1951–52 NHL season

1951–52 NHL season
League National Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Duration October 11, 1951 – April 15, 1952
Number of games 70
Number of teams 6
Regular season
Season champion Detroit Red Wings
Season MVP Gordie Howe (Detroit Red Wings)
Top scorer Gordie Howe (Detroit Red Wings)
Stanley Cup
Champions Detroit Red Wings
  Runners-up Montreal Canadiens

The 1951–52 NHL season was the 35th season of the National Hockey League. The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup by sweeping the Montreal Canadiens four games to none.

League business

A long standing feud between Boston president Weston Adams and general manager Art Ross ended on October 12, 1951, when Adams sold his stock in Boston Garden to Walter Brown.

The Chicago Black Hawks, who had made the mammoth nine player deal the previous season, now decided to make the largest cash deal for players to this time by paying $75,000 for Jim McFadden, George Gee, Jimmy Peters, Clare Martin, Clare Raglan and Max McNab.

Rule changes

The league mandated that road teams would now wear a basic white uniform, while home teams will wear coloured uniforms.[1]

The goal crease is enlarged from 3 × 7 feet to 4 × 8 feet. The faceoff circles are expanded from a 10-foot radius to a 15-foot radius.[1]

Regular season

Conn Smythe offered $10,000 for anyone who found Bill Barilko, missing since August 26. Barilko and Dr. Henry Hudson had left Rupert House on James Bay in the doctor's light plane for Timmins, Ontario, after a weekend fishing trip and had not been found.

For the fourth straight season, the Detroit Red Wings finished first overall in the National Hockey League.

Highlights

On November 25 in Chicago, Chicago goalie Harry Lumley hurt a knee. At age 46, trainer Moe Roberts, who played his first game in the NHL for Boston in 1925–26, played the third period in goal for Chicago and didn't yield a goal.[2] Roberts would stand as the oldest person to ever play an NHL game until Gordie Howe returned to the NHL at age 51 in 1979.[3]

Chicago wasn't drawing well and so they decided to experiment with afternoon games. It worked, as the largest crowd of the season, 13,600 fans, showed up for a January 20 game in which Chicago lost to Toronto 3–1.

Elmer Lach night was held March 8 at the Forum in Montreal as the Canadiens tied Chicago 4–4. 14,452 fans were on hand to see Lach presented with a car, rowboat, TV set, deep-freeze chest, bedroom and dining room suites, a refrigerator and many other articles.

On the last night of the season, March 23, 1952, with nothing at stake at Madison Square Garden, 3,254 fans saw Chicago's Bill Mosienko score the fastest hat trick in NHL history, 3 goals in 21 seconds. Lorne Anderson was the goaltender who gave up the goals to Chicago. Gus Bodnar also set a record with the fastest three assists in NHL history as he assisted on all three goals Mosienko scored. Chicago beat the New York Rangers 7–6.[2]

Final standings

National Hockey League[4]
GP W L T GF GA DIFF Pts
1 Detroit Red Wings 70 44 14 12 215 133 +82 100
2 Montreal Canadiens 70 34 26 10 195 164 +31 78
3 Toronto Maple Leafs 70 29 25 16 168 157 +11 74
4 Boston Bruins 70 25 29 16 162 176 −14 66
5 New York Rangers 70 23 34 13 192 219 −27 59
6 Chicago Black Hawks 70 17 44 9 158 241 −83 43

Playoffs

In the playoffs, Detroit finished 8–0, sweeping the defending Stanley Cup champions Toronto (the first time in NHL history the cup champs were swept in the first round) and Montreal, the first time a team had gone undefeated in the playoffs since the 1934–35 Montreal Maroons. The Wings scored 24 goals in the playoffs, compared to a combined five goals for their opponents. Detroit goaltender Terry Sawchuk did not give up a goal on home ice during the playoffs.[2]

see 1952 Stanley Cup Finals

Playoff bracket

Semi-finals Stanley Cup Final
      
1 Detroit Red Wings 4
3 Toronto Maple Leafs 0
1 Detroit Red Wings 4
2 Montreal Canadiens 0
2 Montreal Canadiens 4
4 Boston Bruins 3

Awards

Award winners
Prince of Wales Trophy:
(Regular season champion) 		Detroit Red Wings
Art Ross Trophy:
(Top scorer) 		Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Calder Memorial Trophy:
(Best first-year player) 		Bernie Geoffrion, Montreal Canadiens
Hart Trophy:
(Most valuable player) 		Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:
(Excellence and sportsmanship) 		Sid Smith, Toronto Maple Leafs
Vezina Trophy:
(Goaltender of team with best goals-against average) 		Terry Sawchuk, Detroit Red Wings
All-Star teams
First team   Position   Second team
Terry Sawchuk, Detroit Red Wings G Jim Henry, Boston Bruins
Red Kelly, Detroit Red Wings D Hy Buller, New York Rangers
Doug Harvey, Montreal Canadiens D Jimmy Thomson, Toronto Maple Leafs
Elmer Lach, Montreal Canadiens C Milt Schmidt, Boston Bruins
Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings RW Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens
Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings LW Sid Smith, Toronto Maple Leafs

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
Gordie Howe Detroit Red Wings 70 47 39 86 78
Ted Lindsay Detroit Red Wings 70 30 39 69 123
Elmer Lach Montreal Canadiens 70 15 50 65 36
Don Raleigh New York Rangers 70 19 42 61 14
Sid Smith Toronto Maple Leafs 70 27 30 57 6
Bernie Geoffrion Montreal Canadiens 67 30 24 54 66
Bill Mosienko Chicago Black Hawks 70 31 22 53 10
Sid Abel Detroit Red Wings 70 17 36 53 32
Ted Kennedy Toronto Maple Leafs 70 19 33 52 33
Milt Schmidt Boston Bruins 69 21 29 50 57

Source: NHL[5]

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 SO
Terry Sawchuk Detroit Red Wings 70 4200 133 1.90 44 14 12 12
Al Rollins Toronto Maple Leafs 70 4170 154 2.22 29 24 16 5
Gerry McNeil Montreal Canadiens 70 4200 164 2.34 34 26 10 5
Jim Henry Boston Bruins 70 4200 176 2.51 25 29 16 7
Chuck Rayner New York Rangers 53 3180 159 3.00 18 25 10 2
Emile Francis New York Rangers 14 840 42 3.00 4 7 3 0

Source: NHL[6]

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1951–52 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1951–52 (listed with their last team):

See also

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 Fischler et al. Duplacey, p. 202.
  2. 1 2 3 Dryden 2000, p. 54.
  3. ↑ Goaltending Legends: Maurice "Moe" Roberts
  4. ↑ "1951–1952 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
  5. ↑ Dinger 2011, p. 148.
  6. ↑ "1951–1952 – Regular Season – Goalie – Skater Season Stats Leaders – Points – NHL.com – Stats". nhl.com. Retrieved January 16, 2012.

External links

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