1955–56 Montreal Canadiens season

	1955–56 Montreal Canadiens
Division	1st NHL
1955–56 record	45–15–10
Goals for	222
Goals against	131
Team information
General manager	Frank J. Selke
Coach	Toe Blake
Captain	Emile Bouchard
Arena	Montreal Forum
Team leaders
Goals	Jean Beliveau (47)
Assists	Jean Beliveau (41)
Points	Jean Beliveau (88)
Penalty minutes	Jean Beliveau (143)
Wins	Jacques Plante (42)
Goals against average	Jacques Plante (1.86)
	← 1954–55 1956–57 →

The 1955–56 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 47th season of play. The Canadiens finished 1st in the league and defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the 1956 Stanley Cup Finals 4 games to 1 for the eighth Stanley Cup in its history.

Off-season[]

Regular Season[]

14Jan1956-Pronovost Schmidt — Bruins coach Milt Schmidt congratulates Claude Pronovost after shutting out his own team, January 14, 1956.

The Boston Bruins were without Terry Sawchuk for the January 14, 1956 in Montreal and planned to start John Henderson in the nets. However, Henderson had equipment problems leaving Boston without a goalie. Canadiens practice goalie Claude Pronovost (brother of Wings Marcel Pronovost) was loaned to the Bruins and he proceeded to shut his own team out, 2-0. Pronovost made 31 saves and also took a delay of game penalty.

Final Standings[]

National Hockey League
	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Montreal Canadiens	70	45	15	10	100	222	131
Detroit Red Wings	70	30	24	16	76	183	148
New York Rangers	70	32	28	10	74	204	203
Toronto Maple Leafs	70	24	33	13	61	153	181
Boston Bruins	70	23	34	13	59	147	185
Chicago Black Hawks	70	19	39	12	50	155	216

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

Game Log[]

