1954–55 Boston Bruins season



The 1954–55 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 31st season in the NHL. The Bruins finished 4th in the league and lost in the Semi-finals to the Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 1.

Off-season
After managing the Bruins since their first season in 1924-25, Art Ross announced his retirement and was replaced by Lynn Patrick who began the season as both coach and GM.

GM Lynn Patrick made two significant acquisitions during the summer. He brought Fern Flaman back to the Bruins and traded for goalie John Henderson.

Woody Dumart started the season playing for the Bruins farm team, the Providence Reds, and then retired having played nearly 20 years for the club. A superb two-way player, he played until he was 38 years old and had modified his game in the 1950's from a playmaker to a checking forward. He was largely responsible for Boston's playoff upset in the 1953 Semi-finals over the Detroit Red Wings when he held Gordie Howe, who'd scored 49 goals in the regular season, to 2 goals in the series.

In addition, Bruins spark plug forward Johnny Peirson retired in the off-season.

The 8th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at Detroit on October 2, 1954. A team of all-stars that included four Bruins, Bill Quackenbush, Fleming Mackell, Doug Mohns and Ed Sandford played against the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. The game ended in a 2-2 tie with Mohns scoring the tying goal.

Regular Season
Having suffered injuries to both his knees over the years which caused him to miss a significant part of the 1947-48 season, Milt Schmidt played 20 games to start the 1954-55 season. After the November 28, 1954 game in which the Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3, he told coach/GM Lynn Patrick that he needed time off to rest his knees and was considering retiring. While recovering for several weeks, Schmidt helped coach the team. He returned to action on December 16, 1954, played three games, his last on December 19, 1954 versus the Chicago Black Hawks, after which he retired. Schmidt was named co-coach for the season and would take over the job full-time the next season. Ed Sandford became team captain.

The Bruins had a miserable start to the season, going 2-8-4 in their first 14 games. Lynn Patrick called up off-season acquisition John Henderson to replace Jim Henry in the net. This stabilized the situation somewhat and Henderson would have a 15-14-15 record, played most of the remaining games and led the Bruins into the playoffs. He'd only play one more game in his NHL career after 1954-55. Beginning in December, Henry would be used to spell Henderson out for a few games each month. Patrick also re-acquired Leo Boivin from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Combined with the off-season trade for Fern Flaman, the Bruins defense was set for the rest of the 1950's. Flaman would play 7 more years for the Bruins (having played 4 seasons for them previously), captain the team for six seasons and be voted to the Second All-Star Team in 1954-55 (and twice more). Boivin would play a dozen seasons for the Bruins and captain them for three. Bob Armstrong came into his prime, having played two years for the Bruins and would play seven more. These three defensemen would form the core of the Bruins defense for the next 7 years, with Doug Mohns changing from left wing to defense in 1957.

With the retirement of Schmidt, Peirson, Dumart and Ed Sandford playing his last year for the Bruins, the forwards changed significantly in 1954-55. Leo Labine led the team in scoring and would have several more productive years as would Fleming Mackell. Real Chevrefils and Cal Gardner provided depth scoring but by far the biggest addition was rookie Don McKenney. McKenney finished second in team scoring, would accumulate the most points of any Bruin over the next seven seasons and finish in the top 10 of league scoring three times. He'd also captain the Bruins for two seasons. With poor attendance at home and having played three home games in Indianapolis during the 1953–54 season, and six home games in St. Louis in the 1954–55 season, the Chicago Black Hawks played a home game against the Bruins in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 23, 1955 which ended in a 3-3 tie.

On March 13, 1955, the Bruins became involved in the most controversial event of the season. In their third last game, playing at home against the Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins' Hal Laycoe high-sticked Maurice Richard in the head during a Montreal power play, cutting him. When the play ended, Richard skated up to Laycoe, who had dropped his stick and gloves in anticipation of a fight, and struck him in the face and shoulders with his stick. The linesmen attempted to restrain Richard, who repeatedly broke away from them to continue his attack on Laycoe, eventually breaking a stick over his opponent's body before linesman Cliff Thompson corralled him. Richard broke loose again and punched Thompson twice in the face, knocking him unconscious. Richard then left the ice. Richard was given a match penalty and an automatic $100 fine, and Laycoe a five-minute major penalty plus a ten-minute misconduct for the high stick. Boston police attempted to arrest Richard in the dressing room after the game ended, but were turned back by Canadiens players who barred the door, preventing any arrest. Bruins management finally persuaded the officers to leave with a promise that the NHL would handle the issue. The Laycoe incident was Richard's second altercation with an official that season, after having slapped a linesman in the face in Toronto in December, for which he was fined $250.

NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended Richard for the remaining three games of the regular season and the 1955 playoffs. This sparked outrage amongst the Canadiens' fans which spilled over during Montreal's next home game versus the Detroit Red Wings, which Campbell attended. Campbell was attacked, a tear gas bomb went off, halting the game which was forfeited to Detroit. Fans took to the streets, starting the "Richard Riot", causing massive amounts of damage and nearly 100 arrests. Richard lost the scoring title to teammate Bernie Geoffrion, who was booed when he recorded a point to pass Richard, during Montreal's last game of the regular season.

Montreal Canadiens 4, Boston Bruins 1
For the fourth year in a row Montreal met Boston in the post season. The Canadiens would defeat the Bruins 4 games to 1. In the first three games of the series, Montreal goalies Jacques Plante and Charlie Hodge were continually swapped in and out of goal.

Game 1 at the Montreal Forum had NHL president Clarence Campbell in attendance and security was provided by nearly 300 policemen. Though John Henderson played most of the Bruins regular season games, Jim Henry started in net while Jacques Plante manned the pipes for the Habs. After a scoreless first period, Montreal scored two goals on the Power play in the second period, Bernie Geoffrion and then Jean Béliveau. In a surprising move, Canadiens coach Dick Irvin kept swapping Charlie Hodge and Plante in goal. Neither surrendered a goal and Montreal won 2-0.

Game 2 at the Montreal had John Henderson start in goal for the Bruins while Plante started again for the Canadiens. All goals were scored in the second period. Montreal's Floyd Curry marked first then Irvin again swapped out Plante for Hodge. Montreal made it 3-0 on goals by Calum MacKay and Beliveau before Real Chevrefils scored for Boston. The game ended 3-1 with Montreal taking a 2-0 series lead.

Game 3 at the Boston Garden saw the Bruins bounce back and roar ahead 3-0 on first period goals by Leo Labine, Fern Flaman and Chevrefils. Hal Laycoe added one late in the second period to make it 4-0 Boston. Irvin kept swapping Jacques Plante out for Charlie Hodge and each gave up two goals. Ken Mosdell scored early in the third and Jack LeClair added a Shorthanded goal with a little over a minute left to make it 4-2 Boston.

Game 4 at Boston saw Plante in net for the entire game and Jim Henry for the Bruins. After a scoreless first period, Tom Johnson and Don McKenney swapped goals in the second period, followed by Leo Labine and Floyd Curry. Ed Sandford put the Bruins up 3-2 at 8:52 of the third period until Bernie Geoffrion tied it and sent the game into overtime. A minute into OT, Butch Bouchard took a high-sticking penalty. However, Dickie Moore intercepted a Bruins pass and sent Don Marshall in on a breakaway. Marshall fired the puck into the bottom left corner past Henry for his first career playoff goal and a 4-3 Montreal win.

Game 5 at the Montreal saw Henderson replace Henry in the net for Boston as Henry suffered a broken jaw in Game 4. Fern Flaman (foot injury) and Warren Godfrey (hand injury) also missed the game resulting in the call-up of defenseman Don Cherry for his only NHL game. Cherry acquitted himself well but the Bruins were outmatched and Montreal never trailed in the game. Two goals by Jack LeClair and markers by Dickie Moore and Floyd Curry had the Habs up 4-0 before Lorne Ferguson scored on the power play late in the second period to make it 4-1. Beliveau added his third of the playoffs in the third period and Montreal won 5-1 and took the series 4 games to 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

 * Calder Memorial Trophy: Don McKenney, Runner-up
 * Fern Flaman, Defence, NHL Second Team All-Star

Transactions

 * Trade Dave Creighton to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Fern Flaman on July 20, 1954.
 * Sell George Sullivan to the Chicago Black Hawks on September 10, 1954.
 * Trade Ray Gariepy to Toronto for John Henderson on September 23, 1954.
 * Trade Frank Martin to Chicago for Murray Costello on October 4, 1954.
 * Trade Joe Klukay to Toronto for Leo Boivin on November 9, 1954.

Trivia

 * Skip Teal played his only NHL game on December 12, 1954 in a 2-2 tie with the Montreal Canadiens. He wore jersey #24.
 * Don Cherry played his only NHL game on March 31, 1955 in a 5-1 loss to Montreal in Game 5 of the Semi-finals. He wore jersey #24.
 * Gord Wilson played the only two games of his NHL career in Games 2 and 3 of the Semi-finals versus Montreal. He wore jersey #25.
 * Bruins who recorded a Hat trick this season include:
 * Leo Labine during the 6-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on November 28, 1954. Labine also had 6 points in the game.
 * Lorne Ferguson during the 5-2 win over the Chicago Black Hawks on January 27, 1955.