1948–49 Boston Bruins season

1948–49 Boston Bruins
Division	2nd NHL
1948–49 record	29–23–8
Goals for	178 (2nd)
Goals against	163 (4th)
Team information
Coach	Dit Clapper
Captain	Jack Crawford
Average attendance	412,943
Team leaders
Goals	Johnny Peirson and Grant Warwick (22)
Assists	Paul Ronty (29)
Points	Paul Ronty (49)
Penalty minutes	Pat Egan (92)
Wins	Frank Brimsek (26)
Goals against average	Frank Brimsek (2.72)

The 1948–49 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 25th season in the NHL. The Bruins finished 2nd in the league and lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs four games to one in the Stanley Cup semi-finals.

Regular Season

Captain Milt Schmidt wears the first "Spoked B" Bruins jersey.

Max Quackenbush sports the new black jersey in 1948.

To celebrate their 25th year in the NHL, the Bruins retired the "number" jerseys they'd worn since 1936 for a white jersey with the "spoked B" logo for the first time. On the horizontal spokes to the left and right of the "B" was "24" and "49", marking the year the Bruins entered the NHL and the 25th anniversary year. Also introduced was a black jersey with a gold block "B". The Bruins had worn jerseys with a brown and then black "B" from 1932-36. Although Milt Schmidt wore the "C" and Jack Crawford an "A", Crawford was designated the team captain with Murray Henderson wearing the other "A."

The November 10, 1948 game versus the Detroit Red Wings was postponed to the following night due to fog in the Boston Garden caused by a heat wave.

Les Colvin played his only NHL game for the Bruins in 1949.

With Milt Schmidt missing 16 games, still ailing from a knee injury sustained the previous season, several Bruins playing in their first full season for the team ably stepped up. Paul Ronty put up 49 points to lead the team and finish 5th in league scoring. Johnny Peirson and Grant Warwick netted 22 goals, both top 10 in the league while Ronty and Kenny Smith scored 20 and Pete Babando 19. By the end of November, the Bruins had a 10-2-3 record.

Tragedy struck Bruins star goalie Frank Brimsek in January 1949 when his young son became gravely ill. Les Colvin played his only NHL game filling in for Brimsek during a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on January 22, 1949. Gord Henry was recalled from the Hershey Bears for his first NHL game, a 3-0 win over Montreal on January 23. The Bruins then signed Jack Gelineau to man the nets after Brimsek's son dies. Gelineau was attending law school at McGill University in Montreal and continued his studies. Gelineau played 4 games, went 2-2 and would become the Bruins starting goalie in 1949-50 and win the Calder Memorial Trophy. Brimsek returned for the February 6, 1949 game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Bruins called up Dave Creighton and Zellio Toppazzini for the February 12, 1949 games versus the New York Rangers. Both would score in their NHL debuts. Creighton would become a full-time player for the Bruins in 1949-50 and have a ten year NHL career. Zellio never became an NHL regular but his younger brother Jerry Toppazzini would have a very successful career and play a dozen seasons, mostly with the Bruins.

Final Standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Detroit Red Wings	60	34	19	7	75	195	145
Boston Bruins	60	29	23	8	66	178	163
Montreal Canadiens	60	28	23	9	65	152	126
Toronto Maple Leafs	60	22	25	13	57	147	161
Chicago Black Hawks	60	21	31	8	50	173	211
New York Rangers	60	18	31	11	47	133	172

