1937–38 New York Americans season

1937–38 New York Americans
Division	2nd Canadian
1937–38 record	19–18–11
Goals for	110
Goals against	111
Team information
General manager	Red Dutton
Coach	Red Dutton
Captain	Sweeney Schriner
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Sweeney Schriner (21)
Assists	Art Chapman (27)
Points	Sweeney Schriner (38)
Penalty minutes	Joe Jerwa (53)
Wins	Earl Robertson (19)
Goals against average	Roy Worters (2.22)

The 1937–38 New York Americans season was the Americans' 13th season of play. The Americans had the second best season in their history, finishing in 2nd in the Canadian Division. They won in the Quarter-finals over the New York Rangers 2 games to 1 but lost in the Semi-finals to the Chicago Black Hawks 2 games to 1.

Off-season

GM Red Dutton overhauled the Americans during the off-season as he made eight transactions. He acquired defensemen Ching Johnson and Hap Day but most significantly, he traded for goalie Earl Robertson from the Detroit Red Wings on May 9, 1937. Robertson became the Americans starting goalie for the next four seasons and was a Second Team All-Star in the 1938-39 season.

Pre-season

The Americans and the New York Rangers played a seven game series in western Canada:

• Saturday, October 23 Rangers 2 Americans 2 @ Calgary
• Tuesday, October 26 Rangers 6 Americans 5 @ Edmonton
• Wednesday, October 27 Americans 6 Rangers 2 @ Calgary
• Thursday, October 28 Rangers 3 Americans 1 @ Edmonton
• Saturday, October 30 Americans 1 Rangers 0 @ Saskatoon (afternoon)
• Saturday, October 30 Americans 1 Rangers 1 @ Saskatoon (evening)
• Monday, November 1 Americans 4 Rangers 3 @ Winnipeg

The Americans won 3 wins to 2 with 2 ties.

Regular Season

The Americans smothering defense, December 26, 1937.

Boxing Day had the Boston Bruins facing the Americans at MSG. The Bruins had a wide shot margin but after going down 1-0, the Amerks constantly surrounded their net. With two seconds left in the second period, John Gallagher scored on a breakaway, New York's only chance of the middle frame. After Charlie Sands cut the lead to 2-1, Sweeney Schriner potted an empty-netter with a second left for a 3-1 Americans win, ending Boston's five game winning streak.

On March 17, 1938, Nels Stewart became the first player in NHL history to score 300 career goals.

Nels Stewart scores his 299th goal, March 12, 1938.

After leading the NHL in assists during the 1934-35 and 1935-36 seasons, Art Chapman returned to form and finished second in the league with 27 assists. Sweeney Schriner's 21 goals was tied for fourth in the league.

Ching Johnson played the last season of his Hall of Fame career. His defensive prowess, along with Hap Day's, was largely responsible for the Americans lowest goals against in the eleven years they played a 48 game season.

Goalie Earl Robertson was the only netminder in the league to play every minute for his team. Robertson was third in both goals against average and shutouts.

Final Standings

Canadian Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	24	15	9	151	127	57
New York Americans	48	19	18	11	110	111	49
Montreal Canadiens	48	18	17	13	123	128	49
Montreal Maroons	48	12	30	6	101	149	30

