WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.480 Apple podcast title, The Deep Dive, the 1965 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:08.339 -66 NHL season expansion drama, Stolen Jerseys, 00:00:08.359 --> 00:00:11.380 and the Original Six Era. Welcome to another 00:00:11.380 --> 00:00:13.900 tailored deep dive. Today we're lacing up our 00:00:13.900 --> 00:00:18.059 skates to explore the historic 1965 -66 NHL season. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:21.039 From Bobby Hall and Gordie Howe smashing records 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.140 on the ice to the bitter boardroom battles that 00:00:23.140 --> 00:00:25.579 shaped modern hockey expansion, we extract the 00:00:25.579 --> 00:00:27.780 most fascinating nuggets from this pivotal year 00:00:27.780 --> 00:00:30.500 in sports history. Discover why the St. Louis 00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:32.719 Blues owe their existence to a real estate deal, 00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:35.299 how a stolen uniform heist forced the Detroit 00:00:35.299 --> 00:00:37.380 Red Wings to play in junior sweaters, and the 00:00:37.380 --> 00:00:39.119 birth of American network playoff television. 00:00:39.380 --> 00:00:41.479 A perfect shortcut to being well -informed on 00:00:41.479 --> 00:00:43.539 the dramatic twilight of the Original Six era. 00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:47.820 SEO Keywords 1965 -66 NHL Season Original Six 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:50.700 Stanley Cup Gordie Howe Bobby Hull Hockey History 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:53.820 Montreal Canadiens Detroit Red Wings NHL Expansion 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.960 Welcome to another custom tailored deep dive. 00:00:57.219 --> 00:00:59.740 Today we're actually lacing up our skates. Stepping 00:00:59.740 --> 00:01:01.840 right onto the ice. Exactly. We are heading back 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:04.379 in time to a very specific, incredibly transformative 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:06.560 moment in sports history. We're looking at the 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:10.480 1965 -1966 NHL season. And our source material 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:13.500 for this journey today is an extensive Wikipedia 00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:16.409 breakdown of that exact year. Right. And our 00:01:16.409 --> 00:01:18.909 mission here is to extract the most vital, the 00:01:18.909 --> 00:01:21.409 most surprising and honestly, some downright 00:01:21.409 --> 00:01:24.569 bizarre facts. We want to prove to you that sports 00:01:24.569 --> 00:01:27.790 history is, well, it's just as much about boardroom 00:01:27.790 --> 00:01:30.810 backstabbing and wild logistical nightmares as 00:01:30.810 --> 00:01:33.959 it is about, you know. athletic glory. Oh, absolutely. 00:01:34.219 --> 00:01:36.840 And to really understand why this specific year 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:39.079 matters to you, even if you aren't a diehard 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:41.840 hockey historian, you have to look at the baseline 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.500 of what the sport was at that exact moment. Yeah, 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:46.760 set the scene for us. So this is the 49th season 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:48.459 of the National Hockey League. We're talking 00:01:48.459 --> 00:01:51.260 about the dramatic twilight of the classic Original 00:01:51.260 --> 00:01:53.760 Six era. Which, for anyone who might be catching 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:55.819 up on their hockey lore, you might hear Original 00:01:55.819 --> 00:01:58.040 Six and think it refers to like... The dawn of 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:01.560 time. The 1920s or something. Yeah. But by 1965, 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:03.819 it just meant the league had been operating for 00:02:03.819 --> 00:02:07.400 decades with only six exclusive franchises. You 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:09.479 had the Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto Maple 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:12.840 Leafs, the Boston Bruins, the Detroit Red Wings, 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:15.460 the Chicago Blackhawks, and the New York Rangers. 