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

Game Log

Regular season schedule

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 16, 1948	4–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	1–0–0
2	W	October 20, 1948	8–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	2–0–0
3	W	October 24, 1948	4–1	New York Rangers (1948–49)	3–0–0
4	W	October 28, 1948	5–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	4–0–0
5	T	October 30, 1948	3–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	4–0–1
6	L	October 31, 1948	0–2	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	4–1–1
7	L	November 7, 1948	3–7	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	4–2–1
8	W	November 11, 1948	4–1	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	5–2–1
9	W	November 14, 1948	3–2	Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	6–2–1
10	W	November 17, 1948	2–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	7–2–1
11	T	November 20, 1948	2–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	7–2–2
12	L	November 21, 1948	1–4	New York Rangers (1948–49)	7–3–2
13	W	November 24, 1948	5–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	8–3–2
14	W	November 27, 1948	2–0	@ Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	9–3–2
15	W	November 28, 1948	6–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	10–3–2
16	W	December 1, 1948	5–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	11–3–2
17	L	December 4, 1948	2–3	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	11–4–2
18	W	December 5, 1948	2–1	Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	12–4–2
19	T	December 7, 1948	2–2	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	12–4–3
20	L	December 8, 1948	3–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	12–5–3
21	L	December 11, 1948	2–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	12–6–3
22	L	December 12, 1948	3–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	12–7–3
23	L	December 15, 1948	2–4	Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	12–8–3
24	L	December 19, 1948	2–7	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	12–9–3
25	W	December 22, 1948	5–2	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	13–9–3
26	L	December 23, 1948	2–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	13–10–3
27	W	December 25, 1948	2–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	14–10–3
28	L	December 29, 1948	2–10	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	14–11–3
29	T	December 31, 1948	2–2	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	14–11–4
30	W	January 1, 1949	4–1	New York Rangers (1948–49)	15–11–4
31	L	January 5, 1949	0–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	15–12–4
32	W	January 6, 1949	3–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	16–12–4
33	L	January 9, 1949	2–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	16–13–4
34	L	January 12, 1949	3–5	Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	16–14–4
35	W	January 16, 1949	3–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	17–14–4
36	W	January 19, 1949	5–2	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	18–14–4
37	L	January 22, 1949	2–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	18–15–4
38	W	January 23, 1949	3–0	Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	19–15–4
39	L	January 26, 1949	1–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	19–16–4
40	L	January 30, 1949	0–4	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	19–17–4
41	W	February 2, 1949	5–3	New York Rangers (1948–49)	20–17–4
42	W	February 5, 1949	3–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	21–17–4
43	L	February 6, 1949	2–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	21–18–4
44	W	February 9, 1949	5–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	22–18–4
45	W	February 12, 1949	4–2	New York Rangers (1948–49)	23–18–4
46	T	February 13, 1949	4–4	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	23–18–5
47	L	February 16, 1949	1–5	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	23–19–5
48	L	February 19, 1949	2–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	23–20–5
49	T	February 21, 1949	2–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	23–20–6
50	W	February 23, 1949	3–2	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	24–20–6
51	T	February 27, 1949	2–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	24–20–7
52	T	March 2, 1949	1–1	Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	24–20–8
53	L	March 5, 1949	0–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	24–21–8
54	L	March 6, 1949	0–1	Montreal Canadiens (1948–49)	24–22–8
55	W	March 9, 1949	8–1	New York Rangers (1948–49)	25–22–8
56	W	March 12, 1949	2–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	26–22–8
57	W	March 13, 1949	6–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1948–49)	27–22–8
58	W	March 15, 1949	4–2	@ New York Rangers (1948–49)	28–22–8
59	L	March 16, 1949	3–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1948–49)	28–23–8
60	W	March 20, 1949	7–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1948–49)	29–23–8

