1937-38 NHL season

The 1937-38 NHL season was the 21st season of the National Hockey League. 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.

Regular season

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 Morenz Memorial Game, the NHL's second all-star game, was played and raised over $10,000 for the Morenz family. 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. There seemed to be nothing Gorman could do to revitalize the team and at one stretch the team lost 8 straight games. On March 17th, 1938, the Maroons played their last game against their rivals, the Canadiens.

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

Scoring leaders

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

PLAYER	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
Gord 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

NHL All-Star Game

Stanley Cup playoffs

This was the year of the upset as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat Boston and the New York Americans stunned the New York Rangers as Lorne Carr scored the winner in overtime in the third and deciding game. But the Cinderella story of the century was the Chicago Black Hawks. The Black Hawks barely made the playoffs, thanks to the shocking plunge of the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings into the cellar of the American Division. Many thought the Black Hawks, with a weak offence and suspect defence, were easy prey for the Montreal Canadiens, and, indeed, the Canadiens beat them in game one of the quarterfinal, 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. Next came 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. However, Mike Karakas broke his big toe in the final game against the Americans, and Chicago called up Paul Goodman from their farm team. But he could not get to Toronto in time for game one and the Hawks tried to get Karakas to suit up. No luck, his broken toe was too swolen, and Chicago was without a goaltender. Coach Bill Stewart proposed using Dave Kerr of the New York Rangers. Toronto manager Conn Smythe took violent exception to this. Meanwhile, Mush March knew where Alfie Moore drank and went to that bar, and told Moore that the Black Hawks needed a goaltender. He was convinced, and the drunk little goaltender was brought to Maple Leaf Gardens. Although dismayed, Bill Stewart allowed Moore to play. Moore was given a cold shower and coffee and though Conn Smythe protested Moore's use, NHL president Calder allowed Moore to play. He gave up the first shot he faced, but then shut down the Leafs and the Hawks won 3-1. Moore was declared ineligible for game two since Paul Goodman was now available. Goodman was bombed 5-1 with George Parsons and Gordie Drillon each scoring two goals. Now it was to Chicago Stadium for games three and four. 18,497 fans, an NHL record, showed up for game three. The swelling of Mike Karakas' big toe had gone down and he was fitted with a special skate boot with a steel toe guard to protect the toe. He made all the difference as Chicago beat Toronto 2-1 and the Stanley Cup was within the Black Hawks' reach. Chicago won game four and the Stanley Cup 4-1 before over 17,000 fans. Carl Voss scored what proved to be the winning goal when he stole the puck from George Parsons in front of the Toronto net and whipped the puck by Turk Broda. Bill Stewart had done the impossible and pulled off the greatest upset in NHL history, leading a sad sack team to a Stanley Cup championship.

Owner Frederic McLaughlin was highly elated. Although he didn't produce an all-American Stanley Cup champion, he did have 50% American players on this championship team.

Playoff bracket

NHL awards

O'Brien Trophy:	Toronto Maple Leafs
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Boston Bruins
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Cully Dahlstrom, Chicago Black Hawks
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Eddie Shore, Boston Bruins
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Gordie Drillon, Toronto Maple Leafs
Vezina Trophy:	Tiny Thompson, Boston Bruins

References

NHL 1937/38

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