisted on two goals while Apps scored twice and assisted on three others. For game six, the Wings reeling, coach Goodfellow summoned Gus Giesebrecht, Joe Fisher and Doug McCaig to replace Eddie Bush, Pat McReavey and Adam Brown. But none of the Wings could contain Don Metz. Only 14 seconds into the second period, he intercepted a pass near the Detroit goal and beat Mowers with a quick shot. Bob Goldham and Billy Taylor added goals to give Toronto a 3-0 victory and a 3-3 tie in the series. For game 7, 16,218 fans, the largest crowd to see a hockey game in Canada at this time, packed Maple Leaf Gardens. Syd Howe scored for Detroit at 1:44 of the second period and then the Wings checked tenaciously to protect the lead. But their plans were disrupted when Jimmy Orlando received a tripping penalty at the fifth minute of the third period. The Red Wings appeared to have killed off the penalty, as Orlando stepped back on the ice, but Toronto's Lorne Carr had the puck and faked a shot and fired a pass to Sweeney Schriner whose shot skimmed tantalizingly out of Johnny Mowers' reach and into the net. Less than two minutes later, Johnny McCreedy was checked as he skated into the Detroit zone. The puck flew crazily in the air and landed at the mouth of the Detroit goal. Pete Langelle was stationed there awaiting a pass, and took a swipe and Toronto went ahead 2-1. Desperately, the Wings threw five men into the Toronto zone in an effort to tie it up, but the strategy backfired as Carr knocked Howe to the ice and fed the puck to Billy Taylor who passed to Schriner who scored at 16:13 of the third period. The Leafs then held on to win the Stanley Cup, and newspapers hailed the Leafs victory "The Comeback of the Half Century".

The Leafs' comeback from a 3-0 series deficit to win the Stanley Cup marked the first time such a rally had been achieved in North American professional sports. Their feat has been equalled only twice: first by the New York Islanders in the 1975 NHL quarter-finals, and then by Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series.

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
April 4	Detroit Red Wings	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	2
April 7	Detroit Red Wings	4	Toronto Maple Leafs	2
April 9	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	Detroit Red Wings	5
April 12	Toronto Maple Leafs	4	Detroit Red Wings	3
April 14	Detroit Red Wings	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	9
April 16	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	Detroit Red Wings	0
April 18	Detroit Red Wings	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4-3

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NHL awards

O'Brien Trophy:	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy:	New York Rangers
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Grant Warwick, New York Rangers
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs
Vezina Trophy:	Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins

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All-Star teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins	G	Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs
Earl Seibert, Chicago Black Hawks	D	Pat Egan, Brooklyn Americans
Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans	D	Bucko McDonald, Toronto Maple Leafs
Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs	C	Phil Watson, New York Rangers
Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers	RW	Gordie Drillon, Toronto Maple Leafs
Lynn Patrick, New York Rangers	LW	Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings
Frank Boucher, New York Rangers	Coach	Paul Thompson, Chicago Black Hawks

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Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1941-42 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):