Vintage Hockey Card Video Series

As I write this, I'm fighting with some sort of glitch that is freezing up the upload for the final of six videos featuring vintage hockey cards from the NHL's Original 6 teams. This is just a shout out to anyone reading 'Hockey History Hub' that these videos are nearly 100% online at YouTube. If you're reading something here and enjoying this site, then chances are you'll want to kill some time looking at some of the greatest in the game's history on some classic cardboard.

Each of the Original 6 team videos has at least 100 different vintage hockey cards and each video lasts between three and five minutes. Each is produced with what I think is some pretty great background music. So, if you're at work, yes - there is audio so turn it down...

Mostly, the cards are from the 1951-52 to 1979-80 range and come from sets produced by Parkhurst, Topps and O-Pee-Chee. There are cards from before and after the range in some of the videos but not a whole lot. Because it just didn't look right to have 'landscape' card fronts mixed with the usual 'portrait' fronts, some years have been left out. These would be your 1963-64 Topps, 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee and sets like that. Also, we didn't put in any of the 1964-65 Topps tallboys because they just wouldn't fit the format (yep, I'm a little anal about that stuff...).

All the cards are included in the Virtual Hockey Card Collection at Vintage Hockey Cards Report. This is what is becoming a fairly complete online collection of hockey cards (front and back). This is a project that I hope will expand beyond the NHL and the range of years given above. I plan to move into minor league, junior and even European sets in the relatively near future. It's pretty time consuming, though. The images have to be collected, straightened, cropped then added to a template and uploaded. I'm not the most technical so my method is pretty labour intensive (aka slow).

I've embedded one of the videos below to give you a taste. Hopefully you'll head over to the YouTube channel to check out the others. Links to each video are found in the index of the Virtual Collection. I've also grouped them into a clean and tidy YouTube playlist so they can be watched consecutively without having to keep hitting play...

The video below features the Chicago Blackhawks. Of course, there's a fair share of Bobby Hull, Glenn Hall and Stan Mikita cards but there's a lot more there, as well. Be sure to hit the Thumb's Up if you like it!

Top 5 NHL Goal Scorers In 1968-69

In 1968-69, Bobby Hull of the Chicago Black Hawks set a National Hockey League record that would last for just two seasons. Hull scored 58 goals, a record that would remain a NHL best until Phil Esposito shattered the mark with 76 goals two years later in 1970-71. Of course, there was no award for this feat back in 1968-69. The Rocket Richard Trophy honouring the NHL’s top goal scorer was not introduced until 1998-99.

Bobby Hull – Chicago Blackhawks

Bobby Hull led the league with what was his fourth of five times during his National Hockey League career that he scored 50 or more goals in a single season. Despite his offensive efforts, the Black Hawks finished sixth and last in the East Division and did not qualify for the post season. Chicago had 77 points in 76 games, a point total that would have placed them second in the West Division.

Phil Esposito – Boston Bruins

Phil Esposito finished tied for second with 49 goals. Esposito shattered the NHL record for points in a season with 126, earning the Art Ross Trophy. Phil helped his team to a 100 point finish during the regular season, behind only the Montreal Canadiens. The Bruins lost in the semi-finals but would be redeemed the following season by winning the Stanley Cup.

Frank Mahovlich – Detroit Red Wings

Frank Mahovlich of the Detroit Red Wings also finished with 49 goals. Despite Mahovlich and Gordie Howe finishing among the top five goal scorers, Detroit finished fifth in the East and did not qualify for the post season. The 49 goals was a high for Frank in a career that spanned from 1956-57 to 1973-74 and saw him score a total of 533 goals while playing for the Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Ken Hodge – Boston Bruins

Ken Hodge of the Bruins nearly doubled his goal production from the previous season, finishing fourth in the NHL with 45 goals. Hodge would achieve the 50 goal plateau for the only time in his career five years later with exactly 50 in 1973-74.

Gordie Howe – Detroit Red Wings

At 41 years old, Gordie Howe finished fifth with 44 goals. His career high of 49 goals came back in 1952-53. Despite his 801 career regular season NHL goals, Gordie never topped the 50 goal plateau in a single season. After never having a player top the 100 point plateau before 1968-69, Howe was one of three to top 100 points, along with Esposito and Hull, with 103.

