1934–35 NHL season

The 1934–35 NHL season was the 18th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nine teams each played 48 games. The Montreal Maroons were the Stanley Cup winners as they swept the Toronto Maple Leafs in three games in the final series.

League business

With financial difficulties continuing for the Ottawa Senators, the NHL franchise was transferred to St. Louis changing the nickname to St. Louis Eagles. The Senators became a senior amateur team again. The NHL franchise was not profitable in St. Louis, either, partly due to the extended travel of being located in the Canadian Division. The Eagles would sell players Syd Howe and Ralph "Scotty" Bowman to Detroit for $50,000 to make ends meet.

Montreal Canadiens owners Leo Dandurand and Joseph Cattarinich sell the team to Ernest Savard and Maurice Forget of the Canadian Arena Company.

The penalty shot, an invention of the old Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), was introduced in the NHL this season.^[1] The puck was placed in a 10-foot circle, 38 feet (12 m) from the goalmouth. The player could shoot while stationary within the circle, or could shoot while moving, as long as the shot was taken within the circle.^[1] The goaltender had to be stationary until the puck was shot, and no more than 1 foot (0.30 m) in front of the goal mouth.^[1]

Several more teams changed from a single uniform to a light version and dark version. The Detroit Red Wings introduced a white version of their existing uniform, swapping red elements for white elements. The Chicago Black Hawks introduced a new uniform design, and differentiated between versions by using white in the main horizontal stripe and their socks, and using brown in the other version. The New York Americans and Toronto Maple Leafs continued using their two sets of uniforms. The Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Maroons, New York Rangers and St. Louis Eagles used only a single uniform design each.^[2]

Regular season

Charlie Conacher decided to play coy this year and Conn Smythe had trouble signing him. With Harvey Jackson out, it looked as though only Joe Primeau would be the only member of the Kid line in action for Toronto. However, he did finally sign. Conacher responded with his best season, scoring 36 goals and leading the league in scoring.

A bombshell trade was made with Howie Morenz, Lorne Chabot and Marty Burke going to Chicago for Leroy Goldsworthy, Roger Jenkins, and Lionel Conacher. Although Morenz wasn't his old self, he did help Chicago, who finished second in the American Division, just falling short of Boston by only one point. The Canadiens then traded Lionel Conacher and Herb Cain to the Maroons for Nels Crutchfield. The trades did not help and the Canadiens lost some fans.

Meanwhile, Tommy Gorman bought a share of the Montreal Maroons from James Strachan and when he picked up Alex Connell, he had another winner.

The first penalty shot was awarded to the Montreal Canadiens' Armand Mondou on November 10, 1934; he was stopped by the Toronto Maple Leafs' George Hainsworth. On November 13, Ralph "Scotty" Bowman of the St. Louis Eagles scored the first penalty shot goal in NHL history.

The playoffs continued to elude the New York Americans, but they added two important additions, left wing Dave "Sweeney" Schriner and right wing Lorne Carr. Teamed with centre Art Chapman, the Americans were on the way up.

Final standings

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

Playoffs

The most pulsating series was that of Chicago and the Montreal Maroons. Chicago coach Clem Loughlin said that the team who won the series very likely would win the Stanley Cup. Neither team scored after two regulation games. In the overtime, Dave Trottier was cut and retired for stitches. He'd hardly arrived in the dressing room when Baldy Northcott scored the goal that won the series for the Maroons.

Toronto's goaltender George Hainsworth got hot and eliminated the Bruins, while the Rangers outlasted the Montreal Canadiens on Bill Cook's goal in the deciding game. He'd been knocked goofy by the Canadiens Nels Crutchfield, but wasn't too groggy to win the series for the Rangers. George Hainsworth continued hot and the Leafs beat the Bruins to advance to the finals.

Final

The Montreal Maroons throttled the Kid line of Primeau, Jackson and Conacher and goaltender Alex Connell time and again foiled sure goals for Toronto, and the Maroons won the series 3 games to none, and as game three ended, the crowd let out a roar of approval and Connell leaned back on the crossbar and cried. All of the Maroons' games ended in ties or victories, making them the last team until the 1951–52 Detroit Red Wings to not lose a single game during the playoffs. The Maroons were also the last non-Original Six team to win the Stanley Cup until the Philadelphia Flyers won it in 1974 and the last team that is currently defunct to have won a Stanley Cup.

