1955–56 NHL season

League business

At a governors' meeting in December, a discussion took place concerning the uniforms worn by officials. It was contended that the present orange and black uniforms were confusing to players and fans, particularly when red uniforms were worn by either of the participating teams. Furthermore, it was pointed out that the existing uniforms showed up black on television. It was unanimously agreed that officials' uniforms should be changed to black and white vertical stripes. The black and white uniforms were first worn on December 29, 1955.

With Montreal frequently racking up two or three goals on any one power play, NHL President Clarence Campbell said he'd like the penalty rule revised to a penalized player returning to the ice when a power play goal is scored on a minor penalty. The Canadiens was the lone club to vote against the new legislation.

Regular season

The streak of seven straight seasons at the top of the NHL held by the Detroit Red Wings' dynasty came to an end as the Montreal Canadiens were tops. The Canadiens set a new record for wins in a season with 45. The Canadiens had a new coach, their one-time great former All-Star left-winger, Hector "Toe" Blake.

Dick Irvin, formerly the coach in Montreal, whom Habs' GM Frank Selke Sr. found a little truculent, took over as coach in Chicago, but could not get them out of the cellar, though they did improve. It was sort of a homecoming for Irvin as he started his coaching career with Chicago in 1930.

Highlights

When the Hawks went to the Montreal Forum on October 22, Irvin was presented with a set of silver flatware by William Northey, representing the Canadian Arena Company. In the game itself, rookie Henri Richard scored two goals as Montreal shut out Chicago 6–0.

On November 5, Jean Beliveau scored three goals in 44 seconds as Montreal beat Boston 4–3. The record for the fastest hat trick still was held by Bill Mosienko with three goals in 21 seconds.

On December 29, officials debuted the new "zebra" outfits in a game between the Canadiens and Maple Leafs.

On January 11, a crowd of 15,570 delighted fans at Madison Square Garden watched the Rangers trounce the Canadiens 6–1. Pete Conacher was a star for the Rangers with two goals. Lou Fontinato and Maurice Richard had a gala fight and Fontinato knocked out Richard with a punch that required several stitches above Richard's eye.

Montreal routed the Rangers 9–4 on February 18 as Beliveau had the hat trick and Richard two. The Rocket was incensed when referee Louis Maschio gave his brother a misconduct penalty and his teammates had to cool him off.

Beliveau set a record for goals by a center when he scored his 45th goal on March 15. Maurice Richard was hurt in this game when he fell over Hawk defenceman Pierre Pilote's skate and went headlong into the goal. He required stitches and was taken to hospital for X-rays. The Rocket was back in the lineup on St. Patrick's Day as the Canadiens trounced the Rangers 7–2 and Richard had the hat trick.

Rookie Glenn Hall had a fabulous year with 12 shutouts and a 2.11 goals-against average for the ever-powerful Detroit Red Wings. He received the Calder Memorial Trophy over Henri "Pocket Rocket" Richard.

Final standings

Playoffs

Playoff bracket

The top four teams in the league qualified for the playoffs. In the semifinals, the first-place team played the third-place team, while the second-place team faced the fourth-place team, with the winners advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals. In both rounds, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series).

| RD1-seed1=1 | RD1-team1=Montreal | RD1-score1=4 | RD1-seed2=3 | RD1-team2=New York | RD1-score2=1 | RD1-seed3=2 | RD1-team3=Detroit | RD1-score3=4 | RD1-seed4=4 | RD1-team4=Toronto | RD1-score4=1 | RD2-seed1=1 | RD2-team1=Montreal | RD2-score1=4 | RD2-seed2=2 | RD2-team2=Detroit | RD2-score2=1

Semifinals

(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (3) New York Rangers

|1-1-1 =No scoring |1-1-2 =13:29 – Bernie Geoffrion (1) |1-2-1 =Jack Evans (1) – 06:45 |1-2-2 =04:17 – Maurice Richard (1) 17:48 – pp – Bernie Geoffrion (2) 18:30 – pp – Maurice Richard (2) |1-3-1 =No scoring |1-3-2 =01:55 – Maurice Richard (3) 14:33 – Dickie Moore (1) 15:32 – Jean Beliveau (1) |goalie1-1 =Gump Worsley |goalie1-2 =Jacques Plante