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:18.500 Just six teams. That's it. And they played this 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:22.680 grueling 70 -game schedule against each other 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:25.939 all winter long. It was an incredibly insular 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:28.909 regional business. Very regional. But the foundations 00:02:28.909 --> 00:02:31.969 of the massive, continent -spanning, multibillion 00:02:31.969 --> 00:02:36.030 -dollar league we know today, they were being 00:02:36.030 --> 00:02:38.889 aggressively and sometimes ruthlessly laid down 00:02:38.889 --> 00:02:41.110 right in the middle of this specific season. 00:02:41.270 --> 00:02:43.310 Which perfectly brings us to the front office. 00:02:43.789 --> 00:02:47.870 Because in February of 1966, the NHL made a monumental 00:02:47.870 --> 00:02:50.250 announcement. A total game changer. It changed 00:02:50.250 --> 00:02:52.930 the landscape of the sport forever. They awarded 00:02:52.930 --> 00:02:55.669 six conditional franchises slated to begin play 00:02:55.669 --> 00:02:58.909 in 1967. They were effectively doubling the size 00:02:58.909 --> 00:03:00.990 of the league overnight. Go from 6 to 12. Right. 00:03:01.050 --> 00:03:03.389 And they announced teams for Los Angeles, San 00:03:03.389 --> 00:03:05.530 Francisco, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Philadelphia, 00:03:05.909 --> 00:03:09.270 Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. Now looking at that 00:03:09.270 --> 00:03:11.289 list. Yeah. Five of those cities had thriving 00:03:11.289 --> 00:03:13.389 markets. Made total sense for a sport. expansion 00:03:13.389 --> 00:03:16.430 but st louis right how does a city without a 00:03:16.430 --> 00:03:19.270 formal bid suddenly find itself with a professional 00:03:19.270 --> 00:03:22.550 hockey franchise the sheer audacity of the st 00:03:22.550 --> 00:03:25.930 louis inclusion is i mean it's one of the great 00:03:25.930 --> 00:03:29.310 open secrets of stork's capitalism you are entirely 00:03:29.310 --> 00:03:31.849 correct there had been no formal application 00:03:31.849 --> 00:03:35.000 from the city of st louis none at all none No 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.419 local ownership group put a passionate bid together. 00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:41.039 No one begged the NHL for a team. The franchise 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:43.620 was essentially forced into existence to fulfill 00:03:43.620 --> 00:03:46.400 the personal financial wishes of two men. And 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:48.919 who were they? James D. Norris and Arthur Wurtz. 00:03:49.099 --> 00:03:53.000 OK, so how did Norris and Wurtz have the power 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:56.199 to just manifest a major sports franchise out 00:03:56.199 --> 00:03:58.159 of thin air? Well, Norris and Wurtz were the 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:00.590 owners of the Chicago Blackhawks. So they already 00:04:00.590 --> 00:04:02.530 held massive influence over the league's board 00:04:02.530 --> 00:04:04.729 of governors. But crucially, they also happened 00:04:04.729 --> 00:04:06.830 to own the St. Louis Arena. Ah, okay. It was 00:04:06.830 --> 00:04:09.610 a massive aging building, a major financial liability 00:04:09.610 --> 00:04:12.050 for them, and it was an asset they desperately 00:04:12.050 --> 00:04:14.409 wanted to sell off. So the strategy was, if you 00:04:14.409 --> 00:04:16.850 want to unload a massive empty sports arena, 00:04:16.910 --> 00:04:18.949 the best way to make it an attractive real estate 00:04:18.949 --> 00:04:21.350 purchase is to... Ensure there's a brand new 00:04:21.350 --> 00:04:24.290 professional sports team contractually obligated 00:04:24.290 --> 00:04:27.269 to play inside it. That is wild. They leveraged 00:04:27.269 --> 00:04:29.610 their immense power within that original... Boys 00:04:29.610 --> 00:04:33.569 Club to grant St. Louis a team purely for their 00:04:33.569 --> 00:04:35.709 own real estate game. So it wasn't about growing 00:04:35.709 --> 00:04:37.910 the game at all. Not even a little bit. It was 00:04:37.910 --> 00:04:41.089 about flipping a building. And sadly, James D. 00:04:41.129 --> 00:04:43.470 