1953–54 NHL season

The 1953–54 NHL season was the 37th season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 70 games. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Montreal Canadiens in the final to win the team's sixth championship.
==Regular season==
The New York Rangers decided to drop Gump Worsley and went with Johnny Bower in goal this season. Bower did well, but not well enough to get the Rangers into the playoffs. However, the Rangers managed to come up with a fine rookie in Camille Henry who won the Calder Memorial Trophy.
On December 9th, the Montreal Canadiens played the Toronto Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens and the teams set a record of most penalties in a game. The trouble started when Montreal's Ed Mazur got into a fight with Toronto's George Armstrong in the first period. Both received game misconduct penalties. Early in the second period, Bud MacPherson broke his stick on the ribs of Toronto's Ron Stewart. He chose not to retaliate until a more opportune time. It came at 18:12 of the third period when Stewart and MacPherson collided again. This time they pushed and shoved and the gloves came off and they began to pummel each other. Tom Johnson came to MacPherson's aid by putting a headlock on Stewart and Stewart threw a punch that landed on Johnson's jaw. Stewart pursued MacPherson again, now that he was in combat with Eric Nesterenko of Toronto and soon the benches emptied and everyone was fighting except Maurice Richard and Tim Horton who merely grabbed each other's sweaters. Referee Frank Udvari handed out 36 penalties, including 15 misconducts for a record 204 minutes in penalties. With almost 2 minutes left in the game, only 8 players from each team excluding the goaltenders Gerry McNeil and Harry Lumley, who did battle in the brawl, were permitted to finish the game. Almost forgotten was that Toronto won the game 3-0.
The Rangers gained some publicity by using a so-called elixir prepared by restaurateur Gene Leone, but no conclusive results were reported.
There were persistent rumours that the Chicago Black Hawks would fold due to the poor performance of the team and fans staying away in droves. NHL president Clarence Campbell discussed the problems with Arthur M. Wirtz and it was announced that the rumours were without foundation.
President Campbell was busy this year imposing fines and suspensions. As a result of pushing referee Frank Udvari into the boards during a November 12th game, Bernie Geoffrion was fined $250. Later, in a December 20th game, he and Ron Murphy engaged in stick swinging which left Murphy with a broken jaw. Both players were suspended.
There was trouble brewing for Maurice Richard when he ghosted an article in the Samedi Dimanche newspaper, calling NHL president Clarence Campbell a dictator and took exception to Campbell's suspension of Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion for the stick swinging incident. Richard was required to post a $1000 bond and refrain from any more articles.
The Detroit Red Wings were first overall in the National Hockey league for the sixth straight season. 
===Final standings===
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
National Hockey League	GP	W 	L 	T 	Pts	GF 	GA 	PIM
Detroit Red Wings 	70	37	19	14	88 	191	132	814
Montreal Canadiens 	70	35	24	11	81 	195	141	1064
Toronto Maple Leafs 	70	32	24	14	78 	152	131	1022
Boston Bruins 	70	32	28	10	74 	177	181	685
New York Rangers 	70	29	31	10	68 	161	182	717
Chicago Black Hawks 	70	12	51	7 	31 	133	242	797
==Playoffs==
After losing four straight games to the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins general manager Art Ross, their manager from the day the Bruins came into the NHL, announced his retirement. He had been grooming Lynn Patrick to succeed him and Patrick took over as general manager.
===Playoff bracket===
====Detroit vs. Toronto====
====Montreal vs. Boston====
 
===Finals===
Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens
Date 	Away 	Score	Home 	Score	Notes
April 4 	Montreal	1 	Detroit 	3 	
April 6 	Montreal	3 	Detroit 	1 	
April 8 	Detroit 	5 	Montreal	2 	
April 10	Detroit 	2 	Montreal	0 	
April 11	Montreal	1 	Detroit 	0 	OT
April 13	Detroit 	1 	Montreal	4 	
April 16	Montreal	1 	Detroit 	2 	OT
Detroit wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 3
==Awards==
The James Norris Memorial Trophy made its debut this season and its first winner was Red Kelly of the Detroit Red Wings. The Norris Trophy goes to the top defenceman each year and was named in honour of James E. Norris, owner of the Detroit Red Wings franchise from 1932 until his death in 1952.
*Prince of Wales Trophy: 	Detroit Red Wings
*Art Ross Memorial Trophy: 	Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
*Calder Memorial Trophy: 	Camille Henry, New York Rangers
*Hart Memorial Trophy: 	Al Rollins, Chicago Black Hawks
*James Norris Memorial Trophy: 	Red Kelly, Detroit Red Wings
*Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: 	Red Kelly, Detroit Red Wings
*Vezina Trophy: 	Harry Lumley, Toronto Maple Leafs
 All-Star teams
First team 	  Position  	Second team
Harry Lumley, Toronto Maple Leafs	G 	Terry Sawchuk, Detroit Red Wings
Red Kelly, Detroit Red Wings 	D 	Bill Gadsby, Chicago Black Hawks
Doug Harvey, Montreal Canadiens 	D 	Tim Horton, Toronto Maple Leafs
Ken Mosdell, Montreal Canadiens 	C 	Ted Kennedy, Toronto Maple Leafs
Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings 	RW 	Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens
Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings 	LW 	Ed Sandford, Boston Bruins
==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	33	48	81 	109
Maurice Richard 	Montreal Canadiens	70	37	30	67 	112
Ted Lindsay 	Detroit Red Wings 	70	26	36	62 	110
Bernie Geoffrion	Montreal Canadiens	54	29	25	54 	87
Bert Olmstead 	Montreal Canadiens	70	15	37	52 	85
Red Kelly 	Detroit Red Wings 	62	16	33	49 	18
Earl Reibel 	Detroit Red Wings 	69	15	33	48 	18
Ed Sandford 	Boston Bruins 	70	16	31	47 	42
Fleming Mackell 	Boston Bruins 	70	15	32	47 	60
Ken Mosdell 	Montreal Canadiens	67	22	24	46 	64
Source: NHL
===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
Jacques Plante	Montreal Canadiens 	17	1020	27 	1.59	7 	5 	5 	5
Harry Lumley 	Toronto Maple Leafs	69	4140	128	1.86	32	24	13	13
Terry Sawchuk 	Detroit Red Wings 	67	4004	129	1.93	35	19	13	12
Gerry McNeil 	Montreal Canadiens 	53	3180	114	2.15	28	19	6 	6
Jim Henry 	Boston Bruins 	70	4200	181	2.59	32	28	10	8
Johnny Bower 	New York Rangers 	70	4200	182	2.60	29	31	10	5
Al Rollins 	Chicago Black Hawks	66	3960	213	3.23	12	47	7 	5
==Team Photos==
53-54BosBru.jpg|Boston Bruins
53-54ChiBH.jpg|Chicago Black Hawks
53-54DetRW.jpg|Detroit Red Wings
53-54MtlCdn.jpg|Montreal Canadiens
53-54NYR.jpg|New York Rangers
53-54TorML.jpg|Toronto Maple Leafs
==References==
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==External links==
*Hockey Database
*NHL.com
Category:1953 in ice hockey
Category:1954 in ice hockey