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 6, 1955	2–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	1–0–0
2	W	October 8, 1955	2–0	Boston Bruins (1955–56)	2–0–0
3	W	October 9, 1955	5–2	@ Boston Bruins (1955–56)	3–0–0
4	W	October 15, 1955	4–1	New York Rangers (1955–56)	4–0–0
5	T	October 16, 1955	2–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	4–0–1
6	L	October 20, 1955	2–3	Boston Bruins (1955–56)	4–1–1
7	W	October 22, 1955	6–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	5–1–1
8	L	October 26, 1955	1–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	5–2–1
9	L	October 27, 1955	1–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	5–3–1
10	W	October 29, 1955	2–1	Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	6–3–1
11	T	October 30, 1955	2–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	6–3–2
12	T	November 3, 1955	3–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	6–3–3
13	W	November 5, 1955	4–2	Boston Bruins (1955–56)	7–3–3
14	T	November 6, 1955	3–3	@ Boston Bruins (1955–56)	7–3–4
15	T	November 9, 1955	1–1	@ New York Rangers (1955–56)	7–3–5
16	W	November 12, 1955	3–0	Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	8–3–5
17	W	November 13, 1955	2–0	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	9–3–5
18	W	November 16, 1955	3–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	10–3–5
19	W	November 19, 1955	6–1	New York Rangers (1955–56)	11–3–5
20	T	November 20, 1955	1–1	@ New York Rangers (1955–56)	11–3–6
21	L	November 24, 1955	2–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	11–4–6
22	W	November 26, 1955	3–1	Boston Bruins (1955–56)	12–4–6
23	T	November 27, 1955	3–3	@ New York Rangers (1955–56)	12–4–7
24	W	December 1, 1955	2–1	@ Boston Bruins (1955–56)	13–4–7
25	W	December 3, 1955	3–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	14–4–7
26	W	December 4, 1955	5–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	15–4–7
27	W	December 8, 1955	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	16–4–7
28	W	December 10, 1955	4–2	Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	17–4–7
29	W	December 11, 1955	4–2	@ Boston Bruins (1955–56)	18–4–7
30	W	December 15, 1955	2–0	New York Rangers (1955–56)	19–4–7
31	W	December 17, 1955	5–0	Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	20–4–7
32	L	December 18, 1955	0–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	20–5–7
33	W	December 20, 1955	7–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	21–5–7
34	W	December 24, 1955	4–2	Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	22–5–7
35	L	December 25, 1955	1–5	@ New York Rangers (1955–56)	22–6–7
36	L	December 28, 1955	0–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	22–7–7
37	W	December 29, 1955	5–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	23–7–7
38	W	December 31, 1955	7–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	24–7–7
39	L	January 5, 1956	2–5	Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	24–8–7
40	W	January 7, 1956	3–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	25–8–7
41	L	January 11, 1956	1–6	@ New York Rangers (1955–56)	25–9–7
42	L	January 14, 1956	0–2	Boston Bruins (1955–56)	25–10–7
43	L	January 15, 1956	0–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	25–11–7
44	W	January 18, 1956	3–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	26–11–7
45	W	January 19, 1956	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	27–11–7
46	W	January 21, 1956	3–1	New York Rangers (1955–56)	28–11–7
47	W	January 22, 1956	6–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	29–11–7
48	L	January 26, 1956	1–5	@ Boston Bruins (1955–56)	29–12–7
49	W	January 28, 1956	6–1	Boston Bruins (1955–56)	30–12–7
50	T	January 29, 1956	1–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	30–12–8
51	W	February 2, 1956	2–0	@ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	31–12–8
52	W	February 4, 1956	2–1	Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	32–12–8
53	T	February 5, 1956	3–3	@ New York Rangers (1955–56)	32–12–9
54	T	February 8, 1956	1–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	32–12–10
55	W	February 10, 1956	3–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	33–12–10
56	W	February 12, 1956	7–1	@ Boston Bruins (1955–56)	34–12–10
57	W	February 16, 1956	8–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	35–12–10
58	W	February 18, 1956	9–4	New York Rangers (1955–56)	36–12–10
59	W	February 23, 1956	5–2	New York Rangers (1955–56)	37–12–10
60	W	February 25, 1956	5–1	Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	38–12–10
61	L	February 29, 1956	1–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	38–13–10
62	W	March 2, 1956	3–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	39–13–10
63	W	March 3, 1956	3–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	40–13–10
64	W	March 4, 1956	6–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1955–56)	41–13–10
65	W	March 8, 1956	4–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1955–56)	42–13–10
66	L	March 10, 1956	0–4	Boston Bruins (1955–56)	42–14–10
67	L	March 11, 1956	1–3	@ Boston Bruins (1955–56)	42–15–10
68	W	March 15, 1956	5–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1955–56)	43–15–10
69	W	March 17, 1956	7–2	New York Rangers (1955–56)	44–15–10
70	W	March 18, 1956	3–1	@ New York Rangers (1955–56)	45–15–10

^[1]

Playoffs[]

Montreal Canadiens 4, New York Rangers 1[]

Montreal Canadiens 4, Detroit Red Wings 1[]

For more details on this topic, see 1956 Stanley Cup Final.

This was the first Finals for Henri Richard and Toe Blake's first as coach.

Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
March 31	Detroit	4	Montreal	6
April 3	Detroit	1	Montreal	5
April 5	Montreal	1	Detroit	3
April 8	Montreal	3	Detroit	0
April 10	Detroit	1	Montreal	3

Montreal wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 1

Player Stats[]

Regular Season[]

