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52-53TorML
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.

Off-season[]

Regular Season[]

1952-Nov1-Boston-Tor

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.

1953-Feb21-Chevrefils goal

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 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

[1]

Farm Teams[]

Junior[]

Awards and Records[]

Transactions[]

Gallery[]

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.

See Also[]

References[]

  1. 1952-53 Toronto Maple Leafs Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com. hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-27.
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