1967-68 NHL season

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The 1967-68 NHL season was the 51st season of the National Hockey League. Twelve teams each played 74 games. This season saw the NHL expand from the "Original Six" teams by adding six new franchises. The St. Louis Blues, California Seals, Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota North Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Los Angeles Kings were all put into the Western Division. On November 6, 1967,¹ the California Seals were renamed Oakland Seals. This year also saw the addition of two new awards. With expansion came format change and with format change came a need for a new trophy for the winner of the newly formed West Division. The new trophy, called the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, was for the winner of the West while the older trophy, the Prince of Wales, was for the winner of the East. The other new award was the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which was named in honour of Bill Masterton who died on 15 January, 1968 after sustaining an injury during a game (the first time a NHL player had ever died directly as a result of an on-ice injury).

¹ Minneapolis Tribune November 7, 1967 page 24 from an AP story

There were a large number of holdouts this year. Three New York Ranger players, including Rod Gilbert, Arnie Brown and Orland Kurtenbach were fined $500 by their team. However, Ed Van Impe of the Flyers refused to sign his contract, followed by Earl Ingarfield and Al MacNeil also refused to sign, then Tim Horton of Toronto, Norm Ullman of Detroit and Ken Wharram and Stan Mikita of Chicago. Led by Alan Eagleson, the owners finally buckled and the new NHL Players Association was up and running. Players salaries went up as a result.

Contents 1 Regular season 1.1 Final standings 1.2 Scoring leaders 1.3 Leading goaltenders 2 Stanley Cup playoffs 3 Stanley Cup finals 3.1 Playoff bracket 4 NHL awards 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Regular season

On October 11th, 1967, Jean Beliveau scored his 400th career goal on goaltender Hank Bassen of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Canadiens stumbled out of the gate. In their first west coast road trip, the Seals beat them 2-1 and the Kings beat them 4-2. The Habs lost quite a few more and were in last place by December. But by January, Jean Beliveau began to score and others were inspired also. The Habs got very hot, winning 12 consecutive games and then put together 10 more wins in a row before being stopped right at the Forum. On February 24th, the Rangers walked right in and defeated the Canadiens 6-1 as Rogatien Vachon, the young Montreal goalkeeper, was the victim of four goals by Rod Gilbert, who set an NHL record with 16 shots on goal. The Canadiens, paced by Gump Worsley's best season in which he had 6 shutouts and a 1.98 goals against average, managed to keep first place until the end of the season. Worsley, for the first time, made the first all-star team.

Ed Giacomin again led the league with 8 shutouts, and led the Rangers to second place.

Boston obtained Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield and with Bobby Orr seasoned with a one year under his belt, the Bruins were on the rise. Though he missed action with a knee injury, Orr still made the all-star team and won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenceman.

Roger Crozier felt the strain of goaltending and walked out on Detroit. He came back, but the Red Wings finished last anyway.

The Los Angeles Kings were a team that writers predicted to finish last in the new West Division. The fact that Jack Kent Cooke purchased the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League didn't seem to impress his critics. The Kings finished second, just one point out of first. Bill "Cowboy" Flett scored 26 goals and Eddie Joyal scored 23 goals, had 34 assists for 57 points and was the second leading scorer in the West Division.

Oakland, predicted to finish first, had trouble getting off the launching pad, let alone fly. Defenceman Kent Douglas played far below form and was traded to Detroit for Ted Hampson and defenceman Bert Marshall. The Seals finished last in the West Division.

The Minnesota North Stars had their bright moments despite finishing fourth in the West Division. On December 30th, 1967, Bill Masterton and Wayne Connelly each scored goals in a 5-4 upset win over the Boston Bruins. On January 10th, Wayne Connelly had the hat trick in a 6-4 win over the West Division power, the Philadelphia Flyers and Masterton was the architect on all three goals. Then, tragedy struck. In a game at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington Minnesota, the Oakland Seals were in town to play the North Stars and Bill Masterton led a rush into the Oakland zone. Two defenceman, Larry Cahan and Ron Harris braced for the old fashioned sandwich check and as Masterton fired the puck into the Seals zone, the two hit Masterton hard but cleanly. Masterton flipped backwards and hit his head on the ice. He was removed to a Minneapolis hospital where doctors were prevented from doing surgery by the seriousness of the head injury. Early on the morning of January 15th, 1968, Bill Masterton died. He was the first NHL player to die as the direct result of injuries suffered in an NHL game.

On March 24th, Frank Mahovlich, traded to Detroit by Toronto in a trade that saw Norm Ullman go to Toronto, became only the 11th player to score 300 goals as he scored both his 300th and 301rst goals in a 5-3 win over the Boston Bruins.