Norris actually died of a heart attack in late 00:04:43.470 --> 00:04:46.410 February of that year, right around the time 00:04:46.410 --> 00:04:49.970 this incredible, somewhat cynical expansion maneuvering 00:04:49.970 --> 00:04:52.430 was coming to fruition. It's just wild to think 00:04:52.430 --> 00:04:54.730 about. A city gets a major cultural touchstone 00:04:54.730 --> 00:04:57.009 because two guys in another city needed to balance 00:04:57.009 --> 00:04:59.389 their real estate portfolio. Exactly. And the 00:04:59.389 --> 00:05:01.589 stark contrast to that is what happened out west. 00:05:02.009 --> 00:05:05.730 Vancouver had a prime market, a rabid fan base, 00:05:05.949 --> 00:05:09.889 and a very strong formal bid ready to go. A bid 00:05:09.889 --> 00:05:12.670 that made total sense on paper. Right. Yet they 00:05:12.670 --> 00:05:15.430 were flat out rejected by the league. And the 00:05:15.430 --> 00:05:18.889 anger in Canada over this was intense. It escalated 00:05:18.889 --> 00:05:21.120 all the way to the top. The Prime Minister of 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:23.519 Canada at the time, Lester Pearson, actually 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:25.959 formally protested the NHL's decision. Yeah, 00:05:25.980 --> 00:05:28.319 it became a national political issue. So Vancouver 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:31.939 had everything going for it. Why on earth would 00:05:31.939 --> 00:05:34.379 the league actively sabotage a Canadian rival? 00:05:34.759 --> 00:05:37.879 The answer, as it often is, was television money. 00:05:38.060 --> 00:05:40.680 Of course it was! A rumor spread very quickly 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:42.819 through the press, and it was actually fueled 00:05:42.819 --> 00:05:45.040 by a corroborating statement from the Toronto 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:48.290 Maple Leafs general manager, Punch Imlach. He 00:05:48.290 --> 00:05:50.230 said that the owners in Toronto and Montreal 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:54.310 had explicitly vetoed Vancouver's bid. So they 00:05:54.310 --> 00:05:56.269 just blocked them to keep them out of the club. 00:05:56.509 --> 00:05:58.850 They blocked them because of broadcast revenue. 00:05:59.670 --> 00:06:02.230 Toronto and Montreal had a deep dislike for the 00:06:02.230 --> 00:06:04.629 idea of sharing the proceeds from the television 00:06:04.629 --> 00:06:06.730 broadcasts of the games. Because they'd have 00:06:06.730 --> 00:06:09.029 to split it. Right. Think about the lucrative 00:06:09.029 --> 00:06:11.529 Canadian television market at that time, primarily 00:06:11.529 --> 00:06:13.870 Hockey Night in Canada. The pie was currently 00:06:13.870 --> 00:06:16.110 being split among a very small group. And if 00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:17.850 Vancouver enters the league, that television 00:06:17.850 --> 00:06:20.970 pie has to be sliced thinner. Exactly. They wanted 00:06:20.970 --> 00:06:23.209 to keep the revenue divided among fewer Canadian 00:06:23.209 --> 00:06:26.089 teams. Now, Vancouver would eventually get their 00:06:26.089 --> 00:06:29.129 NHL franchise, but this boardroom blockade forced 00:06:29.129 --> 00:06:32.389 them to wait until 1970. Wow. And this corporate 00:06:32.389 --> 00:06:34.649 tension wasn't just happening at the billionaire 00:06:34.649 --> 00:06:37.230 ownership level either. It was reaching all the 00:06:37.230 --> 00:06:39.790 way down to teenagers playing amateur hockey. 00:06:40.009 --> 00:06:42.389 Yeah, the draft dispute. Right. There was a massive 00:06:42.389 --> 00:06:44.430 draft dispute brewing behind the scenes that 00:06:44.430 --> 00:06:47.300 season. For the second consecutive year, the 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:49.980 Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, the CAH, 00:06:50.259 --> 00:06:54.199 was demanding an end to the NHL system of sponsoring 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:56.920 junior ice hockey teams. Right. And to put this 00:06:56.920 --> 00:06:59.199 in perspective for you today, when we think of 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:02.240 a sports draft, we think of a massive, glamorous, 00:07:02.540 --> 00:07:05.379 televised spectacle. Young athletes walk up to 00:07:05.379 --> 00:07:08.360 a podium, put on a hat and become instant millionaires. 