1968–69 Minnesota North Stars season

1968–69 Minnesota North Stars
Division	6th West
1968–69 record	18–43–15
Goals for	189
Goals against	270
Team information
General manager	Wren Blair
Coach	Wren Blair
Captain	Elmer Vasko
Alternate captains	Ray Cullen Wayne Connelly
Arena	Met Center
Team leaders
Goals	Danny Grant (34)
Assists	Ray Cullen (38)
Points	Danny Grant (65)
Penalty minutes	Bill Goldsworthy (110)
Wins	Cesare Maniago (18)
Goals against average	Cesare Maniago (3.29)

The 1968–69 Minnesota North Stars season was the team's 2nd season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The North Stars finished last in the West Division and did not qualify for the playoffs.

Regular Season

The North Stars wore the same jersey design as in the 1967-68 season except that shoulder yokes were added to the green home jersey.

Joey Johnston played his first NHL game on November 2, 1968 as the North Stars defeated the St. Louis Blues 2-0, their only shutout of the season. Gary Dineen played the first game of his 4 game NHL career on December 4, 1968 as Minnesota lost 4-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mike Chernoff played his only NHL game during the 5-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on December 15, 1968.

Phil Esposito makes it 3-0, January 16, 1969.

Despite making several excellent trades for forwards Danny Grant and Claude Larose in the off-season, Minnesota's offensive output was basically the same as the previous season. However, the Stars defense suffered with the trade of Bob Woytowich and gave up 44 more goals than in 1967-68. Still, the team was in contention for a playoff spot until a disastrous 14-game winless streak from December 22, 1968 until finally beating the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 23, 1969. Lou Nanne was called up for the Christmas Day game versus St. Louis, became a regular and played the rest of his ten-year career for the North Stars.

The acquisition of Leo Boivin on January 24, 1968 stabilized the defense. Because of a disappointing lack of offensive from the blueline, Mike McMahon, who scored 14 goals the previous season but had none in 1968-69, was traded along with Andre Boudrias for Tom Reid. Boudrias had also experienced a sharp drop in goal scoring from the Stars' inaugural year when he finished fourth on the team. Reid became a defensive stalwart for the next ten seasons.

The Stars climbed back into playoff contention by the end of February but the trade of Wayne Connelly (who had led the Stars in scoring the previous year) for Danny Lawson on February 16, 1969 changed the team's success and they only won twice in March. Lawson scored 3 goals and never panned out in the NHL (though he had a successful career in the WHA). Minnesota was relegated to last place in the West Division and the league.

Danny Grant led the team with 34 goals (9th in the league), 65 points and was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year. Goalie Cesare Maniago garnered all the team's 18 wins.

Final Standings

West Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
St. Louis Blues	76	37	25	14	204	157	88
Oakland Seals	76	29	36	11	219	251	69
Philadelphia Flyers	76	20	35	21	174	225	61
Los Angeles Kings	76	24	42	10	185	260	58
Pittsburgh Penguins	76	20	45	11	189	252	51
Minnesota North Stars	76	18	43	15	189	270	51

