1947–48 Boston Bruins season



The 1947–48 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 24th season in the NHL. The Kraut Line of Milt Schmidt and Woody Dumart was no more with the retirement of Bobby Bauer. Combined with a knee injury to Schmidt which kept him out of nearly half the Bruins games, Boston experienced a steep decline in scoring from the previous season. The Bruins finished 3rd in the league and lost in the Semi-finals to the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 1.

Pre-Season
The 1st National Hockey League All-Star Game was held on October 13, 1947 at Maple Leaf Gardens. A team of all-stars that included four Bruins, the retired Bobby Bauer and his linemates Milt Schmidt and Woody Dumart in addition to goalie Frank Brimsek played against the Stanley Cup champion Toronto Maple Leafs. The game was very rough with fights, hard checking and a bad ankle injury to Chicago Black Hawks forward Bill Mosienko that nearly ended his career. The All Stars prevailed 4-3 with Schmidt assisting on the winning goal.

Although official Bruins records list Jack Crawford as the team's captain for the season, Milt Schmidt was appointed to lead the team as reported in the Boston Globe and a number of other newspapers. Several photos, including the team picture, show Schmidt wearing the "C."

Regular Season
This would be the last year the Bruins wore jerseys with numbers on the front and back.

With Herb Cain being sent to the minors (he wouldn't play in the NHL again), the retirement of Bobby Bauer and Bill Cowley and with Art Ross dissatisfied with the second and third lines, the Bruins forwards underwent an overhaul for the 1947-48 season. Wally Wilson, Ed Harrison, Pete Babando, Ed Sandford and Paul Ronty were purchased or promoted from the minors.

This was Wilson's only NHL season and Harrison would play three more. Babando would have a great rookie season, lead the Bruins in goals and finish second in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy. He would play six more NHL seasons for other teams, scoring the Stanley Cup winning overtime goal for the Detroit Red Wings in 1950.

Ronty and Sandford would become solid contributors to the Bruins offense into the 1950's. Ronty would twice lead the Bruins in scoring and be in the top 10 league scoring in those two seasons. Sandford would eventually be named to the Second All-Star Team, lead the Bruins in scoring in the 1953-54 season and succeed Milt Schmidt as the Bruins captain.

Frank Brimsek had his last great season, finishing as runner-up for the Hart Memorial Trophy and being named a Second Team All-Star. In total, Brimsek made the First or Second All-Star Team eight times, won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year and, the Vezina Trophy twice and in his career.

In a trade on December 16, 1947, the Bruins obtained Jimmy Peters and Johnny Quilty for Joe Carveth. However, after playing 10 games for the Bruins, Quilty suffered a leg fracture on February 11, 1948 and never played in the NHL again.

Bep Guidolin was traded for Billy Taylor in October 1947 which would result in one of the darkest chapters in Bruins and NHL history. Coming from the Detroit Red Wings, Taylor had been betting against his own team through a felon, James Tamer, and providing inside information on the team. Don Gallinger had been betting for the Bruins since his rookie season in 1942-43 but Taylor, who lived in the same boarding house as Gallinger, convinced him to bet against them to make more money. Bruins management began to suspect Taylor's activities and he was traded to the New York Rangers on February 6, 1948.

Detroit police wire-tapped Tamer's phone and recorded a conversation providing information on an injury to Bruins star Milt Schmidt and that Jack Crawford's daughter had just died. The caller also mentioned he wouldn't be playing well and bet $500 against the Bruins. The game referred to was on February 18, 1948 against the Chicago Black Hawks which ironically, the Bruins won 4-2 (Gallinger had no points in the game). Illegally obtained, the police couldn't use it to prosecute but passed the tape to NHL president Clarence Campbell.

Confronted in private by Art Ross, Gallinger denied the allegations, continuing to do so when the story broke in the press on March 3, 1948. The league launched an investigation and on March 7, 1948, Gallinger played his last game in the NHL and scored the third goal in a 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. On March 8, 1948, Taylor was suspended for life from the NHL while Gallinger was suspended indefinitely. Only 23 years old and having led the Bruins in scoring two years before, Gallinger's career was over. He made several attempts to have the suspension lifted which the league would finally grant in 1970.

Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Boston Bruins 1
Having last met in the 1941 Stanley Cup Semi-finals where the Bruins defeated the Leafs 4 games to 3 on their way to their third Stanley Cup, the Leafs defeated the Bruins in a tight five game series where three games were decided by one goal, including an overtime game. Six goals by Ted Kennedy led the Leafs.

