The 1960–61 NHL season was the 44th season of the National Hockey League. Six teams played 70 games each. The Chicago Black Hawks defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals four games to two to win the Stanley Cup. It was the first series since with two American-based teams. It was Chicago's first Cup win since ; they would not win another until .

Red Wings' forward Gordie Howe became the first player in NHL history to score 1,000 regular-season points. It took seven more seasons before the Montreal Canadiens' Jean Beliveau would match the feat.

League business The original Hart Trophy was retired, as all its plaques were filled and its general condition had deteriorated. A new trophy was commissioned and the award was renamed the Hart Memorial Trophy.

Off-season On September 15, 1960, Maurice "Rocket" Richard announced his retirement from hockey. During his career, he had led all scorers with a record 544 goals plus an additional 82 goals in the playoffs. Despite the league expanding the number of games in a season to 70 games from 50 since Richard's famous 50 goals in 50 games, Richard remained the only player to score 50 goals in a season, until this season.

Regular season

By this season, the Chicago Black Hawks were a strong team. They had an especially powerful defence, which had Pierre Pilote, Al Arbour, Jack Evans, and Elmer Vasko. Up front, youngsters Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita led the offense, and goaltender Glenn Hall was the Hawks' steady presence between the pipes.

It was reported that Eddie Shore, the great Boston Bruins defenceman and four-time league MVP from the 1930s, had been stricken with a heart attack, but was resting comfortably in a Springfield, Massachusetts hospital.

On October 13, the Canadiens routed the Rangers 8–4, with Bernie Geoffrion and Dickie Moore each scoring hat tricks.

Jack McCartan got his only NHL shutout for the New York Rangers by blanking the Black Hawks 2–0 on October 19. Chicago's Reg Fleming set a record with 37 penalty minutes in this game. They included three major penalties for battles with Dean Prentice, Eddie Shack, and John Hanna, a misconduct, and a game misconduct.

On December 1, the Canadiens, who had traded André Pronovost to Boston for Jean-Guy Gendron, defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6–3 at the Montreal Forum. Gendron had a goal, but the main feature was the 21 penalties referee Frank Udvari had to call, including several majors in the third period. Henri Richard took on Frank Mahovlich, Dickie Moore squared off with Bob Pulford, and Marcel Bonin scrapped with Bobby Baun. Toronto general manager and head coach George "Punch" Imlach was in a bad mood following the game and said to the press among other things that Udvari and linesmen Loring Doolittle and George Hayes should have been picked as the three stars for the help they gave to Montreal. Imlach's comments were brought to the attention of NHL president Clarence Campbell, who fined the Leafs bench boss $200.

In the new year, Stan Mikita helped to spark Chicago. He scored two goals in a 3–2 win over the Rangers on January 4 and scored the winner when the Black Hawks beat Boston 4–3 the following night.

Former Canadiens defenceman Leo Lamoureux died in Indianapolis on January 11 at age 45.

Chicago defeated the Rangers 4–3 on March 8. New York goalie Gump Worsley pulled a hamstring muscle and Joe Shaefer replaced him with the score 1–1. The next night, the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs as Bernie Geoffrion potted a hat trick in a 6–1 pasting by the Canadiens.

Toronto's Johnny Bower, who appeared on his way to winning the Vezina Trophy, strained a leg muscle and would have to take a rest. Cesare Maniago played in goal for the Leafs on March 16 and lost 5–2. It looked like two players, Toronto's Frank Mahovlich and Montreal's Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, were going to hit 50 goals, but Mahovlich ended up slumping near the end of the season and missed 50 by two goals. Geoffrion scored his 50th goal that night and got a wild ovation. He also added 45 assists and led the league in scoring.

Toronto played a 2–2 tie with the Rangers in their final game of the season and Bobby Baun was a victim of his own hard-hitting. Camille Henry of the Rangers ran into Baun and Henry's skate cut Baun in the neck. Baun returned for the third period, but after the game, while boarding the team bus, he began to gasp desperately. He groped for attention and waved his arms, and his teammates finally realized he was in trouble and rushed him to the hospital where an emergency operation was performed to permit breathing. Baun missed some action in the playoffs as the result of the injury.

Final standings

Playoffs For the Montreal Canadiens, their defeat to eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Black Hawks in the first round ended two streaks (ten consecutive Finals appearances and five consecutive Stanley Cup wins). The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the other semifinal to set up an all-American final between Chicago and Detroit.

Playoff bracket The top four teams in the league qualified for the playoffs. In the semifinals, the first-place team played the third-place team, while the second-place team faced the fourth-place team, with the winners advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals. In both rounds, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series).