In the end, the two teams that met in the Stanley Cup final did not have a representative in the top five goal scorers. The Montreal Canadiens faced off against the St. Louis Blues and came out with a sweep. It was the second consecutive year that the two came together in the final series with St. Louis not winning a single game.

Gordie Howe 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Card [YouTube Shorts]

1960-61 NHL Top 5 Goal Scorers

The hockey gods looked down with irony on the National Hockey League in 1960-61. Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard became the first 50 goal scorer in the NHL with 50 goals in 50 games in 1944-45. The next 50 goal scorer didn’t come until 1960-61, the first year that Richard was absent from the league after retiring. Let’s take a look at the top five goal scorers in that 1960-61 NHL season.

Bernie Geoffrion – Montreal Canadiens

Bernie ‘Boom Boom’ Geoffrion of the Montreal Canadiens led the NHL with 50 goals while playing in 64 of the team’s 70 regular season games. He also led the league with 95 points, earning the Art Ross Trophy. To top things off, Geoffrion was named the recipient of the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s MVP. It was a career season for Bernie, who played in the NHL from 1950-51 to 1967-68.

Frank Mahovlich – Toronto Maple Leafs

Frank Mahovlich of the Toronto Maple Leafs came a close second with 48 goals. In a National Hockey League career that lasted from 1957-58 to 1973-74, Mahovlich would have just one season with more goals, 1968-69, scoring 49 with the Detroit Red Wings.

Dickie Moore – Montreal Canadiens

Dickie Moore was a two time winner of the Art Ross Trophy in 1957-58 and 1958-59. 1960-61 was Moore’s swan song, finishing third in the NHL with 35 goals. His numbers would drop drastically over the next two years before retiring. Dickie would make two comeback attempts in 1964-65 with Toronto and 1967-68 with the St. Louis Blues but neither were lengthy or successful.

Jean Beliveau – Montreal Canadiens

Jean Beliveau was the third member of the Canadiens among the top five goal scorers. Beliveau finished with 32 goals, a far cry from his career best of 47 in 1955-56. Beliveau played his entire NHL career with the Canadiens from 1953-54 to 1970-71.

Bobby Hull – Chicago Blackhawks

Bobby Hull of the Chicago Black Hawks had a lull in his NHL career in 1960-61 but still finished fifth in the league with 31 goals. The season before, he scored 39. The following season, he would become just the third NHLer to score 50. Hull would score 50 or more five times during his career with the Black Hawks, including a career high 58 in 1968-69.

With all that goal scoring power, the Canadiens finished first overall in the six team league during the regular season. Montreal finished just two points ahead of second place Toronto but scored 20 more goals. Despite finishing in third, fifteen points behind the Canadiens, the Chicago Black Hawks eliminated Montreal in the opening round of the playoffs. Chicago met the Detroit Red Wings in the finals and won the Stanley Cup in six games.

 

NHL Hockey Trivia: Chicago Blackhawks Retired Numbers

The Chicago Blackhawks have been a fixture in the National Hockey League since the 1926-27 season. Many great hockey players have worn the red, black and white of the Blackhawks. Only a select group of these hockey legends have had their numbers taken out of circulation by the team and raised to the rafters for eternity.

Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge of the Chicago Blackhawks retired numbers with these four hockey trivia questions.

Q. Two goaltenders have had their numbers retired by the Chicago Blackhawks. What goalie is the number 35 retired for?

A. Tony Esposito played for Chicago from 1969-70 until 1983-84. With exception of 13 games played with the Montreal Canadiens in 1968-69, Esposito played his whole career in Chicago. Tony finished his career with 76 shutouts and a 2.92 goals against average in 886 regular season games. Esposito was enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, four years after his brother Phil Esposito.

The other number retired by Chicago for a goaltender is number 1 in honour of Glenn Hall. Glenn played for Chicago from 1957-58 to 1966-67. He came to the Blackhawks from the Detroit Red Wing and ended his career with the St. Louis Blues. The three time Vezina Trophy winner was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975.

Both Tony Esposito and Glenn Hall had their numbers retired by the Blackhawks on the same day, November 20, 1988.

