1929–30 NHL season

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The 1929–30 NHL season was the thirteenth season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The Montreal Canadiens upset the heavily favoured Boston Bruins two games to none for the Stanley Cup.

Contents

[edit] Regular season

To combat low scoring, a major rule change was implemented. Players were now allowed forward passing in the offensive zone, instead of only in the defensive and neutral zones. This led to abuse: players sat in front of the opposing net waiting for a pass. The rule was changed again mid-season in December 1929, and players were no longer allowed to enter the offensive zone before the puck. Hence the birth of the modern-day offside rule.

Cooney Weiland of the Boston Bruins took advantage of the rule changes and smashed the old NHL scoring record with 73 points. Weiland and Tiny Thompson, who won the Vezina Trophy with a 2.23 goals against average, led the Bruins to a final season standings record of 38 wins, 5 losses, and 1 tie — an .875 winning percentage, an NHL record as of 2006.

Conn Smythe brought up two outstanding forwards, Harvey Jackson, and Charlie Conacher, and combined with Joe Primeau, the Kid Line was born. Conacher actually scored on his first shift in the NHL. Jackson got his nickname Busher from Tim Daly, the Toronto trainer, when asked by Daly to assist with some sticks. "I'm a hockey player, not a stickboy," Jackson told Daly, who replied, "Why you fresh young busher!" And it was Busher Jackson from that day on.

On 7 January, 1930, Clint Benedict became the first goalie in NHL history to don a protective face mask. He did so for five games to protect a broken nose. The next time a mask made its way into the NHL was almost 30 years later when Jacques Plante wore one in a game on 1 November, 1959.

Eddie Gerard resigned as manager-coach of the Montreal Maroons. He was replaced as manager by team president James Strachan. Dunc Munro was hired as coach and led the team to first place in the Canadian Division.

There was a well-founded rumour that Eddie Gerard would take the coaching reins of Ottawa from Newsy Lalonde when Lalonde was not well. Dave Gill filled in during his absence and the team did much better and made the playoffs. Gerard turned down the coaching job.

[edit] Final standings

Note: 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

Canadian Division GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM
Montreal Maroons 44 23 16 5 51 141 114 651
Montreal Canadiens 44 21 14 9 51 142 114 600
Ottawa Senators 44 21 15 8 50 138 118 536
Toronto Maple Leafs 44 17 21 6 40 116 124 613
New York Americans 44 14 25 5 33 113 161 372
American Division GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM
Boston Bruins 44 38 5 1 77 179 98 449
Chicago Black Hawks 44 21 18 5 47 117 111 573
New York Rangers 44 17 17 10 44 136 143 445
Detroit Cougars 44 14 24 6 34 117 133 474
Pittsburgh Pirates 44 5 36 3 13 102 185 384

[edit] Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

PLAYER TEAM GP G A PTS PIM
Cooney Weiland Boston Bruins 44 43 30 73 27
Frank Boucher New York Rangers 42 26 36 62 16
Dit Clapper Boston Bruins 44 41 20 61 48
Bill Cook New York Rangers 44 29 30 59 56
Hec Kilrea Ottawa Senators 44 36 22 58 23

[edit] Leading Goaltenders

[edit] Stanley Cup playoffs

After defeating the Montreal Maroons and after having not lost consecutive games all season, the Boston Bruins were swept by the Montreal Canadiens two games to none in a best-of-three series. The first game saw Boston play way below its usual form. The Canadiens then won the Cup with a 4–3 victory in game two. The Canadiens went 5–0–1 in the playoffs, making them one of the few Cup winning teams in history to not lose a game in the playoffs.

[edit] Playoff bracket

  Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                           
        
  C1  Montreal Maroons 1  
    A1  Boston Bruins 3  
      
          
    A1  Boston Bruins 0
  C2  Montreal Canadiens 2
  C2  Montreal Canadiens 3G  
A2  Chicago Black Hawks 2G  
C2  Montreal Canadiens 2
    A3  New York Rangers 0  
C3  Ottawa Senators 3G
  A3  New York Rangers 6G  

[edit] Finals

[edit] NHL awards

1929–30 NHL awards
O'Brien Trophy: Montreal Maroons
Prince of Wales Trophy: Boston Bruins
Hart Memorial Trophy: Nels Stewart, Montreal Maroons
Lady Byng Trophy: Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy: Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins

[edit] Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1929–30 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

[edit] Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1929–30 (listed with their last team):

[edit] See also

[edit] References