1929–30 Montreal Maroons season

1929–30 Montreal Maroons
Division	1st Canadian
1929–30 record	23–16–5
Goals for	141
Goals against	114
Team information
General manager	James Strachan
Coach	Dunc Munro
Captain	Nels Stewart
Arena	Montreal Forum
Team leaders
Goals	Nels Stewart (39)
Assists	Babe Siebert (19)
Points	Nels Stewart (55)
Penalty minutes	Red Dutton (98)
Wins	Flat Walsh (16)
Goals against average	Flat Walsh (2.34)

The 1929–30 Montreal Maroons season was the 6th season of the Maroons franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Maroons finished 1st in the Canadian Division and lost in the Semi-finals to the Boston Bruins 3 games to 1.

Off-season

Dave Trottier sports the 1929 Maroons uniform.

Having recovered from a heart attack suffered the previous season, Dunc Munro became the Maroons player-coach. His stabilizing presence on defense benefited the team greatly.

The line-up underwent very few changes from the previous season with the most notable change being the increased playing time for Baldy Northcott with the trade of third-line wing Joe Lamb late in the previous season.

The Maroons uniforms underwent a change with multiple, thin "barber-pole" stripes added to the jersey arms and body as well as the socks. These uniforms would be used for the next two seasons.

Regular Season

New rules, which allowed forward passing in the offensive zone and then introduction of the blueline off-side rule, greatly benefited the Maroons offense. Two members of the "S Line" had a career-high seasons with Nels Stewart scoring 39 goals and 21 for Hooley Smith. Babe Siebert chipped in 14 goals while sophomore Dave Trottier had a breakout season with 17 goals.

Bruins and Maroons line up for the anthems in Boston Garden, November 1929.

The November 23, 1929 game against the Boston Bruins was particularly violent. Superstar defenseman Eddie Shore battled the Maroons all night, particularly Babe Siebert who suffered a broken toe, bruised rib and black eye. Dave Trottier spat blood after a Shore butt-end. Shore played 58 minutes of the game, despite high sticks from Seibert that resulted in a deep cut over his eye, three teeth knocked out and a concussion. The Bruins won 4-3 with Shore marking two assists. Shore went to hospital after the game and missed the return match against the Maroons on the 26th. Bruins' president Charles Adams presented Shore with a check for $500, purportedly $100 for each facial scar he received at the hands of the Maroons.

Clint Benedict became the first NHL to wear a mask, February 20, 1930.

This was the last NHL season for goalie Clint Benedict. During the January 7, 1930 game against the Montreal Canadiens, a Howie Morenz shot broke Benedict's nose and cheekbone, knocking him unconscious. Forced from the line-up, Flat Walsh took over as the starting goalie.

Goalie Abbie Cox played his first NHL game during the Maroons 7-2 win over the New York Americans on February 1, 1930.

Benedict returned to the line-up on February 20, 1930, wearing a leather face mask. He held the Americans to a 3-3 tie, becoming the first goalie in NHL history to wear facial protection in a game. Benedict played five more games with the mask but again suffered a nose injury, during the 6-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on March 4, 1930. Flat Walsh came on in relief and it was Benedict's last NHL game.

The increased scoring combined with a superlative season by goalie Flat Walsh, who finished second in the league in goals against average, propelled the Maroons to their first division championship and a bye into the Stanley Cup Semi-finals.

Final Standings

Canadian Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Montreal Maroons	44	23	16	5	141	114	51
Montreal Canadiens	44	21	14	9	142	114	51
Ottawa Senators	44	21	15	8	138	118	50
Toronto Maple Leafs	44	17	21	6	116	124	40
New York Americans	44	14	25	5	113	161	33

