1953 Stanley Cup Finals

1953 Stanley Cup Finals
Teams 1 2 3 4 5* Games Montreal Canadiens  4 1 3 7 1 4 Boston Bruins  2 4 0 3 0 1 * indicates periods of overtime.
Location: Montreal, QC (Montreal Forum) (1,2,5) Boston, Massachusetts (Boston Garden) (3,4) Format: Best-of-seven Coaches: Montreal: Dick Irvin Boston: Lynn Patrick Captains: Montreal: Emile Bouchard Boston: Milt Schmidt Dates: April 9 to April 16, 1953 Series-winning goal: Elmer Lach (1:22, OT)
< 1952 Stanley Cup Finals 1954 >

The 1953 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens. Boston was making its first appearance in the Final since the 1946 Final. The Canadiens, who were appearing in their third-straight Final series, would win the series four games to one.

Paths to the Final

Montreal defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 4–3 to reach the final. Boston defeated the defending champion Detroit Red Wings 4–2 to reach the final.

The series

Jacques Plante would be pulled after the first two games in favour of Gerry McNeil. The move paid off as McNeil posted two shutouts in the last three games.

Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens

April 9	Montreal Canadiens		4–2		Boston Bruins	Montreal Forum
Dickie Moore - 13:42		First period			2:08 - Bob Armstrong (Fleming Mackell)
(Eddie Mazur) Ken Mosdell - 2:37 (Dollard St. Laurent, Calum MacKay) Floyd Curry - 16:05		Second period			No scoring
(Ken Mosdell) Maurice Richard - 11:12		Third period			10:11 - Johnny Pierson, 3 (Fleming Mackell, Ed Sanford)

April 11	Montreal Canadiens		1-4		Boston Bruins	Montreal Forum
No scoring		First period			3:53 - Leo Labine, 2 (Bill Quackenbush) 18:13 - Ed Sandford, 7 (Joe Klukay, Real Chevrefils)
(Doug Harvey, Floyd Curry) Bert Olmstead - 1:36		Second period			7:26 - Ed Sandford, 8 (Fleming Mackell)
No scoring		Third period			15:43 - Milt Schmidt, 4 (Woody Dumart, Frank Martin)

April 12	Boston Bruins		0-3		Montreal Canadiens	Boston Garden
No scoring		First period			11:53 - Tom Johnson (Ken Mosdell)
No scoring		Second period			6:30 - Paul Masnick
No scoring		Third period			11:27 - Ken Mosdell (Emile Bouchard)

April 14	Boston Bruins		3-7		Montreal Canadiens	Boston Garden
(Woody Dumart) Dave Creighton, 4 - 18:22		First period			3:23 - Lorne Davis (Dollard St. Laurent, Calum MacKay) 10:58 - Maurice Richard (Doug Harvey) 16:40 - Dickie Moore
No scoring		Second period			18:58 - Bernie Geoffrion
(Leo Labine) Milt Schmidt, 5 - 7:23 (Dave Creighton) Jack McIntyre, 4 - 16:25		Third period			5:33 - Maurice Richard 17:59 - Calum MacKay 18:27 - Maurice Richard (Bert Olmstead, Elmer Lach)

April 16	Montreal Canadiens		1–0	OT	Boston Bruins	Montreal Forum
No scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
(Maurice Richard) Elmer Lach - 1:22		First overtime period			No scoring

Montreal won series 4–1

Montreal Canadiens 1953 Stanley Cup champions

Roster

  Centres

• 11 Paul Masnick
• 14 Billy Reay(A)
• 16 Elmer Lach(A)
• 17 Johnny McCormack
• 18 Kenny Mosdell
• 20 Paul Meger (also played Wing)
• 23 Doug Anderson&

  Wingers

• 4 Calum MacKay
• 5 Bernie Geoffrion
• 6 Floyd Curry
• 8 Dick Gamble
• 9 Maurice "Rocket" Richard
• 12 Dickie Moore
• 15 Bert Olmstead
• 22 Lorne Davis

  Defencemen

• 2 Doug Harvey
• 3 Emile "Butch" Bouchard (Captain)
• 10 Tom Johnson
• 19 Dollard St. Laurent
• 21 Jim Bud MacPherson
• 23 Eddie Mazur

  Goaltenders

• 1 Gerry McNeil
• 1 Jacques Plante

  Coaching and Administrative Staff

• Donat Raymond (President/Owner), Dalton Coleman (Vice President/Owner)
• William Northey (Vice Presidents/Owners), Frank Selke Sr. (Manager)
• Dick Irvin Sr. (Coach), Hector Dubois (Trainer), Gaston Bettez (Asst. Trainer)
• Camile DesRoches^, Frank Selke Jr.^ (Publicity Directors)
• &- Doug Anderson played 2 games in the Semi-Finals, qualified to be on the Stanley Cup, but name was still left off
• ^- on the team picture, but missing from the Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup engraving

• Eddie Maruz was misspelled EDDIE MARUZE, with an extra "E" on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93. His name was spelled correctly on the other 2 rings.
• Mistake Gaston Bettez name was misspelled in 1953. Gettez was GOSTON BETTES on the original ring in 1953, G Bettes on the other 2 rings of 1953 Montreal.

See also

• 1952–53 NHL season
• List of Stanley Cup champions

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

Preceded by Detroit Red Wings 1952

Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup Champions 1953

Succeeded by Detroit Red Wings 1954