Game 1 at Maple Leaf Gardens was a cleanly played game in which the teams constantly traded goals. The Bruins Murray Henderson scored early in the first period but the Leafs Bill Ezinicki tied it up. In the second, Ed Harrison put the Bruins up 2-1 but Max Bentley evened the score. In the third period, Jimmy Peters blocked a Gus Mortson point shot, passed to Milt Schmidt who fed Pat Egan for a one-timer that made it 3-2 Bruins. Syl Apps evened the score and at 8:38, Kenny Smith put the Bruins ahead. A point shot by Jimmy Thomson at 15:34 sent the game into overtime. Late in the first OT, Nick Metz potted the winner from the edge of the crease and the Leafs took a 1-0 series lead.

Game 2 in Toronto was decided by power plays and the Leafs Ted Kennedy. An early penalty to the Bruins Fern Flaman saw Kennedy score his first on a backhand from in front of the net on the PP. A slash by the Leafs Howie Meeker resulted in the Bruins Johnny Peirson scoring his first career playoff goal on the PP to tie it up. At 18:24, the Bruins Clare Martin took a tripping penalty and Kennedy scored his second on the PP. A minute into the second period, Meeker took another slashing penalty and Pete Babando tied it at 2-2 on the PP. Showing he didn't need a man advantage to score, Kennedy potted his third and then fourth goal of the game and the Leafs took a 4-2 lead into the third. Max Bentley put the Leafs up 5-2 before Milt Schmidt made it 5-3. The Leafs headed to Boston up 2-0 in the series.

Game 3 at the Boston Garden saw the Leafs dominate the Bruins throughout the game. By the end of the second period, the Bruins had only 5 shots on goal. Leafs goals by Meeker, Bill Barilko and Kennedy was responded to by Milt Schmidt on a rebound and the Leafs led 3-1. The third period got out of hand once Garth Boesch added another goal for the Leafs and a scrap broke out. A late goal by Nick Metz had the hometown crowd fuming and a fight occurred between Bruin fans and the Leafs Wally Stanowski. Stanowski's teammates came to his aid and the Leafs beat a hasty retreat to their dressing room with a 5-1 win and 3-0 stranglehold on the series.

Game 4 at Boston saw nearly 70 policemen posted to prevent a re-occurrence of Game 3's altercation with the fans. The game was cleanly played with the Bruins Ed Sandford scoring the only goal of the first period. Bill Ezinicki tied it up in the second before Johnny Peirson put the Bruins ahead again. At 13:24 of the third, Peirson scored again which would hold up as the winner when Apps scored with 4:52 left. The Leafs held a 3-1 series lead.

Game 5 in Toronto was a tight checking affair with the Bruins Jimmy Peters opening the scoring on the power play 5:20 into the game. Leafs third liners Vic Lynn and Murray Costello responded and the Leafs led 2-1 at the end of the first period. The Bruins Kenny Smith tied the game at 12:08 of the second. Both teams attempts to break the deadlock were stunted by Turk Broda and Frank Brimsek until Kennedy took a Meeker pass and picked the top corner over Brimsek's shoulder at 5:52 of the third. The Bruins couldn't counter and the Leafs took the series 4-1.

Regular Season

 * Scoring
 * Goaltending

Playoffs

 * 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

 * Hart Memorial Trophy: Frank Brimsek, Runner-up
 * Calder Memorial Trophy: Pete Babando, Runner-up
 * Frank Brimsek, Goaltender, NHL Second Team All-Star

Transactions

 * Trade Bep Guidolin to the Detroit Red Wings for Billy Taylor on October 15, 1947.
 * Trade Joe Carveth to the Montreal Canadiens for Jimmy Peters and Johnny Quilty on December 16, 1947.
 * Trade Billy Taylor and Pentti Lund to the New York Rangers for Grant Warwick on February 6, 1948.

Farm Teams

 * Hershey Bears, American Hockey League (AHL)

Trivia

 * Pete Babando wore jersey #24 for the season. This was the first time a Bruin wore #24 and was the highest number, up to that time, that a Bruin had ever worn.
 * Johnny Peirson wore jersey #23, the first time a Bruins wore that number.
 * No Bruins recorded a Hat trick this season.

Video
Over 14 minutes of clips (in reverse image) from the December 27, 1947 Bruins-Leafs game won 2-1 by Toronto. The first 2 minutes are in colour. Goals by Sid Smith, Vic Lynn and Pete Babando are shown.