1961 Stanley Cup Final

Paths to the Finals

Detroit defeated Toronto in five games and Chicago upset Montreal, the record five-time defending champion, in six, setting up the first all-American-team Finals since , when the Wings beat the New York Rangers in a seven-game series.

Game summaries

Two future Hockey Hall of Fame members, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, made their first Stanley Cup appearances. Hull scored two goals in the first game, including the winner, and Mikita scored the winner in game five.

This was the only Stanley Cup championship in the 1960s not to be won by either the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Montreal Canadiens or feature either team.

|1-1-1 =No scoring |1-1-2 =9:39 - pp - Bobby Hull (3) 10:10 - Kenny Wharram (2) 13:15 - Bobby Hull (4) |1-2-1 =Len Lunde (2) - pp - 16:14 |1-2-2 =No scoring |1-3-1 =Al Johnson (2) - 19:18 |1-3-2 =No scoring |goalie1-1 =Terry Sawchuck 8 saves / 11 shots Hank Bassen 20 saves / 20 shots |goalie1-2 =Glenn Hall 34 saves/ 36 shots

|2-1-1 =8:10 - Howie Young (2) 17:39 - pp - Alex Delvecchio (2) |2-1-2 =No scoring |2-2-1 =No scoring |2-2-2 =Pierre Pilote (2) - 00:41 |2-3-1 =19:22 - en - Alex Delvecchio (3) |2-3-2 =No scoring |goalie2-1 =Hank Bassen 26 saves / 27 shots |goalie2-2 =Glenn Hall 36 saves / 38 shots

|3-1-1 =No scoring |3-1-2 =No scoring |3-2-1 =No scoring |3-2-2 =11:54 - Stan Mikita (4) 14:19 - Ron Murphy (1) 18:16 - Murray Balfour (3) |3-3-1 =Gordie Howe (4) - 9:28 |3-3-2 =No scoring |goalie3-1 =Hank Bassen 33 saves / 36 shots |goalie3-2 =Glenn Hall 35 saves / 36 shots

|4-1-1 =No scoring |4-1-2 =No scoring |4-2-1 =8:48 - pp - Alex Delvecchio (4) |4-2-2 =Bill Hay (2) - 7:34 |4-3-1 =13:10 - Bruce MacGregor (1) |4-3-2 =No scoring |goalie4-1 =Terry Sawchuck 26 saves / 27 shots |goalie4-2 =Glenn Hall 28 saves / 30 shots

|5-1-1 =Leo Labine (3) - 2:14 Howie Glover (1) - pp - 15:35 |5-1-2 =9:36 - Murray Balfour (4) 10:04 - Ron Murphy (2) |5-2-1 =Vic Stasiuk (2) - 18:49 |5-2-2 =16:25 - Murray Balfour (5) |5-3-1 =No scoring |5-3-2 =2:51 - pp - Stan Mikita (5) 7:02 - Pierre Pilote (3) 13:27 - Stan Mikita (6) |goalie5-1 =Terry Sawchuck 38 saves / 44 shots |goalie5-2 =Glenn Hall 33 saves / 36 shots

|6-1-1 =15:24 - pp - Parker MacDonald (1) |6-1-2 =No scoring |6-2-1 =No scoring |6-2-2 =Reg Fleming (1) - sh - 6:45 Ab McDonald (2) - 18:49 |6-3-1 =No scoring |6-3-2 =Eric Nesterenko (2) - 00:57 Jack Evans (1) - 6:27 Kenny Wharram (3) - 18:00 |goalie6-1 =Hank Bassen 20 saves / 25 shots |goalie6-2 =Glenn Hall 21 saves / 22 shots

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1961 Stanley Cup was presented to Black Hawks captain Ed Litzenberger by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Black Hawks 5–1 win over the Red Wings in game six.

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

1960–61 Chicago Black Hawks

• 1 Denis DeJordy*
• Allan Roy Edwards*
• 3 Pierre Pilote (A)
• 4 Elmer Vasko
• 5 Jack Evans
• 18 Wayne Hillman
• 19 Dollard St. Laurent
• 11 Bill Hay
• 12 Ed Litzenberger (Captain)
• 17 Ken Wharram
• 21 Stan Mikita
• 8 Murray Balfour
• 8 Wayne Hicks
• 10 Ron Murphy (A)
• 14 Alvin Ab McDonald
• 15 Eric Nesterenko
• 16 Bobby Hull
• 18 Ronald Chico Maki*
• 20 Earl Balfour |player-notes= Did not play in Finals. |non-players=
• Arthur Wirtz Sr. (President/Owner), Arthur Wirtz Jr. (Vice President/Owner)
• James D. Norris Jr. (Chairman/Owner), Tommy Ivan (Manager)
• Rudy Pilous (Coach), Nick Garen (Trainer)
• Walter Humeniuk (Asst. Trainer)
• Michael Wirtz (Vice President), John Gottselig (Publicity Director)† (won cups with Chicago 1934, 1938(Captain))
• † Left off the Stanley Cup, but included in team picture. |engraving-notes=
• Allan Roy Edwards was engraved as Allan R. Edwards. He never played in any games for Chicago. Roy Edwards first NHL game was during the 1967–68 season with Detroit. Denis DeJordy first NHL game was during the 1962–63 season, when he replaced Glenn Hall. This ended Hall's record of 502 consecutive complete games. Captain Ed Litzenberger missed games 1 with an injury, so Ronald Chico Maki was dressed in his place. Maki's name was included on the Stanley Cup for dressing for 1 game in the Finals, even though he did not get any ice time, and Maki played his first regular season NHL game during the 1961–62 season.
• Ronald Robert Murphy was engraved as Robert Murphy.
• Tod Aloysius Martin Sloan was engraved as Martin A. Sloan. He was engraved on the cup as Tod Sloan in 1951 with Toronto.
• Stan Mikita was born in Czechoslovakia, but moved to Canada as young child. He was the first Czechoslovakia/Slovakia born player to win the Stanley Cup.
• Wayne Hillman and Wayne Hicks both played in the last game of the Stanley Cup Final game 6. So they qualified to be on the Stanley Cup. It was the only game Hillman played for Chicago that season, while Hicks played one regular season with the Hawks. They both spent the rest of the season in the minors. }}

Broadcasting

The 1961 Stanley Cup Final were almost not televised in Canada at all. At that time, the CBC only had rights to the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs' games; home games only during the season and all games in the playoffs. However, with both the Canadiens and Maple Leafs eliminated in the semi-finals, the CBC's worst nightmare became reality. The CBC had to conceive a way to carry the Finals between the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Red Wings or face public revolt. According to lore, the CBC found a way to link their Windsor viewers as having a vested interest in the Finals with the across the river Red Wings. Thus, CBC was able to carry the series after inking special contracts with the Red Wings and Black Hawks as a service to the Windsor market. From Windsor, CBC linked the signal to Toronto and they relayed the coverage Dominion-wide. From there, Canadians were able to see the Finals with nary a glitch in the coverage.

Notes

References

• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Bolton, Ont.: Fenn Pub. pp 12, 50.

before = Montreal Canadiens 1960 | after = Toronto Maple Leafs 1962 | title = Chicago Black Hawks Stanley Cup champions | years = 1961|

References

1. Cole, Stephen. (2004). "The Best of Hockey Night in Canada". McArthur & Company.