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

Game Log

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 11, 1968	5–1	@ Oakland Seals (1968–69)	1–0–0
2	L	October 16, 1968	4–10	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1968–69)	1–1–0
3	L	October 17, 1968	1–3	Montreal Canadiens (1968–69)	1–2–0
4	W	October 19, 1968	4–1	Los Angeles Kings (1968–69)	2–2–0
5	L	October 22, 1968	2–3	Oakland Seals (1968–69)	2–3–0
6	T	October 24, 1968	3–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1968–69)	2–3–1
7	L	October 26, 1968	0–3	New York Rangers (1968–69)	2–4–1
8	L	October 30, 1968	2–4	Boston Bruins (1968–69)	2–5–1
9	W	November 2, 1968	2–0	@ St. Louis Blues (1968–69)	3–5–1
10	L	November 3, 1968	1–2	@ New York Rangers (1968–69)	3–6–1
11	L	November 6, 1968	0–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1968–69)	3–7–1
12	L	November 7, 1968	2–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (1968–69)	3–8–1
13	W	November 9, 1968	6–4	Detroit Red Wings (1968–69)	4–8–1
14	W	November 13, 1968	4–3	Philadelphia Flyers (1968–69)	5–8–1
15	W	November 16, 1968	3–2	Los Angeles Kings (1968–69)	6–8–1
16	T	November 17, 1968	3–3	@ St. Louis Blues (1968–69)	6–8–2
17	L	November 20, 1968	0–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1968–69)	6–9–2
18	L	November 23, 1968	3–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1968–69)	6–10–2
19	L	November 24, 1968	0–6	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1968–69)	6–11–2
20	T	November 27, 1968	3–3	Oakland Seals (1968–69)	6–11–3
21	T	November 30, 1968	3–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1968–69)	6–11–4
22	L	December 1, 1968	0–4	@ Boston Bruins (1968–69)	6–12–4
23	L	December 4, 1968	2–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1968–69)	6–13–4
24	L	December 7, 1968	2–3	@ Los Angeles Kings (1968–69)	6–14–4
25	W	December 8, 1968	4–1	@ Oakland Seals (1968–69)	7–14–4
26	L	December 11, 1968	2–4	Pittsburgh Penguins (1968–69)	7–15–4
27	W	December 14, 1968	4–1	New York Rangers (1968–69)	8–15–4
28	L	December 15, 1968	2–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (1968–69)	8–16–4
29	L	December 17, 1968	2–3	Oakland Seals (1968–69)	8–17–4
30	T	December 19, 1968	5–5	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1968–69)	8–17–5
31	W	December 21, 1968	3–1	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1968–69)	9–17–5
32	L	December 22, 1968	2–4	@ New York Rangers (1968–69)	9–18–5
33	L	December 25, 1968	0–2	St. Louis Blues (1968–69)	9–19–5
34	T	December 26, 1968	4–4	@ Los Angeles Kings (1968–69)	9–19–6
35	L	December 28, 1968	2–5	Chicago Black Hawks (1968–69)	9–20–6
36	L	December 31, 1968	3–6	@ Detroit Red Wings (1968–69)	9–21–6
37	T	January 4, 1969	2–2	Boston Bruins (1968–69)	9–21–7
38	L	January 5, 1969	1–5	@ New York Rangers (1968–69)	9–22–7
39	L	January 7, 1969	3–6	Montreal Canadiens (1968–69)	9–23–7
40	L	January 9, 1969	2–7	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1968–69)	9–24–7
41	L	January 11, 1969	2–4	Philadelphia Flyers (1968–69)	9–25–7
42	L	January 12, 1969	0–2	St. Louis Blues (1968–69)	9–26–7
43	L	January 15, 1969	1–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1968–69)	9–27–7
44	L	January 16, 1969	1–5	@ Boston Bruins (1968–69)	9–28–7
45	L	January 19, 1969	1–3	St. Louis Blues (1968–69)	9–29–7
46	W	January 23, 1969	3–1	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1968–69)	10–29–7
47	W	January 25, 1969	3–2	Los Angeles Kings (1968–69)	11–29–7
48	L	January 26, 1969	3–4	@ Boston Bruins (1968–69)	11–30–7
49	L	January 29, 1969	0–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1968–69)	11–31–7
50	T	February 1, 1969	5–5	Chicago Black Hawks (1968–69)	11–31–8
51	W	February 2, 1969	3–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1968–69)	12–31–8
52	T	February 5, 1969	5–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1968–69)	12–31–9
53	L	February 8, 1969	3–6	Montreal Canadiens (1968–69)	12–32–9
54	W	February 9, 1969	3–1	Pittsburgh Penguins (1968–69)	13–32–9
55	L	February 12, 1969	1–7	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1968–69)	13–33–9
56	W	February 15, 1969	6–2	Detroit Red Wings (1968–69)	14–33–9
57	L	February 16, 1969	0–6	@ St. Louis Blues (1968–69)	14–34–9
58	W	February 19, 1969	7–4	Los Angeles Kings (1968–69)	15–34–9
59	W	February 23, 1969	7–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1968–69)	16–34–9
60	T	February 24, 1969	1–1	@ Los Angeles Kings (1968–69)	16–34–10
61	L	February 26, 1969	5–6	@ Oakland Seals (1968–69)	16–35–10
62	L	March 1, 1969	2–4	Detroit Red Wings (1968–69)	16–36–10
63	L	March 3, 1969	1–6	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1968–69)	16–37–10
64	W	March 5, 1969	5–2	Oakland Seals (1968–69)	17–37–10
65	T	March 9, 1969	2–2	St. Louis Blues (1968–69)	17–37–11
66	T	March 11, 1969	3–3	Boston Bruins (1968–69)	17–37–12
67	T	March 13, 1969	4–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1968–69)	17–37–13
68	T	March 15, 1969	2–2	Philadelphia Flyers (1968–69)	17–37–14
69	W	March 16, 1969	3–2	@ St. Louis Blues (1968–69)	18–37–14
70	L	March 19, 1969	2–4	New York Rangers (1968–69)	18–38–14
71	L	March 20, 1969	2–5	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1968–69)	18–39–14
72	L	March 22, 1969	1–5	Philadelphia Flyers (1968–69)	18–40–14
73	L	March 23, 1969	0–5	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1968–69)	18–41–14
74	L	March 25, 1969	1–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1968–69)	18–42–14
75	L	March 29, 1969	2–7	@ Oakland Seals (1968–69)	18–43–14
76	T	March 30, 1969	3–3	@ Los Angeles Kings (1968–69)	18–43–15