|2-1-1 =Andy Hebenton (1) – 03:45 Jean-Guy Gendron (1) pp – 14:41 |2-1-2 =07:38 – Jean Beliveau (2) |2-2-1 =No scoring |2-2-2 =11:20 – pp – Claude Provost (1) |2-3-1 =Bronco Horvath (1) – pp – 00:42 Dean Prentice (1) – 14:10 |2-3-2 =No scoring |goalie2-1 =Gordie Bell |goalie2-2 =Jacques Plante

|3-1-1 =16:02 – Jean-Guy Gendron (2) |3-1-2 =Ken Mosdell (1) – 14:42 |3-2-1 =No scoring |3-2-2 =Bert Olmstead (1) – 16:24 |3-3-1 =No scoring |3-3-2 =Bert Olmstead (2) – 19:48 |goalie3-1 =Gump Worsley |goalie3-2 =Jacques Plante

|4-1-1 =16:26 – Wally Hergesheimer (1) 18:57 – pp – Bill Gadsby (1) |4-1-2 =Bert Olmstead (3) – pp – 02:11 Bert Olmstead (4) – 13:33 |4-2-1 =No scoring |4-2-2 =Jean Beliveau (3) – pp – 02:22 Claude Provost (2) – 03:22 |4-3-1 =15:04 – Andy Bathgate (1) |4-3-2 =Jean Beliveau (4) – 08:16 |goalie4-1 =Gump Worsley |goalie4-2 =Jacques Plante

|5-1-1 =No scoring |5-1-2 =08:24 – pp – Doug Harvey (1) |5-2-1 =No scoring |5-2-2 =03:11 – Dickie Moore (2) 06:10 – Henri Richard (1) 13:00 – pp – Doug Harvey (2) 15:35 – Jean Beliveau (5) |5-3-1 =No scoring |5-3-2 =08:49 – Henri Richard (2) 13:28 – Dickie Moore (3) |goalie5-1 =Gordie Bell |goalie5-2 =Jacques Plante

(2) Detroit Red Wings vs. (4) Toronto Maple Leafs

|1-1-1 =George Armstrong (1) – pp – 11:57 |1-1-2 =No scoring |1-2-1 =Ron Stewart (1) – 11:31 |1-2-2 =No scoring |1-3-1 =No scoring |1-3-2 =00:58 – Gordie Howe (1) 05:12 – Johnny Bucyk (1) 05:56 – Alex Delvecchio (1) |goalie1-1 =Harry Lumley |goalie1-2 =Glenn Hall

|2-1-1 =George Armstrong (2) – 05:09 |2-1-2 =No scoring |2-2-1 =No scoring |2-2-2 =05:40 – Alex Delvecchio (2) 19:05 – Ted Lindsay (1) |2-3-1 =No scoring |2-3-2 =14:39 – Lorne Ferguson (1) |goalie2-1 =Harry Lumley |goalie2-2 =Glenn Hall

|3-1-1 =00:29 – George Armstrong (3) 16:33 – pp – Brian Cullen (1) |3-1-2 =Red Kelly (1) – 12:27 |3-2-1 =13:20 – sh – Gerry James (1) |3-2-2 =No scoring |3-3-1 =07:40 – pp – George Armstrong (4) |3-3-2 =Metro Prystai (1) – 02:46 Gordie Howe (2) – 09:11 Ted Lindsay (2) – 14:25 |3-4-1 =No scoring |3-4-2 =Ted Lindsay (3) – 04:22 |goalie3-1 =Harry Lumley |goalie3-2 =Glenn Hall

|4-1-1 =No scoring |4-1-2 =No scoring |4-2-1 =10:58 – Billy Harris (1) |4-2-2 =No scoring |4-3-1 =03:15 – Sid Smith (1) |4-3-2 =No scoring |goalie4-1 =Harry Lumley |goalie4-2 =Glenn Hall

|5-1-1 =Dick Duff (1) – pp – 05:34 |5-1-2 =08:38 – pp – Alex Delvecchio (3) 14:49 – Alex Delvecchio (4) |5-2-1 =No scoring |5-2-2 =No scoring |5-3-1 =No scoring |5-3-2 =19:35 – Ted Lindsay (4) |goalie5-1 =Harry Lumley |goalie5-2 =Glenn Hall

