1963-64 NHL season

Stanley Cup champion Toronto Maple Leafs

The 1963-64 NHL season was the 47th season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 70 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs won their third consecutive Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings four games to three in the final series.

A big trade took place in June with the New York Rangers trading Gump Worsley, Dave Balon, Len Ronson and Leon Rochefort to the Montreal Canadiens for Jacques Plante, Don Marshall and Phil Goyette.

The governors noted with profound regret the death of William Northey, who died August 9th at 92. It was decided to establish a memorial for his favorite charity, Montreal Children's Hospital.

It was announced that Ron Andrews would replace Ken McKenzie as the NHL's director of publicity.

Predictions

The Canadian magazine was a weekend supplement that appeared in the Saturday editions of many newspapers in Canada. On October 19,1963, they published their annual NHL predictions by one reporter from each of the six NHL cities.

Individual Predictions

Canadian magazine 's experts' pre-season predictions
Rank	Red Burnett (Toronto)	Pat Curran (Montreal)	Jack Griffin (Chicago)	Don Anderson (New York)	Lou Monahan (Boston)	Jack May (Detroit)
1.	Toronto	Toronto	Toronto	Toronto	Toronto	Toronto
2.	Chicago	Montreal	Chicago	Chicago	Chicago	Chicago
3.	Detroit	Chicago	New York	New York	Montreal	Detroit
4.	New York	Detroit	Detroit	Montreal	New York	New York
5.	Montreal	New York	Montreal	Detroit	Detroit	Montreal
6.	Boston	Boston	Boston	Boston	Boston	Boston
Stanley Cup	Toronto	Toronto	Chicago	Toronto	Toronto	Toronto

Combined Predictions

On the basis of 6 points for a 1st place, 5 for a second, etc.

• 1. Toronto Maple Leafs (36 points)
• 2. Chicago Black Hawks (29 points)
• 3. New York Rangers (19 points)
• 4. Montreal Canadiens (18 points) (tied)
• 4. Detroit Red Wings (18 points) (tied)
• 6. Boston Bruins ( 6 points)

Regular Season

Gordie Howe (left) and Terry Sawchuk broke NHL records this season.

Jacques Plante made his debut as a Ranger October 9th in Chicago and it was a rough game for him, losing 3-1 and being cut by an elbow of Johnny McKenzie.

Gordie Howe scored two goals in Detroit's opener as the Red Wings beat Chicago 5-3. Howe was now only two goals shy of Maurice Richard's all-time career goal scoring record.

Montreal handed the Rangers a 6-2 pasting in their opener at the Forum. The fans both cheered and jeered Jacques Plante, now a Ranger.

Montreal defeated Detroit 6-4 in Detroit, but the highlight of the game was Gordie Howe scoring his 544th goal to tie Maurice Richard and he drew a five minute ovation. Gump Worsley was the victim of the goal.

Toronto defeated Montreal 6-3 at the Forum October 30th in a penalty-filled game. The main event was put on by Terry Harper and Bob Pulford who drew majors. Gump Worsley badly pulled his hamstring and would be replaced by Charlie Hodge for the season. On November 8, 1963, Maple Leaf Gardens was the first arena in the NHL to have separate penalty boxes.

Gordie Howe scores his 545th career goal, November 10, 1963.

The Detroit Red Wings blanked the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 on November 10th. While the Wings were a man short, Gordie Howe scored on Charlie Hodge for his 545th career goal, breaking Maurice Richard's record. Yet another record was tied by Terry Sawchuk when he recorded his 94th career NHL shutout, tying him with George Hainsworth as the all-time NHL shutout leader.

Chicago defeated Toronto 2-0 on November 28th and Johnny McKenzie was severely injured when sandwiched by Bobby Baun and Carl Brewer. He was taken to hospital and an operation was performed on his spleen.

There was a lengthy delay in the start of a game between Detroit and Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens on November 30th while the ice surface was repaired. A rodeo had been held and the cleaning job took longer than expected. Despite a terrible ice surface, a ragged game was played that ended in a 1-1 tie. Roger Crozier was hit with a slap shot by Frank Mahovlich but returned after a ten minute rest. The plucky goalkeeper had sustained a double fracture of the cheekbone and was unable to play the next night. The game was delayed for 20 minutes while Hank Bassen was located to replace Crozier. Toronto won the game 4-1.

December 7, 1963 brawl.

Toronto blanked Chicago 3-0 on December 7, 1963 in a wild brawl. Three minutes before the end of the game, Reg Fleming speared Eddie Shack, and after the Chicago player entered the penalty box, Bobby Baun decided to drag him out. Both benches emptied and a free-for-all started, and seven major penalties, six misconducts, three game misconducts and $25 fines were assessed against 22 players who left the benches. The game was completed with each team two men short. NHL president Clarence Campbell fined coaches Billy Reay and Punch Imlach $1000 for allowing their players to fight. Fleming was fined $200, Baun $150, Larry Hillman $150, Murray Balfour $100, and Carl Brewer $50. The 22 players that left the bench were fined $100 each.

