1952–53 Toronto Maple Leafs season

1952–53 Toronto Maple Leafs
Division	5th NHL
1952–53 record	27–30–13
Goals for	156
Goals against	167
Team information
General manager	Conn Smythe
Coach	Joe Primeau
Captain	Ted Kennedy
Arena	Maple Leaf Gardens
Team leaders
Goals	Sid Smith (20)
Assists	Ted Kennedy Bob Hassard (23)
Points	Sid Smith (39)
Penalty minutes	Fern Flaman (110)
Wins	Harry Lumley (27)
Goals against average	Harry Lumley (2.39)

The 1952–53 Toronto Maple Leafs season was Toronto's 36th season in the NHL. The Maple Leafs finished 5th in the league and missed the playoffs.

Regular Season

Bob Hassard scores on Jim Henry, November 1, 1952.

The Toronto Maple Leafs had the first English game broadcast on November 1, 1952 versus the Boston Bruins with Foster Hewitt calling the action. Conn Smythe, the Leaf's managing director, sold the Leaf's television rights for a paltry $100 a game.

On January 1, 1953, Boston's Dave Creighton scored two goals versus Toronto but then broke his leg in a tussle with Fern Flaman. Creighton missed 25 games and George Sullivan was recalled from the minors. During the same game, in a fight with Milt Schmidt, Leafs captain Ted Kennedy fell and suffered a broken collarbone and torn shoulder ligaments. Kennedy would miss the remainder of the season and the Leafs would miss out on a playoff berth by 2 points.

Real Chevrefils scores on Harry Lumley, February 21, 1953.

The Maple Leafs had a mediocre performance in the last half of February followed by a five game losing streak to start March. Boston and the Chicago Black Hawks both played well down the stretch and a Bruins 2-1 victory over the Black Hawks on March 8, 1953 was critical for Boston. Despite Toronto winning their last four games of the season, including beating the Bruins on closing night, the Maple Leafs missed the last playoff spot by 2 points. Much of this was attributed to the absence of Ted Kennedy since the New Years Day game against Boston when he was injured.

Final Standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Detroit Red Wings	70	36	16	18	90	222	133
Montreal Canadiens	70	28	23	19	75	155	148
Boston Bruins	70	28	29	13	69	152	172
Chicago Black Hawks	70	27	28	15	69	169	175
Toronto Maple Leafs	70	27	30	13	67	156	167
New York Rangers	70	17	37	16	50	152	211

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 Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 11, 1952	2–6	Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	0–1–0
2	T	October 12, 1952	4–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	0–1–1
3	L	October 16, 1952	1–2	@ Boston Bruins (1952–53)	0–2–1
4	W	October 18, 1952	4–3	New York Rangers (1952–53)	1–2–1
5	W	October 19, 1952	3–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	2–2–1
6	W	October 22, 1952	5–4	Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	3–2–1
7	L	October 25, 1952	0–4	Boston Bruins (1952–53)	3–3–1
8	W	October 29, 1952	7–5	Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	4–3–1
9	W	November 1, 1952	3–2	Boston Bruins (1952–53)	5–3–1
10	W	November 2, 1952	4–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	6–3–1
11	W	November 5, 1952	4–1	New York Rangers (1952–53)	7–3–1
12	L	November 6, 1952	1–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	7–4–1
13	T	November 8, 1952	3–3	Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	7–4–2
14	L	November 11, 1952	0–4	@ Boston Bruins (1952–53)	7–5–2
15	W	November 13, 1952	3–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	8–5–2
16	L	November 15, 1952	1–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	8–6–2
17	W	November 16, 1952	6–3	@ New York Rangers (1952–53)	9–6–2
18	L	November 19, 1952	1–2	Boston Bruins (1952–53)	9–7–2
19	T	November 22, 1952	2–2	Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	9–7–3
20	L	November 23, 1952	5–6	@ Boston Bruins (1952–53)	9–8–3
21	L	November 26, 1952	2–4	@ New York Rangers (1952–53)	9–9–3
22	T	November 27, 1952	3–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	9–9–4
23	L	November 29, 1952	1–3	Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	9–10–4
24	L	November 30, 1952	1–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	9–11–4
25	W	December 4, 1952	2–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	10–11–4
26	T	December 6, 1952	2–2	New York Rangers (1952–53)	10–11–5
27	W	December 7, 1952	2–0	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	11–11–5
28	L	December 10, 1952	1–2	Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	11–12–5
29	L	December 13, 1952	1–3	Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	11–13–5
30	T	December 14, 1952	2–2	@ New York Rangers (1952–53)	11–13–6
31	T	December 18, 1952	1–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	11–13–7
32	W	December 20, 1952	4–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	12–13–7
33	L	December 21, 1952	2–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	12–14–7
34	W	December 24, 1952	2–0	Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	13–14–7
35	W	December 27, 1952	3–0	Boston Bruins (1952–53)	14–14–7
36	T	December 31, 1952	3–3	@ New York Rangers (1952–53)	14–14–8
37	L	January 1, 1953	1–5	@ Boston Bruins (1952–53)	14–15–8
38	T	January 3, 1953	1–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	14–15–9
39	W	January 10, 1953	3–1	Boston Bruins (1952–53)	15–15–9
40	L	January 11, 1953	2–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	15–16–9
41	W	January 14, 1953	3–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	16–16–9
42	W	January 17, 1953	1–0	New York Rangers (1952–53)	17–16–9
43	L	January 18, 1953	1–2	@ Boston Bruins (1952–53)	17–17–9
44	L	January 21, 1953	0–1	Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	17–18–9
45	L	January 22, 1953	1–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	17–19–9
46	W	January 24, 1953	2–0	Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	18–19–9
47	W	January 25, 1953	4–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	19–19–9
48	T	January 29, 1953	2–2	@ Boston Bruins (1952–53)	19–19–10
49	W	January 31, 1953	4–0	New York Rangers (1952–53)	20–19–10
50	L	February 1, 1953	1–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	20–20–10
51	L	February 5, 1953	0–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	20–21–10
52	L	February 7, 1953	2–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	20–22–10
53	L	February 8, 1953	2–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	20–23–10
54	T	February 14, 1953	2–2	Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	20–23–11
55	W	February 15, 1953	2–1	@ New York Rangers (1952–53)	21–23–11
56	W	February 18, 1953	2–0	Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	22–23–11
57	T	February 21, 1953	2–2	Boston Bruins (1952–53)	22–23–12
58	L	February 25, 1953	1–2	Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	22–24–12
59	L	February 26, 1953	1–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	22–25–12
60	W	February 28, 1953	3–0	New York Rangers (1952–53)	23–25–12
61	L	March 1, 1953	2–4	@ New York Rangers (1952–53)	23–26–12
62	L	March 5, 1953	1–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	23–27–12
63	L	March 7, 1953	0–3	Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	23–28–12
64	L	March 8, 1953	1–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1952–53)	23–29–12
65	L	March 14, 1953	1–3	Boston Bruins (1952–53)	23–30–12
66	T	March 15, 1953	1–1	@ New York Rangers (1952–53)	23–30–13
67	W	March 18, 1953	4–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1952–53)	24–30–13
68	W	March 19, 1953	4–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1952–53)	25–30–13
69	W	March 21, 1953	5–0	New York Rangers (1952–53)	26–30–13
70	W	March 22, 1953	3–1	@ Boston Bruins (1952–53)	27–30–13

