The second article in a three part series taking a look back at the ‘Did You Know’ facts on the backs of the 1955-56 Parkhurst NHL hockey cards. Here, we look at cards numbered 26 to 50 with some expanded and updated info on each ‘Did You Know’ fact.
The other two parts can be found here:
Of course, images of both the fronts and backs of all these cards can be found here in our virtual collection (along with a video of all 79 cards): 1955-56 Parkhurst NHL.
1955-56 Parkhurst ‘Did You Know’ 26-50
26 Charlie Conacher
In 1926 there were 10 teams in the NHL. Five teams each in the American and Canadian group.
What they mean by 1926 is the 1926-27 season, not 1925-26. In 1926-27, the league increased from seven to ten teams with the addition of the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Detroit Cougars. Previously, the seven teams were not divided into divisions.
For the 1926-27 NHL season, the American Division consisted of the Rangers, Bruins, Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Cougars. The Canadian Division held the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Maroons, New York Americans and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
27 David “Sweeney” Schriner
The James Norris Memorial Trophy is presented to the NHL’s most outstanding defenseman.
The Norris Trophy was introduced for the 1953-54 season and was given to Red Kelly of the Detroit Red Wings. Bobby Orr has won the trophy the most times with eight. Doug Harvey and Niklas Lidstrom come close with seven wins apiece.
Only two players have won the Norris and the Hart Trophy in the same season. Bobby Orr did it in three consecutive seasons from 1969-70 to 1971-72. Chris Pronger accomplished the feat in 1999-00.
To show how random the ‘Did you know?’ facts are, Schriner was a left winger.
28 Syl Apps
Doug Harvey of Montreal Canadiens won the Norris Trophy last year.
For Harvey, 1954-55 was his first of seven Norris Trophy wins and the first of four consecutive. He appeared in all 70 regular season games for the Canadiens, scoring six and assisting on 43 for 49 points. His 43 assists placed him second in the NHL, five behind teammate Bert Olmstead.
29 Ted Kennedy
The Hart Trophy is awarded to the NHL player judged most valuable to his team.
The first winner of the Hart Trophy was Frank Nighbor of the Ottawa Senators in 1923-24. The 1954-55 winner was Ted Kennedy of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Wayne Gretzky holds the record for most wins with nine. All Gretzky’s nine occurred over a ten year period from 1979-80 to 1988-89, nine with the Edmonton Oilers and one with the Los Angeles Kings.
30 Irvine “Ace” Bailey
The first annual All-Star game was played in Toronto in 1947.
From 1946-47 to 1967-68, the All-Star game was generally the reigning Stanley Cup champions versus a team of all-stars from the remaining teams. In 1950-51 and 1951-52, the format changed to a team picked from Montreal and Toronto against a team picked from Chicago, Detroit, New York and Boston.
31 Walter “Babe” Pratt RC
Fastest 2 goals were scored in 4 seconds by Nels Stewart of Montreal Maroons, Jan 3, 1931.
This record stands today but was tied on December 15, 1995. The unlikely scorer of two goals in four seconds was Deron Quint of the Winnipeg Jets. 1995-96 was Quint’s rookie season and he totaled just five goals over 51 games with the Jets.
Deron went on to play 463 regular season games in the National Hockey League between 1995-96 and 2006-07 with the Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, New Jersey Devils, Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago Blackhawks and New York Islanders. He spent 2015-16 with Traktor Chelyabinsk in the KHL.
32 Harold “Baldy” Cotton
Joe Malone of Quebec Bulldogs scored 7 goals in one game in the 1920 season.
Malone’s record stands today. Two months later, Joe had a six goal game. Six players have scored six goals in a National Hockey League game. Malone’s Quebec Bulldogs teammate Newsy Lalonde did it that same year.
Brothers Corb Denneny and Cy Denneny scored six in a game each in 1921. Corb did it with the Toronto St. Pats while Cy did it with the Ottawa Senators. Syd Howe scored six in a game with the Detroit Red Wings in 1944. Red Berenson of the St. Louis Blues accomplished the feat in 1968. Of course, Darryl Sittler did it with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1976. The difference was that Sittler added four assists, as well.
33 Francis “King” Clancy
In 1918-19 the Stanley Cup series between Montreal and Seattle was called off due to a flu epidemic.