Johnny Bower got his third consecutive shutout January 4th with a 3-0 win over Chicago. Mahovlich scored two goals in the win. During the game, the Black Hawks got a bench penalty and Reg Fleming was chosen to serve it. Fleming mocked referee Vern Buffey by applauding which led to a misconduct penalty, after which Fleming bumped Buffey and was given a game misconduct.

On January 18th, Terry Sawchuk broke George Hainsworth's record of career NHL shutouts with his 95th in a 2-0 win over Montreal. Hainsworth still held the major league record with 104, 10 in the Western Hockey League. That same night, Boston, the laughing stock of the league, had some laughs of their own when they walked right into Toronto and clobbered the Leafs 11-0, Andy Hebenton and Dean Prentice each scoring hat tricks. It was Pete Stemkowski's first NHL game and remains the largest shutout victory in Bruins team history. Next, the Bruins walked right into the Forum in Montreal January 25th and whitewashed the Canadiens 6-0, and then shut out Toronto 2-0 the next night.

Andy Bathgate was traded by New York to Toronto.

On February 1st, Bobby Rousseau joined the elite who have scored five goals in a game when he scored five against Detroit in a 9-3 trouncing of Detroit.

On February 5th, the Rangers had a 2-1 lead late in the third period when Andy Hebenton and Orland Kurtenbach scored 27 seconds apart to give the Bruins a 3-2 win.

A trade that was rumoured most of the season finally took place when the New York Rangers traded Andy Bathgate and Don McKenney to Toronto in exchange for Dick Duff, Bob Nevin, Arnie Brown, Bill Collins and Rod Seiling on February 22, 1964. Ranger fans did not like the deal and in the next game chants of "Muzz must go!" were heard (referring to Muzz Patrick, the Rangers general manager.)

Wildor Larochelle, a former Canadiens player of the early 1930's, died March 23rd at age 58.

Final Standings

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PIM	Pts
Montreal Canadiens	70	36	21	13	209	167	982	85
Chicago Black Hawks	70	36	22	12	218	169	1116	84
Toronto Maple Leafs	70	33	25	12	192	172	928	78
Detroit Red Wings	70	30	29	11	191	204	771	71
New York Rangers	70	22	38	10	186	242	715	54
Boston Bruins	70	18	40	12	170	212	858	48

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

Scoring Leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Stan Mikita	Chicago Black Hawks	70	39	50	89	146
Bobby Hull	Chicago Black Hawks	70	43	44	87	50
Jean Beliveau	Montreal Canadiens	68	28	50	78	42
Andy Bathgate	New York Rangers / Toronto Maple Leafs	71	19	58	77	34
Gordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	69	26	47	73	70

Leading Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min – Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Player	Team	GP	MIN	GA	GAA	W	L	T	SO
Johnny Bower	Toronto Maple Leafs	51	3009	106	2.11	24	16	11	5
Charlie Hodge	Montreal Canadiens	62	3720	140	2.26	33	18	11	8
Glenn Hall	Chicago Black Hawks	65	3860	148	2.30	34	19	11	7
Terry Sawchuk	Detroit Red Wings	53	3140	138	2.64	25	20	7	5
Eddie Johnston	Boston Bruins	70	4200	211	3.01	18	40	12	6
Don Simmons	Toronto Maple Leafs	21	1191	63	3.17	9	9	1	3
Jacques Plante	N.Y. Rangers	65	3900	220	3.38	22	36	7	3
Roger Crozier	Detroit Red Wings	15	900	51	3.40	5	6	4	2

Stanley Cup Playoffs

This playoff season saw the exact same match-ups as the previous season with the two Canadian teams, Toronto and Montreal, and the two American teams, Detroit and Chicago, matching up. As with last season, the Maple Leafs ousted the Canadiens and the Red Wings beat the Black Hawks. For the first time since the league began using the best-of-seven playoff format in 1939, all three series went the full seven games.

Playoff Bracket

	Semifinals					Finals
	1	Montreal Canadiens	3
	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	4
						3	Toronto Maple Leafs	4
						4	Detroit Red Wings	3
	2	Chicago Black Hawks	3
	4	Detroit Red Wings	4

Stanley Cup Finals

The 1964 Stanley Cup finals between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings was an exciting series. Toronto won the first game by one goal, 3-2, and the second game was won by Detroit by one goal in overtime. The third game saw Detroit win, again by one goal, and take a two games to one series lead. The Leafs came back in game four with a 4-2 victory to tie the series. But game five was won, again by one goal, by Detroit giving the Wings a three games to two lead. Game six saw the second overtime of the series, but before the game went into overtime, Toronto defenceman Bobby Baun stopped a hard shot and was taken off the ice with a broken ankle. He later returned to the game in overtime, with the broken ankle, and scored the game winning goal. After six close games, game seven was anticlimactic as Toronto handily won 4-0 for the Stanley Cup, their third in a row.