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	W	November 4, 1937	3–0	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1937–38)	1–0–0
2	L	November 6, 1937	3–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1937–38)	1–1–0
3	W	November 14, 1937	2–0	Montreal Maroons (1937–38)	2–1–0
4	L	November 16, 1937	0–1	@ New York Rangers (1937–38)	2–2–0
5	L	November 18, 1937	1–2	Boston Bruins (1937–38)	2–3–0
6	W	November 23, 1937	3–1	Detroit Red Wings (1937–38)	3–3–0
7	W	November 27, 1937	4–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1937–38)	4–3–0
8	T	November 28, 1937	3–3 OT	@ Boston Bruins (1937–38)	4–3–1
9	W	December 4, 1937	3–1	@ Montreal Maroons (1937–38)	5–3–1
10	W	December 5, 1937	2–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1937–38)	6–3–1
11	L	December 11, 1937	3–4 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1937–38)	6–4–1
12	T	December 12, 1937	4–4 OT	Montreal Canadiens (1937–38)	6–4–2
13	L	December 16, 1937	0–2	New York Rangers (1937–38)	6–5–2
14	L	December 18, 1937	2–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1937–38)	6–6–2
15	W	December 19, 1937	1–0	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1937–38)	7–6–2
16	L	December 25, 1937	0–1	Boston Bruins (1937–38)	7–7–2
17	W	December 26, 1937	3–1	@ Boston Bruins (1937–38)	8–7–2
18	L	December 28, 1937	0–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1937–38)	8–8–2
19	W	January 1, 1938	3–1	@ Montreal Maroons (1937–38)	9–8–2
20	W	January 2, 1938	2–1	Montreal Maroons (1937–38)	10–8–2
21	T	January 4, 1938	5–5 OT	@ New York Rangers (1937–38)	10–8–3
22	T	January 6, 1938	1–1 OT	Detroit Red Wings (1937–38)	10–8–4
23	T	January 11, 1938	1–1 OT	Chicago Black Hawks (1937–38)	10–8–5
24	L	January 16, 1938	0–4	New York Rangers (1937–38)	10–9–5
25	T	January 20, 1938	1–1 OT	Toronto Maple Leafs (1937–38)	10–9–6
26	L	January 22, 1938	0–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1937–38)	10–10–6
27	L	January 23, 1938	2–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1937–38)	10–11–6
28	L	January 30, 1938	2–4	Montreal Canadiens (1937–38)	10–12–6
29	L	February 3, 1938	1–6	Detroit Red Wings (1937–38)	10–13–6
30	T	February 5, 1938	3–3 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1937–38)	10–13–7
31	W	February 8, 1938	3–1	Montreal Maroons (1937–38)	11–13–7
32	T	February 13, 1938	2–2 OT	@ Detroit Red Wings (1937–38)	11–13–8
33	W	February 15, 1938	4–0	Montreal Canadiens (1937–38)	12–13–8
34	T	February 17, 1938	3–3 OT	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1937–38)	12–13–9
35	W	February 19, 1938	4–0	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1937–38)	13–13–9
36	L	February 20, 1938	2–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1937–38)	13–14–9
37	W	February 26, 1938	5–1	@ Montreal Maroons (1937–38)	14–14–9
38	L	February 27, 1938	2–4	Montreal Maroons (1937–38)	14–15–9
39	W	March 1, 1938	4–2	Montreal Canadiens (1937–38)	15–15–9
40	T	March 3, 1938	1–1 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1937–38)	15–15–10
41	W	March 6, 1938	3–1	New York Rangers (1937–38)	16–15–10
42	L	March 8, 1938	0–7	@ Boston Bruins (1937–38)	16–16–10
43	T	March 10, 1938	2–2 OT	Boston Bruins (1937–38)	16–16–11
44	W	March 12, 1938	3–1	@ Montreal Maroons (1937–38)	17–16–11
45	W	March 15, 1938	2–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1937–38)	18–16–11
46	L	March 17, 1938	3–5	@ New York Rangers (1937–38)	18–17–11
47	L	March 19, 1938	5–8	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1937–38)	18–18–11
48	W	March 20, 1938	4–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1937–38)	19–18–11

Playoffs

New York Americans 2, New York Rangers 1

The Americans won Game 1 in double overtime and Game 3 in quadruple overtime with Lorne Carr scoring the series winning goal.

