1963-64 NHL season

The 1963-64 NHL season was the 47th season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 70 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs won their third consecutive Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings four games to three in the final series.

A big trade took place in June with the New York Rangers trading Gump Worsley, Dave Balon, Len Ronson and Leon Rochefort to the Montreal Canadiens for Jacques Plante, Don Marshall and Phil Goyette.

The governors noted with profound regret the death of William Northey, who died August 9th at 92. It was decided to establish a memorial for his favorite charity, Montreal Children's Hospital.

It was announced that Ron Andrews would replace Ken McKenzie as the NHL's director of publicity.

Predictions
The Canadian magazine was a weekend supplement that appeared in the Saturday editions of many newspapers in Canada. On October 19,1963, they published their annual NHL predictions by one reporter from each of the six NHL cities.

Combined Predictions
On the basis of 6 points for a 1st place, 5 for a second, etc.


 * 1. Toronto Maple Leafs (36 points)
 * 2. Chicago Black Hawks (29 points)
 * 3. New York Rangers (19 points)
 * 4. Montreal Canadiens (18 points) (tied)
 * 4. Detroit Red Wings (18 points) (tied)
 * 6. Boston Bruins ( 6 points)

Regular Season
Jacques Plante made his debut as a Ranger October 9th in Chicago and it was a rough game for him, losing 3-1 and being cut by an elbow of Johnny McKenzie.

Gordie Howe scored two goals in Detroit's opener as the Red Wings beat Chicago 5-3. Howe was now only two goals shy of Maurice Richard's all-time career goal scoring record.

Montreal handed the Rangers a 6-2 pasting in their opener at the Forum. The fans both cheered and jeered Jacques Plante, now a Ranger.

Montreal defeated Detroit 6-4 in Detroit, but the highlight of the game was Gordie Howe scoring his 544th goal to tie Maurice Richard and he drew a five minute ovation. Gump Worsley was the victim of the goal.

Toronto defeated Montreal 6-3 at the Forum October 30th in a penalty-filled game. The main event was put on by Terry Harper and Bob Pulford who drew majors. Gump Worsley badly pulled his hamstring and would be replaced by Charlie Hodge for the season. On November 8, 1963, Maple Leaf Gardens was the first arena in the NHL to have separate penalty boxes.

The Detroit Red Wings blanked the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 on November 10th. While the Wings were a man short, Gordie Howe scored on Charlie Hodge for his 545th career goal, breaking Maurice Richard's record. Yet another record was tied by Terry Sawchuk when he recorded his 94th career NHL shutout, tying him with George Hainsworth as the all-time NHL shutout leader.

Chicago defeated Toronto 2-0 on November 28th and Johnny McKenzie was severely injured when sandwiched by Bobby Baun and Carl Brewer. He was taken to hospital and an operation was performed on his spleen.

There was a lengthy delay in the start of a game between Detroit and Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens on November 30th while the ice surface was repaired. A rodeo had been held and the cleaning job took longer than expected. Despite a terrible ice surface, a ragged game was played that ended in a 1-1 tie. Roger Crozier was hit with a slap shot by Frank Mahovlich but returned after a ten minute rest. The plucky goalkeeper had sustained a double fracture of the cheekbone and was unable to play the next night. The game was delayed for 20 minutes while Hank Bassen was located to replace Crozier. Toronto won the game 4-1.



Toronto blanked Chicago 3-0 on December 7, 1963 in a wild brawl. Three minutes before the end of the game, Reg Fleming speared Eddie Shack, and after the Chicago player entered the penalty box, Bobby Baun decided to drag him out. Both benches emptied and a free-for-all started, and seven major penalties, six misconducts, three game misconducts and $25 fines were assessed against 22 players who left the benches. The game was completed with each team two men short. NHL president Clarence Campbell fined coaches Billy Reay and Punch Imlach $1000 for allowing their players to fight. Fleming was fined $200, Baun $150, Larry Hillman $150, Murray Balfour $100, and Carl Brewer $50. The 22 players that left the bench were fined $100 each.

