1965–66 Boston Bruins season

1965–66 Boston Bruins
Division	5th NHL
1965–66 record	21–43–6
Goals for	174 (6th)
Goals against	275 (6th)
Team information
General manager	Hap Emms
Coach	Milt Schmidt
Captain	Leo Boivin
Alternate captains	John Bucyk Ted Green Murray Oliver
Arena	Boston Garden
Average attendance	12,050
Team leaders
Goals	Johnny Bucyk (26)
Assists	Murray Oliver (42)
Points	Murray Oliver (60)
Penalty minutes	Ted Green (113)
Wins	Bernie Parent (11)
Goals against average	Bernie Parent (3.69)

The 1965–66 Boston Bruins season was the 42nd season for the franchise. For the first time in six seasons, the Bruins didn't finish in the basement, placing 5th, but missed the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.

Off-season

New GM Leighton "Happy" Emms had played briefly for the Bruins in 1934.

In early April 1965, the Bruins announced that Lynn Patrick was promoted to vice-president and Hap Emms was made the team's new general manager. Emms had played over 300 games in the 1920's and 30's and in 1965, was the owner-manager of the Niagara Falls Flyers, one of the Bruins junior teams. Familiar with many of the young players expected to contribute to the Bruins over the next few seasons, Emms also wasted no time in making several trades which brought in several players that would play significant time in 1965-66 for the Bruins. These included Bob Dillabough, Albert Langlois and Parker MacDonald.

He also traded away Orland Kurtenbach and Pat Stapleton (who'd make the All-Star team in 1966) while picking up Gerry Cheevers in the intra-league draft. Cheevers would become Boston's starting goaltender for over a decade and be instrumental in the Bruins winning two Stanley Cup in the 1970's.

Pre-season

Training camp opened on September 28, 1965 in London, Ontario.

October 1, 1965: Boston 4, Oklahoma City Blazers 2 @ Niagara Falls, Ontario
October 3, 1965: Oklahoma City 4, Boston 2 @ London
October 10, 1965: New York Rangers 6, Boston 3 @ Kingston, Ontario
October 12, 1965: Boston 4, Oklahoma City 2 @ St. Thomas, Ontario
October 14, 1965: Boston 2, Toronto Maple Leafs 2 @ Peterborough, Ontario
October 15, 1965: Boston 4, Toronto 2 @ London

The 19th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at Montreal on October 20, 1965. A team of all-stars that included three Bruins, Ted Green, Murray Oliver and John Bucyk played against the Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens. The All-Stars won 5-2 with Bucyk scoring a goal and Oliver picking up 2 assists.

Regular Season

1965

Vic Stasiuk in the gold jersey with the gold pants and black socks introduced 1958.

After no changes to their uniforms for six seasons, the Bruins dropped the gold pants for good, dropped the black jersey (introduced in 1959) for two seasons and dropped the black socks until 2008. The white jersey remained unchanged, as did the gold jersey, black pants and mainly gold socks.

The season saw an incredible amount of flux in the line-up as Emms auditioned juniors and kept making trades. Fourty different players wore the black and gold in 1965-66, a new team record. Defenseman Gilles Marotte made the team after a brief stint in the minors. Eddie Johnston started the season opener in goal, followed by newly acquired Gerry Cheevers playing the second game. Cheevers finished the game but suffered a knee ligament injury and missed six weeks. The NHL had instituted a rule for the 1965-66 season that a backup goalie had to be available on the bench. Junior A goalie Bob Ring was an emergency call-up to be Johnston's backup for the October 30, 1965 game versus the New York Rangers. Early in the second period with the Bruins down 4-1, Johnston suffered a knee injury in a goal mouth pile-up and Ring, wearing jersey #28 (the first time a Bruin wore that number) was forced to play. Eddie Giacomin of the Rangers was also playing in his first NHL game. Ring allowed 4 goals on 21 shots and was dispatched back to the Niagara Falls Flyers, never to play in the NHL again.

Reg Fleming's game winner, November 27, 1965.

