1949–50 NHL season

The 1949–50 NHL season was the 33rd season of the National Hockey League. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the New York Rangers in seven games for the Stanley Cup. It was the Red Wings' fourth championship.
==League business==
The NHL decided to increase the number of games played to 70 games for each team. Each team played every other team 14 times. Goaltenders would no longer have to face a penalty shot if they took a major penalty. A team-mate could serve the penalty in the penalty box.
In June 1949, the NHL decided to henceforth paint the ice surface white. This was done by adding white paint to the water before freezing. Previously, the ice surface was just frozen water on concrete, which made a dull grey colour. By "whitening" the ice surface, it made seeing and following the puck much easier, especially on the relatively new medium of television.
==Regular season==
Detroit, led by the new Production Line of Lindsay, Abel and Howe won the regular season. The Production line led the league in scoring 1–2–3.
===Highlights===
On November 2, 1949 at Chicago Stadium, a rather serious brawl broke out in a game Chicago defeated Montreal 4-1. During the second period, some rinkside fans began to get on Montreal defenceman Ken Reardon, and when one fan grabbed his sweater, Reardon swung his stick and hit one of the rowdies. Leo Gravelle and Billy Reay joined in, and yet another fan climbed over the boards and challenged Reardon, but was forced back to his seat. When the game ended, police arrested Reardon, Reay, and Gravelle. Later, the players were cleared when a judge ruled that the fans were the aggressors and overstepped the prerogatives as fans.
After Chicago defeated Toronto 6-3 on November 27, Conn Smythe told goaltender Turk Broda, "I'm not running a fat man's team!" and said that Broda would not play until he reduced his weight to 190 lb. At the time, Broda weighed almost 200. Al Rollins was purchased from Cleveland of the AHL and Gil Mayer was brought up for good measure. When he reached 189 pounds, Broda went back into the Toronto net and he gained his 4th shutout of the season December 3 and Maple Leaf fans cheered all of his 22 saves.
After the Red Wings clobbered Chicago 9-2 on February 8, writer Lew Walter tried to interview Chicago coach Charlie Conacher. Conacher exploded in anger, criticized Walter's past stories and punched Walter, knocking him down to the floor. Walter announced that he would seek a warrant for Conacher's arrest. NHL president Clarence Campbell took a dim view of Conacher's actions and fined him $200. Conacher then phoned Walter and apologized, saying he regretted what had taken place.
Montreal fans began to boo Bill Durnan, like they had in 1947-48, despite the fact he was the league's best goalkeeper, and in an interview, he stated he was going to retire at the end of the season. In reality, Durnan had been cut a number of times during the season, and at one point, had to take penicillin. It caused a high fever and he missed some action. Despite this, he recorded eight shutouts and won the Vezina Trophy for the sixth time in his seven-year career.
Ken Reardon got himself into trouble when he made a statement to a magazine suggesting retribution to Cal Gardner, stating: "I'm going to make sure that Gardner gets 14 stitches in his mouth. I may have to wait a long time, but I'll get even." On March 1, 1950, Clarence Campbell made Reardon post a $1,000 bond to make sure he didn't carry out his threat. When the season ended, Reardon was refunded the $1,000, since he did not hurt Gardner as he said he would. 
===Final standings===
National Hockey league	GP	W 	L 	T 	Pts	GF 	GA 	PIM
Detroit Red Wings 	70	37	19	14	88 	229	164	736
Montreal Canadiens 	70	29	22	19	77 	172	150	736
Toronto Maple Leafs 	70	31	27	12	74 	176	173	804
New York Rangers 	70	28	31	11	67 	170	189	639
Boston Bruins 	70	22	32	16	60 	198	228	449
Chicago Black Hawks 	70	22	38	10	54 	203	244	620
==Playoffs==
Detroit defeated Toronto in seven games to advance to the final. New York defeated Montreal in five games to advance to the final.
===Playoff bracket===
===Semifinals===
====(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (3) Toronto Maple Leafs====
 
====(2) Montreal Canadiens vs. (4) New York Rangers====
 
===Stanley Cup Final===
Two games were played in Toronto, with the rest in Detroit, as the circus had taken over Madison Square Garden in New York.
 
==Awards==
This was the last season that the O'Brien Cup was awarded to the Stanley Cup runner up – in this season, the New York Rangers – as it went into retirement for the second and final time at season's end. (It was not awarded between 1917 and 1921)
*O'Brien Trophy: 	New York Rangers
*Prince of Wales Trophy: 	Detroit Red Wings
*Art Ross Memorial Trophy: 	Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings
*Calder Memorial Trophy: 	Jack Gelineau, Boston Bruins
*Hart Memorial Trophy: 	Charlie Rayner, New York Rangers
*Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: 	Edgar Laprade, New York Rangers
*Vezina Trophy: 	Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens
===All-Star teams===
First Team 	  Position  	Second Team
Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens 	G 	Chuck Rayner, New York Rangers
Gus Mortson, Toronto Maple Leafs 	D 	Leo Reise, Detroit Red Wings
Ken Reardon, Montreal Canadiens 	D 	Red Kelly, Detroit Red Wings
Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings 	C 	Ted Kennedy, Toronto Maple Leafs
Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens	RW 	Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings 	LW 	Tony Leswick, New York Rangers
==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
Ted Lindsay 	Detroit Red Wings 	69	23	55	78 	141
Sid Abel 	Detroit Red Wings 	69	34	35	69 	46
Gordie Howe 	Detroit Red Wings 	70	35	33	68 	69
Maurice Richard	Montreal Canadiens 	70	43	22	65 	114
Paul Ronty 	Boston Bruins 	70	23	36	59 	8
Roy Conacher 	Chicago Black Hawks	70	25	31	56 	16
Doug Bentley 	Chicago Black Hawks	64	20	33	53 	28
Johnny Peirson 	Boston Bruins 	57	27	25	52 	49
Metro Prystai 	Chicago Black Hawks	65	29	22	51 	31
Bep Guidolin 	Chicago Black Hawks	70	17	34	51 	42
Source: NHL
===Leading goaltenders===
Note: GP = Games played; Mins – Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts
Player 	Team 	GP	Mins	GA 	GAA 	W 	L 	T 	SO
Bill Durnan 	Montreal Canadiens 	64	3840	141	2.20	26	21	17	8
Harry Lumley 	Detroit Red Wings 	63	3780	148	2.35	33	16	14	7
Turk Broda 	Toronto Maple Leafs	68	4040	167	2.48	30	25	12	9
Chuck Rayner 	New York Rangers 	69	4140	181	2.62	28	30	11	6
Jack Gelineau	Boston Bruins 	67	4020	220	3.28	22	30	15	3
Frank Brimsek	Chicago Black Hawks	70	4200	244	3.49	22	38	10	5
==Team Photos==
49-50BosBru.jpg|Boston Bruins
49-50ChiBH.jpg|Chicago Black Hawks
49-50DetRW.jpg|Detroit Red Wings
49-50MtlCdn.jpg|Montreal Canadiens
49-50NYR.jpg|New York Rangers
49-50TorML.jpg|Toronto Maple Leafs
== References ==
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;Notes
==External links==
* Hockey Database
* NHL.com
Category:1949 in ice hockey
Category:1950 in ice hockey