Q. What number is retired by the Chicago Blackhawks for two different players?

A. The number 3 is retired in honour of two defensemen, Pierre Pilote and Keith Magnuson. Both were long time blue liners in Chicago. Pilote was a three time winner of the Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s top defenseman.

Pilote played for Chicago from 1955-56 to 1967-68, spending one last year in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1968-69. Magnuson played his entire NHL career with Chicago from 1969-70 to 1979-80. Both Pilote and Magnuson had their number retired by the Blackhawks on the same night, November 12, 2008. For Magnuson, it was posthumously, having died in 2003.

Q. The number 21 is retired by the Chicago Blackhawks in honour of what long-time great?

A. Stan Mikita holds the all-time Blackhawks career records for points and assists. He is the only NHL player to win the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy and the Lady Byng Trophy in the same year. He accomplished this in two consecutive seasons during the 1960’s.

Mikita played his entire NHL career with Chicago from 1958-59 to 1979-80. His number was retired on October 19, 1980 and he entered the Hockey Hall of Fame three years later in 1983.

Q. The Blackhawks retired number 9 for what Hockey Hall of Fame player?

A. Easy question. Bobby Hull wore number 9 for the Blackhawks from 1957 to 1972 before becoming the face of the fledgling World Hockey Association. In 1983, Bobby entered the HHOF along with long time line mate Stan Mikita. On December 18, 1983, his number was retired by Chicago.

 

NHL Hockey Trivia: Tony and Phil Esposito

Phil and Tony Esposito are two brothers that played in the National Hockey League in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. Both are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame, both have their jersey numbers retired by an NHL club and both were members of Team Canada at the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union.

One brother started his National Hockey League career with the same team the other ended up with. Read on and find out what team that was.

Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge of the Esposito brothers with the following four trivia questions.

Q. What NHL team did Tony Esposito first play for?

A. All but thirteen of Tony’s NHL games were played with the Chicago Black Hawks. However, in 1968-69, he played those thirteen games with the Montreal Canadiens. At the time, both regular goalies were injured and Esposito was a call-up from the Houston Apollos of the Central Hockey League. Tony did not take part in the Stanley Cup playoffs that season when the Canadiens won the Cup.

1968-69 was before Ken Dryden came on the scene in Montreal. However, Tony still had Gump Worsley and Rogie Vachon to compete with. Worsley soon after entered the HHOF and Vachon should be there but has repeatedly been denied. The following year, 1969-70, Esposito walked into the number one spot in Chicago, appearing in 63 of 76 regular season games for the Blackhawks with Gerry Desjardins and Denis DeJordy seeing sparse action in backup roles.

Q. What NHL team did Phil Esposito first play for?

A. Phil was sponsored by the Chicago Black Hawks right from junior hockey with the St. Catherines TeePees of the Ontario Hockey Association. Esposito played four seasons with Chicago, in the shadow of Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita before being traded to the Boston Bruins where his career rocketed.

That trade is notorious for its one-sidedness. On May 15, 1967, going to Boston along with Phil were Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield. Heading to Chicago were Gilles Marotte, Pit Martin and Jack Norris. Esposito was part of another blockbuster trade in November, 1975 that sent him to the Rangers. Phil and Carol Vadnais went to the Big Apple while Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi went to Bean Town. He ended his career with New York.

Q. Which Esposito’s rookie hockey card is worth the most, according to Beckett Hockey?

A. The Tony Esposito rookie card was part of the 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee series and has a book value of $150. However, the Phil Esposito rookie card from the 1965-66 Topps series tops that with a book value of $400. Both Esposito rookie cards show the brothers as members of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Q. Which Esposito brother entered the Hockey Hall of Fame first?

A. Phil Esposito was the first of the two brothers to enter, being inducted in 1984. Tony followed in 1988. Phil played his final games in the National Hockey League during the 1980-81 season with the New York Rangers. This meant that he entered the Hockey Hall of Fame after the minimum three year waiting period. At his side in 1984 were goaltender Bernie Parent and career Montreal Canadien Jacques Lemaire.

Tony appeared in 18 games with the Blackhawks in 1983-84, his last games in the NHL. Four years later, he entered the HHOF, along with Guy Lafleur and Brad Park. Buddy O’Connor was also posthumously inducted.