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Beliveau, JeanJean Beliveau	C	70	47	41	88	143
Richard, MauriceMaurice Richard	RW	70	38	33	71	89
Olmstead, BertBert Olmstead	LW	70	14	56	70	94
Geoffrion, BernieBernie Geoffrion	RW	59	29	33	62	66
Moore, DickieDickie Moore	LW	70	11	39	50	55
Harvey, DougDoug Harvey	D	62	5	39	44	60
Richard, HenriHenri Richard	C	64	19	21	40	46
Curry, FloydFloyd Curry	RW	70	14	18	32	10
Mosdell, KenKen Mosdell	C	67	13	17	30	48
Provost, ClaudeClaude Provost	RW	60	13	16	29	30
Leclair, JackieJackie Leclair	C	54	6	8	14	30
Talbot, Jean-GuyJean-Guy Talbot	D	66	1	13	14	80
St. Laurent, DollardDollard St. Laurent	D	46	4	9	13	58
Johnson, TomTom Johnson	D	64	3	10	13	75
Marshall, DonDon Marshall	LW	66	4	1	5	10
Turner, BobBob Turner	D	33	1	4	5	35
Gamble, DickDick Gamble	LW	12	0	3	3	8
Deslauriers, JacquesJacques Deslauriers	D	2	0	0	0	0
Broden, ConnieConnie Broden	C	3	0	0	0	2
Clune, WallyWally Clune	D	5	0	0	0	6
Bouchard, ButchButch Bouchard	D	36	0	0	0	22
Perreault, BobBob Perreault	G	6	0	0	0	0
Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	G	64	0	0	0	10

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	3840	64	42	12	10	119	1.86	7
Perreault, BobBob Perreault	360	6	3	3	0	12	2.00	1
Team:	4200	70	45	15	10	131	1.87	8

Playoffs[]

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Beliveau, JeanJean Beliveau	C	10	12	7	19	22
Geoffrion, BernieBernie Geoffrion	RW	10	5	9	14	6
Richard, MauriceMaurice Richard	RW	10	5	9	14	24
Olmstead, BertBert Olmstead	LW	10	4	10	14	8
Moore, DickieDickie Moore	LW	10	3	6	9	12
Richard, HenriHenri Richard	C	10	4	4	8	21
Harvey, DougDoug Harvey	D	10	2	5	7	10
Provost, ClaudeClaude Provost	RW	10	3	3	6	12
Curry, FloydFloyd Curry	RW	10	1	5	6	12
Leclair, JackieJackie Leclair	C	8	1	1	2	4
Mosdell, KenKen Mosdell	C	9	1	1	2	2
Johnson, TomTom Johnson	D	10	0	2	2	8
Talbot, Jean-GuyJean-Guy Talbot	D	9	0	2	2	4
Marshall, DonDon Marshall	LW	10	1	0	1	0
Turner, BobBob Turner	D	10	0	1	1	10
Bouchard, ButchButch Bouchard	D	1	0	0	0	0
St. Laurent, DollardDollard St. Laurent	D	4	0	0	0	2
Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	G	10	0	0	0	2

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	600	10	8	2	18	1.80	2
Team:	600	10	8	2	18	1.80	2

^[2]

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; 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[]

Prince of Wales Trophy: Montreal Canadiens
Art Ross Memorial Trophy: Jean Beliveau
Hart Memorial Trophy: Jean Beliveau
James Norris Memorial Trophy: Doug Harvey
Vezina Trophy: Jacques Plante
Jean Beliveau, Centre, NHL First Team All-Star
Maurice Richard, Right Wing, NHL First Team All-Star
Doug Harvey, Defenceman, NHL First Team All-Star
Jacques Plante, Goaltender, NHL First Team All-Star
Bert Olmstead, Left Wing, NHL Second Team All-Star
Tom Johnson, Defenceman, NHL Second Team All-Star

Transactions[]

Montreal Canadiens 1956 Stanley Cup Champions[]

Roster

Centers

Wingers

Defensemen

Goaltenders

1 Jacques Plante
1 Charlie Hodge (spare, did not play)

Non-players

Donat Raymond (President/Owner), Frank Selke Sr. (Manager)
Dalton Coleman, William Northey (Vice Presidents/Owners)
Ken Reardon (Ass't Manager), Hector Toe Blake (Coach)
Hector Dubois (Trainer), Gaston Bettez (Ass't Trainer)
Camile DesRoches^, Frank Selke Jr.^ (Publicity Directors)
^- on the team picture, but missing from the Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup Engraving