Player Stats

Regular Season

Scoring

#	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
20	Ronty, PaulPaul Ronty	C	60	20	29	49	11
23	Peirson, JohnnyJohnny Peirson	RW	59	22	21	43	45
18	Smith, KenKen Smith	LW	59	20	20	40	6
12	Warwick, GrantGrant Warwick	RW	58	22	15	37	14
7	Sandford, EdEd Sandford	LW	56	16	20	36	57
24	Babando, PetePete Babando	LW	58	19	14	33	34
15	Schmidt, MiltMilt Schmidt	C/D	44	10	22	32	25
9	Peters, JimmyJimmy Peters	RW	60	16	15	31	8
4	Egan, PatPat Egan	D	60	6	18	24	92
14	Dumart, WoodyWoody Dumart	LW	59	11	12	23	6
10	Flaman, FernFern Flaman	D	60	4	12	16	62
6	Crawford, JackJack Crawford	D	55	2	13	15	14
8	Henderson, MurrayMurray Henderson	D	60	2	9	11	28
16	Harrison, EdEd Harrison	C/LW	59	5	5	10	20
17	Creighton, DaveDave Creighton	C	12	1	3	4	0
22	Kryzanowski, EdEd Kryzanowski	D	36	1	3	4	10
19	Toppazzini, ZellioZellio Toppazzini	RW	5	1	1	2	0
21	Thompson, CliffCliff Thompson	D	10	0	1	1	0
1	Colvin, LesLes Colvin	G	1	0	0	0	0
1	Henry, GordGord Henry	G	1	0	0	0	0
1	Gelineau, JackJack Gelineau	G	4	0	0	0	0
1	Brimsek, FrankFrank Brimsek	G	54	0	0	0	2

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Brimsek, FrankFrank Brimsek	3240	54	26	20	8	147	2.72	1
Gelineau, JackJack Gelineau	240	4	2	2	0	12	3.00	0
Henry, GordGord Henry	60	1	1	0	0	0	0.00	1
Colvin, LesLes Colvin	60	1	0	1	0	4	4.00	0
Team:	3600	60	29	23	8	163	2.72	2

Playoffs

Scoring

#	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
23	Peirson, JohnnyJohnny Peirson	RW	5	3	1	4	4
7	Sandford, EdEd Sandford	LW	5	1	3	4	2
14	Dumart, WoodyWoody Dumart	LW	5	3	0	3	0
20	Ronty, PaulPaul Ronty	C	5	1	2	3	2
12	Warwick, GrantGrant Warwick	RW	5	2	0	2	0
15	Schmidt, MiltMilt Schmidt	C/D	4	0	2	2	8
18	Smith, KennyKenny Smith	LW	5	0	2	2	4
9	Peters, JimmyJimmy Peters	RW	4	0	1	1	0
10	Flaman, FernFern Flaman	D	5	0	1	1	8
8	Henderson, MurrayMurray Henderson	D	5	0	1	1	2
22	Kryzanowski, EdEd Kryzanowski	D	5	0	1	1	2
19	Toppazzini, ZellioZellio Toppazzini	RW	2	0	0	0	0
6	Crawford, JackJack Crawford	D	3	0	0	0	0
17	Creighton, DaveDave Creighton	C	3	0	0	0	0
16	Harrison, EdEd Harrison	C/LW	4	0	0	0	0
24	Babando, PetePete Babando	LW	4	0	0	0	2
4	Egan, PatPat Egan	D	5	0	0	0	16
1	Brimsek, FrankFrank Brimsek	G	5	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Brimsek, FrankFrank Brimsek	316	5	1	4	16	3.04	0
Team:	316	5	1	4	16	3.04	0

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

The Bruins did not receive any awards this season.

Transactions

• Trade Jack McGill to the Montreal Canadiens for Gerry Brown and Harold Jackson on June 30, 1948.

Trivia

• No Bruins recorded a Hat trick this season.

Gallery

Ed Sandford sporting the Bruins new "Spoked B" jersey.

Cliff Thompson sporting the Bruins new "Spoked B" jersey.

Johnny Peirson, Paul Ronty and Kenny Smith sport the new "Spoked B" jersey, 1948.

Brimsek stops Leafs #17 Cal Gardner in 1949 Semi-final action.

Jack Crawford clears the puck away from Leafs #4 Harry Watson while goalie Frank Brimsek, #9 Jimmy Peters and Cliff Thompson watch during the 1949 Semi-finals.

Brimsek makes a save while #10 Flaman and #16 Harrison assist. Game 5 of the 1949 Semi-Finals, March 30, 1949.

Ray Timgren scores in Game 5 of the 1949 Semi-finals.

See Also

• 1948–49 NHL season

References

• 1948–49 Boston Bruins Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-06.