1930-31 NHL season

The 1930-31 NHL season was the fourteenth season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks three games to two in the best-of-five 1931 Stanley Cup Finals for their second consecutive Cup win.

Art Ross bitterly complained about the Stanley Cup final setup. His team had been vanquished in two consecutive games by the Montreal Canadiens in 1929-30. As a result, the Board of Governors decided to make the final a best of five series.

Off-season

Seven members of the Montreal AAA 1930 Allan Cup champions joined the 1930-31 Maroons.

GM James Strachan took the Montreal Maroons through the most significant overhaul in the franchise's history, replacing half the team.

Red Dutton, a reliable defenseman with four seasons service with the Maroons, was sold to the New York Americans along with three other players. Dutton was replaced with Lionel Conacher.

With the retirement of goalie Clint Benedict, the Maroons signed Dave Kerr while Flat Walsh became the starter. Kerr was one of multiple players signed from the Montreal AAA team that won the 1930 Allan Cup. These included Des Roche and his brother Earl Roche, John Gallagher, Paul Haynes, Al Huggins and Glenn Brydson.

Regular Season

Roy Worters stops Babe Siebert, November 16, 1930.

Opening night for the Montreal Maroons on November 11, 1930 saw five of the seven signed from the Montreal AAA team in the line-up in addition to Jack McVicar. Goalie Dave Kerr and Glenn Brydson didn't play as the Maroons lost 2-0 to the Ottawa Senators. The losing and scoreless streak continued for the next two games but the final straw was a 7-1 humiliation at the hands of the cross-town Montreal Canadiens on November 20, 1930. Down 6-1 after two periods, goalie Dave Kerr made his NHL debut and allowed one goal.

The Great Depression was starting to take its toll on the NHL. In attempts to solve financial problems, the Pittsburgh Pirates moved to Philadelphia and became the Philadelphia Quakers, but there was nothing about the team to win games or fans. It was intended that the team stay in Philadelphia only until a new arena was built in Pittsburgh. The arena was never built, and the team folded after only one season in the new city.

The Ottawa Senators were in a similar financial boat but instead of relocating, they sold their star asset and future Hall of Famer, King Clancy, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for $35,000 and two players. It hurt the team, and attendance declined all the more. However, after a very poor turnout to watch the Philadelphia Quakers, over 10,000 fans came to see the Montreal Canadiens beat Ottawa. Obviously the fans in Ottawa were being selective of who they came to see. This season also saw the Detroit Cougars re-name themselves the Detroit Falcons.

Henry "Buddy" Maracle with the Springfield Indians.

Henry "Buddy" Maracle became the first Canadian aboriginal player in the NHL when he was recalled from the Springfield Indians and suited up for the New York Rangers for the February 12, 1931 game versus the Detroit Falcons. On February 22, 1931, Maracle recorded his first points, a goal and an assist, as the Rangers defeated the Philadelphia Quakers 6-1. Maracle played the rest of the regular season, finishing with 1 goal and 3 assists, and had no points in 4 post season matches.

Howie Morenz led the league in scoring and kept the turnstiles clicking at NHL rinks, despite the Depression.

Dick Irvin started his career in coaching with Chicago and they finished second in the American Division. He resigned at season's end after having taken the Black Hawks to the finals.

Final Standings

Canadian Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Montreal Canadiens	44	26	10	8	129	89	60
Toronto Maple Leafs	44	22	13	9	118	99	53
Montreal Maroons	44	20	18	6	105	106	46
New York Americans	44	18	16	10	76	74	46
Ottawa Senators	44	10	30	4	91	142	24

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.

American Division

Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Boston Bruins	44	28	10	6	143	90	62
Chicago Black Hawks	44	24	17	3	108	78	51
New York Rangers	44	19	16	9	106	87	47
Detroit Falcons	44	16	21	7	102	105	39
Philadelphia Quakers	44	4	36	4	76	184	12

Scoring Leaders

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Howie Morenz	Montreal Canadiens	39	28	23	51	49
Ebbie Goodfellow	Detroit Red Wings	44	25	23	48	32
Charlie Conacher	Toronto Maple Leafs	37	31	12	43	78
Bill Cook	New York Rangers	43	30	12	42	39
Ace Bailey	Toronto Maple Leafs	40	23	19	42	46
Joe Primeau	Toronto Maple Leafs	38	9	32	41	18
Nels Stewart	Montreal Maroons	42	25	14	39	75
Frank Boucher	New York Rangers	44	12	27	39	20
Cooney Weiland	Boston Bruins	44	25	13	38	14
Bun Cook	New York Rangers	44	18	17	35	72
Aurel Joliat	Montreal Canadiens	43	13	22	35	73

Leading Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Player	Team	GP	W	L	T	Mins	GA	SO	GAA
Roy Worters	New York Americans	44	18	16	10	2760	74	8	1.61
Charlie Gardiner	Chicago Black Hawks	44	24	17	3	2710	78	12	1.73
John Ross Roach	New York Rangers	44	19	16	9	2760	87	7	1.89
George Hainsworth	Montreal Canadiens	44	26	10	8	2740	89	8	1.95
Tiny Thompson	Boston Bruins	44	28	10	6	2730	90	3	1.98
Lorne Chabot	Toronto Maple Leafs	37	21	8	8	2300	80	6	2.09

Stanley Cup Playoffs

In the Finals, the Chicago Black Hawks took an early two games to one lead in the newly expanded best-of-five Stanley Cup finals but the Montreal Canadiens came back and won the series three games to two for their second consecutive Stanley Cup win.

