page_title: History of the National Hockey League (1942–1967)
section_title: Post-war period
hierarchical_section_title: History of the National Hockey League (1942–1967) / Post-war period
caption_attribution_description: Syl Apps
context_page_description: The Original Six era of the National Hockey League began in 1942 with the demise of the Brooklyn Americans, reducing the league to six teams: Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. This structure remained stable for a quarter century; the era ended in 1967 when the NHL doubled in size adding six expansion teams.
  The Stanley Cup, was the de facto championship since 1926, becoming the de jure championship in 1947, when the NHL completed a deal with the Stanley Cup trustees to gain control of the Cup. Toronto and Montreal evidenced dynasties, as the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup nine times from 1942 onwards, while the Canadiens won ten times, including five consecutive titles between 1956 and 1960. The 1967 championship is the last Maple Leafs title to date.
  Remarkably, Maurice Richard became the first player to score 50 goals in a season in 1944–45. In 1955, Richard was suspended for assaulting a linesman, leading to the Richard Riot. Gordie Howe made his debut in 1946, retiring 32 years later as the NHL's all-time leader in both goals and points.
context_section_description: World War II extensively ravaged the rosters of many teams; by the 1943–44 season teams battled each other for players.  In need of a goaltender, the Bruins won a fight with the Canadiens over the services of Bert Gardiner.  Meanwhile, the Rangers were forced to lend forward Phil Watson to the Canadiens in exchange for two players, as Watson was required in Montreal for a war job, and refused permission to play in New York.
  With only five returning players from the previous season, Rangers general manager Lester Patrick suggested suspension of his team's play for the duration of the war.  Patrick was otherwise persuaded; however, the Rangers managed only six wins in a 50-game schedule, giving up 310 goals that year. The Rangers were so desperate for players that 42-year-old coach Frank Boucher made a brief comeback, recording four goals and ten assists in 15 games.   That year the Canadiens dominated the league, finishing with a 38–5–7 record.  Five losses remains a league record for the fewest in one season; the Canadiens did not lose a game on home ice.  Their 1944 Stanley Cup victory was the team's first in 14 seasons.  The Canadiens again dominated the 1944–45, finishing with a 38–8–4 record.  They were defeated in the playoffs by the underdog Maple Leafs, who eventually won the Cup.
  NHL teams exclusively competed for the Stanley Cup following the 1926 demise of the Western Hockey League.  Though rejected by Cup trustees for various reasons, in the intervening years other teams, and leagues, attempted to challenge for the Cup. In 1947, the NHL reached an agreement with trustees P. D. Ross and Cooper Smeaton to grant Cup control to the NHL, thereby allowing the league to reject challenges from other leagues. The last such challenge came in 1953, from the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League; it was rejected, as the AHL was not considered of equivalent calibre to the NHL, which was a condition of the NHL's 'deal' with trustees.
  The Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1943 under the leadership of James T. Sutherland, a former President of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). The Hall of Fame was established as a joint venture between the NHL and the CAHA, in Kingston, Ontario, considered by Sutherland the birthplace of hockey.  Originally called the "International Hockey Hall of Fame", its mandate was to honor great hockey players and to raise funds for a permanent location. The first eleven honored members were inducted on April 30, 1945.  Not until 1961 did the Hockey Hall of Fame establish a permanent home at Exhibition Place in Toronto.
  On October 13, 1947, to raise money for the newly created NHL Pension Society, the first official All-Star Game took place at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.  The NHL All-Stars defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–3 and raised C$25,000 for the pension fund.  The All-Star Game remains an annual tradition.
caption: Syl Apps, with the Cup before it was redesigned, in the 1940s
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