1937–38 NHL season

1937–38 NHL season
League	National Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	November 4, 1937 – April 12, 1938
Number of games	48
Number of teams	8
Regular season
Season champions	Boston Bruins
Season MVP	Eddie Shore (Boston Bruins)
Top scorer	Gordie Drillon (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Canadian Division champions	Toronto Maple Leafs
American Division champions	Boston Bruins
Stanley Cup
Finals champions	Chicago Black Hawks
Runners-up	Toronto Maple Leafs
NHL seasons
← 1936–37 1938–39 →

The 1937–38 NHL season was the 21st season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Eight teams each played 48 games. The Chicago Black Hawks were the Stanley Cup winners as they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs three games to one in the final series.

League business

Bill Dwyer could not come up with the capital required to retain his team and the NHL took full control of the New York Americans.

The Howie Morenz Memorial Game, the NHL's second all-star game, was played November 2, 1937, and raised over $11,447, which, added to other contributions, established a fund of over $20,000 for the Morenz family. Prior to the start of the game, Howie Morenz's uniform and playing kit was auctioned and Joseph Cattarinich put down the winning bid of $500. The uniform was presented to Howie Morenz Jr. The NHL All-stars defeated a combined team of Canadiens and Maroons players 6–5.

Rule changes

In September 1937, the NHL passed the 'icing' rule whereby teams could no longer shoot the puck the length of the ice to delay the game. Teams were allowed to continue to 'ice' the puck during penalties. The penalty shot was amended to remove the dots where the shot was to take place. Two new lines 30 feet from the goal were added instead. A player taking a penalty shot would start from the line closest to his own goal, skate with the puck and shoot before he crossed the penalty line nearest the opposition goal. After a puck was shot out-of-bounds, the location of the following faceoff was now to occur at the point where the shot was made, instead of where it exited the rink as was done until that time.

Regular season

Charlie Conacher was named captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he had a big weekend at the expense of Chicago November 13 with a hat trick in a 7–3 win. He then scored 2 goals in a 3–3 tie. However, The Big Bomber ran into misfortune once more on November 18 in Montreal against the Canadiens when he dislocated his shoulder. The cycle of injuries had a cumulative effect on Conacher's nervous and physical condition and his doctor told him to retire from hockey. He did retire for the rest of the season, but would play again the next season, but was forever gone from the Leafs.

The New York Rangers lost their star center Neil Colville for a few games as the result of some horseplay that must have infuriated Lester Patrick. Defenceman Joe Cooper was pursuing a fad of slicing off neckties from teammates using a penknife. Colville threw up his hand only to receive a gash that required 11 stitches to close.

The New York Americans, with Ching Johnson and Hap Day to relieve Joe Jerwa and Al Murray on defence, were doing much better than usual. Earl Robertson, their new goaltender, was leading the Canadian Division in goaltending and ended up doing so at season's end. The Amerks also had Sweeney Schriner and Nels Stewart contributing in a nice way to the offence.

The Montreal Maroons, coached at first by King Clancy, settled into last place and president and general manager Tommy Gorman decided he'd take over as coach. He did even worse and the fans stayed away. Although the team did badly, one highlight was an 11–7 win over their rivals, the Canadiens, and Baldy Northcott had a hat trick in the game. There seemed to be nothing Gorman could do to revitalize the team and at one stretch the team lost 8 straight games. On March 17, 1938, the Maroons played their last game against their rivals, the Canadiens.

Detroit was the shockingly bad team of the American Division. After winning the Stanley Cup in 1937, they were reclining in the cellar of the Division. They had one bright moment when Carl Liscombe set a record for the fastest hat trick to this time (since broken by Bill Mosienko). Liscombe scored three goals in 1 minute and 52 seconds in a 5–1 win over Chicago.

On March 17, 1938, Nels Stewart scored his 300th National Hockey League goal in a 5–3 loss to the Rangers.

Final standings

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

Canadian Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Toronto Maple Leafs	48	24	15	9	57	151	127	404
New York Americans	48	19	18	11	49	110	111	327
Montreal Canadiens	48	18	17	13	49	123	128	340
Montreal Maroons	48	12	30	6	30	101	149	470

American Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Boston Bruins	48	30	11	7	67	142	89	284
New York Rangers	48	27	15	6	60	149	96	435
Chicago Black Hawks	48	14	25	9	37	97	139	238
Detroit Red Wings	48	12	25	11	35	99	133	258

Playoffs

The Cinderella story of the century was the Chicago Black Hawks who would barely make the playoffs but proceeded to defeat the Canadiens, the Americans and the Maple Leafs to win the Cup with the lowest regular-season winning percentage of any NHL champion.

