1960–61 NHL season

The 1960–61 NHL season was the 44th season of the National Hockey League. The Chicago Black Hawks defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the 1961 Stanley Cup Final four games to two to win the Stanley Cup. It was the first series since 1949 with two American-based teams. It was Chicago's first Cup win since 1938; they would not win another until 2010.
Gordie Howe of the Red Wings became the first player in NHL history to achieve the career mark of 1000 regular-season points. It would be seven more seasons before the Montreal Canadiens' Jean Béliveau would match the feat.
==League business==
The original Hart Trophy was retired, as all its plaques were filled and its general condition had deteriorated. It was decided to donate the Hart Memorial Trophy in its place.
==Off-season==
On September 15, 1960, Maurice "Rocket" Richard announced his retirement from hockey. During his career, he had led all scorers with a record 544 goals plus 82 for the playoffs. Despite the league expanding the number of games in a season to 70 games from 50 since Richard's famous 50 goals in 50 games, Richard remained the only player to score 50 goals in a season, until this season.
==Regular season==
By this season, the Chicago Black Hawks were a strong team. They had an especially powerful defense, which had Pierre Pilote, Al Arbour, Jack Evans, and Elmer Vasko. Up front, youngsters Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita led the offense, and goaltender Glenn Hall was the Hawks' steady presence between the pipes.
It was reported that Eddie Shore, the great Boston Bruins defenseman and four-time league MVP from the 1930s, had been stricken with a heart attack, but was resting comfortably in a Springfield, Massachusetts hospital.
On October 13, the Canadiens routed the Rangers 8–4, with Bernie Geoffrion and Dickie Moore each scoring hat tricks.
Jack McCartan got his only NHL shutout for the New York Rangers by blanking the Black Hawks 2–0 on October 19. Chicago's Reg Fleming set a record with 37 penalty minutes in this game. They included three major penalties for battles with Dean Prentice, Eddie Shack, and John Hanna, a misconduct, and a game misconduct.
On December 1, the Canadiens, who had traded André Pronovost to Boston for Jean-Guy Gendron, defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6–3 at the Montreal Forum. Gendron had a goal, but the main feature was the 21 penalties referee Frank Udvari had to call, including several majors in the third period. Henri Richard took on Frank Mahovlich, Dickie Moore squared off with Bob Pulford, and Marcel Bonin scrapped with Bobby Baun. Toronto general manager and head coach George "Punch" Imlach was in a bad mood following the game and said to the press among other things that Udvari and linesmen Loring Doolittle and George Hayes should have been picked as the three stars for the help they gave to Montreal. Imlach's comments were brought to the attention of NHL president Clarence Campbell, who fined the Leafs bench boss $200.
In the new year, Stan Mikita helped to spark Chicago. He scored two goals in a 3–2 win over the Rangers on January 4 and scored the winner when the Black Hawks beat Boston 4–3 the following night.
Former Canadiens defenceman Leo Lamoureux died in Indianapolis on January 11 at age 45.
Chicago defeated the Rangers 4–3 on March 8. New York goalie Gump Worsley pulled a hamstring muscle and Joe Shaefer replaced him with the score 1–1. The next night, the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs as Bernie Geoffrion potted a hat trick in a 6–1 pasting by the Canadiens.
Toronto's Johnny Bower, who appeared on his way to winning the Vezina Trophy, strained a leg muscle and would have to take a rest. Cesare Maniago played in goal for the Leafs on March 16 and lost 5–2. It looked like two players, Toronto's Frank Mahovlich and Montreal's Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, were going to hit 50 goals, but Mahovlich ended up slumping near the end of the season and missed 50 by two goals. Geoffrion scored his 50th goal that night and got a wild ovation. He also added 45 assists and led the league in scoring.
Toronto played a 2–2 tie with the Rangers in their final game of the season and Bobby Baun was a victim of his own hard hitting. Camille Henry of the Rangers ran into Baun and Henry's skate cut Baun in the neck. Baun returned for the third period, but after the game, while boarding the team bus, he began to gasp desperately. He groped for attention and waved his arms, and his teammates finally realized he was in trouble and rushed him to the hospital where an emergency operation was performed to permit breathing. Baun missed some action in the playoffs as the result of the injury.