[edit] Final standings

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

East Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Montreal Canadiens	74	42	22	10	94	236	167	700
New York Rangers	74	39	23	12	90	226	183	673
Boston Bruins	74	37	27	10	84	259	216	1043
Chicago Black Hawks	74	32	26	16	80	212	222	606
Toronto Maple Leafs	74	33	31	10	76	209	176	634
Detroit Red Wings	74	27	35	12	66	245	257	759

West Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Philadelphia Flyers	74	31	32	11	73	173	179	987
Los Angeles Kings	74	31	33	10	72	200	224	810
St. Louis Blues	74	27	31	16	70	177	191	792
Minnesota North Stars	74	27	32	15	69	191	226	738
Pittsburgh Penguins	74	27	34	13	67	195	216	554
Oakland Seals [1]	74	15	42	17	47	153	219	787

1. ^ Named "California Seals" for the first month of the season, after which they were renamed "Oakland Seals"

[edit] Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Stan Mikita	Chicago Black Hawks	72	40	47	87	14
Phil Esposito	Boston Bruins	74	35	49	84	21
Gordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	74	39	43	82	53
Jean Ratelle	New York Rangers	74	32	46	78	18
Rod Gilbert	New York Rangers	74	29	48	77	12
Bobby Hull	Chicago Black Hawks	71	44	31	75	39
Norm Ullman	Toronto Maple Leafs	71	35	37	72	28
Alex Delvecchio	Detroit Red Wings	74	22	48	70	14
John Bucyk	Boston Bruins	72	30	39	69	8
Ken Wharram	Chicago Black Hawks	74	27	42	69	18

[edit] Leading goaltenders

[edit] Stanley Cup playoffs

[edit] Stanley Cup finals

The St. Louis Blues made a series of the Stanley Cup finals although they lost in four straight games. Glenn Hall was sensational, especially in game three when the Blues were outshot 46 to 15. Wrote Red Burnett, the dean of hockey writers then: "A number of Hall's saves were seemingly impossible. Experts walked out of the Forum convinced no other goaltender had performed so brilliantly in a losing cause." In the overtime of game three, Hall made a spectacular save on Dick Duff and then, standing on his head, made another save. "It was a heartbreaker to see" said Burnett "After the saves on Duff, Bobby Rousseau came and batted home the second rebound." Hall's heroics won him the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. But Montreal, like a champion, won the Stanley Cup in game four as J.C. Tremblay fired home the winning goal. When the game ended, the fans came on the ice to celebrate, and balloons, hats and programs were thrown from the stands. Jean Beliveau, in a cast and crutches from his broken ankle, with Ralph Backstrom accepted the Cup from NHL president Clarence Campbell and the players did a victory lap with the Cup.

Less than 30 minutes after the Canadiens won the Cup, Canadiens coach Toe Blake announced his retirement. He gave reason that it had been a hard season, but the real reason was that his wife was dying of cancer and he wanted to spent his time with her. The celebration turned to a mournful event with players paying tribute to Blake, many in tears.

[edit] Playoff bracket

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
	1	Montreal Canadiens	4
	3	Boston Bruins	0
						1	Montreal Canadiens	4
	East Division
						4	Chicago Black Hawks	1
	2	New York Rangers	2
	4	Chicago Black Hawks	4
											E1	Montreal Canadiens	4
											W3	St. Louis Blues	0
	1	Philadelphia Flyers	3
	3	St. Louis Blues	4
						3	St. Louis Blues	4
	West Division
						4	Minnesota North Stars	3
	2	Los Angeles Kings	3
	4	Minnesota North Stars	4

[edit] NHL awards

Prince of Wales Trophy:	Montreal Canadiens
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:	Philadelphia Flyers
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Stan Mikita, Chicago Black Hawks
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:	Claude Provost, Montreal Canadiens
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Derek Sanderson, Boston Bruins
Conn Smythe Trophy:	Glenn Hall, St. Louis Blues
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Stan Mikita, Chicago Black Hawks
James Norris Memorial Trophy:	Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Stan Mikita, Chicago Black Hawks
Plus-Minus Leader:	Dallas Smith, Boston Bruins
Vezina Trophy:	Rogatien Vachon & Gump Worsley, Montreal Canadiens
Lester Patrick Trophy:	Thomas F. Lockhart, Walter A. Brown, General John R. Kilpatrick

[edit] See also

• 1967 NHL Expansion
• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1967 NHL Amateur Draft
• 1967 NHL Expansion Draft
• 21st National Hockey League All-Star Game
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• Ice hockey at the 1968 Winter Olympics
• 1967 in sports
• 1968 in sports

[edit] References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com

NHL seasons
1963-64 | 1964-65 | 1965-66 | 1966-67 | 1967-68 | 1968-69 | 1969-70 | 1970-71 | 1971-72