1963–64 NHL season

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 on August 9 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 ofpublicity.

Regular season

Jacques Plante made his debut as a Ranger on October 9 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. Worsley was the victim of the goal.

Toronto defeated Montreal 6–3 at the Forum on October 30 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.

The Detroit Red Wings blanked the Montreal Canadiens 3–0 on November 10. 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 28, 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 30, 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.

Toronto blanked Chicago 3–0 on December 7 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 on January 4, 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 18, 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. Next, the Bruins walked right into the Forum in Montreal January 25 and whitewashed the Canadiens 6–0, and then shut out Toronto 2–0 the next night.

On February 1, 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 5, the Rangers had a 2–1 lead late in the third period when Andy Hebenton and Orland Kurtenbach scored 27 seconds of each other 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. Ranger fans did not like the deal and in the next game chants of "Muzz must go!" were heard (referring to Muzz Patrick, Rangers' general manager).

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

Final standings

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

All-Star teams

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

See also

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

References

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