Emile "Butch" Bouchard was engraved on the Stanley Cup in 1944, 1946, 1953 as EMILE BOUCHARD. He was then engraved on the Stanley Cup as BUTCH BOUCHARD in 1956.
Mistake Bob Turner is listed as Trainer on Stanley Cup but he was a defenseman. Hector Dubois and Gaston Bettez were the trainers, but no position was listed.
Mistake Claude Provost name was misspelt C. PREVOST with an "E" instead an "O". Turner and Provost mistakes were not corrected on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.
Mistake Gaston Bettez was spelt wrong G BETTEX when cup was redone in 1957–58 with an "X" instead of "Z", and mistake was repeated on the Replica Cup. His name was spelt correctly on the original ring as G. BETTEZ.

Gallery[]

Video[]

Over nine minutes of highlights beginning with a minute of the Rangers-Canadiens Semi-finals then goals of all five games of the 1956 Stanley Cup Finals.

1956 Stanley cup win 9 min

References[]

↑ 1955–56 Montreal Canadiens Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.
↑ 1955-56 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com. hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1955–56 Montreal Canadiens season. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).

[1] 1955–56 Montreal Canadiens Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-04.

[2] 1955-56 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com. hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.

[1]

[2]

Montreal Canadiens Seasons
1900s	1909–10
1910s	1910–11 • 1911–12 • 1912–13 • 1913–14 • 1914–15 • 1915–16 • 1916–17 • 1917–18 • 1918–19 • 1919–20
1920s	1920–21 • 1921–22 • 1922–23 • 1923–24 • 1924–25 • 1925–26 • 1926–27 • 1927–28 • 1928–29 • 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 • 1931–32 • 1932–33 • 1933–34 • 1934–35 • 1935–36 • 1936–37 • 1937–38 • 1938–39 • 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 • 1941–42 • 1942–43 • 1943–44 • 1944–45 • 1945–46 • 1946–47 • 1947–48 • 1948–49 • 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 • 1951–52 • 1952–53 • 1953–54 • 1954–55 • 1955–56 • 1956–57 • 1957–58 • 1958–59 • 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 • 1961–62 • 1962–63 • 1963–64 • 1964–65 • 1965–66 • 1966–67 • 1967–68 • 1968–69 • 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 • 1971–72 • 1972–73 • 1973–74 • 1974–75 • 1975–76 • 1976–77 • 1977–78 • 1978–79 • 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 • 1981–82 • 1982–83 • 1983–84 • 1984–85 • 1985–86 • 1986–87 • 1987–88 • 1988–89 • 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 • 1991–92 • 1992–93 • 1993–94 • 1994–95 • 1995–96 • 1996–97 • 1997–98 • 1998–99 • 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 • 2001–02 • 2002–03 • 2003–04 • 2004–05 • 2005–06 • 2006–07 • 2007–08 • 2008–09 • 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 • 2011–12 • 2012–13 • 2013–14 • 2014–15 • 2015–16 • 2016–17 • 2017–18 • 2018–19 • 2019–20
Bold indicates Stanley Cup Championship

Montreal Canadiens
Franchise	Franchise • Original Six • Players • Coaches • General Managers • Seasons • Records • Draft Picks • Award Winners
Arenas	Jubilee Arena • Montreal Arena • Mount Royal Arena • Montreal Forum • Bell Centre
Affiliates	Laval Rocket (AHL)

1955–56 NHL season by team
Teams	Boston • Chicago • Detroit • Montreal • New York • Toronto
See also	All-Star Game • 1956 Stanley Cup Finals

1955–56 Montreal Canadiens season

Contents

Off-season[]

Regular Season[]

Final Standings[]

Game Log[]

Playoffs[]

Montreal Canadiens 4, New York Rangers 1[]

Montreal Canadiens 4, Detroit Red Wings 1[]

Player Stats[]

Regular Season[]

Playoffs[]

Awards and Records[]

Transactions[]

Montreal Canadiens 1956 Stanley Cup Champions[]

Roster

Stanley Cup Engraving

Gallery[]

Video[]

See Also[]

References[]