In the aftermath of a recent event, this section does not get the introduction that had been planned. The point of it was that there's more to hockey in the 1970s than the roughness for which that time in the game's history is remembered.
The Philadelphia Flyers win the Stanley Cup in six
games against the Boston Bruins. Coach Fred Shero wins the very
first Jack Adams Award for his part in bringing this NHL team to the top. Led
by team captain Bobby Clarke, the Flyers are the first of the six
expansion teams of '67 to win the Cup; eventually, four more of them will.
The Flyers' penalty minute total is by far the most in the
NHL: 1,756. Bob Kelly, who scored a goal every 16 games or so in that
first Cup-winning season, is credited with winning 14 of his 15 fights. Dave
Schultz gets nine minutes for a single incident during a semifinal game
when he beat up Brad Park of the home New York Rangers.
Schultz leads the NHL in penalty minutes with a record 348.
He'll break that record by accumulating 472 minutes next season.
In the WHA, the Houston Aeros sweep the Chicago
Cougars in the Avco Cup final. One of the men driving them to this victory
is Gordie Howe, who joined the Aeros along with sons Mark Howe
and Marty Howe at the beginning of the season. Gordie, 46 years old by
the end of the season, wins the MVP award, adding 31 goals and 69 assists to
his huge career totals. Mark is the Rookie of the Year.
The Flyers' Bernie Parent wins the Conn Smythe Trophy
as MVP of the playoffs and is one of two goalies to win the Vezina Trophy this
year. His record of 47 wins is one that may never be equaled, his mark of 12
shutouts is one reached only six times before in a season of 70 games or
longer, and his 1.89 goals-against average is a league best.
With 68 goals and 77 assists, the Bruins' Phil Esposito
wins the Art Ross Trophy for the fifth time in a row and the sixth time
overall. This is the fifth of six times in a row that he leads the league in
goals. The 68-goal mark will remain the second-highest for an NHL season
(second to his own personal best) until Mike Bossy does one better in
'78-79 and many others eclipse it thereafter.
Phil also wins the Hart Trophy (league MVP as voted by the
writers) and the Lester B. Pearson Trophy (MVP as voted by the players). He now
has 466 goals and 577 assists for his career.
Tony Esposito, goalie for the Chicago Black Hawks
(and Phil's younger brother), gets 10 shutouts and a 2.03 GAA, both runners-up
to Parent's marks but far better than the third-best. His performance earns him
a share of the Vezina Trophy as the Black Hawks and Flyers each allow exactly
164 goals in 78 games. Incidentally, Chicago is the team Boston beats in the
semifinals.
Bobby Orr of the Bruins wins the Norris Trophy (best
defenseman) for the seventh of eight times. He leads the league in assists with
90.
The Calder Trophy for best rookie goes to Denis Potvin
of the New York Islanders, who has 54 points and 175 penalty minutes.
Another great who makes his Islanders debut this season is Al
Arbour, head coach for this season and 12 more to follow.
The first team All-Stars are Parent, Orr, Phil Esposito,
Park, Buffalo Sabres left wing Rick Martin, and Bruins right wing
Ken Hodge.
The Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play goes for a second
time to Bruins captain Johnny Bucyk, who gets only eight penalty minutes
in 76 games. This is his second season wearing the C for Boston, the first
being 1966-67.
Martin achieves four of the league's 66 hat tricks, all in
wins for his Sabres.
In 13 penalty shot situations, five players score, but the
only one of those five whose team goes on to win is Juha Widing, whose Los
Angeles Kings defeat the Atlanta Flames.
Gerry Cheevers of the Cleveland Crusaders has
a WHA-leading four shutouts. He had a league-best five the previous season.
At the NHL All-Star Game in Chicago, the West Division wins
6-4. Garry Unger of the St. Louis Blues is the MVP. Frank
Mahovlich plays in his fifteenth consecutive All-Star Game, and it will be
his last before he joins the WHA.
The WHA All-Star Game is held in St. Paul, Minnesota. The
East wins 8-4, and the MVP is Mike Walton of the local Minnesota
Fighting Saints. Walton leads the league in scoring for the season with 57
goals and 60 assists, which means he earns the W.D. "Bill" Hunter
Trophy. His goals total also paces the WHA.
