Quirky NHL Award Voting Results

A few days ago, www.hockey-reference.com added some cool data to the site. They now have voting results for NHL awards dating back to the 1920's. A look through the numbers turns up a few strange looking results over the years. A few of the stranger ones are below:

1929/30 Lionel Hitchman 2nd in Hart Trophy (94 votes)
Boston defenceman Hitchman finished a mere 7 votes behind Hart Trophy winner Nels Stewart and 15 votes ahead of third place finisher and teammate Cooney Weiland. Stewart notched 39 goals, Weiland 43 goals. Hitchman tallied 2 goals, 7 assists for 9 points in 39 games yet inexplicably garnered 17 votes more than fourth place King Clancy who had 17 goals and 23 assists. Somehow, Howie Morenz and his 40 goals placed only seventh in Hart Trophy voting that season.

1938/39  Earl Robinson 28 Hart votes
1939/40 Earl Robinson 21 Hart votes
In 38/39 Chicago Right Winger Robinson scored 9 goals, 6 assists in 47 games and finished 4th in Hart Trophy voting. The following season he was traded to the Canadiens and played only 11 games collecting 1 goal and 5 points. Even still, Robinson finished 5th in Hart voting behind Ebbie Goodfellow, Syl Apps, Dit Clapper and Milt Schmidt.

1955/56 Johnny Wilson 10 Hart votes 
This season Chicago Left Winger Wilson had his top goal scoring season with 24 in 70 games to go with 9 assists. His 10 votes for Hart Trophy were more than either  Gordie Howe, Andy Bathgate, Maurice Richard or Ted Lindsay received.

1976/77 Jim Watson Retired 5 votes for All-Star defenceman
1974/75 Jim Watson Retired 6 votes for All-Star defenceman
This one may be a mistake. Jim Watson was a defenceman for Detroit and Buffalo before jumping to the WHA in 1972, he retired after the 1975/76 season. Even still, he is listed as gaining 6 votes as NHL All-Star defenceman in 74/75 although he was a member of the Chicago Cougars in the WHA. Two years later while retired, he got 5 votes for All-Star again. What likely happened here, is either the database or the voters meant to refer to Joe Watson of the Flyers. He also received votes in each of these two seasons.

1984/85 Brian Sutter 1 first place Hart Trophy vote
Wayne Gretzky received 60 of 63 first place votes for the Hart, Dale Hawerchuk and Rod Langway each got one vote. The third guy to get a first place vote was St.Louis Blues, Brian Sutter. In 84/85, Sutter had 37 goals and 74 points and although I'm sure he was extremely valuable to the Blues I'm not sure he should have a first place Hart vote especially when guys like Marcel Dionne, Mike Bossy, Ray Bourque and Pelle Lindbergh got none.

1984/85 Mike McPhee 1 first place Calder Trophy vote
Also in 84/85, Mario Lemieux was the runaway Calder Trophy winner beating Chris Chelios by 53 first place votes to 5. Others getting first place nods were Steve Penney (2), Kirk Muller, Tomas Sandstrom as well as Montreal Canadien Mike McPhee. This was McPhee's only vote of any kind but somehow his 17 goals and 54 points were considered better than Mario's 43 goals and 100 points.

1985/86 Bengt Gustafsson 1 first place All-Star Centre vote
The following year, Wayne Gretzky's record 215 points earned him 57 of 60 first place votes for All-Star Centre. The others went to Mario Lemieux with a pair and a single vote to...Washington's Bengt Gustafsson. Apparently one reporter from Washington thought Gustafsson was more deserving of First All-Star centre than Gretzky who had exactly THREE times the number of points.

2006/07 Marcel Hossa 3rd place All-Star vote
This one may be another voting mistake as Marcel Hossa had 10 goals and 18 points while his brother Marian had 100 points this season. Marian collected 20 first place votes, 26 seconds and 43 third place for Right Wing, he also accidentally got his brother a vote.

Greatest Team Canada Ever?

Monday morning after Canada's Gold Medal hockey victory I caught Liam Maguire on Vancouver's Team 1040 radio on my drive to work. He was entertaining and informative as always and I was quite interested in one point he made. Maguire called this 2014 version of Team Canada the best he had ever seen, specifically comparing them to the 1976 Canada Cup squad. To paraphrase from memory he said, "I've been watching international hockey for over forty years and this team did things the others couldn't on the defensive end."

I figured I'd have a look at the 2014 and 1976 teams as well as the 1987 Canada Cup and 2002 Olympic championship versions of Team Canada. Which one was the greatest? First let's look at the raw numbers;
(W-L-T
GF-GA)

1976
 6-1-0
 33-10

1987
6-1-2
41-32

2002
4-1-1
22-14

2014
6-0-0
17-3

Each of the first three teams had at least one minor setback in the way of a loss, the most recent edition's closest thing to a bump in the road was an overtime victory against Finland. Although this year's Team Canada averaged just under three goals scored per game, their total of three goals allowed over six games speaks to the utter defensive domination shown. To be fair, 1987's Team Canada was the epitome of 1980's firewagon hockey and honestly, a GAA of 3.50 back then was quite exceptional. In looking at the raw results only the 1976 squad can really give 2014 a run for best Team Canada ever.