Player Stats

Regular Season

Scoring

#	Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
11	Sweeney Schriner	48	21	17	38	22
6	Nels Stewart	48	19	17	36	29
10	Eddie Wiseman	48	18	14	32	32
7	Art Chapman	45	2	27	29	8
8	Tommy Anderson	45	4	21	25	22
9	Lorne Carr	48	16	7	23	12
17	Hooley Smith	47	10	10	20	23
2	Joe Jerwa	48	3	14	17	53
14, 16	John Sorrell	17	8	2	10	9
5	John Gallagher	46	3	6	9	18
12, 16	Red Beattie	19	3	4	7	5
15	Hap Emms	20	1	3	4	6
14	Jack Shill	22	1	3	4	10
4	Hap Day	43	0	3	3	14
12	Joe Lamb	25	1	0	1	20
16, 18	Lloyd Klein	3	0	1	1	0
3	Al Murray	47	0	1	1	34
18	Ching Johnson	31	0	0	0	10
1	Earl Robertson	48	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
Earl Robertson	3000	48	19	18	11	111	2.22				6
Team:	3000	48	19	18	11	111	2.22				6

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Nels Stewart	6	2	3	5	2
Tommy Anderson	6	1	4	5	2
John Sorrell	6	4	0	4	2
Lorne Carr	6	3	1	4	2
Red Beattie	6	2	2	4	2
Eddie Wiseman	6	0	4	4	10
Hooley Smith	6	0	3	3	0
John Gallagher	6	0	2	2	6
Sweeney Schriner	6	1	0	1	0
Art Chapman	6	0	1	1	0
Hap Day	6	0	0	0	0
Joe Jerwa	6	0	0	0	8
Ching Johnson	6	0	0	0	2
Al Murray	6	0	0	0	6
Earl Robertson	6	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
Earl Robertson	475	6	3	3		12	1.52				0
Team:	475	6	3	3		12	1.52				0

Awards and Records

• The Americans did not win any awards this season.

Transactions

• Trade John Doran and cash to the New York Rangers for Earl Robertson on May 9, 1937.
• Purchase Hap Day from the Toronto Maple Leafs on September 23, 1937.
• Purchase Charlie Mason from the Rangers on October 7, 1937.
• Purchase John Gallagher from the Detroit Red Wings on October 7, 1937.
• Trade Wally Stanowski to Toronto for Jack Shill on October 17, 1937.
• Sell Ossie Asmundson to the Montreal Canadiens on October 28, 1937.
• Purchase Hooley Smith from the Boston Bruins on November 5, 1937.
• Purchase Glenn Brydson from the Chicago Black Hawks on January 9, 1938.
• Trade Joe Lamb (with right of recall) to Detroit for Jack Beattie on January 24, 1938.
• Sell Jack Shill to Chicago on January 26, 1938.

Trivia

• Americans who recorded a hat trick this season include:
  • Nels Stewart during the 3-3 tie with the Boston Bruins on November 28, 1937.

Gallery

Nels Stewart had a hat trick, November 28, 1937.

Goalie Earl Robertson defends against #15 Joffre Desilets, Canadiens vs NY Americans, December 11, 1937.

Earl Robertson clears the puck while Ching Johnson guards the net against the Canadiens, December 12, 1937.

Rangers Dave Kerr stops John Gallagher. #9 Lynn Patrick, #3 Ott Heller, #11 Sweeney Schriner, #2 Art Coulter on December 16, 1937.

Rangers-Americans action around Dave Kerr, January 4, 1938.

A scrum from the deciding game of the 1938 Semi-finals won by the Black Hawks over the Americans 3-2, April 3, 1938. #6 is Nels Stewart.

Video

Action from Game 1 of the 1938 Quarter-finals Rangers-Americans game on March 22, 1938. Two different views of a goal by Jack Beattie which tied the game in the second period are shown. The Americans won 2-1 in double overtime on a goal by John Sorrell.

The New York Americans win an ice hockey match against the New York Rangers by 2-...HD Stock Footage

See Also

• 1937–38 NHL season

External Links

• 1937–38 New York Americans Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-07.