00:07:08.379 --> 00:07:11.620 Right. The modern draft. But in 1965, the NHL 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:15.480 operated a direct farm system. NHL teams directly 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:18.560 sponsored junior clubs. That meant they essentially 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:20.920 owned the professional rights to the teenagers 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:23.439 playing on those teams. Just by funding the local 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:25.740 club. Exactly. And the CAA president, Lionel 00:07:25.740 --> 00:07:28.399 Flurry, wanted to break that monopoly. He wanted 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:30.819 players who graduated from junior hockey to be 00:07:30.819 --> 00:07:33.240 chosen in a fair league -wide amateur draft. 00:07:33.629 --> 00:07:36.029 Rather than being permanently tied to the specific 00:07:36.029 --> 00:07:38.490 NHL team that happened to sponsor their local 00:07:38.490 --> 00:07:41.750 junior club? Yes. He actually went as far as 00:07:41.750 --> 00:07:44.230 asking the NHL to terminate their existing professional 00:07:44.230 --> 00:07:46.930 agreement right then and there, instead of waiting 00:07:46.930 --> 00:07:50.189 for it to naturally expire in 1968. And I'm guessing 00:07:50.189 --> 00:07:53.350 the NHL wasn't thrilled about that. Naturally, 00:07:53.350 --> 00:07:55.610 they pushed back hard against losing their free 00:07:55.610 --> 00:07:59.110 pipeline of talent. NHL president Clarence Campbell 00:07:59.110 --> 00:08:01.209 flat out declined to terminate the agreement. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:04.360 His reasoning was brutally pragmatic. I sure 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:08.680 was. 95 % of all NHL players at that time were 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:12.199 produced by those sponsored junior teams. The 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:14.720 league had total control. So they weren't going 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:17.680 to just give that up. No. Campbell said a draft 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:20.759 might be viable eventually, but the NHL had their 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:23.360 own demands. They wanted to draft players at 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.240 an even younger age than 20. Oh, wow. And they 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:28.120 wanted to continue making financial payments 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:30.759 directly to the amateur teams rather than handing 00:08:30.759 --> 00:08:33.799 the funds over to the CAH to disperse as the 00:08:33.799 --> 00:08:36.620 association saw fit. So it was a total stalemate 00:08:36.620 --> 00:08:39.159 over who controlled the bodies and futures of 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:41.000 these young athletes. Yeah, and it didn't get 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:43.519 resolved until a new agreement was finally hammered 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:47.590 out in August of 1966. Okay, so with all this 00:08:47.590 --> 00:08:50.549 front office chaos, real estate scams, television 00:08:50.549 --> 00:08:54.230 vetoes, battles over teenagers, you have to wonder 00:08:54.230 --> 00:08:56.970 if it bled onto the ice. Did the actual gameplay 00:08:56.970 --> 00:08:59.110 look different this season compared to the years 00:08:59.110 --> 00:09:02.250 prior? It did, actually, and it started with 00:09:02.250 --> 00:09:04.509 something as fundamental as how many guys were 00:09:04.509 --> 00:09:07.370 allowed on the bench. Right. The only significant 00:09:07.370 --> 00:09:11.669 rule change for the 1965 -66 season was a new 00:09:11.669 --> 00:09:14.289 requirement that teams had to suit up two goaltenders 00:09:14.289 --> 00:09:17.240 for each game. Wait, so before this, relying 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:20.019 on a single goaltender for an entire 60 -minute 00:09:20.019 --> 00:09:23.240 game with maybe an unqualified emergency backup 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:25.440 sitting in the stands eating a hot dog that was 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:27.460 just the standard operating procedure. It was 00:09:27.460 --> 00:09:29.830 the norm. If a goalie took a puck to the face, 00:09:29.889 --> 