Sports74 Gold: Hockey Early in '74-75

This retrospective, which mainly covers what happened in the '74 calendar year, is the penultimate entry in Sports74 Gold. How time flies.

After leaving Canada with a win, a loss, and two ties, the Soviet Union's national team defeats a team of WHA all-stars in three out of four games in Moscow; the other game is a tie. The squad that represents Canada includes all three Howes (of the Houston Aeros), Winnipeg Jets player-coach Bobby Hull, and '72 Summit Series hero Paul Henderson (a new arrival on the Toronto Toros). Hull scores nine points against the Soviets and Gordie Howe gets seven.

On the way to Moscow, the WHA stars defeat Finland in Helsinki and Sweden in Gothenburg. On the way home, they lose to Czechoslovakia in Prague.

In the NHL, this season is the debut of the Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals. With this expansion, the league is realigned into the Wales Conference and the Campbell Conference, each of which has two divisions.

Franchises in Denver and Seattle are planned for the NHL in 1976-77, but for several reasons, neither one will materialize.

The Northlands Coliseum opens, and it will be the home of the WHA's (later NHL's) Edmonton Oilers for over 40 years.

The New England Whalers play games in West Springfield, Mass. -- where they had played their '74 playoff games -- for the season up to and including Jan. 4, 1975. They play their first game at the Hartford Civic Center on Jan. 11, 1975. Except for some time in the late '70s, the Whalers will keep calling Hartford home until 1997.

The WHA's third season is the first for which plus-minus figures are available. The best in that figure is Bobby Hull with 55. The worst, with negative 63, is defenseman Paul Curtis of the team that starts the season as the Michigan Stags and finishes as the Baltimore Blades.

Ken Dryden is back on the Montreal Canadiens. After a year of absence, he has the third-best GAA in the NHL (2.69). He led the league in '72-73 with 2.26.

Speaking of the Habs, they begin a streak of 23 road games without a loss Nov. 27.

Guy Lafleur of Montreal has his breakout season with 53 goals and 66 assists.

Gordie Howe's 99 points bring him to 2,008 combined for NHL and WHA games.

Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins scores his 500th goal Dec. 22 in his 803rd career game, played at the Boston Garden against the Detroit Red Wings. He is the sixth player in league history to reach the 500 mark.

Esposito and Bobby Orr play what proves to be their last season together and Orr's last season before his premature decline.

Also in Boston, Don Cherry is brought in to start a six-year run as head coach.

The playoffs that follow this NHL season will be different from how they had been in the last four years. From 1971 to 1974, East and West teams met in the semifinals. Now, the four division winners get byes and the second- and third-place teams play in the preliminaries, with matchups determined by points regardless of division or even conference.

In the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, the Buffalo Sabres use their eleventh-round pick on made-up Japanese player Taro Tsujimoto. Among the real players drafted this year are two future Hall of Famers, both New York Islanders selections: Clark Gillies of the WCHL's Regina Pats and Bryan Trottier of the Western Canada League's Swift Current Broncos (who play in Lethbridge, Alberta, for 12 years starting in the coming season).

The Toronto Maple Leafs draft the Broncos' Dave "Tiger" Williams, who had 854 penalty minutes in 204 games with Swift Current, but also 108 goals and 133 assists. In '74-75, he has 202 penalty minutes in 39 games with the Central League's Oklahoma City Blazers and 187 in 42 games with the Leafs.

With the first pick, the Capitals select Greg Joly of the Pats. The second pick belongs to the Scouts, and they choose Wilf Paiement of the OHA's St. Catharines Black Hawks.

In the WHA, the Minnesota Fighting Saints acquire the players who will be made famous in the 1977 movie Slap Shot. They select Dave Hanson of the Midwest Junior Hockey League's St. Paul Vulcans in the '74 draft. From the USHL's Marquette Iron Rangers, the Saints draft two of the Carlson brothers (Jack Carlson and Steve Carlson) and sign the third, Jeff Carlson.

All told, there are eight different drafts for the two leagues in 1974. To wit:

·     In addition to the aforementioned, the NHL amateur draft involves the California Golden Seals selecting Joly's teammate Rick Hampton with the third overall pick.

·     The WHA amateur draft brings Real Cloutier of the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts to the Quebec Nordiques.

·     A secret amateur draft results in Cam Connor of the WCHL's Flin Flon Bombers going to the Phoenix Roadrunners.

·     That new franchise is one of two teams with picks to make in the WHA expansion draft; the Indianapolis Racers get Bob Fitchner from the Oilers.

·     The NHL also has an expansion draft, whose most important picks might be Seals left winger Gary Croteau for the Scouts and Pittsburgh Penguins blueliner Yvon Labre for the Capitals.