===Final standings===
National Hockey League	GP	W 	L 	T 	Pts	GF 	GA 	PIM
Montreal Canadiens 	70	41	19	10	92 	254	188	811
Toronto Maple Leafs 	70	39	19	12	90 	234	176	844
Chicago Black Hawks 	70	29	24	17	75 	198	180	1072
Detroit Red Wings 	70	25	29	16	66 	195	215	655
New York Rangers 	70	22	38	10	54 	204	248	591
Boston Bruins 	70	15	42	13	43 	176	254	810
==Playoffs==
For the Montreal Canadiens, two streaks came to an end. The Canadiens' streak of ten consecutive Finals appearances and five consecutive Finals wins came to an end with a defeat to eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Black Hawks in the first round. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the other semi-final to set up an all-American final between Chicago and Detroit.
===Playoff bracket===
===Semifinals===
====(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (3) Chicago Black Hawks====
==== (2) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (4) Detroit Red Wings ====
===Stanley Cup Final===
Chicago defeated the Red Wings in six games to win their first Cup since 1938, and their last until 2010.
==Awards==
*Prince of Wales Trophy: 	Montreal Canadiens
*Art Ross Memorial Trophy: 	Bernie Geoffrion, Montreal Canadiens
*Calder Memorial Trophy: 	Dave Keon, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Hart Memorial Trophy: 	Bernie Geoffrion, Montreal Canadiens
*James Norris Memorial Trophy: 	Doug Harvey, Montreal Canadiens
*Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: 	Red Kelly, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Vezina Trophy: 	Johnny Bower, Toronto Maple Leafs
===All-Star teams===
First team 	  Position  	Second team
Johnny Bower, Toronto Maple Leafs 	G 	Glenn Hall, Chicago Black Hawks
Doug Harvey, Montreal Canadiens 	D 	Allan Stanley, Toronto Maple Leafs
Marcel Pronovost, Detroit Red Wings 	D 	Pierre Pilote, Chicago Black Hawks
Jean Beliveau, Montreal Canadiens 	C 	Henri Richar, Montreal Canadiens
Bernie Geoffrion, Montreal Canadiens	RW 	Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Frank Mahovlich, Toronto Maple Leafs	LW 	Dickie Moore, Montreal Canadiens
==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
Bernie Geoffrion	Montreal Canadiens 	64	50	45	95 	29
Jean Beliveau 	Montreal Canadiens 	69	32	58	90 	57
Frank Mahovlich 	Toronto Maple Leafs	70	48	36	84 	131
Andy Bathgate 	New York Rangers 	70	29	48	77 	22
Gordie Howe 	Detroit Red Wings 	64	23	49	72 	30
Norm Ullman 	Detroit Red Wings 	70	28	42	70 	24
Red Kelly 	Toronto Maple Leafs	64	20	50	70 	12
Dickie Moore 	Montreal Canadiens 	57	35	34	69 	62
Henri Richard 	Montreal Canadiens 	70	24	44	68 	91
Alex Delvecchio 	Detroit Red Wings 	70	27	35	62 	26
===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
Charlie Hodge 	Montreal Canadiens 	30	1800	74 	2.47	19	8 	3 	4
Johnny Bower 	Toronto Maple Leafs	58	3480	145	2.50	33	15	10	2
Glenn Hall 	Chicago Black Hawks	70	4200	176	2.51	29	24	17	6
Hank Bassen 	Detroit Red Wings 	34	2120	98 	2.77	13	12	9 	0
Jacques Plante	Montreal Canadiens 	40	2400	112	2.80	22	11	7 	2
Terry Sawchuk 	Detroit Red Wings 	38	2080	112	3.23	12	17	7 	2
Don Simmons 	Boston Bruins 	18	1080	58 	3.23	3 	9 	6 	1
Lorne Worsley 	New York Rangers 	59	3473	191	3.30	20	29	8 	1
Bruce Gamble 	Boston Bruins 	52	3120	193	3.71	12	33	7 	0
==Team Photos==
60-61BosBru.jpg|Boston Bruins
60-61ChiBH.jpg|Chicago Black Hawks
60-61DetRW.jpg|Detroit Red Wings
60-61MtlCdn.jpg|Montreal Canadiens
60-61NYR.jpg|New York Rangers
60-61TorML.jpg|Toronto Maple Leafs
==References==
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==External links==
*Hockey Database
*NHL.com
Category:1960 in ice hockey
Category:1961 in ice hockey