Bernie Parent was called up and played 39 games in his first pro season, leading the Bruins in wins and goals against average. Backed by Parent's brilliant goaltending, the Bruins had a decent November, though scoring remained an issue and they were outshot in many games. However, disaster struck during the 6-2 win over the Rangers on November 25, 1965 as defensemen Ted Green, Leo Boivin and Albert Langlois were all injured. Although Boivin and Langlois returned in early December, Green was lost until late December. For the next game on November 27, 1965 versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, blue-liners John Arbour and Barry Ashbee both played their first NHL games. With the score tied 1-1 in the third period, Forbes Kennedy bumped into Leafs goalie Terry Sawchuk, allowing Reg Fleming to score. Referee Bill Friday allowed the goal, resulting in a furious protest from Sawchuk and the Leaf players. While the commotion was going on, Bruins coach Milt Schmidt collapsed. Schmidt was taken to hospital, but insisted he fainted due to being sick with the flu. Fleming's goal held up as the game winner, the last victory the Bruins would enjoy for a month.

Bob Dillabough scores on Gump Worsley, December 5, 1965.

Missing their best three defensemen, the Bruins went on a 12 game winless streak. This included games where Detroit and Chicago each netted 10 goals in games against the Bruins. Ron Schock, who had started the season, was sent to the minors. Bill Goldsworthy, Derek Sanderson and Don Marcotte were called up and played their first NHL games in November 1965. Sanderson and Marcotte would be part of the Bruins Stanley Cup teams in the 1970's and Marcotte would play thirteen seasons for Boston. After scoring twice on December 12, 1965, Goldsworthy stayed with the Bruins for 13 games. Even once Boivin and Langlois returned, the winless streak continued. Ed Johnston returned on December 18, 1965 and Cheevers was sent to the minors. On Christmas Day 1965, Ted Green returned to the line-up and showed how much the Bruins missed him. Recording 3 assists, he led the Bruins to a 4-2 win over the Rangers.

Don Awrey, Bernie Parent, Bob Woytowich in 1965-66 season action.

After scoring only 6 goals, Parker MacDonald was traded on December 30, 1965 for Pit Martin. A little over a week later, Reg Fleming was traded for John McKenzie. Both had an immediate impact and provided desperately needed scoring from the second line as the Bruins won four consecutive games for the first time since the 1959-60 season. Martin finished fourth in team goals, though he played a little over half the year, while McKenzie chipped in 13 goals. McKenzie would be an important part of the Bruins two Cup winning teams in the 1970's while Martin (with Gilles Marotte) would be part of arguably the most important trade in Bruins history in 1967.

1966

Pit Martin scored at a torrid pace after coming to the Bruins in January 1966.

On January 27, 1966, in the last game of the four consecutive wins, Pit Martin scored four goals versus Chicago to pace the Bruins to a 5-3 win. It was the first 4 goal game for a Bruin since Woody Dumart on March 4, 1951 and it gave Martin 10 goals since joining Boston. However, in this game, Ted Green was injured again, suffering a knee ligament tear, and was gone for the season. In the next game on January 29 versus Toronto, late in the third period, Bob Dillabough checked Eddie Shack, who was driving for the Bruins goal. Dillabough bounced off Shack and crashed into Bernie Parent. Parent was knocked out of the game with bruised ribs while Dillabough suffered a severe head gash that required 26 stitches to close. Dillabough played the next game while Parent was back in action after missing only one game.

Captain Leo Boivin played the last of a dozen seasons for the Bruins in 1966.

By February, John McKenzie was playing on the Bruins top line with Oliver and Bucyk. After the Bruins 5-4 win on February 16, 1966 versus Detroit, in which Pit Martin had a Hat trick, Hap Emms traded Dean Prentice and Bruins captain Leo Boivin to the Red Wings for Gary Doak, Ron Murphy and Bill Lesuk. Murphy finished his career with Boston in 1970 while Doak played the rest of the season, was part of the 1970 Bruins Cup team and played 13 seasons for them. Boivin had played a dozen seasons for the Bruins. In the next game on February 19, Boston and Detroit played each other, with the Bruins winning 5-1. Murphy had an assist but the other players involved in the trade were held scoreless. Citing personal reasons, Murphy announced his retirement but indicated he might return the following season (which he did).