NHL Awards (Mid-Season)

1963-64 NHL awards (Mid-Season)
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Stan Mikita
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Jacques Laperriere
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Jean Beliveau
James Norris Memorial Trophy:	Pierre Pilote
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Ken Wharram
Vezina Trophy:	Glenn Hall

All-Star Teams (Mid-Season)

First Team	Position	Second Team
Glenn Hall, Chicago Black Hawks	G	Johnny Bower, Toronto Maple Leafs
Pierre Pilote, Chicago Black Hawks	D	Moose Vasko, Chicago Black Hawks
Tim Horton, Toronto Maple Leafs	D	Bob Baun, Toronto Maple Leafs
Jean Beliveau, Montreal Canadiens	C	Stan Mikita, Chicago Black Hawks
Kenny Wharram, Chicago Black Hawks	RW	Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Bobby Hull, Chicago Black Hawks	LW	Frank Mahovlich, Toronto Maple Leafs	Dave Balon, Montreal Canadiens (tie)

NHL Awards (Second Half)

1963-64 NHL awards (Second Half)
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Stan Mikita
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Jacques Laperriere
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Jean Beliveau
James Norris Memorial Trophy:	Pierre Pilote
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Ken Wharram
Vezina Trophy:	Charlie Hodge

All-Star Teams (Second Half)

First Team	Position	Second Team
Charlie Hodge, Montreal Canadiens	G	Glenn Hall, Chicago Black Hawks
Pierre Pilote, Chicago Black Hawks	D	Jacques Laperriere, Montreal Canadiens
Tim Horton, Toronto Maple Leafs	D	Moose Vasko, Chicago Black Hawks
Stan Mikita, Chicago Black Hawks	C	Jean Beliveau, Montreal Canadiens
Kenny Wharram, Chicago Black Hawks	RW	Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Bobby Hull, Chicago Black Hawks	LW	Camille Henry, New York Rangers

Lady Byng Trophy winner Ken Wharram

Norris Trophy winner Pierre Pilote

Art Ross Trophy winner Stan Mikita

Calder Trophy winner Jacques Laperriere

Vezina Trophy winner Charlie Hodge

Hart Trophy winner Jean Beliveau

NHL Awards

1963-64 NHL Awards
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Montreal Canadiens
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Stan Mikita, Chicago Black Hawks
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Jacques Laperriere, Montreal Canadiens
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Jean Beliveau, Montreal Canadiens
James Norris Memorial Trophy:	Pierre Pilote, Chicago Black Hawks
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Ken Wharram, Chicago Black Hawks
Vezina Trophy:	Charlie Hodge, Montreal Canadiens

First All-Star Team

Second All-Star Team

All-Star Teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Glenn Hall, Chicago Black Hawks	G	Charlie Hodge, Montreal Canadiens
Pierre Pilote, Chicago Black Hawks	D	Moose Vasko, Chicago Black Hawks
Tim Horton, Toronto Maple Leafs	D	Jacques Laperriere, Montreal Canadiens
Stan Mikita, Chicago Black Hawks	C	Jean Beliveau, Montreal Canadiens
Kenny Wharram, Chicago Black Hawks	RW	Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Bobby Hull, Chicago Black Hawks	LW	Frank Mahovlich, Toronto Maple Leafs

Phil Esposito made his NHL debut.

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1963-64 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Gary Dornhoefer, Boston Bruins
• Phil Esposito, Chicago Black Hawks
• Roger Crozier, Detroit Red Wings
• Ted Harris, Montreal Canadiens
• John Ferguson, Montreal Canadiens
• Yvan Cournoyer, Montreal Canadiens
• Jimmy Roberts, Montreal Canadiens
• Gilles Villemure, New York Rangers
• Jim Pappin, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Ron Ellis, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last Games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1963-64 (listed with their last team):

• Andy Hebenton, Boston Bruins
• Jerry Toppazzini, Boston Bruins
• Ed Litzenberger, Toronto Maple Leafs

Team Captains

Leo Boivin, Boston

Pierre Pilote, Chicago

Alex Delvecchio, Detroit

Jean Beliveau, Montreal

Andy Bathgate, New York

George Armstrong, Toronto

Attendance

1. Chicago: 581,593
2. Toronto: 494,634
3. Montreal: 488,663
4. New York: 435,531
5. Boston: 368,002
6. Detroit: 364,219

Gallery

Gordie Howe checks Bob Leiter, November 3, 1963.

Face-off after Jean-Guy Gendron scored Boston's 11th goal, January 18, 1964.

Score clock showing the Boston 11, Toronto 0 score with goalie #24 Don Simmons, January 18, 1964.

Dean Prentice, Gordie Howe, Leo Boivin, Ted Green, March 8, 1964.

Video

First two periods of the 1963 All-Star game with commercials and intermission features.

1963 All Star Game Oct 5

A short video of Bob Leiter hitting Eddie Shack, causing glass on the side boards to shatter and then the fight between the two, January 18, 1964.

Bob Leiter vs Eddie Shack Jan 18, 1964

Game 6 of the 1964 Semi-finals between Montreal and Toronto, April 13, 1965.

1964 NHL SCP Semi Final G 6 Montreal @ Toronto 4 7 1964

See Also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1963 NHL Amateur Draft
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• Ice hockey at the 1964 Winter Olympics

References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com