1961 Stanley Cup Finals

The 1961 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1960–61 season, and the culmination of the 1961 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks. Chicago was making its first Finals appearance since 1944, and Detroit its first appearance since 1956; both had lost to the Montreal Canadiens in those previous appearances. The Black Hawks won the best-of-seven series, four games to two, to win their third Stanley Cup, their first since 1938. However, this proved to be the last time Chicago won the Cup until 2010, a 49-year drought. This was the only title not won by the Canadiens, Red Wings or Toronto Maple Leafs during the Original Six era, and the only title won by a U.S. team between 1955 and 1970.

1961 Stanley Cup Finals
123456 Total
Chicago Black Hawks 313165 4
Detroit Red Wings 231231 2
Location(s)Chicago: Chicago Stadium (1, 3, 5)
Detroit: Olympia Stadium (2, 4, 6)
CoachesChicago: Rudy Pilous
Detroit: Sid Abel
CaptainsChicago: Ed Litzenberger
Detroit: Gordie Howe
DatesApril 6 to April 16, 1961
Series-winning goalAb McDonald (18:49, second, G6)
Hall of FamersBlack Hawks:
Glenn Hall (1975)
Bobby Hull (1983)
Stan Mikita (1983)
Pierre Pilote (1975)
Red Wings:
Alex Delvecchio (1977)
Gordie Howe (1972)
Marcel Pronovost (1978)
Terry Sawchuk (1971)
Norm Ullman (1982)
Coaches:
Sid Abel (1969, player)
Rudy Pilous (1985)
Stanley Cup Finals

Paths to the Finals

Detroit defeated Toronto in five games and Chicago upset Montreal, the record five-time defending champion, in six, setting up the first all-American-team Finals since 1950, when the Wings beat the New York Rangers in a seven-game series.

Game summaries

Two future Hockey Hall of Fame members, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, made their first Stanley Cup appearances. Hull scored two goals in the first game, including the winner, and Mikita scored the winner in game five.[1]

This was the only Stanley Cup championship in the 1960s not to be won by either the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Montreal Canadiens[1] or feature either team.

April 6 Detroit Red Wings 2–3 Chicago Black Hawks Chicago Stadium Recap  
No scoring First period 9:39 - pp - Bobby Hull (3)
10:10 - Kenny Wharram (2)
13:15 - Bobby Hull (4)
Len Lunde (2) - pp - 16:14 Second period No scoring
Al Johnson (2) - 19:18 Third period No scoring
Terry Sawchuck, Hank Bassen Goalie stats Glenn Hall
April 8 Chicago Black Hawks 1–3 Detroit Red Wings Olympia Stadium Recap  
No scoring First period 8:10 - Howie Young (2)
17:39 - pp - Alex Delvecchio (2)
Pierre Pilote (2) - 00:41 Second period No scoring
No scoring Third period 19:22 - Alex Delvecchio (3)
Glenn Hall Goalie stats Hank Bassen
April 10 Detroit Red Wings 1–3 Chicago Black Hawks Chicago Stadium Recap  
No scoring First period No scoring
No scoring Second period 11:54 - Stan Mikita (4)
14:19 - Ron Murphy (1)
18:16 - Murray Balfour (3)
Gordie Howe (4) - 9:28 Third period No scoring
Hank Bassen Goalie stats Glenn Hall
April 12 Chicago Black Hawks 1–2 Detroit Red Wings Olympia Stadium Recap  
No scoring First period No scoring
Bill Hay (2) - 7:34 Second period 8:48 - pp - Alex Delvecchio (4)
No scoring Third period 13:10 - Bruce MacGregor (1)
Glenn Hall Goalie stats Terry Sawchuck
April 14 Detroit Red Wings 3–6 Chicago Black Hawks Chicago Stadium Recap  
Leo Labine (3) - 2:14
Howie Glover (1) - pp - 15:35		 First period 9:36 - Murray Balfour (4)
10:04 - Ron Murphy (2)
Vic Stasiuk (2) - 18:49 Second period 16:25 - Murray Balfour (5)
No scoring Third period 2:51 - pp - Stan Mikita (5)
7:02 - Pierre Pilote (3)
13:27 - Stan Mikita (6)
Terry Sawchuck Goalie stats Glenn Hall
April 16 Chicago Black Hawks 5–1 Detroit Red Wings Olympia Stadium Recap  
No scoring First period 15:24 - pp - Parker MacDonald (1)
Reg Fleming (1) - sh - 6:45
Ab McDonald (2) - 18:49		 Second period No scoring
Eric Nesterenko (2) - 00:57
Jack Evans (1) - 6:27
Kenny Wharram (3) - 18:00		 Third period No scoring
Glenn Hall Goalie stats Hank Bassen
Chicago won series 4–2

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1961 Stanley Cup was presented to Black Hawks captain Ed Litzenberger by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Black Hawks 5–1 win over the Red Wings in game six.

The following Black Hawks players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1960–61 Chicago Black Hawks

Players
  Goaltenders

Coaching and administrative staff

† Left off the cup, but included on the team picture.

Stanley Cup engraving
  • Allan Roy Edwards was engraved as Allan R. Edwards. He never played for Chicago. Roy Edwards first NHL game was during the 1967–68 season with Detroit.
  • Denis DeJordy first NHL game was during the 1962–63 season, when he replaced Glenn Hall. This ended Hall's record of 502 consecutive complete games.
  • Ronald Robert Murphy was engraved as Robert Murphy.
  • Tod Aloysius Martin Sloan was engraved as Martin A. Sloan. He was engraved on the cup as Tod Sloan in 1951 with Toronto.
  • Stan Mikita was born in Slovakia, but moved to Canada as young child. He was the first Slovakia born player to win the Stanley Cup.
  • Wayne Hillman and Wayne Hicks both played in the last game of the Stanley Cup Finals game 6. So they qualified to be on the Stanley Cup. It was only game they played for Chicago that season. They spend the rest of the season in the minors.
  • Captain Ed Litzenberger missed games 1 and 2 with an injury, so Ronald Chico Maki was dressed in his place. Maki's name was included on the Stanley Cup for dressing for 2 games in the Finals, even though he did not get any ice time, and Maki played his first regular season NHL game during the 1961–62 season.

Broadcasting

The 1961 Stanley Cup Finals were almost not televised in Canada at all. At that time, the CBC only had rights to the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs' games; home games only during the season and all games in the playoffs. However, with both the Canadiens and Maple Leafs eliminated in the semi-finals, the CBC's worst nightmare became reality. The CBC had to conceive a way to carry the Finals between the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Red Wings or face public revolt. According to lore, the CBC found a way to link their Windsor viewers as having a vested interest in the Finals with the across the river Red Wings. Thus, CBC was able to carry the series after inking special contracts with the Red Wings and Black Hawks as a service to the Windsor market. From Windsor, CBC linked the signal to Toronto and they relayed the coverage Dominion-wide. From there, Canadians were able to see the Finals with nary a glitch in the coverage.

See also

Notes
  1. Cole, Stephen (2004). The Best of Hockey Night in Canada. Toronto: McArthur & Company. p. 52. ISBN 1-55278-408-8.

References
  • Diamond, Dan (2000). Total Stanley Cup. Toronto: Total Sports Canada. ISBN 978-1-892129-07-9.
  • "All-Time NHL Results".
  • Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Bolton, Ont.: Fenn Pub. pp 12, 50. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7
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