Sabres defenseman Tim Horton, who had helped the Toronto
Maple Leafs to four Stanley Cup championships in the sixties, dies in a
single-car crash Feb. 21 at the age of 44. The car in question was his signing
bonus for joining Buffalo prior to the season, and the drive there from Toronto
after a game against the Leafs the night before -- a 4-2 Sabres loss in which
he was among the three stars -- is cut short in St. Catharines, Ontario,
Canada. His funeral on the 25th attracts a huge crowd, aided by the fact that
no NHL games are scheduled that day.
Montreal Canadiens captain Henri Richard
reaches 1,000 points Dec. 10, 1973, in a game against the Sabres.
After an All-NHL First Team, GAA-leading, Vezina-winning,
Stanley Cup-winning '72-73, Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden does not play
this season. Because he feels his team is being too tight, he is working as a
law clerk in Toronto for a weekly salary of $134 Canadian.
Dryden also provides color commentary for local coverage of
the WHA's Toronto Toros, who have just moved from Ottawa. They draw
4,291 fans a game to Varsity Arena.
In late November 1973, the struggling New York Golden
Blades become the Jersey Knights, going from Madison Square Garden
to the much smaller Cherry Hill Arena. One of the team's players, Andre
Lacroix, a former Flyer now playing on the other side of the Delaware
River, leads the WHA in assists with 111.
Among the 1974 Hockey Hall of Fame inductees is Dickie
Moore, one of the stars of the '50s Canadiens. Also among them is Soviet
coach Anatoly Tarasov, the first Soviet in the Hall.
This is Borje Salming's first season in the NHL. This
Swedish defenseman, who is making his debut with the Maple Leafs, will
establish that a European can indeed make it in this league. Also entering the
NHL are future Hall of Famers Bob Gainey, Lanny McDonald, and Potvin.
Charles Finley, owner of baseball's Oakland A's,
no longer owns the NHL's California Golden Seals after the season, when
the league buys the Seals back.
Alex Delvecchio (24 years in the NHL), Dean
Prentice (22), and Gump Worsley (21) all retire. Gordie Howe's
record of 25 seasons in the NHL is safe, and his 26th will be '79-80.
In the American Hockey League, the Hershey Bears, a Pittsburgh
Penguins affiliate, are the champions. Twenty-year-old Rick Middleton
of the runner-up Providence Reds (a Rangers farm club) is named the
AHL's rookie of the year. In eight years' time, he will score 51 goals for the
Bruins. The MVP of the AHL is 38-year-old Art Stratton of the Rochester
Americans, a former NHL player.
In the Central Hockey League, the Dallas Black Hawks (a
Chicago affiliate) are the champions. The Central League MVP is 25-year-old Chico
Resch of the Fort Worth Wings. The Islanders call the netminder up
during the season. The CHL rookie of the year, 28-year-old Claire Alexander
of the Oklahoma City Blazers, has played his first full season of pro
hockey after being a senior amateur for six years, and in '74-75, he will make
his NHL debut with the Blazers' parent club, the Maple Leafs.
Herb Brooks wins his first NCAA title as Minnesota
coach. Brad Shelstad, the Gophers' goalie, is Most Outstanding Player of
the tournament.
The Soviet Union wins its thirteenth IIHF
championship. This is the Soviets' second of three in a row immediately
following Czechoslovakia snapping the Russians' long streak in '72. Vladislav
Tretyak is named best goaltender of the tournament for the first of four
times, and this season he also wins his first of five MVP awards for the top
Soviet league.
In junior hockey, the Regina Pats of the WCHL win the
Memorial Cup by defeating the Quebec Remparts (QMJHL) 7-4. The
other participants are the OHA's St. Catharines Black Hawks.
Future Hall of Famers in the Western Canada Hockey League: Bernie
Federko is starting a three-year run with the Saskatoon Blades, and Doug
Wilson is making his juniors debut for the Winnipeg Clubs.
Thirteen-year-old Wayne Gretzky is already recognized
as the next big thing in hockey, and he's getting some media coverage,
including an appearance on CBC radio's This Country in the Morning March
25. He says he doesn't see himself making a million dollars someday.