The Bruins then went on a seven game losing streak. Going into their last game of the season, the Bruins and Rangers were tied with 46 points. The Rangers tied the Maple Leafs 3-3 in their last game of the season on April 2. The Bruins faced the Chicago Black Hawks on April 3, who had locked up second place. Tied 2-2 early in the third period, John McKenzie and Ron Stewart scored 30 seconds apart for a 4-2 Bruins win. Although they missed the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year, Boston didn't finish in last place. Gilles Marotte finished third in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy while Bernie Parent was fourth.

Final Standings

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

National Hockey League

	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Montreal Canadiens	70	41	21	8	90	239	173	884
Chicago Black Hawks	70	37	25	8	82	240	187	815
Toronto Maple Leafs	70	34	25	11	79	208	187	811
Detroit Red Wings	70	31	27	12	74	221	194	804
Boston Bruins	70	21	43	6	48	174	275	787
New York Rangers	70	18	41	11	47	195	261	894

Game Log

Regular Season Results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 24, 1965	2–6	Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	0–1–0
2	L	October 27, 1965	1–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	0–2–0
3	L	October 30, 1965	2–8	New York Rangers (1965–66)	0–3–0
4	T	November 3, 1965	2–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	0–3–1
5	L	November 4, 1965	1–8	@ Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	0–4–1
6	W	November 6, 1965	3–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	1–4–1
7	L	November 7, 1965	2–5	Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	1–5–1
8	T	November 10, 1965	2–2	@ New York Rangers (1965–66)	1–5–2
9	W	November 14, 1965	2–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	2–5–2
10	L	November 20, 1965	2–4	Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	2–6–2
11	W	November 21, 1965	3–2	Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	3–6–2
12	L	November 24, 1965	1–4	@ New York Rangers (1965–66)	3–7–2
13	W	November 25, 1965	6–2	New York Rangers (1965–66)	4–7–2
14	W	November 27, 1965	2–1	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	5–7–2
15	L	November 28, 1965	3–5	Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	5–8–2
16	L	December 1, 1965	2–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	5–9–2
17	L	December 2, 1965	2–10	@ Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	5–10–2
18	L	December 4, 1965	1–10	Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	5–11–2
19	T	December 5, 1965	4–4	Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	5–11–3
20	L	December 8, 1965	3–8	@ Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	5–12–3
21	L	December 11, 1965	3–8	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	5–13–3
22	L	December 12, 1965	3–5	Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	5–14–3
23	L	December 15, 1965	4–8	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	5–15–3
24	L	December 16, 1965	0–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	5–16–3
25	L	December 18, 1965	1–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	5–17–3
26	L	December 19, 1965	1–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	5–18–3
27	W	December 25, 1965	4–2	New York Rangers (1965–66)	6–18–3
28	L	December 26, 1965	4–6	@ New York Rangers (1965–66)	6–19–3
29	L	December 28, 1965	0–1	Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	6–20–3
30	L	January 1, 1966	3–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	6–21–3
31	L	January 2, 1966	1–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	6–22–3
32	L	January 6, 1966	3–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	6–23–3
33	L	January 8, 1966	0–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	6–24–3
34	W	January 9, 1966	3–1	@ New York Rangers (1965–66)	7–24–3
35	T	January 13, 1966	1–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	7–24–4
36	L	January 15, 1966	1–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	7–25–4
37	L	January 16, 1966	1–3	Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	7–26–4
38	W	January 20, 1966	4–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	8–26–4
39	W	January 22, 1966	5–3	New York Rangers (1965–66)	9–26–4
40	W	January 23, 1966	2–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	10–26–4
41	W	January 27, 1966	5–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	11–26–4
42	L	January 29, 1966	3–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	11–27–4
43	L	January 30, 1966	1–3	Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	11–28–4
44	L	February 3, 1966	2–4	Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	11–29–4
45	W	February 5, 1966	5–3	New York Rangers (1965–66)	12–29–4
46	T	February 6, 1966	3–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	12–29–5
47	W	February 10, 1966	2–0	Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	13–29–5
48	L	February 12, 1966	2–9	@ New York Rangers (1965–66)	13–30–5
49	T	February 13, 1966	4–4	Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	13–30–6
50	W	February 16, 1966	5–4	Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	14–30–6
51	W	February 19, 1966	5–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	15–30–6
52	L	February 20, 1966	1–5	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	15–31–6
53	L	February 23, 1966	2–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	15–32–6
54	L	February 26, 1966	2–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	15–33–6
55	L	February 27, 1966	1–7	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	15–34–6
56	L	March 2, 1966	3–5	@ New York Rangers (1965–66)	15–35–6
57	L	March 3, 1966	4–5	New York Rangers (1965–66)	15–36–6
58	L	March 6, 1966	3–5	Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	15–37–6
59	W	March 9, 1966	3–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	16–37–6
60	L	March 12, 1966	0–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	16–38–6
61	L	March 13, 1966	4–8	Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	16–39–6
62	W	March 16, 1966	3–1	@ New York Rangers (1965–66)	17–39–6
63	L	March 17, 1966	2–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1965–66)	17–40–6
64	W	March 20, 1966	4–3	New York Rangers (1965–66)	18–40–6
65	W	March 23, 1966	3–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	19–40–6
66	L	March 26, 1966	2–5	@ Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	19–41–6
67	L	March 27, 1966	1–3	Montreal Canadiens (1965–66)	19–42–6
68	L	March 29, 1966	2–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	19–43–6
69	W	March 31, 1966	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1965–66)	20–43–6
70	W	April 3, 1966	4–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1965–66)	21–43–6

