Chicago Black Hawks superstar Bobby Hull became the youngest player in National Hockey League history to score 300 goals last night. Hull actually lit the red light four times, but the goals weren’t enough as Chicago dropped a 6-5 decision to the New York Rangers in one of three scheduled games. Detroit shut out Toronto 4-0 and Montreal handled Boston 3-1 in the other matches.
Hull’s Four Not Enough
Chicago’s Bobby Hull erupted for four goals last night, including three in a seven-minute span in the third period, but it wasn’t enough for the Black Hawks to overcome six New York Ranger markers as the New Yorkers skated off with a 6-5 win.
It was second consecutive game in which the Hawks got a great individual performance from a player and lost. Saturday night rookie Ken Hodge netted three goals in a 6-4 loss to Montreal.
Hull’s fourth goal was the 300th of his illustrious career. At just 27 years of age, he is now the youngest player in the history of the league to reach that total. With 36 goals on the season, he is leaving all other competitors in the dust in the NHL scoring race. He seems a cinch to break the single-season record of 50, held by Maurice Richard and Bernie Geoffrion. He even has an outside chance of reaching the 50 mark in 50 games, which would equal Richard’s feat in the 1944-45 season.
Rangers led 2-1 at the end of the first on goals by Reggie Fleming and Vic Hadfield. Hull sandwiched his first of the night between the two New York markers.
The second period opened with Chicago’s Len Lunde notching his fourth of the campaign to even things up at 2-2. But the Rangers replied with three straight before the end of the period to claim a 5-2 lead after two. Don Marshall, Hadfield and Jean Ratelle were the Ranger goal-getters.
Hull scored his second of the night at 1:57 of the final frame and before the period was half-way through, the score would be 6-5 Rangers. After Hull made the score 5-3, Doug Robinson connected for New York to make it 6-3. Hull then came through with two more to leave the Hawks down by one. The Rangers improved defensively enough to keep the home town Hawks off the scoreboard and they hung on for the 6-5 win.
Chicago’s two weekend losses dropped them out of first place in the NHL standings, as Montreal’s four points propelled them into the league lead.
Crozier Owns Leafs
Detroit Red Wings continued their mastery over the Toronto Maple Leafs this season as they cruised to a 4-0 whitewash of the Leafs last night at the Olympia in Detroit. With Roger Crozier in goal for every game, the Red Wings now have won six and tied two in eight meetings with Toronto.
Crozier’s shutout was his sixth of the season, and three of those have come against Toronto in Detroit. He was at his best again against the Leafs last night, making 31 saves. He attributed his game to good fortune and the fine play of his mates:
“I got the breaks. It’s been that way against Leafs most of the season. I sort of make the right moves when they’re shooting.
“But the defence was just great and the forwards never stopped skating and checking. That sure makes a goalie’s work much easier.”
Norm Ullman was the big man on the Detroit offence with three goals. Alex Delvecchio added the other. Ullman’s three goals all came on different types of plays. His first was a low screamer that went in off the post. The second was a long, twisting, bouncing shot that seemed to skip past Leaf goalie Johnny Bower. The third was a beautiful tip-in of a Delvecchio drive from near the blue line on which Bower had no chance.
Toronto coach Punch Imlach wasn’t all that upset with his team’s game:
“Everything worked for them. They got two power play goals and one on a freak bouncer. That Ullman couldn’t do anything wrong. His 60-foot bouncer was a fluke and one other was a deflection of a bullet fired by Delvecchio.
“It was just the opposite for our guys. It isn’t bad enough that Crozier robs us blind, but our tip-in chances – and we had four – always hit him. That’s luck in any league.
“But let’s face it, a goalie is always lucky when he’s good and Crozier was great.”
Toronto had a new face in the lineup as Brent Imlach, son of the Leafs coach, was a late addition. Brent, a centre with the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association Junior A League, was brought on the trip to Detroit when center Wally Boyer was unable to suit up for the Leafs due to a groin injury. The 18-year-old was used to kill a couple of penalties and played well defensively. He will rejoin the Marlboros today.
Habs Back in First
The Montreal Canadiens reclaimed first place in the National Hockey League standings with a 3-1 win over the Bruins at the Garden in Boston. It was the second straight win for the Habs on the weekend, and the four points powered them past the Chicago Black Hawks and into first place.
The game didn’t start as if Canadiens were going to get anything positive out of this one. Newly acquired Pit Martin put the Bruins on the scoreboard after only 19 seconds of play in the first period.
Martin’s goal came on a neat passing play from veteran Ron Stewart to young Bob Dillabough, who set up Martin. The young former Red Wing made no mistake on Habs goalie Charley Hodge.
It would have been easy for Montreal to sag and throw in the towel, but that didn’t happen. Canadiens tied things up just three minutes later with Ralph Backstrom’s 13th of the year.
The number 13 proved very lucky for the Habs, as two more members of the team scored their 13th goals in the second period. Henri Richard put the visitors ahead at the 50-second mark. Gilles Tremblay followed with number 13 for him at 12:14. That would finish the scoring for both teams for the evening.
The lack of offence the rest of the way was likely more due to the poor ice conditions than anything else. The Garden had hosted a basketball game earlier in the day and the ice conditions suffered greatly as a result.
OHA Flyers Top Jr. Habs
The Niagara Falls Flyers got three goals from Ted Snell as they romped to a 6-3 win over the Montreal Junior Canadiens at the Forum in Montreal last night.
Other Ontario Hockey Association Junior A games saw Hamilton top Toronto 5-3, Peterborough hammer Kitchener 8-5, and St. Catharines outscore Oshawa 9-8.
Flyers Win Rough One
In Montreal the Flyers played a rough, bruising game designed to intimidate the Montreal juniors, and it worked. Besides Snell’s three, other Niagara goal-getters were Rosaire Paiement, Tom Webster and Jean Pronovost. Don Liesmer, Lucien Grenier and Robin Burns replied for the Baby Habs.
Speck Finally Finds Skate Sharpener
In Toronto, Hamilton’s Fred Speck scored the tying goal and set up the winner for the Red Wings against the Marlboros. But Speck’s success didn’t come without a challenge.
Before the game, Speck had very dull skate blades and found that no skate sharpener was available at Maple Leaf Gardens. Hamilton coach Rudy Pilous was livid when told on machine was broken and the other was locked away, and no one had a key.
Nevertheless, Speck found a nearby sporting goods store with a skate sharpener and renewed the edge on his blades. But that was only after he tried playing in the first period and was unable to maintain an upright position on the dull blades. He left after the first period and returned in time for the third.
Peter Mahovlich scored twice for the Red Wings, with Speck, Kevin Petit and Don Giesebrecht adding the others. Wayne Carleton, Tom Martin and Brian Glennie counted for the Marlies.
Redmond Leads Peterborough
Mickey Redmond scored three first-period goals to lead the Petes past Kitchener. Joey Johnston, Dale McLeish, John Vanderburg, Don Herriman and George Godson also connected for the winners. Kitchener marksmen were Don Luce with two, and Bob Cook, Bruce Reier and Bob Jones with singles.
Nine Different Scorers for St. Kitts
The St. Catharines win over Oshawa was their second in a row over the Generals on the weekend. Nine different players shared in the Black Hawks scoring. Ken Laidlaw, Jan Popiel, Tom Reid, Kerry Bond, Richie Bayes, Doug Shelton, Gary MacMillan, Don Leblanc and Paul Terbenche each scored once. Oshawa goal-getters were Wayne Cashman with two, and singles by Paul Cadieux, Danny Sanford, Bill Black, Bobby Orr, Bill Little and Brian Morenz.