1950-51 NHL Season By The Numbers

 

1950-51 was quite an important year in the National Hockey League. Many say that that season marked the NHL’s entry into the modern era. For the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it was an infamously significant season. The Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup championship on an overtime goal by Bill Barilko. However, Barilko would die in a plane crash not long after the celebration. Take a look back at the 1950-51 season by the numbers.

1

Milt Schmidt won his only Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. Schmidt played his entire NHL career with the Boston Bruins from 1936-37 to 1954-55, appearing in 776 regular season games in an era of much shorter schedules. Milt was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.

In 1950-51, Milt totalled 61 points in 62 regular season games, finishing fifth in the NHL. His 22 goals placed him ninth in the league while his 39 assists placed him fourth. Milt helped the Bruins squeak into the Stanley Cup playoffs, finishing just one point ahead of the New York Rangers for the final post season position. The Toronto Maple Leafs were too much for the Bruins in the opening round, winning the series in five games. Boston was able to score just five goals on the Maple Leafs over the series.

3

Three future Hockey Hall of Fame players played their first NHL games in 1950-51. Alex Delvecchio appeared in one game for the Detroit Red Wings and would play his entire NHL career with the club. Delvecchio appeared in 1,550 regular season games between 1950-51 and 1973-74 with Detroit. He directly followed that up with a four year stint as the head coach of the Red Wings.

Montreal greats Bernie ‘Boom Boom’ Geoffrion and Jean Beliveau both began their careers with the Canadiens in 1950-51. Geoffrion played 18 games in 1950-51 and posted an impressive 14 points. Bernie played with Montreal until the end of the 1963-64 season. Beliveau played just two games for the Habs in 1950-51 and wouldn’t be a regular with the team until 1953-54. Jean played his entire NHL career with the Canadiens, retiring after the 1970-71 season with 1,125 regular season games under his belt.

Delvecchio entered the Hall of Fame in 1977 while both Geoffrion and Beliveau were inducted in 1972.

5

Each of the five games in the Stanley Cup finals series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens went to overtime. With each of the games decided by a single goal, the Toronto outscored Montreal 13-10 over the series. The Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in overtime of the fifth game when defenseman Bill Barilko pinched in and scored on Montreal goalie Gerry McNeil.

10

It took the Toronto Maple Leafs ten games to win the 1951 Stanley Cup. As with any Original Six era season, there were just two rounds of playoffs with only four teams qualifying for the post season. In the first round, Toronto took out the Milt Schmidt led Boston Bruins in five games. In the other semi-final, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings in six. Toronto took five more games to eliminate Montreal and win the Cup.

11

Terry Sawchuk shutout his opponents eleven times, en route to earning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie. Sawchuk’s total while playing all of Detroit’s 70 games was equalled by the duo of goaltenders in Toronto, Al Rollins and Turk Broda. Toronto was the first team in the NHL to use a two goalie system.

Terry had appeared in seven games for the Red Wings the previous season but it was not enough to erase his rookie status. Sawchuk’s 1.99 goals against average was not enough to win the Vezina Trophy in 1950-51 but he won the award three out of the next four years. He was a four time Vezina winner over his National Hockey League career.

13

The Chicago Black Hawks won just 13 games in 1950-51, while the Detroit Red Wings lost just 13. Highlighting Chicago’s disastrous season was an 11-3 loss to Detroit, a 10-2 loss to Boston and a 12-2 loss to Montreal. Chicago finished 25 points behind the fifth place New York Rangers in the six team league. Detroit ended the year with 65 more points.

Chicago was not without big name players. Roy Conacher, Bill Mosienko, Doug Bentley, Gus Bodnar and Bill Gadsby were in the lineup. In net was eventual member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Harry Lumley.

70

1950-51 marked the first season the National Hockey League moved to a 70 game schedule. The previous season, each team played 60 games. The 70 game schedule would remain an annual tradition until the expansion year of 1967-68 when six teams and four games each were added. At that point, the schedule increased to 74, changing several times over the next few decades to settle on the current day 82 games.

