1969–70 Pittsburgh Penguins season

1969–70 Pittsburgh Penguins
Division 2nd West
1969–70 record 26–38–12
Goals for 182
Goals against 238
Team information
General Manager Jack Riley
Coach Red Kelly
Captain Vacant
Alternate captains Keith McCreary
Duane Rupp
Ken Schinkel
Bob Woytowich
Arena Pittsburgh Civic Arena
Average attendance 6,998
Team leaders
Goals Dean Prentice (26)
Assists Michel Briere (32)
Points Dean Prentice (51)
Penalties in minutes Bryan Watson (189)
Wins Al Smith (15)
Goals against average Joe Daley (2.95)
<1968–69 1970–71>

The 1969–70 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the franchise's third season in the National Hockey League. The season saw the Penguins qualify for the playoffs, for the first time in franchise history. The Penguins finished the season in second place in the West Division, 22 points behind the first place St. Louis Blues.

Regular season

Tragedy struck the Penguins in 1970 when promising rookie center Michel Briere, who finished third in scoring on the team, was injured in a single-car car crash. His Mercury Couger hit a frost bump and swurved off the road.It is not known if he was driving or not. After spending a year in the hospital in a coma, he died. Many hockey experts said that he would have been a star, his junior league stats can back that up.

Final standings

West Division[1]
GP W L T GF GA DIFF Pts
1 St. Louis Blues 76 37 27 12 224 179 +45 86
2 Pittsburgh Penguins 76 26 38 12 182 238 -56 −56 64
3 Minnesota North Stars 76 19 35 22 224 257 -33 −33 60
4 Oakland Seals 76 22 40 14 169 243 -74 −74 58
5 Philadelphia Flyers 76 17 35 24 197 225 -28 −28 58
6 Los Angeles Kings 76 14 52 10 168 290 -122 −122 38

Schedule and results

1969–70 Game log[2]
Legend:           = Win           = Loss           = Tie

Playoffs

The Penguins would reach the playoffs for the first time in 1970, advancing to the Western Conference Finals where they lost to the St. Louis Blues. In the Pittsburgh-Oakland series, in game one, Nick Harbaruk's goal midway through the third period was the winner as Pittsburgh won 2–1. In game two, Gary Jarrett gave Oakland a 1–0 lead, but Pittsburgh came back to win 3–1. Game three at Oakland featured a hat trick by Ken Schinkel of the Penguins as Pittsburgh won 5–2. Game four featured Oakland having 1–0 and 2–1 leads, but the Seals just couldn't hold on and the game was tied 2–2 at the end of regulation time. Overtime was necessary and Michel Briere scored the series winning goal at 8:28 of overtime for Pittsburgh. In the West Division finals, the St. Louis Blues beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.

1970 Playoffs
Legend:           = Win           = Loss

Player statistics

Skaters[3]

Regular Season
Player GP G A Pts +/- − PIM
Prentice, DeanDean Prentice 75 26 25 51 -20 −20 14
Schinkel, KenKen Schinkel 72 20 25 45 -26 −26 19
Briere, MichelMichel Briere 76 12 32 44 -15 −15 20
Pronovost, JeanJean Pronovost 72 20 21 41 -2 −2 45
Woytowich, BobBob Woytowich 68 8 25 33 -12 −12 49
Hextall, BryanBryan Hextall 66 12 19 31 -22 −22 87
Schock, RonRon Schock 76 8 21 29 -7 −7 40
McCreary, KeithKeith McCreary 60 18 8 26 -6 −6 67
Sather, GlenGlen Sather 76 12 14 26 -13 −13 114
Fonteyne, ValVal Fonteyne 68 11 15 26 -4 −4 2
Boyer, WallyWally Boyer 72 11 12 23 -5 −5 34
Harbaruk, NickNick Harbaruk 74 5 17 22 -7 −7 56
Morrison, JimJim Morrison 59 5 15 20 -20 −20 40
Rupp, DuaneDuane Rupp 64 2 14 16 -11 −11 18
Pratt, TracyTracy Pratt 65 5 7 12 -29 −29 124
Blackburn, BobBob Blackburn 60 4 7 11 -14 −14 51
Watson, BryanBryan Watson 61 1 9 10 -1 −1 189
McMahon, MikeMike McMahon† 12 1 3 4 2 19
Kessell, RickRick Kessell 8 1 2 3 0 0
Snell, RonRon Snell 3 0 1 1 -2 −2 0
Swarbrick, GeorgeGeorge Swarbrick 12 0 1 1 0 8
McCallum, DuncDunc McCallum 14 0 0 0 -4 −4 16
Totals 182 293 475 -218 −218 1012
Playoffs
Player GP G A Pts +/- − PIM
Briere, MichelMichel Briere 10 5 3 8 17
Pronovost, JeanJean Pronovost 10 3 4 7 2
Prentice, DeanDean Prentice 10 2 5 7 8
Schock, RonRon Schock 10 1 6 7 7
Schinkel, KenKen Schinkel 10 4 1 5 4
Rupp, DuaneDuane Rupp 6 2 2 4 2
McCreary, KeithKeith McCreary 10 0 4 4 4
Harbaruk, NickNick Harbaruk 10 3 0 3 20
Boyer, WallyWally Boyer 10 1 2 3 0
McCallum, DuncDunc McCallum 10 1 2 3 12
Woytowich, BobBob Woytowich 10 1 2 3 2
Morrison, JimJim Morrison 8 0 3 3 10
Fonteyne, ValVal Fonteyne 10 0 2 2 0
Sather, GlenGlen Sather 10 0 2 2 17
Hextall, BryanBryan Hextall 10 0 1 1 34
Pratt, TracyTracy Pratt 10 0 1 1 51
Blackburn, BobBob Blackburn 6 0 0 0 4
Watson, BryanBryan Watson 10 0 0 0 17
Totals 23 40 63 211