00:09:31.370 the game would stop, they'd stitch him up in 00:09:31.370 --> 00:09:33.190 the back room and push him right back out onto 00:09:33.190 --> 00:09:36.169 the ice. That is brutal. Mandating two suited 00:09:36.169 --> 00:09:38.850 professional goaltenders reflects a growing awareness 00:09:38.850 --> 00:09:41.549 of player safety, the intense physical toll the 00:09:41.549 --> 00:09:43.809 game takes, and, you know, just standardizing 00:09:43.809 --> 00:09:46.409 roster management to prevent absolute farces 00:09:46.409 --> 00:09:48.590 if a goalie got seriously injured. Speaking of 00:09:48.590 --> 00:09:50.669 absolute farces, we have to talk about January 00:09:50.669 --> 00:09:54.610 1966. Oh, the Jersey heist. Yes. Because this 00:09:54.610 --> 00:09:56.909 might be one of the funniest logistical nightmares 00:09:56.909 --> 00:10:00.090 in professional sports history. The Detroit Red 00:10:00.090 --> 00:10:02.649 Wings traveled to Montreal to play the Canadians. 00:10:02.950 --> 00:10:05.710 And the night before the game, someone breaks 00:10:05.710 --> 00:10:08.429 into the visitor's dressing room at the legendary 00:10:08.429 --> 00:10:11.590 Montreal Forum and completely cleans them out. 00:10:11.710 --> 00:10:14.549 Everything. They steal all of the Detroit Red 00:10:14.549 --> 00:10:17.809 Wings game jerseys. Imagine you are a professional 00:10:17.809 --> 00:10:21.149 original six hockey team. Yeah. You are on the 00:10:21.149 --> 00:10:24.809 road in hostile territory. And you wake up on 00:10:24.809 --> 00:10:27.389 game day with absolutely nothing to wear. The 00:10:27.389 --> 00:10:29.809 panic must have been unbelievable. So the Red 00:10:29.809 --> 00:10:32.250 Wings had a junior farm team located in Hamilton, 00:10:32.409 --> 00:10:34.870 Ontario, the Hamilton Red Wings. Detroit management 00:10:34.870 --> 00:10:37.629 had to call up the junior team, commandeer their 00:10:37.629 --> 00:10:40.190 teenage -sized sweaters, and have them express 00:10:40.190 --> 00:10:43.070 shipped all the way to Montreal just in time 00:10:43.070 --> 00:10:45.220 for the puck drop. It's incredible. I want you 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:47.940 to picture this. You have hardened, massive professional 00:10:47.940 --> 00:10:50.980 athletes, absolute titans of the sport like Gordie 00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:53.580 Howe, trying to squeeze their shoulder pads into 00:10:53.580 --> 00:10:56.820 tight, stiff, borrowed junior sweaters just to 00:10:56.820 --> 00:10:58.919 skate out in front of thousands of screaming 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:02.299 Montreal fans. It completely punctures the incredibly 00:11:02.299 --> 00:11:05.080 serious corporate image the NHL was trying to 00:11:05.080 --> 00:11:07.360 project with all their multi -million dollar 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:09.500 expansion talks. Right. You can have all the 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:12.299 boardroom power in the world, but sometimes your 00:11:12.299 --> 00:11:14.409 locker room gets robbed. And your superstars 00:11:14.409 --> 00:11:17.070 have to play in borrowed teenage wool. And despite 00:11:17.070 --> 00:11:19.649 the wardrobe malfunctions, the on -ice performances 00:11:19.649 --> 00:11:22.509 that season were legendary. We saw some massive 00:11:22.509 --> 00:11:25.529 individual milestones. Oh, for sure. In November, 00:11:25.870 --> 00:11:28.549 wearing his proper uniform, Gordie Howe scored 00:11:28.549 --> 00:11:32.429 his 600th NHL goal. And fittingly, he did it 00:11:32.429 --> 00:11:35.169 in Montreal. in a 3 -2 loss to the Canadians. 00:11:35.450 --> 00:11:38.590 Even the fiercely loyal local Montreal fans gave 00:11:38.590 --> 00:11:40.710 him a standing ovation. Which says a lot about 00:11:40.710 --> 00:11:43.210 his legacy. We also saw Toronto's Frank Mihaljevic 00:11:43.210 --> 00:11:46.450 hit his 250th career goal, while Boston's Johnny 00:11:46.450 --> 00:11:49.090 Busick and Montreal's Claude Provost both hit 00:11:49.090 --> 00:11:51.809 their 200th. But the guy who absolutely defined 00:11:51.809 --> 00:11:54.110 the regular season was Chicago's Bobby Hull. 00:11:54.210 --> 00:11:55.809 You mentioned earlier he had a record -breaking 00:11:55.809 --> 00:11:58.769 year. Just how dominant was he out there? Bobby 00:11:58.769 --> 00:12:02.570 Hull's 1965 -66 campaign. is one for the history 00:12:02.570 --> 00:12:05.909 books. He was a force of nature. He set a brand 00:12:05.909 --> 00:12:08.450 new NHL record for goals in a single season, 00:12:08.590 --> 00:12:12.309 finding the back of the net 54 times. 