1967–68 Minnesota North Stars season



The 1967–68 Minnesota North Stars season was the team's inaugural season in the National Hockey League (NHL). They finished 4th in the West Division with a record of 27 wins, 32 losses, and 15 ties for 69 points. In the playoffs, they defeated the Los Angeles Kings in seven games in the Quarter-finals before losing to the St. Louis Blues in the Semi-finals, also in seven games.

Off-season
On March 11, 1965, NHL President Clarence Campbell announced that the league would expand to twelve teams from six through the creation of a new six-team division for the 1967–68 season. In response to Campbell's announcement, a partnership of nine men, led by Walter Bush and John Driscoll, was formed to seek a franchise for the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Their efforts were successful as the NHL awarded one of six expansion franchises to Minnesota on February 9, 1966. In addition to Minnesota, the five other franchises were California (Oakland), Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. The "North Stars" name was announced on May 25, 1966, following a public contest. The name is derived from the state's motto "L'Étoile du Nord", which is a French phrase meaning "The Star of the North". Months after the naming of the team, ground was broken on October 3, 1966, for a new hockey arena in Bloomington, Minnesota. The home of the North Stars, the Metropolitan Sports Center (or Met Center for short), was built in 12 months at a cost of $7 million. The arena was ready for play for the start of the 1967–68 NHL season, but portions of the arena's construction had not been completed. Spectator seats were in the process of being installed as fans arrived at the arena for the opening home game on October 21, 1967.

Pre-season
During the pre-season, the North Stars jersey emblem had a serif in the upper left corner of the "N" pointing downwards. Once the regular season began, the emblem's serif was changed to point horizontally.

The North Stars held their training camp in Haliburton, Ontario and played 14 exhibition games, finishing with a 6-7-1 record.

September 16, 1967: Memphis South Stars (CPHL) 3, Minnesota 1 @ Haliburton, Ontario September 17, 1967: Minnesota 3, Oakland Seals 1 @ Port Huron, Michigan September 18, 1967: Minnesota 7, Los Angeles Kings 3 @ Hamilton, Ontario September 19, 1967: Los Angeles 6, Minnesota 2 @ Guelph, Ontario September 20, 1967: Minnesota 10, Memphis South Stars 4 @ Kingston, Ontario September 23, 1967: Minnesota 4, Oakland 3 @ Kingston, Ontario September 24, 1967: Minnesota 3, Los Angeles 0 @ Oshawa, Ontario September 26, 1967: Minnesota 3, Oakland 3 @ Oshawa, Ontario September 29, 1967: Pittsburgh Penguins 7, Minnesota 2 @ Brantford, Ontario September 30, 1967: Minnesota 6, Pittsburgh 1 @ Oshawa, Ontario October 1, 1967: Oakland 3, Minnesota 2 @ Port Huron, Michigan October 3, 1967: Philadelphia Flyers 4, Minnesota 3 @ Kingston, Ontario October 4, 1967: Pittsburgh 2, Minnesota 0 @ Belleville, Ontario October 5, 1967: Pittsburgh 5, Minnesota 2 @ Kingston, Ontario

Regular Season
The inaugural North Stars jersey colors were green, white and yellow with a primarily green home jersey and a primarily white away jersey. The jerseys had three stripes on the arms and body, no names on the back and the jersey numbers were outlined. The white jersey had a shoulder yoke and green sleeves below the stripes. The logo was an outlined, stylized "N" with a gold star above. The logo had a slight variation in the pre-season.

Bill Masterton scored the first goal in franchise history during the 2-2 tie against the St. Louis Blues on October 11, 1967.

Workers were still installing seats in the Met Center on October 21, 1967, the day of the home opener as the North Stars faced the California Seals. Minnesota defeated California (soon to renamed Oakland) 3-1 with Bill Goldsworthy scoring the first goal in the Met Center's history and Ray Cullen netting the winner.

On December 13, 1967, the North Stars and Cesare Maniago achieved the first shutout in team history, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 4-0. Maniago and the North Stars went on a shutout streak, beating the Kings 3-0 on December 15 and the Oakland Seals 1-0 on December 16. Maniago had his 4th shutout on January 3, 1968 as the Stars blanked the Kings for the third time, by 6-0. Maniago finished the season with 6 shutouts, tied for second best in the league and the most in a season in his career.

On January 13, 1968, four minutes into a game against the Seals at the Met Center, North Stars center Bill Masterton was checked by Oakland's Larry Cahan and Ron Harris and fell backwards onto the ice head-first. The force of the back of his head hitting the ice damaged the pons and caused severe hemorrhaging, as blood gushed from his mouth and nose. Masterton was taken to hospital where he died two days later, becoming the only player ever to die as a result of an on-ice injury.

Minnesota North Stars 4, Los Angeles Kings 3
In the first round of the Western Division playoffs, the North Stars defeated the Los Angeles Kings in seven games.

St. Louis Blues 4, Minnesota North Stars 3
The West Division Final between the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota was one of the closest seven game series in NHL history. Games 2 (won by Minnesota on Parker MacDonald's goal), 4 (won by St. Louis' Gary Sabourin's goal) and 5 (won by St. Louis' Bill McCreary, Sr.'s goal) all went to overtime. Game 7 went to double overtime and was won by the Blues Ron Schock's breakaway goal.

Forwards
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Defencemen
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Goaltending
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Awards and Records

 * The North Stars did not win any awards this season.

Trivia

 * North Stars who recorded a hat trick this season include:
 * Wayne Connelly during the 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on January 10, 1968.
 * Wayne Connelly during the 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on March 2, 1968.