A Man's Game

Hockey was a man's game back then. You had be to tough to survive.

- Gordie Howe

Hockey is a man's game. The team with the most real men wins.

- Brian Burke

Bob Militello and I have decided to embark upon a replay of the 1960-61 NHL season using 49 Quick Decks Hockey. There were a few reasons for this choice, but a significant one is that just 210 games played between the two of us would allow us to put the QDH engine through its paces over an entire season. There are a lot of historical reasons to look closely at 1960-61 (the NHL's 44th season, and the 19th of the Original Six era) as well:

• the Montreal Canadiens' dynasty suffered a momentary blip, as they failed to win the Cup for the first time after five titles on the trot, and ten straight appearances in the Cup Finals;

• the Black Hawks took advantage to win their first Cup since 1938, in a Finals that featured two US clubs for the first time since 1950;

• Gordie Howe (DET) became the first player in NHL history (and the last for seven more years) to score 1000 points;

• Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion (MTL) became just the second player to score fifty goals in a season (the first, Maurice "Rocket" Richard (MTL), had retired just as the season was getting underway), and Frank Mahovlich (TOR) fell just two goals short.

A brief preview of the six clubs taking the ice . . . 

Boston had reached the final four just two seasons prior, but were spiraling down to the basement from which they wouldn't escape for almost a decade, until Bobby Orr led the renaissance that would establish them as routine contenders in the 1970s. A couple of pieces from those teams were already on board in 25-year-old Johnny Bucyk and 19-year-old Dallas Smith, and Doug Mohns was one of the game's better two-way players. Winger Jerry Toppazzini led the team with 50 points (and 33 minutes in goal!) and productive pivot Don McKenney finished tenth in the League with 26 goals.

Chicago was coming out of its own ten-year gloom, riding a youth movement that would carry them to three Cup Finals in five years. Stan Mikita (19 G, 34 A) was 20, Bobby Hull (31 G, 25 A) was 22, and there was a host of supporting talent under 25 years of age - Bill Hay (48 A), Murray Balfour (21 G, 27 A), Reggie Fleming (143 PIM) - and a stiff defense backstopped by top pairing Pierre Pilote and Moose Vasko, and veteran netminder Glenn Hall.

Detroit had fallen on harder times since the 1950s heyday of the Production Lines. Gordie Howe (23 G, 49 A) and Alex Delvecchio (27 G, 35 A) were still wearing the Flying Wing, but they were at their peak or passing it by, as was goalie Terry Sawchuk. There were promising youngsters in Norm Ullman (28 G, 42 A), Allan Johnson (16 G, 21 A) but the club would struggle for long stretches to score, to keep the puck out of their own net, or both.

Montreal was the unquestioned class of the sport with six Hall of Famers on the roster, almost all of them at the height of their powers. With three of the top four goal scorers in the NHL (Geoffrion, Moore, Beliveau), Norris Trophy winner Doug Harvey and the ageless Plante anchoring the defense, and the best special teams in hockey, someone was going to have to come and rip Lord Stanley's jug forcibly from their hands.

New York hadn't been consistently good since before WWII, and things weren't looking up quite yet. The core of the 1957-58 second-place team was still here, but it was three years older - the forwards were aging, the defense was turning over and leaning heavily on kids, and the best talent in the pipeline (like Eddie Shack) seemed unhappy to be wearing the Blueshirt. While there was still some scoring punch available (Bathgate, Hebenton, Henry and Prentice), Gump Worsley wasn't good enough to carry the defense and only the Bruins would allow the light to turn red more often.

Toronto hadn't won a Cup in ten years, while watching their northern countrymen win with depressing regularity, but had reached the 1959-60 Final against Montreal after their first winning season in five years. Yes, it was a one-sided sweep that saw them outscored 15-5, but the pieces were lining up - baby stars like Frank Mahovlich (23), Dave Keon (20) and Bob Nevin (22) were complimented by still-capable vets like Red Kelly (50 A) and Bert Olmstead (18 G, 34 A) and they featured arguably the league's best goalie in Johnny Bower.

We will using the historical as-played lineups and transactions, and keeping a full set of stats as Joe plays the home games for Boston, Detroit and Montreal while Bob does the same for Chicago, New York and Toronto. Please follow along as we travel back to the days when men were men, and you didn't dare skate over the blue line with your head down - the era of hard-nosed play, bitter rivalries, and the dawn of the goalie mask!