What about the actual rosters? Below is each team with their individual NHL accomplishments they had collected to the point of each respective tournament. I counted how many Stanley Cups players had won to that point and any First or Second Team All-Star selections and Trophies won. I included Hart, Art Ross, Norris, Calder, Selke and Conn Smythe awards. No Lady Byngs here.

1976 Team Canada
29 Stanley Cups
87 Awards
12 Hall of Famers
Avg. Age 26.7

Among the awards are 25, 17 and 7 won by the three Bobby's; Orr, Hull and Clarke respectively, guys like Potvin, Robinson and Lafleur still had many awards to come after 1976.

1987 Team Canada
20 Stanley Cups
56 Awards
12 Hall of Famers
Avg. Age 25.2

The bulk of these awards come from Gretzky (24), Bourque (10) and Coffey (7). This was also the youngest of these four squads by a considerable margin.

2002 Team Canada
20 Stanley Cups
75 Awards
14 Hall of Famers
Avg. Age 30.6

I'm counting 14 total Hall of Famers or likely Hall members. Currently there are 8 players from the 2002 team in the Hall, likely eventual members are Rob Blake, Theoren Fleury, Jarome Iginla, Eric Lindros, Chris Pronger and Curtis Joseph. Even if only 4 of those 6 get in, the 12 Hall of Famers would equal the 1976 and 1987 rosters. The top three award collectors up to 2002 were Mario Lemieux (21), Martin Brodeur (12) and Al MacInnis (8). This was far and away the oldest team of these four at an average age of 30.6 years.

2014 Team Canada
19 Stanley Cups
30 Awards
8 Hall of Famers?
Avg. Age 27.1

It's difficult to project Hall of Fame careers for so many youngsters on the 2014 team. I think fairly honest expectations could see at least 8 Hall of Famers in Crosby, St.Louis, Luongo, Weber, Getzlaf, Perry, Keith and Toews. It's way too early to say if guys like Tavares, Doughty, Subban, Price or Duchene will ever reach those lofty heights.

Perhaps it's indicative that this group has won "only" 30 individual awards while winning only one less Stanley Cup collectively than the 2002 team. The strength of the 2014 was it's lack of individuality and it's strength of team play. Is that enough to call them the greatest Team Canada ever? In my opinion, yes.

1965 Open House at Maple Leaf Gardens

I stumbled across these great photos in a Maple Leaf Gardens program I recently picked up. The book is from opening night of the 1965/66 campaign and has this fantastic look at the annual Maple Leaf Gardens open house which took place on Saturday, September 25, 1965.

From 10am to 10pm that day some 25,000 folks filed through the home of the Maple Leafs for a look behind the scenes. Above is a great shot of the Gardens lobby area as people wait to get into the arena itself. For a small donation, the fans got into the building as well as a free Shopsy hot dog, Coke and ice-cream bar. All funds raised went toward the Hospital for Sick Children Building Fund. Below Leaf president Stafford Smythe is shown depositing a cheque of $50,000 for the fund on behalf of the Maple Leaf Gardens directors.

Above, youngsters check out the dressing room that was used by The Beatles for their Gardens visit as well as the Gardens hospital room. Below, Leaf rookie Ron Ellis is shown signing autographs for the throngs of people.

Even the Maple Leaf dressing was open for inspection by the adoring fans. Below, Leaf P.R. man Ed Fitkin along with Esso spokesman Murray Westgate point out highlights of the building to fans seated in the stands.

Full access really was given to the public as shown above and below. Note the now highly collectable Maple Leaf calendar pinned up in the top-left photo. Yes, I have a few of them in my collection. We see the television studio of the day at the bottom-left and of great interest on the bottom-right is a proposed model of an expanded Maple Leaf Gardens. I'll certainly have to dig into that one a bit more.

1984 Olympic Hockey, Canada vs. Sweden

"There are 20 guys who are extremely distraught over this," coach Dave King was quoted after Team Canada's final game of the 1984 Olympics. They had just lost by a score of 2-0 to Sweden to be denied a Bronze Medal. King continued,"It was a very difficult game for our young players to play and I didn't think we coped with the pressure as well as we could have."

Goaltender Mario Gosselin said after the game that the team wanted the Bronze Medal too badly,"We tried hard, but we tried in the wrong way. We wanted to win the game in the first minute, we wanted to win as quickly as possible, we wanted too much to win." In truth, they didn't even need a win, a tie would have given the Canadians the Bronze on goal differential.

Canada ended up scoring zero goals in the three final round matches and obviously could have used some more offense. King addressed that, "Certainly when you lose the last three by shutout, you think a player like Mario Lemieux could have made a difference." Unfortunately, King and Lemieux had a conflict of personalities the previous year on the Canadian Junior team. Lemieux received a grudging and belated invitation to the Olympic team camp but turned it down.

