1963–64 Montreal Canadiens season

The 1963–64 Montreal Canadiens season was the club's 55th season of play. The Canadiens finished 1st in the league and lost in the Semi-finals to the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 3.
==Regular Season==
The Canadiens were coming off what was for them a very poor season. The team finished third in the 1962-63 NHL season and lost the Semi-finals in a very poorly played 5 games to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Lou Fontinato suffered a career-ending injury in that year and veterans Tom Johnson and Dickie Moore also missed a lot of time due to injuries. Goaltender Jacques Plante played his worst season in a Canadiens' uniform.
Moore retired, Johnson went to the Boston Bruins while Phil Goyette, Don Marshall, and Plante were traded to the New York Rangers. To replace them, the Canadiens obtained Gump Worsley and Dave Balon from the Rangers and got the tough enforcer John Ferguson from the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League. Rookies Jacques Laperriere and Terry Harper reinforced the defence. With the exception of Worsley, all the new players played beyond expectations.
Worlsey was injured in the eighth game of the season. To replace him the Canadiens brought up Charlie Hodge from the Quebec Aces. Hodge had been the team's second-string goalie for years behind Jacques Plante. Given the chance, Hodge blossomed into a fine first-string goalie and won the Vezina Trophy.
The Detroit Red Wings blanked the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 on November 10th. While the Wings were a man short, Gordie Howe scored on Charlie Hodge for his 545th career goal, breaking Maurice Richard's record. Yet another record was tied by Terry Sawchuk when he recorded his 94th career NHL shutout, tying him with George Hainsworth as the all-time NHL shutout leader.
Jean Béliveau came off of a so-so 1962-63 season to finish third in the league scoring race and win the Hart Memorial Trophy. Laperriere won the Calder Memorial Trophy ahead of teammates Ferguson and Harper. Bobby Rousseau scored five goals in one game against the Detroit Red Wings as part of a fine 25 goal season.
The Leafs, strengthened by superstar Andy Bathgate upset the Canadiens in the Semi-finals, but a dynasty was born. The Canadiens would win four of the next five Stanley Cups, narrowly missing winning the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals.
===Final Standings===
===Game Log===
# 	R	Date 	Score	Opponent 	Record
1 	T	October 8, 1963 	4–4 	@ Boston Bruins 	0–0–1
2 	W	October 12, 1963 	6–2 	New York Rangers 	1–0–1
3 	L	October 16, 1963 	2–4 	Toronto Maple Leafs 	1–1–1
4 	W	October 19, 1963 	2–0 	Boston Bruins 	2–1–1
5 	L	October 20, 1963 	3–5 	@ Chicago Black Hawks	2–2–1
6 	T	October 26, 1963 	1–1 	Chicago Black Hawks 	2–2–2
7 	W	October 27, 1963 	6–4 	@ Detroit Red Wings 	3–2–2
8 	L	October 30, 1963 	3–6 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	3–3–2
9 	W	November 2, 1963 	5–1 	Detroit Red Wings 	4–3–2
10	W	November 3, 1963 	5–3 	@ New York Rangers 	5–3–2
11	T	November 7, 1963 	2–2 	Chicago Black Hawks 	5–3–3
12	W	November 9, 1963 	4–2 	New York Rangers 	6–3–3
13	L	November 10, 1963	0–3 	@ Detroit Red Wings 	6–4–3
14	T	November 13, 1963	2–2 	Toronto Maple Leafs 	6–4–4
15	L	November 16, 1963	2–5 	Chicago Black Hawks 	6–5–4
16	W	November 17, 1963	3–2 	@ Boston Bruins 	7–5–4
17	W	November 20, 1963	3–1 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	8–5–4
18	L	November 24, 1963	3–7 	@ Chicago Black Hawks	8–6–4
19	W	November 28, 1963	7–3 	@ Detroit Red Wings 	9–6–4
20	T	November 30, 1963	0–0 	Boston Bruins 	9–6–5
21	W	December 1, 1963 	3–1 	@ Boston Bruins 	10–6–5
22	L	December 4, 1963 	0–3 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	10–7–5