54 goals. 00:12:12.529 --> 00:12:14.769 Yeah. He also set a new record for total points 00:12:14.769 --> 00:12:17.450 in a season with 97. That performance earned 00:12:17.450 --> 00:12:20.029 him the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer 00:12:20.029 --> 00:12:23.029 and his second straight heart trophy as the league's 00:12:23.029 --> 00:12:26.299 most valuable player. 54 goals and 43 assists 00:12:26.299 --> 00:12:29.779 in just 65 games played. That is a blistering 00:12:29.779 --> 00:12:32.259 pace. To give you some context on just how far 00:12:32.259 --> 00:12:34.879 ahead of the curve Hull was from his position 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:37.740 as a left winger, no left winger would lead the 00:12:37.740 --> 00:12:40.340 NHL in points again until Alexander Ovechkin 00:12:40.340 --> 00:12:43.720 did it in the 2007 -2008 season. No way! Yeah, 00:12:43.799 --> 00:12:46.899 that is a gap of over 40 years. Hull was playing 00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:48.820 a style of offensive hockey that was decades 00:12:48.820 --> 00:12:51.240 ahead of its time. It's no surprise he was named 00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:53.220 to the first All -Star team alongside his Chicago 00:12:53.220 --> 00:12:55.419 team. teammates, Stan Mikita, who actually finished 00:12:55.419 --> 00:12:57.639 second in overall league scoring with 78 points. 00:12:57.740 --> 00:12:59.620 But, you know, for every team setting records 00:12:59.620 --> 00:13:01.519 and flying high, there is a team struggling just 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:03.340 to keep its head above water. Yeah, the Rangers. 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:06.799 For the New York Rangers, this season was a brutal 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:10.279 slog. There was a brief glimmer of hope early 00:13:10.279 --> 00:13:12.580 in the year when their rookie goaltender, Ed 00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:15.740 Giacomen, put together a really exciting six 00:13:15.740 --> 00:13:18.919 -game unbeaten streak. The New York fans were 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:22.480 thrilled. But the magic evaporated quickly. The 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:25.019 Rangers had major inexperience playing back at 00:13:25.019 --> 00:13:27.059 the blue line. The defensemen, whose primary 00:13:27.059 --> 00:13:30.159 job is to hold off the attacking forwards, their 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:32.720 defense just couldn't protect Gia Komen. They 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:35.159 started losing consistently, fell out of playoff 00:13:35.159 --> 00:13:37.200 contention early, and the collapse cost their 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:39.980 head coach, Red Sullivan, his job. Right. Emile 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:41.879 Francis was brought in to take over behind the 00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:44.100 bench. But they were a sinking ship, ultimately 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:46.399 finishing second to last in the league with only 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:49.480 47 points. And beyond the standings, there was 00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:51.539 a stark human element to the Rangers' struggles. 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:55.179 Their star forward, Rod Gilbert, was facing a 00:13:55.179 --> 00:13:58.120 devastating medical setback. He had to undergo 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:00.960 a second spinal fusion surgery if he ever wanted 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:03.330 to play professional hockey again. The physical 00:14:03.330 --> 00:14:05.389 toll of the sport in that era was incredibly 00:14:05.389 --> 00:14:08.210 steep, and the Rangers desperately missed Gilbert's 00:14:08.210 --> 00:14:09.769 offensive production while he was recovering. 