 

The eventual game-winning goal resulted from a clearing pass by Dave Donnelly hitting a Swedish skate, enabling Thom Eklund to make a pass to Peter Gradin (brother of Vancouver Canuck Thomas). Gradin beat Doug Lidster then Gosselin for his ninth goal of the Olympics at 11:21 of the second frame. The second goal game seven minutes into the third via a powerplay goal from Hakan Sodergren. Canada outshot Sweden 13-5 in the final period and 28-22 overall.

When all was said and done, Mario Gosselin was the runaway star of the Olympics for Canada ending up with a 2.21 goals against average. I counted all the boxscores and determined his Save Percentage below.

(Saves/Shots Against)

Canada vs USA
Gosselin   35/37

Canada vs Austria
Gosselin  11/11

Canada vs Finland
Gosselin  25/27

Canada vs Norway
Gosselin  14/14

Canada vs Czechoslovakia
Gosselin  32/36

Canada vs Soviet Union
Gosselin   22/26

Canada vs Sweden
Gosselin  20/22

Total 159/173
.919 Save Percentage

Within a week, Gosselin had put his Olympic failure behind him as he suited up for his first National Hockey League game on February 26, 1984. Turning aside 26 shots, he shutout the St.Louis Blues in front of a hometown crowd at Quebec City's Colisee. Gosselin said afterwards,"I had a big game against the United States, but this is better. To get a shutout in my first game...you can't start a career any better than that."

1984 Olympic Hockey, Canada vs Russia

"Basically, it was a two-three system with one guy skating backwards in the middle to deflect the attack to either side," commented Canadian coach Dave King after the game against the Soviet Union. "I had heard the Calgary Flames used it when they beat the Russians on their tour, and that the Swedes and Czechs sometimes used a forward like a defenceman."

Whatever it was, it didn't work as the mighty Soviets, after being held scoreless for half the game, beat Canada 4-0 to advance to the Gold Medal game. Outshot by 26-10, Canada was never really in the game. Vladimir Kovin and Alexander Kozhevnikov broke through in the second to make it 2-0. This score stood until there were just over five minutes left in the third when Alexander Skvortsov iced the game with a shorthanded marker. Nikolai Drozdetsky was given the final goal when Canadian defender Warren Anderson put one into his own net.

Canada would now play Sweden for the Bronze Medal after they lost 2-0 to the Czechs. Swedish coach Anders Parmstrom said, "Our strategy against Canada depends on how many healthy bodies we have." The problem arose when Sweden lost defencemen Goran Lindblom and Bo Ericsson to knee injuries in the Czech game. This after their best defender Michael Thelven was also lost to a knee injury and sent home earlier. The coach continued, "We beat Canada 3-2 at Izvestia but they have a much better team now. The third medal (Bronze) is important to us, especially against Canada." 

1984 Olympic Hockey, Canada vs. Czechoslovakia

"Miracles happen every 20 years. They happened twice, both in the States (1960, 1980). There will be no miracles here in Sarajevo." This was Canadian assistant coach Jean Perron after his team lost 4-0 to the powerful Czechs to assure a match up with the even more powerful Soviets. Canada's next game would be against the undefeated Soviet Union to decide which team would play for the Gold medal of the 1984 Olympics. Perron continued,"We're realistic enough to know we can't beat the Russians, so we have to make sure we're ready to play for the bronze medal."

Against the Czechs, Mario Gosselin was his usual solid self, but this time he was actually outplayed by the opposing goaltender. "It's safe to say goaltending was the difference," continued a still dour Perron. "Mario played okay, but we needed an absolutely great performance. I think their goalie was better." "Their goalie" being Jaromir Sindel who turned aside all 32 shots directed his way. 

Perron wrapped up his depressing summation,"We don't have a very good offensive club. And we didn't play well enough on offence to beat the Czechs. We can score goals, but we did it against Austria, Norway, teams like that. But it's no disgrace getting shut out by the Czechs. They're a lot better than the Americans, and they're a lot better than us, too. Our players have to be realistic."

1984 Olympic Hockey, Canada vs. Norway

"When we first came here, I thought we might do well to be fifth or sixth," coach Dave King said. "And now..."

And now, Canada had four wins in four games after trouncing Norway by a score of 8-1. Coupled with a 7-2 victory by Czechoslovakia over Finland, Canada's next game against the Czechs was essentially a medal-round match. The 4-0 record qualified Canada for the four-team medal round, but the final game of the preliminary round will count toward final medals as head-to-head games between final round teams are carried over into the medals.

Behind three goals and two assist by Dave Gagner and a goal and two assists from line mate Russ Courntall, Canada surprised the hockey world by marching to the medal round. Gagner said after, "Simply, that Czech game is the most important of our lives."

Just two months prior Canada had led the Czechs 2-1 after two periods in the Izvestia tournament before losing 4-2. Coach Dave King said of that game, "We played a fairly good game and the Czechs never seemed to be in it. They weren't sharp then. They're better now, but we've improved even more than they did because we had a longer way to go."