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1966 Stanley Cup Finals

The 1966 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1965–66 season, and the culmination of the 1966 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the defending champion Montreal Canadiens. This was the fifth Detroit-Montreal Cup Final; they previously met in 1952, 1954, 1955, and 1956, with the Red Wings winning the former three and the Canadiens winning the latter. The Canadiens defeated the Red Wings in six games to win the Stanley Cup for the seventh time in eleven years. This was the last Cup Final appearance for the Red Wings until 1995.

1966 Stanley Cup Finals
123456 Total
Detroit Red Wings 352112* 2
Montreal Canadiens 224253* 4
* indicates periods of overtime.
Location(s)Montreal: Montreal Forum (1, 2, 5)
Detroit: Olympia Stadium (3, 4, 6)
CoachesMontreal: Toe Blake
Detroit: Sid Abel
CaptainsMontreal: Jean Beliveau
Detroit: Alex Delvecchio
DatesApril 24 – May 5, 1966
MVPRoger Crozier (Red Wings)
Series-winning goalHenri Richard (2:20, OT, G6)
Hall of FamersCanadiens:
Jean Beliveau (1972)
Yvan Cournoyer (1982)
Dick Duff (2006)
Jacques Laperriere (1987; did not play)
Henri Richard (1979)
Gump Worsley (1980)
Red Wings:
Andy Bathgate (1978)
Leo Boivin (1986)
Alex Delvecchio (1977)
Bill Gadsby (1970)
Gordie Howe (1972)
Norm Ullman (1982)
Coaches:
Sid Abel (1969, player)
Toe Blake (1966, player)
← 1965 Stanley Cup Finals 1967 →

Paths to the Finals

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Montreal defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–0 to advance to the finals, and Detroit defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 4–2.

Game summaries

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With this series, Toe Blake had coached the Canadiens to seven Cups in eleven years. Henri Richard, a member of all seven championship teams, would score the series winner in game six in overtime. Two minutes into the extra period, Richard broke in on Red Wing goalie Roger Crozier, lost his footing on the newly resurfaced ice as he cut across the goalmouth, and sprawled into Crozier. The puck went in, and even though Crozier and the Wings protested that Richard had pushed the puck in with his hand, the goal stood. His brilliant play in goal, even in defeat, earned Crozier the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs, becoming the first player to win the award as a member of the losing team.


April 24 Detroit Red Wings 3–2 Montreal Canadiens Montreal Forum Recap  
Floyd Smith (3) - 13:25 First period No scoring
Bill Gadsby (1) - 5:14 Second period 4:23 - Ralph Backstrom (2)
Paul Henderson (3) - 2:14 Third period 2:36 - Terry Harper (2)
Roger Crozier Goalie stats Gump Worsley
April 26 Detroit Red Wings 5–2 Montreal Canadiens Montreal Forum Recap  
Andy Bathgate (6) - pp - 18:39 First period 6:55 - pp - J.C. Tremblay (2)
No scoring Second period No scoring
Bruce MacGregor (1) - 1:51
Ab McDonald (1) - 2:45
Floyd Smith (4) - 12:28
Dean Prentice (5) - 16:25 		Third period 12:00 - Yvan Cournoyer (1)
Roger Crozier Goalie stats Gump Worsley
April 28 Montreal Canadiens 4–2 Detroit Red Wings Olympia Stadium Recap  
Dave Balon (1) - 15:40
Jean Beliveau (3) - 19:12 		First period 4:20 - Norm Ullman (3)
No scoring Second period No scoring
Gilles Tremblay (3) - 1:45
Gilles Tremblay (4) - pp - 3:21 		Third period 19:59 - Gordie Howe (4)
Gump Worsley Goalie stats Roger Crozier
May 1 Montreal Canadiens 2–1 Detroit Red Wings Olympia Stadium Recap  
No scoring First period No scoring
Jean Beliveau (4) - pp - 19:51 Second period 11:24 - Norm Ullman (4)
Ralph Backstrom (3) - 13:37 Third period No scoring
Gump Worsley Goalie stats Roger Crozier, Hank Bassen
May 3 Detroit Red Wings 1–5 Montreal Canadiens Montreal Forum Recap  
No scoring First period 1:06 - Claude Provost (2)
19:21 - pp - Yvan Cournoyer (2)
Norm Ullman (5) - 14:22 Second period 1:05 - Dave Balon (2)
11:22 - Bobby Rousseau (4)
No scoring Third period 5:31 - Dick Duff (2)
Roger Crozier Goalie stats Gump Worsley
May 5 Montreal Canadiens 3–2 OT Detroit Red Wings Olympia Stadium Recap  
Jean Beliveau (5) - 9:08 First period No scoring
Leon Rochefort (1) - 10:11 Second period 11:55 - pp - Norm Ullman (6)
No scoring Third period 10:30 - Floyd Smith (5)
Henri Richard (1) - 2:20 First overtime period No scoring
Gump Worsley Goalie stats Roger Crozier
Montreal won series 4–2