Quarter-finals

New York Rangers vs. New York Americans Date Away Team Home Team Notes March 22 NY Americans 2 1 NY Rangers 2OT March 24 NY Rangers 4 3 NY Americans March 27 NY Americans 3 2 NY Rangers 4OT NY Americans won the series 2-1.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Chicago Blackhawks Date Away Team Home Team Notes March 22 Chicago 4 6 Mtl. Canadiens March 24 Mtl. Canadiens 0 4 Chicago March 26 Chicago 3 2 Mtl. Canadiens OT Chicago won the series 2-1.

The New York Americans stunned the New York Rangers as Lorne Carr scored the winner in overtime in the third and deciding game.

The Canadiens beat the Hawks in game one of the quarter-final, as Toe Blake had the hat trick. But Mike Karakas shut out the Canadiens in the second game and even though Georges Mantha appeared to win the game with a freak goal in game three, Earl Seibert kept the Hawks from losing with a goal late in the game, and then the Hawks won the series in overtime.

Semi-finals

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins Date Away Team Home Team Notes March 24 Boston 0 1 Toronto 2OT March 26 Boston 1 2 Toronto March 29 Toronto 3 2 Boston OT Toronto won the series 3-0.

New York Americans vs. Chicago Blackhawks
Date	Away Team		Home Team		Notes
March 29	Chicago	1	3	NY Americans
March 31	NY Americans	0	1	Chicago	OT
April 3	Chicago	3	2	NY Americans
Chicago won the series 2-1.

In an upset, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat Boston in the Series A semi-final.

In the Series B semi-final, it was Chicago and the New York Americans, who beat Chicago in game one 3–1. Game two was a great goaltenders battle between Mike Karakas and Earl Robertson. It appeared that the Americans were headed to their first Stanley Cup final when Nels Stewart scored with seconds left in the game, but referee Clarence Campbell disallowed the goal, saying Eddie Wiseman was in the goal crease. Cully Dahlstrom scored the goal that saved the Black Hawks. In New York, the deciding game saw Alex Levinsky of Chicago score the go-ahead goal, but the red light didn't go on. Investigation revealed that fans were holding the goal judge's hand so he could not signal the goal. Although the Amerks came close, they were unable to tie the score and the Black Hawks were in the finals.

Final

Chicago Black Hawks vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 5	Chicago Black Hawks	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	1
April 7	Chicago Black Hawks	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	5
April 10	Toronto Maple Leafs	1	Chicago Black Hawks	2
April 12	Toronto Maple Leafs	1	Chicago Black Hawks	4

Chicago wins best-of-five series 3–1.

European tour

Main article: 1938 Detroit Red Wings – Montreal Canadiens European tour

After the Stanley Cup final finished, the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens played a nine-game exhibition series in Europe, becoming the first NHL teams to play outside North America. Six games were played in England, three in France. The Canadiens won the series with a record of 5–3–1.

Awards

Trophy winners

Calder Trophy: (Best first-year player)	Cully Dahlstrom, Chicago Black Hawks
Hart Trophy: (Most valuable player)	Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins
Lady Byng Trophy: (Excellence and sportsmanship)	Gordie Drillon, Toronto Maple Leafs
O'Brien Cup: (Canadian Division champion)	Toronto Maple Leafs
Prince of Wales Trophy: (American Division champion)	Boston Bruins
Vezina Trophy: (Fewest goals allowed)	Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

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

PLAYER	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Gordie Drillon	Toronto Maple Leafs	48	26	26	52	4
Syl Apps	Toronto Maple Leafs	47	21	29	50	9
Paul Thompson	Chicago Black Hawks	48	22	22	44	14
Georges Mantha	Montreal Canadiens	47	23	19	42	12
Cecil Dillon	New York Rangers	48	21	18	39	6
Bill Cowley	Boston Bruins	48	17	22	39	8
Sweeney Schriner	New York Americans	48	21	17	38	22
Bill Thoms	Toronto Maple Leafs	48	14	24	38	14
Clint Smith	New York Rangers	48	14	23	37	0
Nels Stewart	New York Americans	48	19	17	36	29

Source: NHL

Team Photos

• 

  Boston Bruins

• 

  Chicago Black Hawks

• 

  Detroit Red Wings

• 

  Montreal Canadiens

• 

  Montreal Maroons

• 

  New York Americans

• 

  Toronto Maple Leafs

References

• (2000) in Diamond, Dan: Total Hockey. Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X. 
• (2011) The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5. 
• (2000) Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd.. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9. 
• Duplacey, James (1996). The annotated rules of hockey. New York, NY: Lyons & Burford. ISBN 1-55821-466-6. 
• (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
• NHL.com

National Hockey League seasons

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