Goaltenders[3]
Regular Season
Player GP TOI W L T GA GAA SO G A PIM
Smith, AlAl Smith 46 2555 15 20 8 129 3.03 2 0 0 20
Binkley, LesLes Binkley 27 1477 10 13 1 79 3.21 3 0 1 0
Daley, JoeJoe Daley 9 528 1 5 3 26 2.95 0 0 0 0
Totals 4560 26 38 12 234 3.08 5 0 1 20
Playoffs
Player GP TOI W L GA GAA SO G A PIM
Binkley, LesLes Binkley 7 428 5 2 15 2.10 0 0 0 0
Smith, AlAl Smith 3 180 1 2 10 3.33 0 0 0 0
Totals 608 6 4 25 2.47 0 0 0 0

†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Team. Stats reflect time with the Team only.
‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Team only.
Bold/italics denotes franchise record

Transactions

The Penguins were involved in the following transactions during the 1969–70 season:

Trades

May 20, 1969 To Pittsburgh Penguins
Bryan Hextall		 To Vancouver Canucks (WHL)
Paul Andrea
John Arbour
loan of Andy Bathgate
June 6, 1969 To Pittsburgh Penguins
Craig Cameron
Ron Schock		 To St. Louis Blues
Lou Angotti
1st round pick in 1971 Draft (Gene Carr)
October 28, 1969 To Pittsburgh Penguins
Mike McMahon		 To Detroit Red Wings
Billy Dea
November, 1969 To Pittsburgh Penguins
Jim Morrison		 To Baltimore Clippers (AHL)
Bob Rivard
cash

Additions and subtractions

Additions
Player Former team Via
Nick Harbaruk Vancouver Canucks (WHL) Inter-League Draft (1969–06)
Bob Blackburn New York Rangers Intra-League Draft (1969–06–11)
Dean Prentice Detroit Red Wings Intra-League Draft (1969–06–11)
Glen Sather Boston Bruins Intra-League Draft (1969–06–11)
Al Smith Detroit Red Wings Intra-League Draft (1969–06–11)
Subtractions
Player New team Via
Noel Price Springfield Kings (AHL) Reverse Draft (1969–06–10)
Charlie Burns Minnesota North Stars Intra-League Draft (1969–06–11)
Marv Edwards Toronto Maple Leafs Intra-League Draft (1969–06–11)
Bill Speer Boston Bruins Intra-League Draft (1969–06–11)

Roster

Pittsburgh Penguins 1969–1970 Roster
Goaltenders
Defencemen
Wingers
Centers

Draft picks

Pittsburgh Penguins' picks at the 1969 NHL Entry Draft.[4]

Round # Player Pos Nationality College/Junior/Club Team (League)
2 15 Rick Kessell Center  Canada Oshawa Generals (OHA)
3 26 Michel Briere Center  Canada Shawinigan
4 38 Yvon Labre Defence  Canada Toronto Marlboros (OHA)
5 50 Ed Patenaude  Canada Calgary Centennials (WCHL)
6 62 Paul Hoganson Goaltender  Canada Toronto Marlboros (OHA)
Draft notes[5]

References

  1. ↑ "1969–1970 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
  2. ↑ "1969–70 Pittsburgh Penguins Results and Schedule". hockeyDB. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "1969–70 Pittsburgh Penguins Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  4. ↑ "NHL Entry Draft Year by Year Results". NHL.com. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  5. ↑ "1969 NHL Entry Draft Pending Transactions". Pro Sports Transactions. Retrieved February 25, 2013.