The Montreal Canadiens were in Seattle, Washington to take on the Seattle Metropolitans. The series was tied at two wins apiece and a tie. Game six was never played as several players ended up in hospital with the flu. Joe Hall of the Canadiens never made it out, dying of the disease.
34 Clarence “Happy” Day
Detroit Red Wings set a new NHL record last year by winning 15 games in a row.
It should be noted that this 15 game streak started in the regular season and ended in the playoffs. On February 27, 1955, the Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks to start the ball rolling. Detroit won their last nine games of the season before sweeping the Maple Leafs in four in the semi-finals.
In the Stanley Cup finals against the Montreal Canadiens, the Red Wings won the first two games before ending the streak. They would need seven games to take out the Habs.
The current record streak belongs to the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh won 17 straight regular season games in what in considered to be an unbeatable record. The record for the longest undefeated streak belongs to the 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers at, also an unbreakable, 35 games.
35 Don Marshall RC
Former Ranger star Murray Murdoch played 563 consecutive games, including playoffs.
Murdoch played in 508 of a possible 508 regular season games between 1926-27 and 1936-37, all with the New York Rangers. He played every game in his rookie season and every game in his final season, a real rarity. Murray Murdoch remains 19th in NHL history for most consecutive games. The record belongs to Doug Jarvis with 964.
36 Jack LeClair RC
Three teams have won the Stanley Cup seven times. They are the Leafs, Canadiens and Red Wings.
They still remain the only three teams with at least seven Stanley Cup wins. Montreal leads the way with 24. Toronto is been perpetually stuck at 13. The Red Wings are at 11. The Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks are tied with six wins each. The Edmonton Oilers are next with five. The remaining Original 6 team, the New York Rangers, has four wins.
37 Maurice “Rocket” Richard
Toronto Maple Leafs are the only team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup 3 times in a row.
Of course, this wouldn’t last long. 1955-56 was the first of five consecutive championships by the Montreal Canadiens. Toronto would win three in a row again from 1961-62 to 1963-64.
The Habs came close to breaking their own record, winning four consecutive from 1975-76 to 1978-79. The New York Islanders started where Montreal left off, winning four in a row from 1979-80 to 1982-83. Since, just the Oilers, Penguins and Red Wings have won back to back. The Oilers did it twice in the 1980’s.
38 Dickie Moore
The Calder Memorial Trophy is awarded the NHL player rated best in his first NHL year.
Rookie of the year honours began in the NHL in 1932-33 with Carl Voss of the Red Wings getting the nod. In 1936-37 the Calder Trophy was introduced. Toronto leads the way with nine winners. The Bruins, Blackhawks and Rangers have all had eight.
39 Ken Mosdell
The Art Ross Trophy is awarded to the player winning the scoring championship of the league.
The Art Ross Trophy was introduced for the 1947-48 NHL season and the first winner was Elmer Lach of the Canadiens. It was the second time Lach had led the league in scoring. Wayne Gretzky has won the trophy the most times with ten wins. Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux each have their name on the trophy six times. Phil Esposito and Jaromir Jagr follow up with five apiece.
40 Floyd Curry
United States cities have won the Stanley Cup 14 times since the NHL was formed.
That number will increase to 48 after the 2016 Stanley Cup is awarded. The gap has narrowed with no Canadian team winning since 1992-93. It now stands at 49-48 (after 2015-16 with no Canadian teams in the playoffs). The number of current U.S. based teams to hoist the Cup stands at 14. That number has a chance to increase to 15 this season.
41 Calum MacKay
Gordie Howe of Detroit set a new playoff record with 20 points in last season’s playoffs.
That performance is not even found in the top 50 today because of the increased number of potential games in the playoffs. Of course, Wayne Gretzky owns the record with 47 points in 1984-85 with the Oilers. Mario Lemieux is not far behind with 44 in 1990-91 with the Penguins. Paul Coffey holds the record for defensemen with 37 in 1984-85.
42 Bert Olmstead
Shortest overtime Stanley Cup game went only 25 seconds, March 19, 1940, Detroit vs Americans.
It was in game one of a best of three series between the Red Wings and New York. Detroit went on to win the series two games to one but would be swept by the Maple Leafs in the next round.
The current record is just nine seconds. That goal was scored by Brian Skrudland on May 18, 1986 to give the Canadiens a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames. That was game two and the Habs would win the next three in regulation for the championship.