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Game Log

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	November 14, 1929	1–2	New York Rangers (1929–30)	0–1–0
2	W	November 16, 1929	5–2	@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1929–30)	1–1–0
3	W	November 19, 1929	5–1	Montreal Canadiens (1929–30)	2–1–0
4	L	November 21, 1929	1–2	@ New York Rangers (1929–30)	2–2–0
5	L	November 23, 1929	3–4	Boston Bruins (1929–30)	2–3–0
6	W	November 26, 1929	6–1	@ Boston Bruins (1929–30)	3–3–0
7	L	November 28, 1929	6–7	Detroit Cougars (1929–30)	3–4–0
8	W	November 30, 1929	3–2	@ Ottawa Senators (1929–30)	4–4–0
9	W	December 3, 1929	2–1	Pittsburgh Pirates (1929–30)	5–4–0
10	W	December 5, 1929	5–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1929–30)	6–4–0
11	T	December 7, 1929	3–3 OT	Ottawa Senators (1929–30)	6–4–1
12	L	December 12, 1929	3–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1929–30)	6–5–1
13	W	December 17, 1929	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1929–30)	7–5–1
14	W	December 19, 1929	5–3	@ New York Americans (1929–30)	8–5–1
15	W	December 21, 1929	5–3	New York Americans (1929–30)	9–5–1
16	L	December 26, 1929	3–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1929–30)	9–6–1
17	W	December 29, 1929	6–2	@ Detroit Cougars (1929–30)	10–6–1
18	L	January 1, 1930	3–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1929–30)	10–7–1
19	L	January 4, 1930	2–4	Boston Bruins (1929–30)	10–8–1
20	W	January 7, 1930	2–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1929–30)	11–8–1
21	W	January 9, 1930	5–4	@ New York Rangers (1929–30)	12–8–1
22	T	January 14, 1930	1–1 OT	Toronto Maple Leafs (1929–30)	12–8–2
23	W	January 16, 1930	3–2 OT	@ New York Americans (1929–30)	13–8–2
24	W	January 18, 1930	2–1	Ottawa Senators (1929–30)	14–8–2
25	T	January 23, 1930	2–2 OT	Detroit Cougars (1929–30)	14–8–3
26	L	January 25, 1930	0–4	@ Ottawa Senators (1929–30)	14–9–3
27	L	January 28, 1930	2–3	Montreal Canadiens (1929–30)	14–10–3
28	W	January 30, 1930	3–0	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1929–30)	15–10–3
29	W	February 1, 1930	7–2	New York Americans (1929–30)	16–10–3
30	L	February 6, 1930	2–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1929–30)	16–11–3
31	T	February 8, 1930	2–2 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1929–30)	16–11–4
32	W	February 11, 1930	5–2	New York Rangers (1929–30)	17–11–4
33	W	February 13, 1930	6–3	@ Detroit Cougars (1929–30)	18–11–4
34	W	February 15, 1930	3–1	Pittsburgh Pirates (1929–30)	19–11–4
35	L	February 18, 1930	2–3	@ Boston Bruins (1929–30)	19–12–4
36	T	February 20, 1930	3–3 OT	@ New York Americans (1929–30)	19–12–5
37	W	February 22, 1930	5–4	@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1929–30)	20–12–5
38	L	February 25, 1930	0–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1929–30)	20–13–5
39	W	March 1, 1930	5–1	New York Americans (1929–30)	21–13–5
40	L	March 4, 1930	2–6	@ Ottawa Senators (1929–30)	21–14–5
41	W	March 6, 1930	4–0	Montreal Canadiens (1929–30)	22–14–5
42	W	March 8, 1930	3–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1929–30)	23–14–5
43	L	March 11, 1930	2–4	Ottawa Senators (1929–30)	23–15–5
44	L	March 15, 1930	0–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1929–30)	23–16–5

Playoffs

As the American Division champions, the Boston Bruins enjoyed a first round bye in the playoffs, and faced the Maroons, the Canadian Division champions, in the Semi-finals in a best-of-five series.

Boston Bruins 3, Montreal Maroons 1

The first game of the series was a grueling overtime match in which Bruins' coach Art Ross was noted for ceaseless criticism of the officiating and the ice condition, to the annoyance of the home crowd in Montreal, won on a Harry Oliver overtime goal at the 45 minute mark. The Bruins won the second match handily on two goals from Dit Clapper, partially due to an injury forcing Montreal star Babe Siebert out only a few minutes into the game, but with Siebert's return in the third game the match was much closer. Unusually, Montreal starter Buck Boucher broke a leg 24 minutes into overtime, and his replacement, little-used defenseman Archie Wilcox, scored the game winner at the 26 minute mark. Siebert did not dress for the final game, and the Bruins overwhelmed the Maroons to reach the Cup finals, behind two goals from Marty Barry, earning the Bruins a rest while they waited for their next opponent.