Playoffs

• The Bruins did not qualify for the post season.

Player Stats

Regular Season

Scoring

#	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
16	Oliver, MurrayMurray Oliver	C	70	18	42	60	30	5	0	3
9	Bucyk, JohnJohn Bucyk	LW	63	27	30	57	12	3	0	5
11	Williams, TommyTommy Williams	RW	70	16	22	38	31	1	0	3
7, 12	Stewart, RonRon Stewart	RW	70	20	16	36	17	4	0	2
18	Westfall, EdEd Westfall	D/RW	59	9	21	30	42	2	1	0
17	Prentice, DeanDean Prentice	LW	50	7	22	29	10	3	0	1
7	Martin, PitPit Martin	C	41	16	11	27	10	2	0	1
19	McKenzie, JohnJohn McKenzie	RW	36	13	9	22	36	2	0	1
22	Dillabough, BobBob Dillabough	C	53	7	13	20	18	0	0	1
10	Marotte, GillesGilles Marotte	D	51	3	17	20	52	2	0	0
8	Woytowich, BobBob Woytowich	D	68	2	17	19	75	0	0	1
6	Green, TedTed Green	D	27	5	13	18	113	2	0	0
4	Langlois, AlbertAlbert Langlois	D	65	4	10	14	54	0	0	0
21	MacDonald, ParkerParker MacDonald	C	29	6	4	10	6	1	1	0
19	Fleming, ReggieReggie Fleming	D/LW	34	4	6	10	42	0	0	1
14, 28	Kennedy, ForbesForbes Kennedy	C	50	4	6	10	55	0	1	1
25	Doak, GaryGary Doak	D	20	0	8	8	28	0	0	0
26	Awrey, DonDon Awrey	D	70	4	3	7	74	2	0	0
20	Boivin, LeoLeo Boivin	D	46	0	5	5	34	0	0	0
28	Goldsworthy, BillBill Goldsworthy	RW	13	3	1	4	6	0	0	0
23	Schock, RonRon Schock	C	24	2	2	4	6	1	0	0
27	Maxner, WayneWayne Maxner	LW	8	1	3	4	6	0	0	0
24	Leiter, BobbyBobby Leiter	C	9	2	1	3	2	0	0	0
25	Ashbee, BarryBarry Ashbee	D	14	0	3	3	14	0	0	0
21	Rivers, WayneWayne Rivers	RW	2	1	1	2	2	0	0	1
17	Murphy, RonRon Murphy	LW	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
29	Popiel, PoulPoul Popiel	D	3	0	1	1	2	0	0	0
27	Dornhoefer, GaryGary Dornhoefer	RW	10	0	1	1	2	0	0	0
27	Marcotte, DonDon Marcotte	LW	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	Davison, MurrayMurray Davison	D	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	Krake, SkipSkip Krake	C	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	Arbour, JohnJohn Arbour	D	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23, 27	Sanderson, DerekDerek Sanderson	C	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	Smith, DallasDallas Smith	D	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
14	Crisp, TerryTerry Crisp	C	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
17	Parise, J.P.J.P. Parise	LW	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	Ring, BobBob Ring	G	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1, 30	Cheevers, GerryGerry Cheevers	G	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1	Johnston, EddieEddie Johnston	G	33	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
1, 30	Parent, BernieBernie Parent	G	39	0	0	0	4	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Parent, BernieBernie Parent	2083	39	11	20	3	128	3.69	1
Johnston, EddieEddie Johnston	1744	33	10	19	2	108	3.72	1
Cheevers, GerryGerry Cheevers	340	7	0	4	1	34	6.00	0
Ring, BobBob Ring	33	1	0	0	0	4	7.27	0
Team:	4200	70	21	43	6	274	3.91	2

