For the Hockey Fans...

[motordavid]

A stroll through memory lane, when the Canadiens owned the
Cup. As a kid/fan growing up in Detroit in the '50s, and as I loved
the game and the sport, a pretty good read.
BR,mD

Canadiens of the 1950s Are Still the Kings of the Cup

By DAVE ANDERSON
Published: June 4, 2007

Dynasties don’t exist in the N.H.L. anymore, and they are seldom seen in any other sport. Not since the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997 and 1998 has the same N.H.L. franchise reigned in consecutive seasons. All the more reason hockey’s most dynamic dynasty, the Montreal Canadiens of Maurice Richard and Jean Béliveau, who won the Cup a record five years in a row half a century ago, was honored in Ottawa over the weekend.

The Hall of Famer Maurice Richard with the Stanley Cup after the Montreal Canadiens won in 1957.



In the era of what is known as the Original Six, when the playoffs consisted of only two best-of-seven rounds, those Canadiens hoisted Lord Stanley’s silver chalice every year from 1956 to 1960.

“The key was the great family atmosphere we had,” Béliveau was saying over the telephone. “We were always helping each other. We went out after games together. And we had great leaders in Maurice; Doug Harvey, our general on the power play; and Jacques Plante in the net, because to be a great team, you need a great goaltender.”

Over 10 playoff series in those five years, the Canadiens had a 40-9 record, including four-game sweeps of Chicago and Toronto in 1960. Only twice did they go to a Game 6, and they never went to a Game 7.

Ten players from those teams are in the Hockey Hall of Fame — the Richard brothers, Maurice and Henri; along with Béliveau; Harvey; Plante; Bernie Geoffrion; Dickie Moore; Tom Johnson; Bert Olmstead and Butch Bouchard as well as Coach Toe Blake and General Manager Frank J. Selke.

“Twelve of us played on all five teams,” Béliveau said, “but six are gone.”

Deceased are Harvey, Geoffrion, Plante, Claude Provost, Bob Turner and Maurice Richard, the real Rocket, whose 34 career goals in Cup finals are still the record; the real Rocket, who should have copyrighted the name before Roger Clemens or Rod Laver appropriated it. The other honored members of all five teams, in addition to Béliveau, Henri Richard, Moore and Johnson, were Jean-Guy Talbot and Donnie Marshall.

“There was a 15-year difference in our age,” Henri Richard said, referring to his brother. “Maurice was going to retire before the 1955-56 season, but he kept playing because he wanted to play with his little brother. He didn’t retire until after we won the Cup in 1960, but all those years he never told me anything, good or bad.

“I thought, I must be perfect,” he added with a laugh, “but Toe Blake would tell me what I did wrong.”

Blake, who wore a fedora on the bench during games, had been a Hall of Fame left wing who won the point-scoring title in 1939 and later played on the same line with center Elmer Lach and the Rocket, who in the 1944-45 season set hockey’s goal standard with 50 in 50 games.

“I sat beside Maurice for seven years in the room,” Béliveau said, “but about all he ever said to me was, ‘Well, Jean, keep up the way you been playing.’ He did his talking on the ice. From the blue line in, there were always two guys on his back, but he’d find a way to score.”

So did Béliveau. In the 1956 playoffs, he had 12 goals, including 7 in the finals. During that regular season, the Canadiens’ power play was so effective it changed the rules. With Béliveau, the Rocket and Olmstead swooping around the net, Harvey directing the play and Geoffrion booming his slap shot from the point, the Canadiens were scoring two and sometimes three goals during a two-minute penalty.

Before the 1956-57 season, the N.H.L. ruled that a player serving a minor penalty was allowed to return to the ice after a goal is scored by the opposing team.

“When we won the Cup in 1956, my second year, it felt very humbling,” said Marshall, who was later traded with Plante to the Rangers. “Jacques was a great goaltender, but he had his own way to do things. When he got cut in practice, he started wearing a mask in practice. After he got cut in a game with the Rangers at the Garden in November 1959, he came back on the ice with the mask on.”

Plante, who never took the mask off, completed the Canadiens’ five-year reign, which will probably never be equaled, much less surpassed.

Only two other N.H.L. teams have won four Cups in a row — the Canadiens of Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson and Ken Dryden from 1976 to 1979 and the Islanders of Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier from 1980 to 1983. The best the Edmonton Oilers , with Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, could do was win two in a row twice, before and after the Canadiens won in 1986.

“It’s harder now,” Béliveau said. “It’s four rounds, and hockey is a team sport built around three or four guys. With free agency, it’s very difficult now to keep your nucleus. Carolina won the Cup a year ago, but they weren’t even in the playoffs this time. Records are there to be broken, but a team has to win two, three, four in a row before they have a chance to do what we did.”

[GUINNESS]

Ahhhhh.... the good days of hockey Great post

[rayxi]

It was the Golden Era of hockey. No big money contracts and composite hockey sticks back then.

[jragan11]

Very Nice! My CAPS will get it someday!!!!

# 8 # 28 # 19 going to be hard to stop next season!

[PersonaNonGrata]

Thanks MD! I'm old enough to remember some of those olden days of the sport. Hockey has definitely changed and it's big business now but it is still the one major pro sport where there is some humility, intelligence, responsibility and a true love of the game in the players. There are the odd bad eggs but on the whole, NHLers manage to stay out of the papers for dog fighting, shootings outside strip clubs, and various other bad behaviour.

Plus the Stanley Cup is still the hardest trophy to win of ANY sport. 16 wins with as many as 28 hard fought games to get through before hoisting The Cup. Hockey rules!

A great hockey book by Ken Dryden

[motordavid]

Originally Posted by PersonaNonGrata

...Plus the Stanley Cup is still the hardest trophy to win of ANY sport. 16 wins with as many as 28 hard fought games to get through before hoisting The Cup. Hockey rules!

A great hockey book by Ken Dryden ...

I agree PNG/K. And, I read his book a couple three years ago
when it first came out. Outstanding book!

Dryden is a couple weeks older than me, and I always liked his
push it to the edge, "FU I'm outta here" 'tude, but intelligently based
and not just on a whim.
BR,mD

[Thunder22]

And he's a Cornel grad

[PersonaNonGrata]

Originally Posted by gresch

And he's a Cornel grad

Homeboy could wind up running Canadialand soon. He's quite the politician.

http://www.kendryden.ca/home.php