Stanley Cup Finals

Main article: 1956 Stanley Cup Finals

|1-1-1 =Alex Delvecchio (5) – pp – 08:17 |1-1-2 =No scoring |1-2-1 =Bill Dineen (1) – 03:45 Ted Lindsay (5) – 08:11 Alex Delvecchio (6) – pp – 11:20 |1-2-2 =03:00 – pp – Jean Beliveau (6) 06:40 – Henri Richard (3) |1-3-1 =No scoring |1-3-2 =05:20 – Jack LeClair (1) 06:20 – Bernie Geoffrion (3) 07:31 – Jean Beliveau (7) 10:49 – Claude Provost (3) |goalie1-1 =Glenn Hall |goalie1-2 =Jacques Plante

|2-1-1 =No scoring |2-1-2 =07:23 – pp – Donnie Marshall (1) |2-2-1 =No scoring |2-2-2 =11:37 – Henri Richard (4) 14:38 – Bernie Geoffrion (4) |2-3-1 =Norm Ullman (1) – 00:31 |2-3-2 =02:48 – Jean Beliveau (8) 19:21 – Maurice Richard (4) |goalie2-1 =Glenn Hall |goalie2-2 =Jacques Plante

|3-1-1 =14:27 – pp – Red Kelly (2) |3-1-2 =Jean Beliveau (9) – 19:20 |3-2-1 =No scoring |3-2-2 =No scoring |3-3-1 =11:36 – Ted Lindsay (6) 18:12 – Gordie Howe (3) |3-3-2 =No scoring |goalie3-1 =Glenn Hall |goalie3-2 =Jacques Plante

|4-1-1 =No scoring |4-1-2 =Jean Beliveau (10) – 15:52 |4-2-1 =No scoring |4-2-2 =Jean Beliveau (11) – 11:39 |4-3-1 =No scoring |4-3-2 =Floyd Curry (1) – 11:34 |goalie4-1 =Glenn Hall |goalie4-2 =Jacques Plante

|5-1-1 =No scoring |5-1-2 =No scoring |5-2-1 =No scoring |5-2-2 =14:16 – pp – Jean Beliveau (12) 15:08 – pp – Maurice Richard (5) |5-3-1 =Alex Delvecchio (7) – 00:35 |5-3-2 =00:13 – Bernie Geoffrion (5) |goalie5-1 =Glenn Hall |goalie5-2 =Jacques Plante

Awards

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

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

Source: NHL

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Coaches

• Boston Bruins: Milt Schmidt
• Chicago Black Hawks: Dick Irvin
• Detroit Red Wings: Jimmy Skinner
• Montreal Canadiens: Toe Blake
• New York Rangers: Phil Watson
• Toronto Maple Leafs: King Clancy

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1955–56 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Pierre Pilote, Chicago Black Hawks
• Norm Ullman, Detroit Red Wings
• Henri Richard, Montreal Canadiens
• Claude Provost, Montreal Canadiens
• Bob Turner, Montreal Canadiens
• Bronco Horvath, New York Rangers
• Andy Hebenton, New York Rangers
• Jean-Guy Gendron, New York Rangers
• Billy Harris, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1955–56 (listed with their last team):

• Bill Quackenbush, Boston Bruins
• Ed Sandford, Chicago Black Hawks
• Bob Goldham, Detroit Red Wings
• Emile "Butch" Bouchard, Montreal Canadiens
• Don Raleigh, New York Rangers
• Joe Klukay, Toronto Maple Leafs

Broadcasting

This was the fourth season of Hockey Night in Canada on CBC Television. Coverage included selected Stanley Cup playoff games. Both regular season and playoff games were not broadcast in their entirety until the 1968–69 season, and were typically joined in progress, while the radio version of HNIC aired games in their entirety.

References

• {{Citation|last=Coleman|first=Charles L.|year=1976
• {{cite book |title=Years of glory, 1942–1967: the National Hockey League's official book of the six-team era
• {{cite book|title=Total Hockey |editor=Diamond, Dan |publisher=Total Sports |year=2000 |isbn=1-892129-85-X
• {{cite book |editor-last=Dryden |editor-first=Steve |title=Century of hockey |publisher=McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
• {{Citation|last1=Duplacey |first1=James|year=2008
• {{cite book |last1=Fischler |first1=Stan |last2=Fischler |first2=Shirley
• {{Citation|last=McFarlane|first=Brian|year=1969|title=50 Years Of Hockey

;Notes

References

1. Stubbs, Dave. (2020-06-06). "Canadiens felt 1956 rule change doused their potent power play {{!}} NHL.com".
2. Anderson, Dave. (2007-06-04). "Canadiens of the 1950s Are Still the Kings of the Cup". The New York Times.
3. "This Day In Hockey History – December 29".