1948–49 NHL season Information & 1948–49 NHL season Links at HealthHaven.com

The 1948–49 NHL season was the 32nd season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 60 games.

[edit] Regular season

Don Gallinger, hopeful he could win an appeal of his suspension in the gambing scandal, finally admitted to gambling and was expelled from the NHL for life in September.

On October 8, 1948, the New York Rangers were due to start their season against the Montreal Canadiens, when the team suffered bad misfortune. Buddy O'Connor, Frank Eddolls, Edgar Laprade, Bill Moe, and Tony Leswick were travelling in their car from Montreal to Saranac Lake, when their car was struck by a truck near Rouse's Point, New York. O'Connor suffered several broken ribs, Eddolls suffered a severed tendon in his knee, Laprade suffered a broken nose, Moe had a cut in the head requiring several stitches and Leswick only escaped with a few bruises. The Rangers were affected so easily, they only scored 133 goals and finished last.

A league record of ten major penalties was set November 25, 1948, when 11,000 fans at the Montreal Forum witnessed a donnybrook. It started when the Habs' Ken Mosdell elbowed Maple Leaf Gus Mortson. Mortson retaliated by knocking Elliot de Grey down with his stick. Montreal's Maurice Richard then sprang onto Mortson's back and they fought, and then all hands joined in. Mortson, Richard, Toronto's Howie Meeker and Mosdell were banished with majors. Play had scarcely began when Ken Reardon (Montreal) and Joe Klukay (Toronto) began fencing and Bill Barilko went at Reardon, while Klukay got into it with Billy Reay, and in another fight, Hal Laycoe got into it with Garth Boesch. In the game itself, Turk Broda quietly picked up his first shutout of the year as the Leafs got the Canadiens 2–0.

A sad note was the death of former Pittsburgh Pirates defenceman Tex White, who was found dead in his bed at his home in Port Colborne, Ontario on December 12. He was only 48 years old.

Both Detroit and Montreal lost key players to injury this year. Montreal lost Elmer Lach with a fractured jaw when he collided with Toronto defenceman Bob Goldham, and Emile "Butch" Bouchard injured a knee. Detroit lost Gordie Howe, who underwent knee surgery.

Bill Durnan got hot in the second half of the season and recorded four consecutive shutouts, going 309 minutes and 21 seconds without giving up a goal. In all, Durnan had 10 shutouts and won his fifth Vezina Trophy in six years.

[edit] Rule changes

A new rule, often called the "Durnan Rule", was introduced for the start of the season stating that goalies cannot be captains and wear the "C" or "A". Specifically, NHL Rule 14-D reads: No playing Coach or playing Manager or goalkeeper shall be permitted to act as Captain or Alternate Captain.[1]

This rule was introduced because Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens goalie and captain, would frequently leave his crease to dispute calls with the referees. Opposing teams claimed that this would give the Canadiens unscheduled timeouts during strategic points in games. It would be another sixty years before another goalie would be captain. For the 2008–09 season, the Vancouver Canucks named Roberto Luongo their 12th team captain and NHL history's seventh goalie captain.

[edit] Final standings

National Hockey League	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Detroit Red Wings	60	34	19	7	75	195	145
Boston Bruins	60	29	23	8	66	178	163
Montreal Canadiens	60	28	23	9	65	152	126
Toronto Maple Leafs	60	22	25	13	57	147	161
Chicago Black Hawks	60	21	31	8	50	173	211
New York Rangers	60	18	31	11	47	133	172

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[edit] Scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Roy Conacher	Chicago Black Hawks	60	26	42	68	8
Doug Bentley	Chicago Black Hawks	60	23	43	66	38
Sid Abel	Detroit Red Wings	60	28	26	54	49
Ted Lindsay	Detroit Red Wings	50	26	28	54	97
Jim Conacher	Chicago Black Hawks / Detroit Red Wings	59	26	23	49	43
Paul Ronty	Boston Bruins	60	20	29	49	11
Harry Watson	Toronto Maple Leafs	60	26	19	45	30
Billy Reay	Montreal Canadiens	60	22	23	45	33
Gus Bodnar	Chicago Black Hawks	59	16	26	45	14
Johnny Peirson	Boston Bruins	59	22	21	43	45

[edit] Playoffs

[edit] Playoff bracket

Semi-finals			Stanley Cup Final

1	Detroit Red Wings	4
3	Montreal Canadiens	3
			1	Detroit Red Wings	0
			4	Toronto Maple Leafs	4
2	Boston Bruins	1
4	Toronto Maple Leafs	4

[edit] Semifinals

Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 22	Montreal Canadiens	1	Detroit Red Wings	2	OT
March 24	Montreal Canadiens	4	Detroit Red Wings	3	OT
March 26	Detroit Red Wings	2	Montreal Canadiens	3
March 29	Detroit Red Wings	3	Montreal Canadiens	1
March 31	Montreal Canadiens	1	Detroit Red Wings	3
April 2	Detroit Red Wings	1	Montreal Canadiens	3
April 5	Montreal Canadiens	1	Detroit Red Wings	3

Detroit wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 3

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
March 22	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	Boston Bruins	0
March 24	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	Boston Bruins	2
March 26	Boston Bruins	5	Toronto Maple Leafs	4	OT
March 29	Boston Bruins	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	3
March 30	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	Boston Bruins	2

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 1

[edit] Stanley Cup Finals

Main article: 1949 Stanley Cup Finals

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score
April 8	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	Detroit Red Wings	2
April 10	Toronto Maple Leafs	3	Detroit Red Wings	1
April 13	Detroit Red Wings	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	3
April 16	Detroit Red Wings	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	3

Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 0

[edit] NHL awards

Calder Memorial Trophy:	Pentti Lund, New York Rangers
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings
Lady Byng Trophy:	Bill Quackenbush, Detroit Red Wings
O'Brien Cup:	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Detroit Red Wings
Art Ross Trophy:	Roy Conacher, Chicago Black Hawks
Vezina Trophy:	Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens

[edit] All-Star teams

First team	Position	Second team
Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens	G	Chuck Rayner, New York Rangers
Bill Quackenbush, Detroit Red Wings	D	Glen Harmon, Montreal Canadiens
Jack Stewart, Detroit Red Wings	D	Ken Reardon, Montreal Canadiens
Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings	C	Doug Bentley, Chicago Black Hawks
Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens	RW	Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings
Roy Conacher, Chicago Black Hawks	LW	Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings

[edit] Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1948–49 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Jack Gelineau, Boston Bruins
Dave Creighton, Boston Bruins

[edit] Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1948–49 (listed with their last team):

Neil Colville, New York Rangers

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ 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] 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.

[1]

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