Before 2011, the 1972 Boston Bruins were the last to bring
the Stanley Cup to Beantown. The 1971-72 Boston Bruins can be considered among
the top National Hockey League teams of all time, losing just 13 of 78 games
during the regular season and finishing ten points beyond the second place team
before storming their way to the Stanley Cup victory.
Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge of the 1972
Boston Bruins with the following four hockey trivia questions:
Q. What Bruins player was the team leader in both goals and points in
1971-72?
A. Phil Esposito, coming off a record 76 goals and 152
points in 1970-71, led the team with lower, but still impressive, numbers than
the year before. Esposito finished out the year with 66 goals and 130 points.
There’s a bit of an asterix here as Esposito tied Bobby Orr
for the team lead with 24 points during the playoffs. In the goals department,
Esposito, John
Bucyk and Ken Hodge all tied for the team lead in the post season with nine
each. Assists? It was all Bobby Orr. Orr led the team during the regular season
with 80 assists and led in the playoffs with 19.
Q. Each of the Boston Bruins goaltending tandem finished off the
1971-72 season with an equal 27 wins. Although Gerry Cheevers is thought of
when the topic of Boston goaltenders from the 1970’s comes up, who was the
goalie that platooned with Cheevers that season?
A. Eddie Johnston quietly had the same number of wins,
although his goals against average was slightly higher than that of Gerry
Cheevers. Johnston played in the National Hockey League from 1962-63 to 1977-78
with the Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks.
His days in Chicago were limited to the final four games of his Eddie’s NHL
career.
Q. What team did the Boston Bruins beat in the finals to win the 1972
Stanley Cup?
A. The Bruins met the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup
finals and won the series in four games. The Rangers finished second overall in
the NHL during the regular season, ten points behind the Bruins. The Rangers
took out the Montreal Canadiens in the quarter-finals then swept the Chicago
Black Hawks in the semi-finals to earn the match-up against Boston.
Even though the teams had both been in the NHL since the mid
1920’s, it was just the second time Boston and New York met in the Stanley Cup
finals. The previous time came in 1928-29 with the Bruins sweeping the best of
three series in two games.
Q. The Boston Bruins lost just thirteen games in 1971-72. One team was
responsible for nearly a quarter of those losses. Which team did Boston lose
three games to in the regular season?
A. Not too shockingly, the Bruins lost three to the Montreal
Canadiens. Interestingly, two of the thirteen losses came at the hands of the
lowly California
Golden Seals. Seven of the thirteen losses came against teams that finished
the year below .500.
