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.

Game 1

April 9

Boston Bruins

2 – 4 1 – 1, 0 – 2, 1 – 1

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Forum

Game reference
	Jim Henry	Goalies	Jacques Plante
	Bob Armstrong 1 (Fleming Mackell, Hal Laycoe) (PP) – 2:08 1 – 0 1 – 1 13:43 – Dickie Moore 2 1 – 2 2:37 – Ken Mosdell 2 (Eddie Mazur) 1 – 3 16:05 – Floyd Curry 2 (Calum MacKay, Dollard St. Laurent) Johnny Peirson 3 (Fleming MacKell, Ed Sandford) – 10:11 2 – 3 2 – 4 11:12 – Maurice Richard 4 (Ken Mosdell)

Game 2

April 11

Boston Bruins

4 – 1 2 – 0, 1 – 1, 1 – 0

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Forum

Game reference
	Jim Henry Gord Henry	Goalies	Jacques Plante
	Leo Labine 2 (Bill Quackenbush) – 3:53 1 – 0 Ed Sandford 7 (Joe Klukay, Réal Chevrefils) – 18:13 2 – 0 2 – 1 1:36 – Bert Olmstead 2 (Floyd Curry, Doug Harvey) Ed Sandford 8 (Fleming Mackell) – 7:26 3 – 1 Milt Schmidt 4 (Woody Dumart, Frank Martin) – 15:13 4 – 1

Game 3

April 12

Montreal Canadiens

3 – 0 1 – 0, 1 – 0, 1 – 0

Boston Bruins

Boston Garden

Game reference
	Gerry McNeil	Goalies	Gord Henry
	Tom Johnson 2 (Ken Mosdell) (PP) – 11:53 1 – 0 Paul Masnick 1 – 6:30 2 – 0 Paul Masnick 2 (Butch Bouchard) – 11:27 3 – 0

Game 4

April 14

Montreal Canadiens

7 – 3 3 – 1, 1 – 0, 3 – 2

Boston Bruins

Boston Garden

Game reference
	Gerry McNeil	Goalies	Gord Henry
	Lorne Davis 1 (Dollard St. Laurent, Calum MacKay) – 1:39 1 – 0 Maurice Richard 5 (Doug Harvey) – 10:58 2 – 0 Dickie Moore 3 – 16:40 3 – 0 3 – 1 19:29 – Dave Creighton 4 (Woody Dumart) Bernie Geoffrion 6 (PP) – 13:55 4 – 1 Maurice Richard 6 – 5:32 5 – 1 5 – 2 7:28 – Milt Schmidt 5 (Leo Labine) 5 – 3 16:25 – Jack McIntyre 4 (Dave Creighton) – 16:25 Calum MacKay 1 – 17:59 6 – 3 Maurice Richard 7 (Elmer Lach, Bert Olmstead) – 18:27 7 – 3

Game 5

April 16

Boston Bruins

0 – 1 OT 0 – 0, 0 – 0, 0 – 0, 0 – 1

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Forum

Game reference
	Jim Henry	Goalies	Gerry McNeil
	0 – 1 1:22 – Elmer Lach 1 (Maurice Richard)

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

• List of Stanley Cup champions

Notes

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