86

Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top point-getter in 1950-51 with 86 points. Howe finished an astonishing 20 points ahead of the next player, Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard of the Montreal Canadiens. Gordie led the NHL in goal scoring with 43, just one more than Richard. He tied Ted Kennedy of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the league lead in assists with 43.

NHL Hockey Trivia: Stan Mikita

Stan Mikita is one of the most decorated Chicago Blackhawk to ever play in the National Hockey League. Between 1959 and 1980, Mikita was an ever-present force in a Black Hawks uniform. After all, he spent his entire NHL career with Chicago. Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge of Stan Mikita with the following four trivia questions.

Q. How many times was Stan Mikita a ‘triple crown’ winner, taking home the Lady Byng, Art Ross and Hart Trophies all in the same season?

A. Mikita was a triple crown winner twice. He is the only NHL player to accomplish this and certainly the only NHL player to do it in consecutive seasons. In both 1966-67 and 1967-68, Stan won the Byng, Ross and Hart. He won the Byng in 1966-67, accumulating just 12 PIM. Just two years before, Mikita was a completely different player, sitting out 154 minutes in penalties.

In 1966-67, Stan totalled an NHL record (at the time) 97 points over 70 regular season games. He finished with 17 points more than teammate Bobby Hull, who finished in second. Hull led the league in goals with 52 while Mikita was second with 35. Stan obviously led the league with his 62 assists, 13 more than Phil Goyette of the New York Rangers.

In 1967-68, the first year of the 12 team National Hockey League, Mikita dropped to 87 points on 47 assists and 40 goals over 72 games. Stan led the league with just three more points than Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins. He came within four goals of league leader Bobby Hull and placed fourth for assists behind Esposito, Rod Gilbert and Alex Delvecchio. All four were within two assists.

Q. In 1966-67, Stan Mikita totalled 97 points. At the time, he tied an NHL record. Who did he share the NHL record for most points in a single season with?

A. Just the season before, Mikita’s teammate, Bobby Hull, set the league mark with 97 points. After the 1968-69 season, these numbers would become just distant memories with Phil Esposito shattering the mark with 126 points. Esposito would increase the record to 152 points in 1970-71 and that would be considered unreachable until a kid named Wayne Gretzky came along in the 1980’s.

Q. In 1980, the Chicago Black Hawks retired Stan Mikita’s jersey number. What number did he wear during his NHL career with Chicago?

A. Stan Mikita’s number 21 was retired at the start of the 1980-81 season. It was just a year after his final season in the National Hockey League. Mikita wore number 21 right from 1958-59 when he appeared in just three games with Chicago while still a junior with the St. Catherines Teepees of the OHA.

Q. In what year was Stan Mikita inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame?

A. Mikita was part of the HHOF class of 1983. Joining him was long-time teammate in Chicago, Bobby Hull and goaltending great Ken Dryden. Harry Sinden was inducted the same year in the builder category.

Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1956-57	St. Catharines Teepees	OHA	52	16	31	47	0
1957-58	St. Catharines Teepees	OHA	52	31	47	78	0
1958-59	St. Catharines Teepees	OHA	45	38	59	97	0
1958-59	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	3	0	1	1	4
1959-60	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	67	8	18	26	119
1960-61	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	66	19	34	53	100
1961-62	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	70	25	52	77	97
1962-63	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	65	31	45	76	69
1963-64	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	70	39	50	89	146
1964-65	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	70	28	59	87	154
1965-66	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	68	30	48	78	58
1966-67	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	70	35	62	97	12
1967-68	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	72	40	47	87	14
1968-69	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	74	30	67	97	52
1969-70	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	76	39	47	86	50
1970-71	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	74	24	48	72	85
1971-72	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	74	26	39	65	46
1972-73	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	57	27	56	83	32
1973-74	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	76	30	50	80	46
1974-75	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	79	36	50	86	48
1975-76	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	48	16	41	57	37
1976-77	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	57	19	30	49	20
1977-78	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	76	18	41	59	35
1978-79	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	65	19	36	55	34
1979-80	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	17	2	5	7	12
	NHL Totals		1394	541	926	1467	1270

Frank Brimsek Of The Boston Bruins: Mr. Zero

He was one of the great goaltenders of the National Hockey league in the 1940’s, yet it took 16 years after he retired for Frank Brimsek to finally get inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Brimsek spent all but one of his seasons in the NHL with the Boston Bruins, leading the club to a Stanley Cup championship in his rookie year.