Johnny Bower got his third consecutive shutout January 4th with a 3-0 win over Chicago. Mahovlich scored two goals in the win. During the game, the Black Hawks got a bench penalty and Reg Fleming was chosen to serve it. Fleming mocked referee Vern Buffey by applauding which led to a misconduct penalty, after which Fleming bumped Buffey and was given a game misconduct.

On January 18th, Terry Sawchuk broke George Hainsworth's record of career NHL shutouts with his 95th in a 2-0 win over Montreal. Hainsworth still held the major league record with 104, 10 in the Western Hockey League. That same night, Boston, the laughing stock of the league, had some laughs of their own when they walked right into Toronto and clobbered the Leafs 11-0, Andy Hebenton and Dean Prentice each scoring hat tricks. It was Pete Stemkowski's first NHL game and remains the largest shutout victory in Bruins team history. Next, the Bruins walked right into the Forum in Montreal January 25th and whitewashed the Canadiens 6-0, and then shut out Toronto 2-0 the next night.

On February 1st, Bobby Rousseau joined the elite who have scored five goals in a game when he scored five against Detroit in a 9-3 trouncing of Detroit.

On February 5th, the Rangers had a 2-1 lead late in the third period when Andy Hebenton and Orland Kurtenbach scored 27 seconds apart to give the Bruins a 3-2 win.

A trade that was rumoured most of the season finally took place when the New York Rangers traded Andy Bathgate and Don McKenney to Toronto in exchange for Dick Duff, Bob Nevin, Arnie Brown, Bill Collins and Rod Seiling on February 22, 1964. Ranger fans did not like the deal and in the next game chants of "Muzz must go!" were heard (referring to Muzz Patrick, the Rangers general manager.)

Wildor Larochelle, a former Canadiens player of the early 1930's, died March 23rd at age 58.

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

Leading Goaltenders
Note: GP = Games played; Min – Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Stanley Cup Playoffs
This playoff season saw the exact same match-ups as the previous season with the two Canadian teams, Toronto and Montreal, and the two American teams, Detroit and Chicago, matching up. As with last season, the Maple Leafs ousted the Canadiens and the Red Wings beat the Black Hawks. For the first time since the league began using the best-of-seven playoff format in 1939, all three series went the full seven games.

Stanley Cup Finals
The 1964 Stanley Cup finals between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings was an exciting series. Toronto won the first game by one goal, 3-2, and the second game was won by Detroit by one goal in overtime. The third game saw Detroit win, again by one goal, and take a two games to one series lead. The Leafs came back in game four with a 4-2 victory to tie the series. But game five was won, again by one goal, by Detroit giving the Wings a three games to two lead. Game six saw the second overtime of the series, but before the game went into overtime, Toronto defenceman Bobby Baun stopped a hard shot and was taken off the ice with a broken ankle. He later returned to the game in overtime, with the broken ankle, and scored the game winning goal. After six close games, game seven was anticlimactic as Toronto handily won 4-0 for the Stanley Cup, their third in a row.

Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1963-64 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
 * Gary Dornhoefer, Boston Bruins
 * Phil Esposito, Chicago Black Hawks
 * Roger Crozier, Detroit Red Wings
 * Ted Harris, Montreal Canadiens
 * John Ferguson, Montreal Canadiens
 * Yvan Cournoyer, Montreal Canadiens
 * Jimmy Roberts, Montreal Canadiens
 * Gilles Villemure, New York Rangers
 * Jim Pappin, Toronto Maple Leafs
 * Ron Ellis, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last Games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1963-64 (listed with their last team):
 * Andy Hebenton, Boston Bruins
 * Jerry Toppazzini, Boston Bruins
 * Ed Litzenberger, Toronto Maple Leafs

Attendance

 * 1) Chicago: 581,593
 * 2) Toronto: 494,634
 * 3) Montreal: 488,663
 * 4) New York: 435,531
 * 5) Boston: 368,002
 * 6) Detroit: 364,219

Video
First two periods of the 1963 All-Star game with commercials and intermission features.