Playoff Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

C1

Montreal Canadiens

3

A1

Boston Bruins

2

C1

Montreal Canadiens

3

A2

Chicago Black Hawks

2

C2

Toronto Maple Leafs

3G

A2

Chicago Black Hawks

4G

A2

Chicago Black Hawks

3G

A3

New York Rangers

0G

C3

Montreal Maroons

1G

A3

New York Rangers

8G

New York Rangers 8 Goals, Montreal Maroons 1 Goal

Hampered by the loss of star forward Hooley Smith at the end of the regular season, the Montreal Maroons were thoroughly outplayed by the New York Rangers. Rangers Bill Cook and Paul Thompson each scored three goals in the two game, total goals series.

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	March 20	Montreal Maroons	1-5	New York Rangers	1-5
2	March 22	New York Rangers	3-0	Montreal Maroons	8-1

Montreal Canadiens 3, Boston Bruins 2

The league's two best teams met in the second round of the playoffs, both teams having received byes in the first round. The series was extremely close with three of the five games being decided in overtime.

Game 1 in Boston saw the Bruins behind 4-1 entering the third period. A three goal comeback sent the game into overtime where Cooney Weiland scored his second goal of the game to win it for the Bruins.

Game 2 in Boston was a close checking affair with the only goal scored by Georges Mantha in the first period. Early in the third period, Habs goalie George Hainsworth was cut on the forehead with a skate, stopping the game for 8 minutes while he was tended to in the locker room. With 4 minutes left in the game, George Owen was given a major penalty for an infraction against Howie Morenz. This resulted in a shower of debris being thrown on the ice, stopping the game for 15 minutes while it was cleaned up. With a minute to go, for the first time in NHL history, coach Art Ross pulled goalie Tiny Thompson in a failed attempt to tie the game.

Game 3 saw the series shift to Montreal for the remainder of the games played. Down 3-1 entering the third period, the Bruins again mounted a third period comeback to tie it up on goals by Cooney Weiland and Marty Barry. However, Georges Mantha scored the winner in overtime.

Game 4 saw the Bruins build a three goal lead entering the third period including Weiland's fourth goal of the series. A goal by the Canadiens' Nick Wasnie wasn't enough as the Bruins tied the series.

Game 5 followed the pattern of game 1 and 3 in which the Bruins fell behind entering the third period. Two goals from series scoring leader Weiland tied the game up but Wildor Larochelle scored at 19:00 of the first OT and the Habs took the series 3-2. Cooney Weiland led all playoff scorers with 9 points.

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	March 24	Montreal Canadiens	4-5 (OT)	Boston Bruins	0-1
2	March 26	Montreal Canadiens	1-0	Boston Bruins	1-1
3	March 28	Boston Bruins	3-4 (OT)	Montreal Canadiens	1-2
4	March 30	Boston Bruins	3-1	Montreal Canadiens	2-2
5	April 1	Boston Bruins	2-3 (OT)	Montreal Canadiens	2-3

Finals

Montreal Canadiens vs. Chicago Black Hawks

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 3	Montreal Canadiens	2	Chicago Black Hawks	1
April 5	Montreal Canadiens	1	Chicago Black Hawks	2	2OT
April 9	Chicago Black Hawks	3	Montreal Canadiens	2	3OT
April 11	Chicago Black Hawks	1	Montreal Canadiens	2
April 14	Chicago Black Hawks	1	Montreal Canadiens	2

Montreal wins best-of-five series 3-2.

NHL Awards

1930-31 NHL Awards
O'Brien Trophy:	Montreal Canadiens
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Boston Bruins
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens
Lady Byng Trophy:	Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy:	Roy Worters, New York Americans

All-Star Teams

First All-Star Team

First Team	Position	Second Team
Charlie Gardiner, Chicago Black Hawks	G	Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins
Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins	D	Sylvio Mantha, Montreal Canadiens
King Clancy, Toronto Maple Leafs	D	Ching Johnson, New York Rangers
Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens	C	Frank Boucher, New York Rangers
Bill Cook, New York Rangers	RW	Dit Clapper, Boston Bruins
Aurel Joliat, Montreal Canadiens	LW	Bun Cook, New York Rangers
Lester Patrick, New York Rangers	Coach	Dick Irvin, Chicago Black Hawks

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1930-31 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Art Chapman, Boston Bruins
• Doc Romnes, Chicago Black Hawks
• John Sorrell, Detroit Falcons
• Johnny Gagnon, Montreal Canadiens
• Paul Haynes, Montreal Maroons
• Dave Kerr, Montreal Maroons
• Alex Levinsky, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Bob Gracie, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last Games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1930-31 (listed with their last team):

• Frank Fredrickson, Detroit Falcons
• Bert McCaffrey, Montreal Canadiens
• Joe Simpson, New York Americans
• Babe Dye, Toronto Maple Leafs

Gallery

Face-off between Rangers Eddie Rodden and Quakers Herbert Drury on November 23, 1930.

Bruins forming a "B", 1930.

Bruins #5 Dit Clapper, #7 Cooney Weiland battle Leafs #4 Hap Day and goalie Lorne Chabot on March 10, 1931.

See Also

• List of Stanley Cup champions

References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com