23	W	December 5, 1963 	4–2 	New York Rangers 	11–7–5
24	W	December 7, 1963 	5–2 	Detroit Red Wings 	12–7–5
25	L	December 8, 1963 	0–3 	@ Chicago Black Hawks	12–8–5
26	W	December 12, 1963	6–4 	New York Rangers 	13–8–5
27	W	December 14, 1963	3–1 	Boston Bruins 	14–8–5
28	L	December 15, 1963	2–4 	@ New York Rangers 	14–9–5
29	W	December 18, 1963	7–3 	Toronto Maple Leafs 	15–9–5
30	W	December 21, 1963	3–2 	Chicago Black Hawks 	16–9–5
31	W	December 22, 1963	6–1 	@ Detroit Red Wings 	17–9–5
32	L	December 25, 1963	1–3 	@ Chicago Black Hawks	17–10–5
33	T	December 28, 1963	1–1 	Detroit Red Wings 	17–10–6
34	W	December 29, 1963	6–2 	@ New York Rangers 	18–10–6
35	T	January 1, 1964 	3–3 	@ Boston Bruins 	18–10–7
36	W	January 4, 1964 	5–1 	Boston Bruins 	19–10–7
37	T	January 5, 1964 	3–3 	@ Detroit Red Wings 	19–10–8
38	L	January 8, 1964 	1–6 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	19–11–8
39	W	January 12, 1964 	2–1 	@ Chicago Black Hawks	20–11–8
40	W	January 16, 1964 	1–0 	Chicago Black Hawks 	21–11–8
41	L	January 18, 1964 	0–2 	Detroit Red Wings 	21–12–8
42	T	January 19, 1964 	1–1 	@ Boston Bruins 	21–12–9
43	W	January 22, 1964 	3–0 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	22–12–9
44	W	January 23, 1964 	4–2 	New York Rangers 	23–12–9
45	L	January 25, 1964 	0–6 	Boston Bruins 	23–13–9
46	T	January 26, 1964 	2–2 	@ Chicago Black Hawks	23–13–10
47	W	January 29, 1964 	2–1 	Toronto Maple Leafs 	24–13–10
48	W	February 1, 1964 	9–3 	Detroit Red Wings 	25–13–10
49	L	February 2, 1964 	2–4 	@ New York Rangers 	25–14–10
50	W	February 5, 1964 	2–0 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	26–14–10
51	W	February 8, 1964 	8–2 	@ New York Rangers 	27–14–10
52	T	February 9, 1964 	4–4 	@ Boston Bruins 	27–14–11
53	W	February 12, 1964	4–0 	Toronto Maple Leafs 	28–14–11
54	L	February 15, 1964	1–4 	Detroit Red Wings 	28–15–11
55	W	February 16, 1964	5–2 	@ Detroit Red Wings 	29–15–11
56	W	February 20, 1964	3–2 	Boston Bruins 	30–15–11
57	W	February 22, 1964	3–1 	Chicago Black Hawks 	31–15–11
58	L	February 23, 1964	2–3 	@ Detroit Red Wings 	31–16–11
59	W	February 26, 1964	1–0 	Toronto Maple Leafs 	32–16–11
60	W	February 29, 1964	4–0 	New York Rangers 	33–16–11
61	L	March 1, 1964 	3–4 	@ Chicago Black Hawks	33–17–11
62	L	March 5, 1964 	5–7 	Detroit Red Wings 	33–18–11
63	L	March 7, 1964 	2–3 	New York Rangers 	33–19–11
64	T	March 8, 1964 	0–0 	@ New York Rangers 	33–19–12
65	L	March 11, 1964 	0–1 	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	33–20–12
66	W	March 14, 1964 	4–3 	Chicago Black Hawks 	34–20–12
67	L	March 15, 1964 	1–3 	@ Boston Bruins 	34–21–12
68	T	March 18, 1964 	2–2 	Toronto Maple Leafs 	34–21–13
69	W	March 21, 1964 	5–1 	Boston Bruins 	35–21–13
70	W	March 22, 1964 	2–1 	@ New York Rangers 	36–21–13
==Playoffs==
===Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Montreal Canadiens 3===
*March 26, 1964, Toronto Maple Leafs 2 - 0
*March 28, 1964, Toronto Maple Leafs 1 - 2
*March 31, 1964, at Toronto Maple Leafs 3 - 2
*April 2, 1964, at Toronto Maple Leafs 3 - 5
*April 4, 1964, Toronto Maple Leafs 4 - 2 
*April 7, 1964, at Toronto Maple Leafs 0 - 3 
*April 9, 1964, Toronto Maple Leafs 1 - 3http://www.databasehockey.com/teams/teamscores.htm?tm=MON&yr=1963
==Player Stats==
===Regular Season===
;Scoring
Player	Pos 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
 	C 	68	28	50	78 	42
 	RW 	70	25	31	56 	32
 	C 	66	14	39	53 	73
 	LW 	59	18	27	45 	125
 	LW 	70	24	18	42 	80
 	RW 	55	21	18	39 	41
 	LW 	61	22	15	37 	21
 	RW 	68	15	17	32 	37
 	D 	65	2 	28	30 	102
 	C 	70	8 	21	29 	41
 	D 	70	5 	16	21 	24
 	RW 	48	11	9 	20 	41
 	D 	70	2 	15	17 	149
 	C 	69	7 	9 	16 	12
 	D 	66	1 	13	14 	83
 	LW 	4 	1 	4 	5 	2
 	RW 	5 	4 	0 	4 	0
 	RW 	21	1 	1 	2 	43
 	D 	39	0 	2 	2 	18
 	D 	4 	0 	1 	1 	0
 	D/RW	15	0 	1 	1 	2