Previous to that, the record belonged to J.P. Parise. Parise scored in the first eleven seconds to give the Islanders a 4-3 win over the Rangers on April 11, 1975. Pit Martin of the Blackhawks scored 12 seconds into a game with the Penguins on April 9, 1972 to give Chicago a 6-5 victory.
43 Bernie “Boom-Boom” Geoffrion
Flash Hollett of Detroit scored most goals for a defenseman in one season, 20 in 50 games, 1944.
Previous to that, Hollett had consecutive 19 goal campaigns with the Boston Bruins in 1941-42 and 1942-43. He played 565 regular season and 80 playoff games in the National Hockey League between 1933-34 and 1945-46 with the Maple Leafs, Bruins and Red Wings. The current record for goals by a blue liner in a season is 48 by Paul Coffey of the Edmonton Oilers in 1985-86.
44 Jean Beliveau
The Prince of Wales trophy is awarded to the team winning the NHL championship.
Talk about a multi-purpose award. The Prince of Wales Trophy was introduced for 1925-26 to award the NHL playoff champions. That winner then went on to compete against the WHL champion for the Stanley Cup.
From 1927-28 to 1937-38, the trophy went to the American Division regular season champs. From 1938-39 to 1966-67, it was, as mentioned on the card, awarded to the NHL regular season champions.
With expansion, from 1967-68 to 1973-74 the trophy honoured the East Division regular season winners. That changed to the Wales Conference from 1974-75 to 1980-81. Since 1981-82, it has been a playoff trophy, first honouring the Wales Conference playoff champs then, since 1993-94, the Eastern Conference playoff champs.
45 Doug Harvey
Murray Murdoch, Ranger foward of yesteryear, coaches a hockey team at Yale University.
Murray Murdoch coached Yale from 1938-39 to 1964-65. He was the sixth coach in Yale history and there have been just 12 since 1919. His 27 years as head coach is second in the NCAA to only Tim Taylor. He went to the Frozen 4 just once. In 1952, Yale lost to Colorado College in the semi-final.
46 Emile “Butch” Bouchard
Bernie Geoffrion of Canadiens won the Art Ross Trophy last year.
Boom Boom won it with 75 points on 38 goals and 37 assists while playing the full 70 game schedule. It was a tight race with teammate Maurice Richard finished with 74 points and another teammate Jean Beliveau totaling 73 points. For Geoffrion, it was the first of two Art Ross Trophy wins. He would lead the league again in 1960-61 with 95 points over 64 games for Montreal.
47 Jim “Bud” MacPherson
The Stanley Cup was donated in 1893 by Lord Stanley of Preston the then Governor General of Canada.
He was known as Lord Stanley of Preston from 1886 to 1893. Frederick Arthur Stanley, the 16th Earl of Derby was Canada’s 6th Governor General. He was in office from 1888 to 1893 while John A. MacDonald, John Abbott and John Thompson spent time as Prime Minister.
Stanley died in 1908 at the age of 67. The famous Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia is one of a handful of places named in his honour.
48 Dollard St. Laurent
Highest shutout game was played March 30, 1944 when Canadiens defeated Toronto 11-0.
This is an error. However, it may just be an error in wording because they forgot to mention it was a playoff record. That same season, on January 23, 1944, the Detroit Red Wings demolished the New York Rangers 15-0.
49 Tom Johnson
Ted Kennedy of Toronto Maple Leafs won the Hart Trophy last season.
Kennedy won it with relatively low offensive numbers. Playing all 70 regular season games for the Maple Leafs, Teeder scored ten and assisted on 42 for 52 points. He did not play a single game in the following 1955-56 season. Kennedy appeared in just 30 games in 1956-57 before retiring as a player.
Ted is the last player from the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Hart Trophy. The only other Maple Leaf to win the prize was Babe Pratt in 1943-44.
50 Jacques Plante RC
Ted Lindsay of Detroit equaled Elmer Lach’s record last year with 12 assists in the playoffs.
The record now belongs to Wayne Gretzky. With the Edmonton Oilers in 1987-88, The Great One had 31 assists over 19 Stanley Cup playoff games. In 1954-55, Lindsay also had seven goals for 19 points over just 11 games, one point less than leader and teammate Gordie Howe.