1928–29 NHL season

The 1928–29 NHL season was the twelfth season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. This was the first Stanley Cup playoffs ever that saw two United States based teams compete for the cup. The Boston Bruins won over the New York Rangers two games to none in a best-of-three final.

League Business

Notable Rule Changes

Forward passing was permitted from the neutral zone across the blue line into the attacking zone, as long as no offensive player preceded the puck into the attacking zone; forward passing within the attacking zone was still forbidden. Regular season overtime was changed to a 10–minute, non-sudden-death format, to be played in its entirety.

Playoff Format

The playoff format was revised to match first-place teams in a best-of-five series for the NHL championship, second-place teams and third-place teams in a two-game total-goals series to determine the participants for a best-of-three semi-final and the semi-final winner against the NHL Champion in a best-of-three series for the Cup.

Regular season

Ottawa continued in financial trouble and sold Punch Broadbent to the New York Americans. They continued to erode, and at one point, rumour had it that they would be sold to a Chicago group. Frank Ahearn, the Senators owner, denied this, but admitted that the team was for sale to the highest bidder.

The New York Americans, last place finishers in 1927–28, surprised everyone by reclining in first place for much of the season in the Canadian Division. They were held up by the great play of defenceman Lionel Conacher and goaltender Roy Worters. However, the Montreal Canadiens dislodged the Americans and finished first. George Hainsworth, Canadiens goaltender, set an unprecedented record of 22 shutouts and a .98 goals against average. Boston, led by rookie Tiny Thompson in goal, led the American Division.

Bruins' player George Owen was the first NHL player to regularly wear head gear for protective purposes. Prior to this, the only time protective head gear was worn was to temporarly protect injuries. Fifty-one years later the NHL would mandate the use of helmets. Craig MacTavish was the last NHL player to not wear a helmet in 1997.

Final standings

"Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties in minutes"

"Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold"

tanley Cup playoffs

The playoffs were now between division finishers of each division,rather than a division champion from each division.The Boston Bruins knocked off the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Rangers beat the New York Americans,and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Cougars. The Rangers beat Toronto and then the Bruins won their first Stanley Cup defeating the Rangers. In the process, Boston became one of the few Cup winners in history to not lose a single game in the playoffs, and the last team until 1952 to win every playoff game they had.

Playoff bracket

3RoundBracket-Byes
RD1-seed5=C2
RD1-team5=New York Americans
RD1-score5=0G
RD1-seed6=A2
RD1-team6=New York Rangers
RD1-score6=1G
RD1-seed7=C3
RD1-team7=Toronto Maple Leafs
RD1-score7=7G
RD1-seed8=A3
RD1-team8=Detroit Cougars
RD1-score8=2G
RD2-seed1=C1
RD2-team1=Montreal Canadiens
RD2-score1=0
RD2-seed2=A1
RD2-team2=Boston Bruins
RD2-score2=3
RD2-seed3=A2
RD2-team3=New York Rangers
RD2-score3=2
RD2-seed4=C3
RD2-team4=Toronto Maple Leafs
RD2-score4=0
RD3-seed1=A1
RD3-team1=Boston Bruins
RD3-score1=2
RD3-seed2=A2
RD3-team2=New York Rangers
RD3-score2=0

Finals

NHL awards

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1928–29 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
*Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins
*Cooney Weiland, Boston Bruins
*George Owen , Boston Bruins
*Johnny Gottselig, Chicago Black Hawks
*Mush March, Chicago Black Hawks
*Herbie Lewis, Detroit Cougars
*Georges Mantha, Montreal Canadiens
*Armand Mondou, Montreal Canadiens
*Baldy Northcott, Montreal Maroons
*Dave Trottier, Montreal Maroons
*Earl Robinson, Montreal Maroons
*Red Horner, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Andy Blair, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1928–29 (listed with their last team):
*Cy Denneny, Boston Bruins
*Duke Keats, Chicago Black Hawks
*Dick Irvin, Chicago Black Hawks
*Red Green, Detroit Cougars
*Herb Gardiner, Montreal Canadiens
*Punch Broadbent, New York Americans

ee also

*List of Stanley Cup champions
*1928 in sports
*1929 in sports

References

* [http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/nhl1927.html Hockey Database]
* [http://nhl.com/ NHL.com]