| 1956 Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Location(s) | Montreal: Montreal Forum (1, 2, 5) Detroit: Olympia Stadium (3, 4) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Montreal: Toe Blake Detroit: Jimmy Skinner | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Captains | Montreal: Emile Bouchard Detroit: Ted Lindsay | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | March 31 – April 10, 1956 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Maurice Richard (15:08, second) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Canadiens: Jean Beliveau (1972) Emile Bouchard (1966) Bernie Geoffrion (1972) Doug Harvey (1973) Tom Johnson (1970) Dickie Moore (1974) Bert Olmstead (1985) Jacques Plante (1978) Henri Richard (1979) Maurice Richard (1961) Red Wings: Johnny Bucyk (1981) Murray Costello (2005, builder) Alex Delvecchio (1977) Glenn Hall (1975) Gordie Howe (1972) Red Kelly (1969) Ted Lindsay (1966) Marcel Pronovost (1978) Norm Ullman (1982) Coaches: Toe Blake (1966, player) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1956 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1955–56 season, and the culmination of the 1956 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Montreal Canadiens and the two-time defending champion Detroit Red Wings in the fourth Detroit-Montreal series in the 1950s, the two teams having met in the previous two years as well as in 1952; Detroit won all three. The Canadiens were appearing in their sixth consecutive Finals, the Red Wings their third. The Canadiens avenged their previous three losses to Detroit, as they defeated the Red Wings in five games to win their second Stanley Cup in four years.
Paths to the Finals
Montreal defeated the New York Rangers 4–1 to reach the final. Detroit defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–1 to reach the final.
Game summaries
The Canadiens, down 4–2 after two periods, scored four unanswered goals, in a 5:29 span, in the third period to win game one 6–4 at the Forum. Jacques Plante held the Red Wings to just 9 goals in the five games. This was the first Final for Henri Richard and former Habs player Toe Blake's first Final as coach.
| March 31 | Detroit Red Wings | 4–6 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| Alex Delvecchio (5) - pp - 8:17 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Bill Dineen (1) - 3:45 Ted Lindsay (5) - 8:11 Alex Delvecchio (6) - pp - 11:20 |
Second period | 3:00 - pp - Jean Beliveau (6) 6:40 - Henri Richard (3) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 5:20 - Jack LeClair (1) 6:20 - Bernie Geoffrion (3) 7:31 - Jean Beliveau (7) 10:49 - Claude Provost (3) | ||||||
| Glenn Hall | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| April 3 | Detroit Red Wings | 1–5 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 7:23 - pp - Donnie Marshall (1) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 11:37 - Henri Richard (4) 14:38 - Bernie Geoffrion (4) | ||||||
| Norm Ullman (1) - 00:31 | Third period | 2:48 - Jean Beliveau (8) 19:21 - Maurice Richard (4) | ||||||
| Glenn Hall | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| April 5 | Montreal Canadiens | 1–3 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| Jean Beliveau (9) - 19:20 | First period | 14:27 - pp - Red Kelly (2) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 11:36 - Ted Lindsay (6) 18:12 - Gordie Howe (3) | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Glenn Hall | ||||||
| April 8 | Montreal Canadiens | 3–0 | Detroit Red Wings | Olympia Stadium | Recap | |||
| Jean Beliveau (10) - 15:52 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jean Beliveau (11) - 11:39 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Floyd Curry (1) - 11:34 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jacques Plante | Goalie stats | Glenn Hall | ||||||
| April 10 | Detroit Red Wings | 1–3 | Montreal Canadiens | Montreal Forum | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 14:16 - pp - Jean Beliveau (12) 15:08 - pp - Maurice Richard (5) | ||||||
| Alex Delvecchio (7) - 00:35 | Third period | 00:13 - Bernie Geoffrion (5) | ||||||
| Glenn Hall | Goalie stats | Jacques Plante | ||||||
| Montreal won series 4–1 | |
Stanley Cup engraving
The 1956 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Emile Bouchard by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Canadiens 3–1 win over the Red Wings in game five.
The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup
1955–56 Montreal Canadiens
Players
- 4 Jean Beliveau
- 8 Jack LeClair
- 16 Henri Richard
- 18 Ken Mosdell (A)
- 5 Bernie Geoffrion
- 6 Floyd Curry
- 9 Maurice Richard (A)
- 12 Dickie Moore
- 14 Claude Provost
- 15 Bert Olmstead
- 22 Don Marshall
- 2 Doug Harvey (A)
- 3 Emile Bouchard (Captain)
- 10 Tom Johnson
- 17 Jean-Guy Talbot
- 19 Dollard St. Laurent
- 24 Bob Turner
- 1 Jacques Plante
- 1 Charlie Hodge (spare, did not play)
Coaching and administrative staff
- Donat Raymond (President/Owner), Frank Selke (Manager)
- Dalton Coleman (Vice President/Owner), William Northey (Vice Presidents/Owner)
- Ken Reardon (Asst. Manager), Toe Blake (Coach)
- Hector Dubois (Trainer)
- Gaston Bettez (Asst. Trainer)
- Camile DesRoches^, Frank Selke Jr.^ (Publicity Directors)
- ^- on the team picture, but missing from the Stanley Cup.
Stanley Cup engraving
- Emile "Butch" Bouchard was engraved on the Stanley Cup in 1944, 1946 and 1953 as EMILE BOUCHARD. He was then engraved on the Stanley Cup as BUTCH BOUCHARD in 1956.
- In a mistake, Bob Turner is listed as Trainer when the Stanley Cup was redone in 1957–58, but he played defence. Hector Dubois and Gaston Bettez were the trainers, but no position was listed. These mistakes were not corrected on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.
- In a mistake, Claude Provost's name was misspelt C. PREVOST with an "E" instead of an "O". Provost spelling mistake was also not corrected on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.
- In a mistake, Gaston Bettez was spelt wrong as G BETTEX when the Cup was redone in 1957–58 with an "X" instead of "Z", and the mistake was repeated on the Replica Cup. His name was spelt correctly on the original ring as G. BETTEZ.
- Hector "Toe" Blake was the ninth rookie coach to win the Stanley Cup.
- The 1956 Montreal Canadiens filled the last spot on the Stanley Cup. (See 1958 Stanley Cup Finals change)
See also
Notes
- "The Montreal Gazette – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved December 26, 2013.
References
- Diamond, Dan (2000). Total Stanley Cup. Toronto: Total Sports Canada. ISBN 978-1-892129-07-9.
- Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Bolton, Ont.: Fenn Pub. pp 12, 50. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7
- "All-Time NHL Results".
| Preceded byDetroit Red Wings 1955 |
Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup Champions 1956 |
Succeeded byMontreal Canadiens 1957 |
- 1955–56 NHL season
- Stanley Cup Finals
- Detroit Red Wings games
- Montreal Canadiens games
- Ice hockey competitions in Montreal
- Ice hockey competitions in Detroit
- March 1956 sports events in North America
- April 1956 sports events in North America
- 1950s in Montreal
- 1956 in Quebec
- 1956 in sports in Michigan
- 1956 in Detroit