Frank Brimsek – Minor Pros

Before his big break with the Bruins in 1938-39, Brimsek played a few years in the minor pros. In 1935-36 and 1936-37, he appeared with the Pittsburgh Yellowjackets of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League. The EAHL evolved into the EHL, a pro league that existed until the end of the 1972-73 season before splitting in to the NAHL and SHL.

In his first year with the Yellowjackets, the team placed second in the five team league and was led offensively by Gordie Drillon. Drillon would go on to be a scoring leader in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The following year, the team fell to fourth as most of the star players had moved on.

In 1937-38, Brimsek played all 48 regular season games for the Providence Reds of the IAHL. The ‘I’ in IAHL was dropped as the league became the present day American Hockey League. The Bun Cook coached Reds were crowned Calder Cup champions with a win over the Syracuse Stars in the finals.

Frank Brimsek – NHL Career

‘Mister Zero’ played goal in the National Hockey League from 1938-39 to 1949-50 with the Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks. Shortly into the 1938-39 season, Boston shipped their number one goaltender Tiny Thompson to the Detroit Red Wings and relied solely on the rookie Brimsek.

Frank started the year with nine games in the AHL with Providence. Over 43 games with the Bruins, he posted a 1.56 goals against average and recorded ten shutouts. Brimsek won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year. He also won the Vezina Trophy and was named First Team All-Star goalie.

The Art Ross coached Bruins placed first overall in the 1938-39 NHL. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Boston ousted the Toronto Maple Leafs in the finals for the championship. Frank played all 12 playoff games, posting a 1.25 GAA.

Brimsek played every game for the Bruins in five different seasons between 1939-40 and 1947-48. He would do the same in his final year of NHL hockey in 1949-50 for the Chicago Blackhawks. He won his second and final Vezina Trophy in 1941-42, playing 47 games for the Bruins with three shutouts and a 2.35 GAA. His only other Stanley Cup championship came in 1940-41 when the Bruins swept the Red Wings in the finals after finishing first overall during the regular season.

After missing the 1943-44 and 1944-45 seasons because of military commitments during the Second World War, Frank stormed back into the NHL for the 1945-46 season. The Dit Clapper coached Bruins finished second overall in the six team league. Brimsek played 34 games during the regular season, sharing duties with Paul Bibeault.

In the 1945-46 Stanley Cup playoffs, Frank played in all ten games for Boston. The Bruins fell to the Montreal Canadiens in the finals, winning just one of the five games. The series was closer than it looked, though, with three of the five games going to overtime to decide a victor.

His final year in the NHL was Frank’s only year not with the Bruins. He played all 70 games for Chicago with five shutouts and a 3.49 goals against average. The Charlie Conacher coached Blackhawks finished last in the six team league, six points behind the fifth place Bruins. It was the only year during his NHL career that Brimsek did not compete in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Frank was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966, along with eight others. The group included hockey greats Max Bentley, Toe Blake, Emile Bouchard, Ted Kennedy, Elmer Lach, Ted Lindsay, Ken Reardon and Babe Pratt. Brimsek was inducted into the U.S.A. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973.

NHL Hockey Trivia: Bobby Orr

Arguably the best defenseman to ever play the game of hockey, Bobby Orr is a legend in NHL history. Orr played with the Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks over an injury shortened career that spanned from 1966-67 to 1978-79.

Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge of Bobby Orr with the following four trivia questions.

Q. In 1969-70 and 1974-75, Bobby Orr became the only defenseman to ever win which NHL award?

A. With 120 points in 1969-70 and 135 points in 1974-75, Orr remains the only defenseman to ever win the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top point-getter. Interestingly, his highest point total was 139 in 1970-71 but he came a distant second to teammate Phil Esposito and his 152 points that season.

The 139 points does still stand as an NHL record for most points in a single season by a defenseman. Paul Coffey came within a point of that mark in 1985-86. Playing for the Edmonton Oilers, Coffey scored 48 goals and assisted on 90 over 79 games. The 48 goals does stand as a National Hockey League record, eclipsing the 46 the Orr put up in 1974-75 with the Bruins.