Playoffs

• The North Stars did not qualify for the post season.

Player Stats

Forwards

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

#	Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
21	Danny Grant	75	34	31	65	46
10	Ray Cullen	67	26	38	64	44
16	Claude Larose	67	25	37	62	106
11	J. P. Parise	76	22	27	49	57
7	Danny O'Shea	74	15	34	49	88
12	Wayne Connelly	55	14	16	30	11
8	Bill Goldsworthy	68	14	10	24	110
18	Bill Collins	75	9	10	19	24
22	Walt McKechnie	58	5	9	14	22
15	Andre Boudrias	53	4	9	13	6
14	Parker MacDonald	35	2	9	11	0
9	Danny Lawson	18	3	3	6	4
6	Bill Orban	21	1	5	6	10
9	Milan Marcetta	18	2	3	5	4
17	Joey Johnston	12	1	0	1	6
15, 23	Gary Dineen	4	0	1	1	0
24, 25	Barrie Meissner	5	0	1	1	2
20, 24	Brian Smith	9	0	1	1	0
24	Mike Chernoff	1	0	0	0	0

Defencemen

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

#	Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
3	Bob McCord	69	4	17	21	70
23	Lou Nanne	41	2	12	14	47
6	Mike McMahon	43	0	11	11	21
4	Elmer Vasko	72	1	7	8	68
2	Wayne Hillman	50	0	8	8	32
5	Leo Boivin	28	1	6	7	16
5	Larry Hillman	12	1	5	6	0
20	Tom Reid	18	0	4	4	38
5, 20	Duane Rupp	29	2	1	3	8
5, 17, 23	Barry MacKenzie	6	0	1	1	6
17	Marshall Johnston	13	0	0	0	2

Goaltending

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

#	Player	GP	MIN	W	L	T	SO	GAA
29, 30	Cesare Maniago	64	3608	18	34	10	1	3.29
1	Gary Bauman	7	300	0	3	1	0	4.41
1, 30	Fern Rivard	13	648	0	6	4	0	4.44

Awards and Records

• Calder Memorial Trophy: Danny Grant

Farm Teams

• Memphis South Stars, CHL

Trivia

• North Stars who recorded a Hat trick this season include:
  • Danny Grant during the 6-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings on November 9, 1968.
  • Danny Grant during the 7-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 23, 1969.

Gallery

Dallas Smith scores shorthanded, December 1, 1968.

Phil Esposito opens the scoring, January 4, 1969.

Bill Collins and Phil Esposito, January 26, 1969.

Danny O'Shea and Ken Hodge, January 26, 1969.

See Also

• 1968–69 NHL season

External Links

• 1968–69 Minnesota North Stars Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-07.