Roger Crozier wins Conn Smythe Trophy.

Stanley Cup engraving

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The 1966 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Canadiens 3–2 win over the Red Wings in game six.

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

1965–66 Montreal Canadiens

Players

Coaching and administrative staff


Stanley Cup engravings

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  • Montreal Canadiens name was misspelt MONTREAL CANADIENE. This mistake was later corrected on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.

Broadcasting

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In 1966, NBC became the first[1] television network in the United States to air a national broadcast of a Stanley Cup Playoff game. The network provided coverage of four Sunday afternoon playoff games[2][3] during the 1965–66 postseason.[4] On April 10[5] and April 17,[6] NBC aired semifinal games between the Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings. On April 24[7] and May 1,[8] NBC aired Games 1 and 4[9] of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. Win Elliot served as the play-by-play man while Bill Mazer served as the color commentator for the games.[10]

NBC's coverage of the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals marked the first time that hockey games were broadcast on network television in color.[11] The CBC would follow suit the following year. NBC's Stanley Cup coverage preempted a sports anthology series called NBC Sports in Action, hosted by Jim Simpson and Bill Cullen, who were between-periods co-hosts for the Stanley Cup broadcasts.

Aftermath

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The next season, the Red Wings finished a distant fifth, 24 points out of the playoffs, marking the beginning of a 20 year slump known as the "Dead Wings" era. The Red Wings only made the playoffs four times in the next 20 years between 1967 and 1986, and would not return to the Stanley Cup Finals again until 1995, where they were swept by the New Jersey Devils.

The Canadiens would return to the Stanley Cup Finals the next season, but lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. However, the Canadiens would eventually become a dynasty, winning the Stanley Cup in 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Stanley Cup Hockey Playoffs on Today". Hartford Courant. April 10, 1966. p. 3G.
  2. ^ "NBC May Televise Stanley Cup Play". Hartford Courant. Associated Press. February 27, 1966. p. 6C.
  3. ^ "NHL Near Deal for TV of Cup Games". Chicago Tribune. February 27, 1966. p. C1.
  4. ^ "NBC Makes Plans to TV Stanley Cup Playoffs". Los Angeles Times. February 28, 1966. p. B6.
  5. ^ Don Page (April 9, 1966). "Let's Ear It for Transistor Man". Los Angeles Times. p. D2.
  6. ^ "More Than Feelings Hurting—As Black Hawks Limp Back Home". Hartford Courant. Associated Press. April 16, 1966. p. 20.
  7. ^ "TV News Notes". Chicago Tribune. April 24, 1966. p. IND_A17.
  8. ^ "NBC to Carry Stanley Cup Games on TV". Chicago Tribune. March 29, 1966. p. C1.
  9. ^ Bob Gates (April 29, 1966). "Abel's 'switcheroo' works". The Christian Science Monitor. p. 7.
  10. ^ Stan Issacs (January 19, 1990). "TV SPORTS Hockey Gets Network – for a Day". Newsday. p. 137.
  11. ^ Ted Damata (April 10, 1966). "Black Hawks in Colorful Color". Chicago Tribune. p. C1.

References

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Preceded by Montreal Canadiens
Stanley Cup champions
1966 		Succeeded by
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