Playoff bracket

Goalie statistics by game and series

Series "A" Boston vs. Toronto Game #1 1–0 Boston- Thompson 37(0), Hainsworth 38(1) 33:26 Overtime, Game #2 2–0 Toronto- Thompson 43(2), Hainsworth 16(0) Game #3 3–0 Toronto- Thompson 37(3), Hainsworth 22(0) Game #4 2–1 Toronto- Thompson 37(2), Hainsworth 29(1) Totals..Thompson 154(7)= .955 Save%...1.54 G.A.A...1 shutout

    Hainsworth 105(2)= .981 Save%...0.44 G.A.A...2 shutouts

Series "B" Chicago vs. Montreal Moroons Game #1 0–0 tie game -Connell 28(0), Chabot 28(0) Game #2 1–0 Montreal -Connell 24(0), Chabot 32(1)...4:02 overtime

Totals...Connell 52(0), 1.00 Save%...0.00 G.A.A.

    ....Chabot 60(1), .983 Save%...0.48 G.A.A.

On April 10, 1935, in the Toronto Globe and Mail, Chicago's Johnny Gottselig stated about this series and its player and i quote "If Maroons can only hit the form that eliminated us, they will give the leafs a real trimming. That Hawks/Maroons series was the closest i ever played in. Lorne Chabot was as good as Chuck Gardiner ever was"

Series "C" New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens Game #1 2–1 N.Y. Rangers...Kerr 31(1), Cude 45(2) Game #2 4–4 tie game.......Kerr 51(4), Cude 31(4) Totals...Cude 76(6), .921 Save%...3.00 G.A.A.

    ...Kerr 82(5), .939 Save%...2.50 G.A.A.

Series "D" New York Rangers vs. Montreal Maroons Game #1 2–1 Montreal... Kerr 41(2), Connell 26(1) Game #2 3–3 tie game... Kerr 45(3), Connell 29(3) Totals....Kerr 86(5), .942 Save%...2.50 G.A.A.

  ...Connell 55(4), .927 Save%...2.00 G.A.A.

Kerr kept the Rangers in this series. His play was outstanding and but for him the Rangers would have been crushed. Series "E" Toronto vs. Montreal maroons Game #1 3–2 Maroons...Connell 21(2), Hainsworth 39(3)...5:28 overtime Game #2 3–1 Maroons...Connell 43(1), Hainsworth 19(3) Game #3 4–1 Maroons...Connell 19(1), Hainsworth 29(4) Totals...Connell 83(4), .952 Save%...2.00 G.A.A.

   Hainsworth 87(10), .885 save%...3.33 G.A.A.

This was Alex Connell's 2nd stanley cup win. An interesting fact about Connell's career was the fact that the only time he won a game in the play-offs were his two cup win years, yet he has been recognized as a great money goalie. i.e. in 26–27 and 34–35 his combined record was 8 wins, 0 losses, and 5 ties in the other 4 seasons of playoffs he was 0 wins, 5 losses, and 3 ties Connell was a great goalie, but Chabot was definitely the best money goalie from that era.

Awards

Eddie Shore won the Hart Trophy for the second time in his career. Frank Boucher won the Lady Byng for the seventh and final time in his career, and his third consecutive time. Lorne Chabot won the Vezina for the first and only time in his career.

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

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

Source: NHL.^[3]

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Source: NHL.^[4]

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1934–35 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Tommy Anderson, Detroit Red Wings
• Bucko McDonald, Detroit Red Wings
• Sweeney Schriner, New York Americans
• Lynn Patrick, New York Rangers
• Toe Blake, Montreal Maroons
• Bill Cowley, St. Louis Eagles
• Art Jackson, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Bob Davidson, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Nick Metz, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1934–35 (listed with their last team):

• John Ross Roach, Detroit Red Wings
• Albert Leduc, Montreal Canadiens
• Alex Smith, New York Americans
• Charley McVeigh, New York Americans
• Normie Himes, New York Americans

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1934 in sports
• 1935 in sports

References

• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Hockey. Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X. 
• Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5. 
• Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000). Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9. 
• Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (2003). The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Publications International Inc. ISBN 0-7853-9624-1. 
• McFarlane, Brian (1973). The Story of the National Hockey League. New York, NY: Pagurian Press. ISBN 0-684-13424-1. 

Notes

External links

• Hockey Database