 	D 	1 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	RW 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	3 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	RW 	3 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	4 	0 	0 	0 	6
 	D 	6 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	G 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	8 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	62	0 	0 	0 	2
;Goaltending
Player	MIN 	GP	W 	L 	T 	GA 	GAA 	SO
 	3720	62	33	18	11	140	2.26	8
 	444 	8 	3 	2 	2 	22 	2.97	1
 	36 	1 	0 	1 	0 	4 	6.67	0
Team: 	4200	70	36	21	13	166	2.37	9
===Playoffs===
;Scoring
Player	Pos 	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
 	RW 	7 	2	2	4 	22
 	C 	7 	2	1	3 	8
 	D 	7 	2	1	3 	9
 	C 	5 	2	0	2 	18
 	LW 	7 	1	1	2 	25
 	RW 	7 	1	1	2 	4
 	D 	7 	1	1	2 	8
 	C 	7 	1	1	2 	9
 	RW 	7 	1	1	2 	2
 	RW 	7 	0	2	2 	2
 	D 	7 	0	2	2 	10
 	RW 	2 	1	0	1 	0
 	LW 	7 	0	1	1 	25
 	D/RW	7 	0	1	1 	14
 	LW 	2 	0	0	0 	0
 	D 	6 	0	0	0 	2
 	C 	7 	0	0	0 	4
 	D 	7 	0	0	0 	6
 	G 	7 	0	0	0 	0
;Goaltending
Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA 	SO
 	420	7 	3	4	16	2.29	1
Team: 	420	7 	3	4	16	2.29	1
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes; PPG=Power-play goals; SHG=Short-handed goals; GWG=Game-winning goals 
MIN=Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; SO = Shutouts 
==Awards and Records==
*Prince of Wales Trophy: Montreal Canadiens
*Hart Memorial Trophy: Jean Beliveau
*Calder Memorial Trophy: Jacques Laperriere
*Vezina Trophy: Charlie Hodge
*Jean Béliveau, Centre, NHL First Team All-Star
*Jacques Laperriere, Defenceman, NHL Second Team All-Star
*Charlie Hodge, Goaltender, NHL Second Team All-Star
==Transactions==
* Trade Jacques Plante, Phil Goyette and Don Marshall to the New York Rangers for Gump Worsley, Dave Balon, Leon Rochefort and Len Ronson on June 4, 1963.
==Farm Teams==
===Minor Pro===
The Canadiens had working arrangements with the following teams:
*Quebec Aces (American Hockey League) who finished first in the East Division.
*Cleveland Barons (American Hockey League) who won the Calder Cup.
*Seattle Totems (Western Hockey League) who finished fifth.
*Muskegon Zephyrs (International Hockey League) who finished sixth.
The following team was a wholly-owned farm team:
*Omaha Knights (Central Professional Hockey League) who finished first and won the Adams Cup (playoff championship).
===Junior===
*Montreal Junior Canadiens (Ontario Hockey Association) who finished second and lost the final.
*Peterborough Petes (Ontario Hockey Association) who finished fifth and lost the quarter final.
*Regina Pats (Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League) who finished second and lost the final.
*Fort William Canadiens (Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League) who finished second and won the final.
*St. Boniface Canadiens (Manitoba Junior Hockey League) who finished sixth.
They also sponsored the Ottawa Hull & District Junior League and the Metropolitan Montreal Junior League.
==Notable Games==
Montreal 9 Detroit 3:Feb. 1, 1964
==Gallery==
Oct1963MonCan.jpg|The Canadiens in October, 1963.
63-64NHLMontrealGameAd.jpg|Home Opener
63-64NHLPOMontrealRadioAd.jpg|Playoff Radio Ad
63-64NHLPOMontrealGameAd.jpg|Playoff Game Ad
63-64NHLExhMontrealGameAd.jpg|Pre-season exhibition @ Montreal
63-64NHLExhMonCanQuebecGameAd.jpg|Exhibition @ Quebec City
Jeanbelivea.jpg|Jean Beliveau
LaperriereJacques.jpg|Jacques Laperriere
HodgeCharlie.jpg|Charlie Hodge
==Video==
Game 6 of the 1964 Semi-finals between Montreal and Toronto, April 13, 1965.
1964 NHL SCP Semi Final G 6 Montreal @ Toronto 4 7 1964
==See Also==
* 1963–64 NHL season
==References==
*Canadiens on Hockey Database
*Canadiens on NHL Reference
Category:Montreal Canadiens seasons
Montreal Canadiens season, 1963–64
Montreal Canadiens season, 1963–64