Q. In what hockey card set was the Bobby Orr rookie card featured in?

A. The Bobby Orr rookie card was number 35 of the 1966-67 Topps series. The card has a book value of $3000, according to Beckett Hockey Monthly. Orr’s RC is by far the most valuable hockey card in the set. Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings is a distant second with a book value of $200.

Q. What was the first major NHL award won by Bobby Orr?

A. Bobby Orr won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 1966-67 as the NHL’s top rookie. Orr scored 13 goals and totalled 41 points that season in 61 games, a far cry from his offensive explosiveness in the 1970’s.

Boston teammate Derek Sanderson won the award the following year. It would then be until the 1979-80 season before another member of the Bruins would be named rookie of the year in the NHL. In 1979-80, it was Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque. Sergei Samsonov and Andrew Raycroft have been the only Boston players to win the Calder Trophy since.

Q. In what year did Bobby Orr win the Lou Marsh Award?

A. Bobby Orr was the 1970 recipient of the Lou Marsh Award. The Lou Marsh is handed out each year to the top athlete in Canada. Bobby is one of eight NHL players to win the Lou Marsh. The other seven include Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Rocket Richard, Phil Esposito, Bobby Clarke, Guy Lafleur and Mario Lemieux.

NHL Hockey Trivia: Al Arbour

Al Arbour played 626 games in the National Hockey League from 1953-54 to 1970-71. Yet it was his accomplishments as a head coach with the New York Islanders than earned him a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Test and expand your knowledge of Al Arbour and the NHL with these hockey trivia questions.

Q. What team did Al Arbour begin his NHL career with?

A. Arbour began his NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings during the 1953-54 season. Arbour played with Detroit until the end of the 1957-58 season. He began the next year with the Chicago Black Hawks. He would also play for the St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs.

In 1953-54, Al played in 36 games with the Red Wings and contributed just one assists. He also appeared in 19 games in the QHL with the Sherbrooke Saints. Arbour would not play in the National Hockey League again until the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1955-56. After a full season in the WHL with the Edmonton Flyers, Al joined the Red Wings for the playoffs. He played in four of the team’s ten post season games as Detroit fell in the finals to the Montreal Canadiens.

Q. What team did Al Arbour play his final NHL game with?

A. Arbour played his final season, 1970-71 with the St. Louis Blues. He took over as head coach of the Blues during that season. In that final year, Arbour played just 22 regular season games. He was credited with 50 games as head coach of the team before being replaced by Scotty Bowman. In the playoffs, Al played another six games for the Blues. St. Louis fell in the opening round to the Minnesota North Stars in six games, ending their run of consecutive Stanley Cup finals appearances at three. In his four years as a player with St. Louis, Arbour served as team captain.

Q. How many years did Al Arbour coach the New York Islanders?

A. Arbour coached the Islanders for nineteen seasons, beginning in 1973-74. He coached through to the end of the 1985-86 season. He then took over as head coach again in 1988-89 and lasted until the end of the 1993-94 season. He coached one game in the 2007-08 season.

Q. How many Stanley Cup winning teams did Al Arbour coach?

A. Arbour coached the New York Islanders to four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1979-80 to 1982-83. These were the only four Stanley Cups that Arbour would win. Leading up to that dynastic run, the Islanders reached the final four in four of Al’s first six years behind the bench in Long Island. The team fell in the semi-finals in 1974-75, 1975-76, 1976-77 and 1978-79. In 1983-84, New York reached the final again, looking for their fifth straight championship but fell to the Edmonton Oilers in five games. Arbour reached the semi-finals one more time, losing to the Montreal Canadiens in 1992-93.

2 NHL Teams With Losing Records To Win Stanley Cup

In the modern age of the NHL with 30 teams competing for 16 playoff spots, it is inconceivable that a team could win the Stanley Cup with a losing record during the regular season. In the modern era, teams with a better than .500 record often do not even make the playoffs.

Believe it or not, twice in the history of the National Hockey League, teams with a losing record have not only made it to the Stanley Cup final but have taken the Cup home as league champions. It happened once during the ‘Original Six’ era and once even before that when there were eight NHL teams split into two divisions of 4 teams.

