1962–63 Boston Bruins season



The 1962–63 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 39th season in the NHL. The Bruins finished 6th in the league and did not qualify for the playoffs.

Off-season
GM Lynn Patrick traded for goaltender Bob Perreault and acquired Jean-Guy Gendron, Irv Spencer and Warren Godfrey in the intra-league draft in June 1962. All three would play significant time for the Bruins during the 1962-63 season. Goalie Eddie Johnston made the team out of training camp. He'd play the next 11 seasons for the Bruins and be an integral part of their championship teams. He'd also be the last goaltender in NHL history to play every minute of every game for his team, which he'd accomplish in the 1963–64 Boston Bruins season.

The 16th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at Toronto on October 6, 1962. A team of all-stars that included three Bruins, Leo Boivin, Doug Mohns and Don McKenney played against the Stanley Cup champion Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto won 4-1 with no Bruins recording a point, though all three Bruins were assessed penalties.

1962
Unlike the previous season, where the Bruins had seven rookies on opening night, a more experienced line-up started the 1962-63 season. Goalie Bob Perreault and winger Wayne Hicks were the only freshmen. Hicks would play his only full season in 1962-63. In order to shore up the defense, veterans Warren Godfrey, who'd last played for the Bruins in 1955, and Irv Spencer were added. Ted Green played his second full year and Pat Stapleton made the team out of training camp, but was sent to the minors after 21 games. Leo Boivin missed the first 7 games of the season and Doug Mohns continued to play top pairing minutes.

John Bucyk, Murray Oliver and sophomore Tom Williams became the top forward unit and were known as the "BOW" line. They'd finish 1-2-3 in team scoring with Bucyk and Oliver in the top ten of league scoring. Jean-Guy Gendron, who'd last played for the Bruins in 1961, had a solid season, scoring 21 goals while playing with captain Don McKenney and Jerry Toppazzini, who was in his penultimate NHL season. As in the last two season, depth scoring was sorely lacking, led again by Charlie Burns with 12 goals. Cliff Pennington, who played the full season the year before, was relegated to the minors after 27 games and never played in the NHL again. Wayne Hicks scored 7 goals while veteran André Pronovost went scoreless in 21 games until he was traded.

The season started with promise as Bob Perreault earned a 5-0 shutout over Montreal in his first game with the Bruins. Mohns and Bucyk both had a pair while Irv Spencer chipped in a goal. However, the Habs outshot Boston, which would become a recurring theme in the games to come. The Bruins then went on a 13 game winless streak. Montreal got revenge for its shutout loss on October 20, 1962, winning 7-3 while raining 50 shots on Perreault. They followed this up with a 4-2 win on November 11 where they had 42 shots. Eddie Johnston played twice during the streak and managed a tie but after the 3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on November 18, 1962, coach Phil Watson was let go and Milt Schmidt assuming the coaching duties for his second stint. The streak was finally ended after Schmidt's fourth game behind the bench.

Although the Bruins didn't have another winless streak as bad as that with Watson as the coach, losing continued. Wayne Connelly was sent to the minors at the end of November and replaced with Bob Leiter, who managed 9 goals playing the rest of the season. In December, André Pronovost was traded for Forbes Kennedy who scored in his first game for the Bruins. Kennedy would continue to provide scoring, as well as much needed toughness and stick with the Bruins for three more seasons. Pat Stapleton was sent to the minors where he'd remain for two years until traded. Ed Westfall was recalled from the minors and played the rest of the season. Except for a brief stint with the Providence Reds the next season, Westfall would play a decade for the Bruins and be an important part of their two Stanley Cup wins.

Heading into the December 15, 1962 game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins had a 2-16-8 record and Bob Perreault had started all but 4 of the games. After Perreault surrendered 5 goals on 28 shots, he was replaced with Ed Johnston. Johnston would play the remainder of the games in the season while Perreault never played in the NHL again.

1963
The Bruins play improved somewhat with Johnston in net. Team captain Don McKenney was injured in early January resulting in the call-up of Don Blackburn. Blackburn tallied 5 assists in 6 games but was sent back to the minors when McKenney returned to the line-up. After winning only four games in January, GM Lynn Patrick traded McKenney and Dick Meissner to the New York Rangers for Dean Prentice on February 4, 1963.

A former 30 goal scorer, Prentice scored in his first game as a Bruin and sparked the team to its best month of the season, going 5-3-4 in February. He played two more seasons for the Bruins and finally retired from the NHL in 1974. McKenney played two more full seasons and had a stint in 1967 before retiring. Leo Boivin took over as team captain.

However, a winless March doomed the Bruins to last place in the league for the third straight season. An injury to Murray Oliver resulted in the recall of Jeannot Gilbert for 5 games and Matt Ravlich was recalled. Ravlich would return to the Bruins nearly a decade later.

Playoffs

 * The Bruins did not qualify for the post season.

Regular Season

 * Scoring
 * Goaltending

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts

Awards and Records

 * The Bruins did not receive any awards this season.

Transactions

 * Trade Barry Ashbee and Ed Chadwick to the Detroit Red Wings for Bob Perreault on June 1, 1962.
 * Select Jean-Guy Gendron and Irv Spencer from the New York Rangers, Warren Godfrey from Detroit in the June 6, 1962 intra-league draft.
 * Trade Terry Gray to the Montreal Canadiens for Gary Bergman on November 1, 1962.
 * Trade André Pronovost to Detroit for Forbes Kennedy on December 3, 1962.
 * Trade Don McKenney and Dick Meissner to the New York Rangers for Dean Prentice on February 4, 1963.

Farm Teams
Despite their last-place finish, there was reason for hope in the Bruins' organization. Their farm team Kingston Frontenacs won the Eastern Professional League title. The Niagara Falls Flyers, won the Ontario Hockey Association Junior A title and then made it to the Memorial Cup Final. Another junior team, the Estevan Bruins, won the Saskatchewan League title. In what would prove to be most important of all, Bobby Orr started playing for their farm team, the Oshawa Generals.

Trivia

 * No Bruins recorded a Hat trick this season.