Note: The November 1st game was the first ever English broadcast on television in Canada.

Playoffs

The Maple Leafs did not qualify for the post season.

Player Stats

Regular Season

Scoring

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Sid Smith	70	20	19	39	6
Ted Kennedy	43	14	23	37	42
Gord Hannigan	65	17	18	35	51
Ron Stewart	70	13	22	35	29
Bob Hassard	70	8	23	31	14
Tod Sloan	70	15	10	25	76
George Armstrong	52	14	11	25	54
Harry Watson	63	16	8	24	8
Max Bentley	36	12	11	23	16
Jimmy Thomson	69	0	22	22	73
Eric Nesterenko	35	10	6	16	27
Tim Horton	70	2	14	16	85
Leo Boivin	70	2	13	15	97
Rudy Migay	40	5	4	9	22
Jim Morrison	56	1	8	9	36
Fern Flaman	66	2	6	8	110
Phil Maloney	29	2	6	8	2
Howie Meeker	25	1	7	8	26
Danny Lewicki	4	1	3	4	2
Bob Solinger	18	1	1	2	2
Parker MacDonald	1	0	0	0	0
Willie Marshall	2	0	0	0	0
Wally Maxwell	2	0	0	0	0
Dave Reid	2	0	0	0	0
Frank Sullivan	5	0	0	0	2
Hugh Bolton	9	0	0	0	10
Ray Timgren	12	0	0	0	4
Harry Lumley	70	0	0	0	18

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
Harry Lumley	4200	70	27	30	13	167	2.39				10
Team:	4200	70	27	30	13	167	2.39				10

Farm Teams

Junior

• Kirkland Lake
• Ottawa St Patricks
• Saskatoon Wesleys
• St. Michaels College Majors
• Toronto Marlboros
• Winnipeg Monarchs

Awards and Records

• Calder Memorial Trophy: Gord Hannigan, Runner-up

Gallery

Opening Game

Clocks keep track of playing time at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Video

Highlights of the December 21, 1952 game between the Bruins and the Habs. This was the third game of a tryout for Jean Beliveau (who wears #12) and he scores twice in Montreal's 4-3 win. A first period fight between Jack McIntyre and Bernie Geoffrion (in response to McIntyre breaking Billy Reay's cheek), a dust-up between Milt Schmidt and Maurice Richard as well as goals by Dave Creighton and Beliveau are shown. The end has highlights of the December 7, 1952 Toronto Maple Leafs versus Chicago Blackhawks game including a goal by George Armstrong.

NHL 52-53 First Beliveau's game for Habs

See Also

• 1952–53 NHL season

References

• 1952–53 Toronto Maple Leafs Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-06.