·     The expansion teams also take part in an interleague draft, each one choosing a player from the Hershey Bears of the American League. The Caps take Jim Hrycuik (who scores the team's very first goal Oct. 9), and the Scouts pick Hugh Harvey.

·     In the reverse draft, the AHL's Nova Scotia Voyageurs get Al Hangsleben back from their parent club, the Canadiens, but he plays the season with the Whalers and their NAHL affiliate, the Cape Codders.

·     Finally, there's the NHL's intraleague draft, in which the New York Rangers claim Walt McKechnie of the Golden Seals as compensation for losing Seals pick Jeff Neilson, only to immediately send McKechnie to the Bruins in what appears to be a pre-arranged, three-team trade.

Soviet defenseman Vyacheslav Fetisov plays a single game this season that begins a distinguished 15-year run with CSKA Moscow.

The finale for Sports74 Gold involves front office problems, free throw problems, and a moment that caused problems for some fans in Vermont. Pro and college roundball will round out the series Oct. 18.

[EDITS 4:58-5:03 a.m: Making it look better on mobile devices.]

[EDIT 5:21-23 a.m.: Moving the entire post to a new URL. The title was wrong as originally posted at 4:28.]

[EDIT 5:24-25 a.m.: Taking out an extra space before potentially going back to bed.]

[EDITS 1:29-34 p.m.: It didn't turn out right, just copying and pasting. Back to the original post. But I'll be changing the title.]

[EDIT after unpublishing by mistake Dec. 16, 2025 10:51-54 a.m.: Removed reference to advertisement placed for '75-76 season.]

Sports74 Gold: Hockey

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.

As we draw closer to the golden jubilee, expect a sporting jamboree. Chess, bowling, lacrosse, fishing, and motorcycle jumps are some of the topics in the next entry, to be posted Dec. 29.

EDIT 6/28/26 7:20 a.m.: Second reference to Potvin is now not given bold text or first name.

Hockey: The '73-74 Season

[EDIT 6/22/2015: Apostrophe maintenance]

[EDIT 6/12/2018: Altering junior hockey entry to suit any encoding]

[EDIT 11/30/2023: Applying the label "hockey" at last and removing justification]

The notorious 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 the 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.

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 his sons Mark and Marty 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, by the way, is the Rookie of the Year.

The Flyers' Dave Schultz leads the NHL in penalty minutes with a record 348. He'll break that record by accumulating 472 minutes next season.

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 47 wins are a record that may never be equaled, his twelve shutouts are a mark 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 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, 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 only 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 year is Al Arbour, who would coach the team for a long time.

The first team All-Stars are Parent, Orr, Phil Esposito, New York Rangers defenseman Brad 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 the Bruins' captain Johnny Bucyk, who only gets eight penalty minutes in 76 games.

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.

Sabres defenseman Tim Horton, who had helped the Maple Leafs to four Stanley Cup championships in the '60s, 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, Ont. His funeral on the 25th attracts a huge crowd, aided by the fact that no NHL games are scheduled that day.

Sometime this season, Stan Mikita of the Black Hawks scores his 400th goal.

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 season, 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 a measly 4,291 fans a game to Varsity Arena.

Among the 1974 Hall of Fame inductees is Dickie Moore, one of the stars of the '50s Canadiens. Also among them is Soviet coach Anatoli Tarasov, the first Soviet in the Hall of Fame.

This is Borje Salming's first season in the NHL. Salming, a Swedish defenseman making his debut with the Maple Leafs, is one of many European players who have an impact on hockey in the '70s, and he will establish that a European can indeed make it in this league.

Charles Finley, owner of baseball's Oakland A's, sells the NHL's California Golden Seals after the season.

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.

Christer Abrahamsson, goalie for the Swedish team Leksand, is the Golden Puck winner (Swedish league MVP) for this season, his brother Thommy having won it the year before. Both players will join the New England Whalers in the '74-75 season.

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 their second of three in a row immediately following Czechoslovakia snapping their 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.

The Regina Pats of the Western League win the Memorial Cup by defeating les Remparts de Quebec (QMJHL champions) 7-4. The other participants are the OHA's St. Catharines Black Hawks.

At the first unofficial world junior championship in Leningrad, the Soviet Union wins. The IIHF will institute an under-20 championship in 1977.

Thirteen-year-old Wayne Gretzky is already recognized as the next big thing in hockey, and is getting heavy media coverage as a result, 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.

LINKS
Overview of the NHL season
Overview of the WHA season
More on Ken Dryden
Penalty minutes leaders
Funeral for Tim Horton
Interview with 13-year-old Gretzky
Memorial Cup

NEXT MONTH: The NBA and ABA in '73-74