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	March 20	Boston Bruins	2–1 (3OT)	Montreal Maroons	1–0
2	March 22	Boston Bruins	4–2	Montreal Maroons	2–0
3	March 25	Montreal Maroons	1–0 (2OT)	Boston Bruins	1-2
4	March 27	Montreal Maroons	1-5	Boston Bruins	1-3

Player Stats

Regular Season

Scoring

#	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
5	Stewart, NelsNels Stewart	C	44	39	16	55	81
6	Siebert, BabeBabe Siebert	LW/D	39	14	19	33	94
7	Smith, HooleyHooley Smith	C/RW	42	21	9	30	83
8	Trottier, DaveDave Trottier	LW	41	17	10	27	73
12	Phillips, MerlynMerlyn Phillips	C	44	13	10	23	48
4	Ward, JimmyJimmy Ward	RW	44	10	7	17	54
3	Dutton, RedRed Dutton	D	43	3	13	16	98
14	Northcott, BaldyBaldy Northcott	D/LW	43	10	1	11	6
2	Munro, DuncDunc Munro	D	40	7	2	9	10
11	Wilcox, ArchieArchie Wilcox	RW/D	42	3	5	8	38
9	Boucher, GeorgesGeorges Boucher	D	37	2	6	8	50
10	Robinson, EarlEarl Robinson	RW/C	31	1	2	3	10
16	Phillips, BillBill Phillips	C	27	1	1	2	6
17	Dinsmore, ChuckChuck Dinsmore	C	9	0	0	0	0
17	Cox, AbbieAbbie Cox	G	1	0	0	0	0
1	Benedict, ClintClint Benedict	G	14	0	0	0	0
15	Walsh, FlatFlat Walsh	G	30	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Walsh, FlatFlat Walsh	1897	30	16	10	4	74	2.34	2
Benedict, ClintClint Benedict	752	14	6	6	1	38	3.03	0
Cox, AbbieAbbie Cox	60	1	1	0	0	2	2.00	0
Team:	2709	44	23	16	5	114	2.52	2

Playoffs

Scoring

#	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2	Munro, DuncDunc Munro	D	4	2	0	2	4
7	Smith, HooleyHooley Smith	C/RW	4	1	1	2	14
5	Stewart, NelsNels Stewart	C	4	1	1	2	2
8	Trottier, DaveDave Trottier	LW	4	0	2	2	8
11	Wilcox, ArchieArchie Wilcox	RW/D	4	1	0	1	2
4	Ward, JimmyJimmy Ward	RW	4	0	1	1	12
6	Siebert, BabeBabe Siebert	LW/D	3	0	0	0	0
9	Boucher, GeorgesGeorges Boucher	D	3	0	0	0	2
17	Dinsmore, ChuckChuck Dinsmore	C	4	0	0	0	0
3	Dutton, RedRed Dutton	D	4	0	0	0	2
14	Northcott, BaldyBaldy Northcott	D/LW	4	0	0	0	4
16	Phillips, BillBill Phillips	C	4	0	0	0	2
12	Phillips, MerlynMerlyn Phillips	C	4	0	0	0	2
10	Robinson, EarlEarl Robinson	RW/C	4	0	0	0	0
15	Walsh, FlatFlat Walsh	G	4	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Walsh, FlatFlat Walsh	312	4	1	3	11	2.12	1
Team:	312	4	1	3	11	2.12	1

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/minus; 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

• O'Brien Trophy: Montreal Maroons
• Hart Memorial Trophy: Nels Stewart

Trivia

• Maroons who had a hat trick this season include:
  • Nels Stewart during the 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on November 30, 1929.
  • Nels Stewart during the 5-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens on December 5, 1929.
  • Nels Stewart during the 6-3 win over the Detroit Cougars on February 13, 1930.

Farm Teams

• Windsor Bulldogs, IHL

Gallery

Home opener

Hawks Johnny Gottselig rounds the net past Maroons Flat Walsh on December 12, 1929.

See Also

• 1929–30 NHL season