1966 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1966 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1965–66 season, and the culmination of the 1966 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the defending champion Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens won the best-of-seven series, four games to two, to win the Stanley Cup for the seventh time in eleven years.
| 1966 Stanley Cup Finals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| * indicates periods of overtime. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location(s) | Montreal: Montreal Forum (1, 2, 5) Detroit: Olympia Stadium (3, 4, 6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Montreal: Toe Blake Detroit: Sid Abel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Captains | Montreal: Jean Beliveau Detroit: Alex Delvecchio | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | April 24 – May 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Roger Crozier (Red Wings) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Henri Richard (2:20, OT, G6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Paths to the Finals
Montreal defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–0 to advance to the finals, and Detroit defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 4–2.
Game summaries
With this series, Toe Blake had coached the Canadiens to seven Cups in eleven years. Henri Richard, a member of all seven championship teams, would score the series winner in game six in overtime. Two minutes into the extra period, Richard broke in on Red Wing goalie Roger Crozier, lost his footing on the newly resurfaced ice as he cut across the goalmouth, and sprawled into Crozier. The puck went in, and even though Crozier and the Wings protested that Richard had pushed the puck in with his hand, the goal stood. His brilliant play in goal, even in defeat, earned Crozier the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs.
| April 24 | Detroit Red Wings | 3–2 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| Floyd Smith (3) - 13:25 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Bill Gadsby (1) - 5:14 | Second period | 4:23 - Ralph Backstrom (2) | ||||||
| Paul Henderson (3) - 2:14 | Third period | 2:36 - Terry Harper (2) | ||||||
| Roger Crozier | Goalie stats | Gump Worsley | ||||||
| April 26 | Detroit Red Wings | 5–2 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| Andy Bathgate (6) - pp - 18:39 | First period | 6:55 - pp - J.C. Tremblay (2) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Bruce MacGregor (1) - 1:51 Ab McDonald (1) - 2:45 Floyd Smith (4) - 12:28 Dean Prentice (5) - 16:25 |
Third period | 12:00 - Yvan Cournoyer (1) | ||||||
| Roger Crozier | Goalie stats | Gump Worsley | ||||||
| April 28 | Montreal Canadiens | 4–2 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| Dave Balon (1) - 15:40 Jean Beliveau (3) - 19:12 |
First period | 4:20 - Norm Ullman (3) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Gilles Tremblay (3) - 1:45 Gilles Tremblay (4) - pp - 3:21 |
Third period | 19:59 - Gordie Howe (4) | ||||||
| Gump Worsley | Goalie stats | Roger Crozier | ||||||
| May 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 2–1 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jean Beliveau (4) - pp - 19:51 | Second period | 11:24 - Norm Ullman (4) | ||||||
| Ralph Backstrom (3) - 13:37 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Gump Worsley | Goalie stats | Roger Crozier, Hank Bassen | ||||||
| May 3 | Detroit Red Wings | 1–5 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 1:06 - Claude Provost (2) 19:21 - pp - Yvan Cournoyer (2) | ||||||
| Norm Ullman (5) - 14:22 | Second period | 1:05 - Dave Balon (2) 11:22 - Bobby Rousseau (4) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 5:31 - Dick Duff (2) | ||||||
| Roger Crozier | Goalie stats | Gump Worsley | ||||||
| May 5 | Montreal Canadiens | 3–2 | OT | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | ||
| Jean Beliveau (5) - 9:08 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Leon Rochefort (1) - 10:11 | Second period | 11:55 - pp - Norm Ullman (6) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 10:30 - Floyd Smith (5) | ||||||
| Henri Richard (1) - 2:20 | First overtime period | No scoring | ||||||
| Gump Worsley | Goalie stats | Roger Crozier | ||||||
| Montreal won series 4–2 | |
Stanley Cup engraving
The 1966 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Canadiens 3–2 win over the Red Wings in game six.
The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup
1966 Montreal Canadiens
Players
- 4 Jean Beliveau (Captain)
- 6 Ralph Backstrom
- 16 Henri Richard (A)
- 8 Dick Duff
- 12 Yvan Cournoyer
- 11 Claude Larose
- 14 Claude Provost
- 15 Bobby Rousseau
- 18 Leon Rochefort
- 20 David Balon
- 21 Gilles Tremblay
- 22 John Ferguson Sr.
- 26 Jim Roberts
- 2 Jacques Laperriere
- 3 Jean-Claude J. C. Tremblay
- 10 Edward Ted Harris
- 17 Jean-Guy Talbot (A)
- 19 Terry Harper
- 23 Noel Price
- 30 Lorne Gump Worsley
- 1 Charlie Hodge
Coaching and administrative staff
- Hartland Molson (Chairman/owner), J. David Molson (President)
- Sam Pollock (Vice President/Manager), Hector Toe Blake (Coach)
- Andy Galley (Trainer), Larry Albut (Asst. Trainer)
Stanley Cup engravings
- Montreal Canadiens name was misspelt MONTREAL CANADIENE. This mistake was later corrected on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.
Broadcasting
In 1966, NBC became the first[1] television network in the United States to air a national broadcast of a Stanley Cup Playoff game. The network provided coverage of four Sunday afternoon playoff games[2][3] during the 1965–66 postseason.[4] On April 10[5] and April 17,[6] NBC aired semifinal games between the Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings. On April 24[7] and May 1,[8] NBC aired Games 1 and 4[9] of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. Win Elliot served as the play-by-play man while Bill Mazer served as the color commentator for the games.[10]
NBC's coverage of the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals marked the first time that hockey games were broadcast on network television in color.[11] The CBC would follow suit the following year. NBC's Stanley Cup coverage preempted a sports anthology series called NBC Sports in Action, hosted by Jim Simpson and Bill Cullen, who were between-periods co-hosts for the Stanley Cup broadcasts.
See also
Notes
- "Stanley Cup Hockey Playoffs on Today". Hartford Courant. Times Mirror Company. April 10, 1966. p. 3G.
- "NBC May Televise Stanley Cup Play". Hartford Courant. Times Mirror Company. Associated Press. February 27, 1966. p. 6C.
- "NHL Near Deal for TV of Cup Games". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. February 27, 1966. p. C1.
- "NBC Makes Plans to TV Stanley Cup Playoffs". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. February 28, 1966. p. B6.
- Don Page (April 9, 1966). "Let's Ear It for Transistor Man". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. p. D2.
- Associated Press (April 16, 1966). "More Than Feelings Hurting—As Black Hawks Limp Back Home". Hartford Courant. Times Mirror Company. p. 20.
- "TV News Notes". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. April 24, 1966. p. IND_A17.
- "NBC to Carry Stanley Cup Games on TV". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. March 29, 1966. p. C1.
- Bob Gates (April 29, 1966). "Abel's 'switcheroo' works". The Christian Science Monitor. p. 7.
- Stan Issacs (January 19, 1990). "TV SPORTS Hockey Gets Network – for a Day". Newsday. Cablevision Systems Corporation. p. 137.
- Ted Damata (April 10, 1966). "Black Hawks in Colorful Color". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. p. C1.
References
- "All-Time NHL Results".
- Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Stanley Cup. NHL.
- Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7.
| Preceded by Montreal Canadiens 1965 |
Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup champions 1966 |
Succeeded by Toronto Maple Leafs 1967 |
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