1944-45 NHL season

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The 1944-45 NHL season was the 28th season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 50 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in seven games versus the Detroit Red Wings.

Contents 1 Regular season 1.1 Final standings 2 Scoring leaders 3 Stanley Cup playoffs 3.1 Playoff bracket 3.2 Semifinals 3.3 Stanley Cup finals 4 NHL awards 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Regular season

NHL president Red Dutton offered to resign because of business concerns, but the league's board of governors dissuaded him. Conn Smythe, at one point, was offered the presidency, but turned it down. Dutton then stayed on.

It was the year of the "Punch Line" as Rocket Richard scored 50 goals in 50 games, breaking Joe Malone's record of 44 goals, and when Richard scored his 45th, Malone was on hand to present him with the record-breaking puck. Richard had a 5-goal, 3-assist night against Detroit at the Montreal Forum on December 28, 1944. His centreman, Elmer Lach, though, won the scoring race with 26 goals and 80 points. Toe Blake finished third with 29 goals, 38 assists, and for the second time, an entire line finished 1, 2, 3 in scoring. The previous time had been in 1939-40, when the Boston Bruins' Kraut Line had. Milt Schmidt, Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart, all now serving in World War II for Canada during this season, had. Schmidt finished with 52 points in 48 games that year, and Bauer and Dumart 43 apiece.

Montreal dared not loan Paul Bibeault to Toronto again with his fine year the previous season and loaned him instead to Boston. But the Maple Leafs came up with a fine rookie named Frank McCool who won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's top rookie. For the first time, a team produced three consecutive top rookies. McCool and Chicago netminder Mike Karakas tied for the league lead in shutouts with 4 each.

Bill Durnan won his second consecutive Vezina Trophy with Montreal.

A major trade that occurred this year was Chicago trading their great defenceman Earl Seibert to Detroit for Don Grosso, Cully Simon and Byron "Butch" McDonald. After team owner Frederic McLaughlin died, it was just a matter of time before Bill Tobin would trade Seibert, as the two did not get along.

[edit] Final standings

GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties In Minutes
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Montreal Canadiens	50	38	8	4	80	228	121	376
Detroit Red Wings	50	31	14	5	67	218	161	260
Toronto Maple Leafs	50	24	22	4	52	183	161	317
Boston Bruins	50	16	30	4	36	179	219	275
Chicago Black Hawks	50	13	30	7	33	141	194	245
New York Rangers	50	11	29	10	32	154	247	305

[edit] Scoring leaders

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

PLAYER	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Elmer Lach	Montreal Canadiens	50	26	54	80	37
Maurice Richard	Montreal Canadiens	50	50	23	73	46
Toe Blake	Montreal Canadiens	49	29	38	67	25
Bill Cowley	Boston Bruins	49	25	40	65	12
Ted Kennedy	Toronto Maple Leafs	49	29	25	54	14
Bill Mosienko	Chicago Black Hawks	50	28	26	54	0
Joe Carveth	Detroit Red Wings	50	26	28	54	6
Ab DeMarco	New York Rangers	50	24	30	54	10
Clint Smith	Chicago Black Hawks	50	23	31	54	0

[edit] Stanley Cup playoffs

[edit] Playoff bracket

	Semifinals					Finals
	1	Montreal Canadiens	2
	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	4
						3	Toronto Maple Leafs	4
						2	Detroit Red Wings	3
	2	Detroit Red Wings	4
	4	Boston Bruins	3

[edit] Semifinals

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 20	Toronto Maple Leafs	1	Montreal Canadiens	0
March 22	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	Montreal Canadiens	2
March 24	Montreal Canadiens	4	Toronto Maple Leafs	1
March 27	Montreal Canadiens	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	4	OT
March 29	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	Montreal Canadiens	10
March 31	Montreal Canadiens	2	Toronto Maple Leafs	3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 2

Detroit Red Wings vs. Boston Bruins

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 20	Boston Bruins	4	Detroit Red Wings	3
March 22	Boston Bruins	4	Detroit Red Wings	2
March 24	Detroit Red Wings	3	Boston Bruins	2
March 27	Detroit Red Wings	3	Boston Bruins	2
March 29	Boston Bruins	2	Detroit Red Wings	3	OT
April 1	Detroit Red Wings	3	Boston Bruins	5
April 3	Boston Bruins	3	Detroit Red Wings	5

Detroit wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 3

[edit] Stanley Cup finals

The Maple Leafs won the Cup in game seven against the Red Wings by a final score of 2-1. This was the first time in the history of game seven NHL Stanley Cup finals that the home team did not win. The home team didn't lose a game seven final again until the Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks in the 1971 Stanley Cup final. It has not happened since.

Hap Day almost had to eat his words of a few years back when he said of the Leafs comeback of 1942 "There will never be another experience like this." Toronto won the first three games as Frank McCool had three consecutive shutouts, but Detroit stormed back to win the next three and it looked as though Detroit would accomplish what Toronto did in 1942. But Babe Pratt scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory that saved Toronto from being victim of a great comeback win by Detroit.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 6	Toronto Maple Leafs	1	Detroit Red Wings	0
April 8	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	Detroit Red Wings	0
April 12	Detroit Red Wings	0	Toronto Maple Leafs	1
April 14	Detroit Red Wings	5	Toronto Maple Leafs	3
April 19	Toronto Maple Leafs	0	Detroit Red Wings	2
April 21	Detroit Red Wings	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	0	OT
April 22	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	Detroit Red Wings	1

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 3

[edit] NHL awards

O'Brien Trophy:	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Montreal Canadiens
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Frank McCool, Toronto Maple Leafs
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Elmer Lach, Montreal Canadiens
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Bill Mosienko, Chicago Black Hawks
Vezina Trophy:	Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens

[edit] See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1944 in sports
• 1945 in sports

[edit] References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com

NHL seasons
1940-41 | 1941-42 | 1942-43 | 1943-44 | 1944-45 | 1945-46 | 1946-47 | 1947-48 | 1948-49