Semifinals

(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (3) Chicago Black Hawks

(2) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (4) Detroit Red Wings

Stanley Cup Finals

Chicago defeated the Red Wings in six games to win their first Cup since 1938, and their last until 2010.

Awards 1960–61 NHL awardsPrince of Wales Trophy:(Regular season champion) Montreal CanadiensArt Ross Trophy:(Top scorer) Bernie Geoffrion, Montreal CanadiensCalder Memorial Trophy:(Best first-year player) Dave Keon, Toronto Maple LeafsHart Memorial Trophy:(Most valuable player) Bernie Geoffrion, Montreal CanadiensJames Norris Memorial Trophy:(Best defenceman) Doug Harvey, Montreal CanadiensLady Byng Memorial Trophy:(Excellence and sportsmanship) Red Kelly, Toronto Maple LeafsVezina Trophy:(Goaltender of team with the best goals-against average) Johnny Bower, Toronto Maple Leafs

All-Star teams First team   Position   Second teamJohnny Bower, Toronto Maple Leafs GGlenn Hall, Chicago Black HawksDoug Harvey, Montreal Canadiens DAllan Stanley, Toronto Maple LeafsMarcel Pronovost, Detroit Red Wings DPierre Pilote, Chicago Black HawksJean Beliveau, Montreal Canadiens CHenri Richard, Montreal CanadiensBernie Geoffrion, Montreal Canadiens RWGordie Howe, Detroit Red WingsFrank Mahovlich, Toronto Maple Leafs LWDickie Moore, Montreal Canadiens

Player statistics

Scoring leaders Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes Player Team GP G A Pts PIM Bernie Geoffrion Montreal Canadiens 64 50 45 95 29 Jean Beliveau Montreal Canadiens 69 32 58 90 57 Frank Mahovlich Toronto Maple Leafs 70 48 36 84 131 Andy Bathgate New York Rangers 70 29 48 77 22 Gordie Howe Detroit Red Wings 64 23 49 72 30 Norm Ullman Detroit Red Wings 70 28 42 70 34 Red Kelly Toronto Maple Leafs 64 20 50 70 12 Dickie Moore Montreal Canadiens 57 35 34 69 62 Henri Richard Montreal Canadiens 70 24 44 68 91 Alex Delvecchio Detroit Red Wings 70 27 35 62 26

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts Player Team GP MIN GA GAA W L T SOCharlie Hodge Montreal Canadiens 30 1800 74 2.47 19 8 3 4Johnny Bower Toronto Maple Leafs 58 3480 145 2.50 33 15 10 2Glenn Hall Chicago Black Hawks 70 4200 176 2.51 29 24 17 6Hank Bassen Detroit Red Wings 34 2120 98 2.77 13 12 9 0Jacques Plante Montreal Canadiens 40 2400 112 2.80 23 11 6 2Terry Sawchuk Detroit Red Wings 38 2080 112 3.23 12 17 7 2Don Simmons Boston Bruins 18 1080 58 3.23 3 9 6 1Lorne Worsley New York Rangers 59 3473 191 3.30 20 29 8 1Bruce Gamble Boston Bruins 52 3120 193 3.71 12 33 7 0

Coaches Boston Bruins: Milt Schmidt Chicago Black Hawks: Rudy Pilous Detroit Red Wings: Sid Abel Montreal Canadiens: Toe Blake New York Rangers: Alfred Pike Toronto Maple Leafs: Punch Imlach

Debuts The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1960–61 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs): Ted Green, Boston Bruins Chico Maki*, Chicago Black Hawks Bobby Rousseau, Montreal Canadiens Gilles Tremblay, Montreal Canadiens Rod Gilbert, New York Rangers Jean Ratelle, New York Rangers Cesare Maniago, Toronto Maple Leafs Dave Keon, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1960–61 (listed with their last team): Willie O'Ree, Boston Bruins (First black player in the NHL) Fern Flaman, Boston Bruins Tod Sloan, Chicago Black Hawks Red Sullivan, New York Rangers Larry Regan, Toronto Maple Leafs

Broadcasting Hockey Night in Canada on CBC Television televised Saturday night regular season games and Stanley Cup playoff games. Games were not broadcast in their entirety until the 1968–69 season, and were typically joined in progress, while the radio version of HNIC aired games in their entirety.

In the U.S., CBS decided not the renew its agreement to continue airing Saturday afternoon regular season games in 1960–61, and the NHL would not be able to attract another American national network until the 1965–66 season.

See also 1960–61 NHL transactions List of Stanley Cup champions 14th National Hockey League All-Star Game National Hockey League All-Star Game 1960 in sports 1961 in sports

References

Notes

External links Hockey Database NHL.com