Chicago Blackhawks – 1937-38

The first time this happened was during the 1937-38 season. At the time, the teams in the league played just a 48 games schedule and long lost teams, the New York Americans and Montreal Maroons were still going strong. The Toronto Maple Leafs took the Canadian Division during the regular season with a record of 24 wins, 15 losses and 9 ties. The Boston Bruins ran away with the American Division with a record of 30 wins, 11 losses and 7 ties.

The Chicago Black Hawks finished third in the American Division, just two points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings with a dismal record of 14 wins, 25 losses and 9 ties. The only team worse was the Montreal Maroons who were in their last year of existence. Yet, when all was said and done, the Black Hawks were crowned Stanley Cup Champs.

Chicago was coached by Bill Stewart. Never a player in the National Hockey League, it was the only year Stewart was a head coach in the league. The Black Hawks were led offensively during the regular season by Paul Thompson. Thompson scored 22 and assisted on 22 over 48 games. Two years later, Paul was the head coach for Chicago. In the playoffs, it was Russian born Johnny Gottselig that led the team with eight points.

Toronto Maple Leafs – 1948-49

The second time the situation arose was during the 1948-49 season. There were only six teams in the league and only the top four teams competed in the post season playoffs. The Detroit Red Wings took first place easily with 75 points over the 60 game season. Boston and Montreal were second and third with 66 and 65 points and the Toronto Maple Leafs rounded out the top four with 57 points on 22 wins, 25 losses and 13 ties.

Toronto went on to take their third straight Stanley Cup despite the weak regular season showing. This was the last time the feat was ever accomplished and probably will be the last time ever unless the league downsizes or changes its playoff structure in the future. It should be noted that most every season during the ‘Original Six’ era, the fourth place time had a losing record during the regular season so almost every year the opportunity was there for a severe underdog to take the Stanley Cup home.

The Hap Day coached Maple Leafs had Bill Barilko in the lineup and were led offensively by Harry Watson during the regular season. In the playoffs, it was Ted Kennedy leading the way with eight points. Turk Broda played goal for all of Toronto’s regular season and playoff games.

 

1966-67 Chicago Blackhawks: The One That Got Away

1966-67 is typically remembered by NHL fans as the last season of the ‘Original Six’ era, the first year of Bobby Orr and the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs would win the Stanley Cup. Chicago Blackhawks fans remember that year as a seemingly guaranteed Stanley Cup victory gone horribly wrong.

Chicago dominated the 1966-67 NHL regular season, winning 41 of 70 games and finishing seventeen points above the next competitor. The Black Hawks score 264 goals, 42 more than the Detroit Red Wings and allowed just 170, 18 less than the Montreal Canadiens.

Five of the top point-getters in the NHL that season wore a Chicago Black Hawks uniform. Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull went one-two with Mikita tying Hull’s single season record with 97 points. Ken Wharram finished fourth, Phil Esposito finished seventh and Doug Mohns came in ninth.

The well-rounded team also took the Vezina Trophy on the backs of the goaltending duo of Glenn Hall and Denis DeJordy. Three time Norris Trophy winner, Pierre Pilote, was runner-up to Harry Howell of the New York Rangers for the award for the top defenseman.

The Black Hawks took home the hardware in 1966-67. Of course, they won the Prince of Wales Trophy as the best team in the regular season. It was the first time in team history that the Hawks finished first in the NHL. Stan Mikita won the triple crown, taking home the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy and Lady Byng Trophy.

Four of the six players on the First All-Star Team were from Chicago. Pierre Pilote was on defense, Stan Mikita was at centre, Ken Wharram was on right wing and Bobby Hull was on the left side. Glenn Hall was the Second Team All-Star goaltender.

Yet, in spite of all this success, the Black Hawks bowed out in the opening round of the playoffs to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. What should have been Chicago’s fourth Stanley Cup victory, and first since 1961, instead became a Cup celebration for the third seed Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals in six games after Montreal took out the New York Rangers in four games in the opening round.

Chicago would make it to the Stanley Cup finals three more times, only to lose. It wasn’t until 2010 before the Blackhawks won their next Cup, their first since 1961. The Maple Leafs, after stealing the Cup from Chicago in 1967, have yet to make another appearance in the finals.