1925–26 Boston Bruins season

NHLTeamSeason
Season=1925–26
Team=Boston Bruins
Record=17-15-4 (38 points)
HomeRecord=
RoadRecord=
GoalsFor=92
GoalsAgainst=85
GeneralManager=Art Ross
Coach=Art Ross
Captain= "none"
AltCaptain=
Arena=Boston Arena
Attendance=
GoalsLeader=Carson Cooper (28)
AssistsLeader=Jimmy Herberts, Sprague Cleghorn (5)
PointsLeader=Carson Cooper, Jimmy Herberts (31)
PIMLeader=Jimmy Herberts (50)
WinsLeader=Doc Stewart (16)
GAALeader=Doc Stewart (2.21)

The 1925–26 Boston Bruins’ season was the team's second in the NHL. The Bruins finished fourth in the league standings, failing to make the playoffs.

Regular Season

"See also: 1925-26 NHL season"

Opening the season with a 2-1 loss to the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates, it looked initially as if the Bruins would turn in as poor a season as the year before, as they won only two of their first ten games, and after two consecutive wins, turned in an 0-5-3 record for most of January. [harvnb|Vautour|(1997)|p=40]

From a 5-0 shutout victory over the Maroons on January 30, however, the Bruins won 13 of their last 17 games, a 2-1 overtime loss to the Pirates on March 12 being the difference to lose out on a playoff berth to Pittsburgh by a single point. [harvnb|Vautour|(1997)|p=41] The winning percentage improvement of .328 from the previous season was a NHL record at the time, and remains the third best single season improvement ever. [harvnb|Klein & Reif|(1997)|p=63]

A healthy Carson Cooper contributed to a near doubling of goals scored to lead the league, while the purchase of veteran star defenseman Sprague Cleghorn from the Montreal Maroons solidified the defense - despite an knee injury in the opener against Pittsburgh that sidelined Cleghorn for a month - and saw goals allowed decline by over a third. [harvnb|Coleman|(1964)|p=489] Cooper and Herberts finished second and third respectively in the league scoring race, behind Nels Stewart of the Maroons. [harvnb|Coleman|(1964)|p=494]

Among other debuts was that of goaltender Moe Roberts, at age 19 the second youngest player in the league and its first Jewish player. [harvnb|Vautour|(1997)|p=39] Roberts would wind up with one of the longest professional careers on record, playing his final game for the Chicago Black Hawks in 1952, the oldest player ever to play in the NHL before Gordie Howe.

"Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against"

Roster

* #1 Sprague Cleghorn
* #3 Lionel Hitchman
* #4 Jimmy Herberts
* #7 Carson Cooper
* #11 Doc Stewart
* #12 Red Stuart
* #14 Charlie Cahill
* #14 Hago Harrington
* Fred Bergdinon
* John Brackenborough
* George Geran
* Stan Jackson
* Charles Larose
* Joe Matte
* Herb Mitchell
* George Redding
* Moe Roberts
* Werner Schnarr
* Normand Shay
* Paul Stevens

Transactions

* Purchased Sprague Cleghorn from the Montreal Maroons for $5,000. [harvnb|Coleman|(1964)|p=488]

References

*Citation|last=Coleman|first=Charles L.|year=1964|title=Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol I.|publisher=Kendall-Hunt Publishing|ID=ISBN 0480329415
*Citation|last=Vautour|first=Kevin|year=1997|title=The Bruins Book|publisher=ECW Press|ID=ISBN 1550223348
*Citation|last=Klein, Jeff Z.|first=Reif, Karl-Eric|year=1997|title=The Klein & Reif Hockey Compendium|publisher=McClelland & Stewart|ID=ISBN 0-7710-4529-8

Footnotes