1941–42 NHL season Information & 1941–42 NHL season Links at HealthHaven.com

The 1941–42 NHL season was the 25th season of the National Hockey League. Seven teams played 48 games each. The Toronto Maple Leafs would win the Stanley Cup defeating the Detroit Red Wings winning four straight after losing the first three in a best-of-seven series. No other team has repeated such a feat since.

[edit] League business

This season was the last season for the New York Americans who changed their name to the Brooklyn Americans in an attempt to build a civic relationship with those from Flatbush area of New York.

[edit] Regular season

The Americans started the season without Harvey "Busher" Jackson who refused to sign. He was then sold to Boston. But the Amerks had two positive notes: two defencemen, Tommy Anderson and Pat Egan, were now All-Star calibre. That didn't prevent them from finishing last, though. On December 9, 1941, the Chicago Blackhawks-Boston Bruins game would be delayed for over a half hour as United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared that America was at war. ^[1]

Frank Patrick suffered a heart attack and had to sell his interest in the Montreal Canadiens, and the Habs almost had to move to Cleveland. But Tommy Gorman kept the team alive. They added Emile "Butch" Bouchard to start his great career on defence and another very good player, Buddy O'Connor, at centre. Montreal had goaltending problems as Bert Gardiner slumped, and rookie Paul Bibeault replaced him. He showed flashes of brilliance, but his inexperience showed. Joe Benoit starred with 20 goals, the first Canadien to do that since 1938–39, when Toe Blake did it.

The New York Rangers had a new goaltender as Sugar Jim Henry replaced the retired Dave Kerr. Henry was one of the reasons the Rangers finished first, something they would not again do for the next 50 years.

[edit] Final standings

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
New York Rangers	48	29	17	2	60	177	143
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	27	18	3	57	158	136
Boston Bruins	48	25	17	6	56	160	118
Chicago Black Hawks	48	22	23	3	47	145	155
Detroit Red Wings	48	19	25	4	42	140	147
Montreal Canadiens	48	18	27	3	39	134	173
Brooklyn Americans	48	16	29	3	35	133	175

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

[edit] Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

PLAYER	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Bryan Hextall	New York Rangers	48	24	32	56	30
Lynn Patrick	New York Rangers	47	32	22	54	18
Don Grosso	Detroit Red Wings	45	23	30	53	13
Phil Watson	New York Rangers	48	15	37	52	58
Sid Abel	Detroit Red Wings	48	18	31	49	45
Toe Blake	Montreal Canadiens	48	17	28	45	29
Bill Thoms	Chicago Black Hawks	47	15	30	45	8
Gordie Drillon	Toronto Maple Leafs	48	23	18	41	6
Syl Apps	Toronto Maple Leafs	38	18	23	41	0
Tommy Anderson	Brooklyn Americans	48	12	29	41	64

[edit] Playoffs

Note: all dates in 1942

[edit] Playoff bracket

Quarter-finals			Semi-finals			Stanley Cup Final


			1	New York Rangers	2

			2	Toronto Maple Leafs	4



						2	Toronto Maple Leafs	4
						5	Detroit Red Wings	3
3	Boston Bruins	2
4	Chicago Black Hawks	1
			3	Boston Bruins	0

			5	Detroit Red Wings	2
5	Detroit Red Wings	2

6	Montreal Canadiens	1

[edit] Quarter-finals

Boston Bruins vs. Chicago Black Hawks

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 22	Boston	2	Chicago	1	OT
March 24	Chicago	4	Boston	0
March 26	Chicago	2	Boston	3

Boston wins best-of-three series 2–1

Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
March 22	Montreal	1	Detroit	2
March 24	Detroit	0	Montreal	5
March 26	Montreal	2	Detroit	6

Detroit wins best-of-three series 2–1

[edit] Semi-finals

New York Rangers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
March 21	New York	1	Toronto	3
March 22	Toronto	4	New York	2
March 24	Toronto	0	New York	3
March 28	New York	1	Toronto	2
March 29	Toronto	1	New York	3
March 31	New York	2	Toronto	3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4–2

Boston Bruins vs. Detroit Red Wings

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 29	Detroit	6	Boston	4
March 31	Boston	1	Detroit	3

Detroit wins best-of-three series 2–0

[edit] Final

Main article: 1942 Stanley Cup Finals

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
April 4	Detroit	3	Toronto	2
April 7	Detroit	4	Toronto	2
April 9	Toronto	2	Detroit	5
April 12	Toronto	4	Detroit	3
April 14	Detroit	3	Toronto	9
April 16	Toronto	3	Detroit	0
April 18	Detroit	1	Toronto	3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4–3

[edit] NHL awards

Calder Trophy:	Grant Warwick, New York Rangers
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans
Lady Byng Trophy:	Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs
O'Brien Cup:	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy:	New York Rangers
Vezina Trophy:	Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins

[edit] All-Star teams

First team	Position	Second team
Frank Brimsek, Boston Bruins	G	Turk Broda, Toronto Maple Leafs
Earl Seibert, Chicago Black Hawks	D	Pat Egan, Brooklyn Americans
Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans	D	Bucko McDonald, Toronto Maple Leafs
Syl Apps, Toronto Maple Leafs	C	Phil Watson, New York Rangers
Bryan Hextall, New York Rangers	RW	Gordie Drillon, Toronto Maple Leafs
Lynn Patrick, New York Rangers	LW	Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings
Frank Boucher, New York Rangers	Coach	Paul Thompson, Chicago Black Hawks

[edit] Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1941–42 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Kenny Mosdell, Brooklyn Americans
Harry Watson, Brooklyn Americans
Bill Mosienko, Chicago Black Hawks
Adam Brown, Detroit Red Wings
Buddy O'Connor, Montreal Canadiens
Emile "Butch" Bouchard, Montreal Canadiens
Grant Warwick, New York Rangers
Jim Henry, New York Rangers
Bob Goldham, Toronto Maple Leafs
Gaye Stewart*, Toronto Maple Leafs

[edit] Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1941–42 (listed with their last team):

Eddie Wiseman, Boston Bruins
Tommy Anderson, Brooklyn Americans
Art Coulter, New York Rangers

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Hockey’s Book of Firsts, p.71, James Duplacey, JG Press, ISBN 978-1-57215-037-9
^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy et al. ed. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.

[0] Hockey’s Book of Firsts, p.71, James Duplacey, JG Press, ISBN 978-1-57215-037-9

[1] Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy et al. ed. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.

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