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts

Awards and Records

• The Bruins did not receive any awards this season.

Transactions

• Trade Bob McCord, Ab McDonald and Ken Stephanson to the Detroit Red Wings for Bob Dillabough, Ron Harris, Albert Langlois and Parker MacDonald on May 31, 1965.
• Trade Andy Hebenton, Orland Kurtenbach and Pat Stapleton to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Ron Stewart on June 8, 1965.
• Select Gerry Cheevers from Toronto, Poul Popiel from the Chicago Black Hawks, Norm Schmitz from the Montreal Canadiens and Keith Wright from the New York Rangers in the intra-league draft on June 9, 1965.
• Trade Parker MacDonald to Detroit for Pit Martin on December 30, 1965.
• Trade Reg Fleming to New York for John McKenzie on January 10, 1966.
• Trade Leo Boivin and Dean Prentice to Detroit for Gary Doak, Bill Lesuk and Ron Murphy on February 16, 1966.

Draft Picks

The 1965 NHL Entry Draft involved picking 16-year-olds. None of the players picked ever played for the Bruins.

Round	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (league)
1	Joe Bailey	RW	Canada	St. Thomas Jr. B
2	Bill Ramsay	C	Canada	Winnipeg Jrs.

Farm Teams

Bobby Orr was again voted to the OHA First All-Star team and had 93 points in 1965-66. The Oshawa Generals were Memorial Cup runner-ups.

The Bruins development system in 1965-66 was filled with players who would go on to have long NHL careers. However, many would find success with teams other than the Bruins. Led by Bobby Orr, the prospects also included Danny O'Shea, Wayne Cashman, Derek Sanderson, Bill Goldsworthy, Gilles Marotte, Jean Pronovost, Don Marcotte, Jim Lorentz, Doug Favell, J. P. Parisé, Joe Watson, Ross Lonsberry and Terry Crisp.

• Oshawa Generals - Memorial Cup runner-up
• Niagara Falls Flyers
• Estevan Bruins
• Oklahoma City Blazers (CPHL) - Adams Cup Champions
• San Francisco Seals (WHL)
• Hershey Bears (AHL)

Trivia

• Poul Popiel wore jersey #29 in the season's first game. This was the first time a Bruin wore #29 and was the highest number, up to that time, that a Bruin had ever worn.
• Gerry Cheevers wore jersey #30 in the season's second game. This was the first time a Bruin wore #30 and was the highest number, up to that time, that a Bruin had ever worn.
• Bob Ring wore jersey #28 in the season's third game. This was the first time a Bruin wore #28.
• Skip Krake wore jersey #27 in the season's sixteenth game. This was the first time a Bruin wore #27.
• Bruins who recorded a Hat trick this season include:
  • Pit Martin had a four goal game during the 5-3 win over the Chicago Black Hawks on January 27, 1966.

Gallery

Frank Mahovlich, Gerry Cheevers (playing in his first game for the Bruins), Don Awrey, October 27, 1965.

Bruins Tom Williams and #19 Reg Fleming, Leafs Johnny Bower and Kent Douglas, December 19, 1965.

Bruce Gamble and Ron Stewart, March 6, 1966.

An injury to Eddie Johnston resulted in Bernie Parent playing the majority of the Bruins games in the 1965-66 season.

The Bruins sorely missed Ted Green who was gone for 43 games due to two injuries.

Bernie Parent, Gilles Marotte and Dave Keon in 1965-66 season action.

See Also

• 1965–66 NHL season

References

• 1965–66 Boston Bruins Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-06.