00:14:09.990 --> 00:14:12.629 It's tough. We also saw the end of an era for 00:14:12.629 --> 00:14:15.590 another legend that season. The career of future 00:14:15.590 --> 00:14:17.909 Hall of Famer Ted Lindsey officially came to 00:14:17.909 --> 00:14:20.610 a close when his request for reinstatement as 00:14:20.610 --> 00:14:23.909 an active player was coldly vetoed by the Toronto 00:14:23.909 --> 00:14:26.389 ownership. So it really was a season defined 00:14:26.389 --> 00:14:29.570 by extreme highs and crushing lows. When the 00:14:29.570 --> 00:14:32.210 dust settled on the 70 -game schedule, Montreal 00:14:32.210 --> 00:14:34.669 finished at the very top of the regular season 00:14:34.669 --> 00:14:37.889 standings with 90 points. Dominant year for them. 00:14:38.029 --> 00:14:41.570 They were followed by Chicago, Toronto, and Detroit. 00:14:42.309 --> 00:14:44.250 Boston and New York missed the cut entirely. 00:14:44.789 --> 00:14:47.029 This set the stage for the postseason, where 00:14:47.029 --> 00:14:49.289 only the top four teams qualified to compete 00:14:49.289 --> 00:14:51.090 for the Stanley Cup. First place played third 00:14:51.090 --> 00:14:53.309 place, and second played fourth. But before we 00:14:53.309 --> 00:14:55.230 get to the actual tournament, we have to talk 00:14:55.230 --> 00:14:57.049 about how the fans at home were experiencing 00:14:57.049 --> 00:15:00.690 it. Because 1966 represented a massive leap forward 00:15:00.690 --> 00:15:02.669 for hockey broadcasting, didn't it? It was a 00:15:02.669 --> 00:15:05.029 watershed moment for the visibility of the sport. 00:15:05.210 --> 00:15:08.129 Up in Canada... Hockey Night in Canada on CBC 00:15:08.129 --> 00:15:10.909 Television was continuing its beloved tradition 00:15:10.909 --> 00:15:13.970 of televising Saturday night regular season games 00:15:13.970 --> 00:15:16.970 as well as the playoffs. They also started producing 00:15:16.970 --> 00:15:19.870 Wednesday night regular season telecasts for 00:15:19.870 --> 00:15:22.850 the CTV network, though it's an amusing historical 00:15:22.850 --> 00:15:25.389 footnote that they typically didn't broadcast 00:15:25.389 --> 00:15:27.350 the games in their entirety. Oh, really? What 00:15:27.350 --> 00:15:28.990 did they do? They usually just joined the live 00:15:28.990 --> 00:15:31.570 feed in progress, which was actually a standard 00:15:31.570 --> 00:15:33.649 broadcasting practice until a few years later. 00:15:33.710 --> 00:15:36.779 That's so funny to think about now. But the real 00:15:36.779 --> 00:15:38.799 breakthrough, the one that the owners were likely 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:42.220 salivating over, was in the United States. NBC 00:15:42.220 --> 00:15:46.080 agreed to air the 1966 Sunday afternoon playoff 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:48.519 games. The importance of that NBC deal cannot 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:51.179 be overstated. This marked the first time since 00:15:51.179 --> 00:15:55.279 the 1959 -1960 season that the NHL aired nationally 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:57.960 in the U .S. Wow. But even more historically 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:00.340 significant, it was the first time ever that 00:16:00.340 --> 00:16:02.519 NHL postseason games aired on American network 00:16:02.519 --> 00:16:06.210 television. First time ever. Yeah. The second 00:16:06.210 --> 00:16:07.950 game of the semifinal series between Detroit 00:16:07.950 --> 00:16:10.490 and Chicago was nationally televised on April 00:16:10.490 --> 00:16:13.009 10th, and the clinching Game 6 of the Stanley 00:16:13.009 --> 00:16:16.009 Cup Finals was broadcast across RKO General Loan 00:16:16.009 --> 00:16:18.690 stations. After decades of being a regional attraction, 00:16:19.029 --> 00:16:21.009 the league was finally getting the massive American 00:16:21.009 --> 00:16:24.009 exposure it had been fighting for. And the fans 00:16:24.009 --> 00:16:26.049 tuning in across the continent got an absolute 00:16:26.049 --> 00:16:28.610 show. Let's look at how the actual playoffs unfolded. 00:16:28.649 --> 00:16:30.990 In the semifinals, for the fourth straight year, 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:33.700 The matchups were Montreal versus Toronto and 00:16:33.700 --> 00:16:36.799 Detroit versus Chicago. Familiar foes. Very familiar. 00:16:37.340 --> 00:16:40.120 Montreal came in as the dominant top seed, and 00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:42.379 they made incredibly quick work of Toronto. It 00:16:42.379 --> 00:16:45.559 was a clean four -game sweep. In Game 3, Montreal's 00:16:45.559 --> 00:16:48.620 Jean Beliveau capped off a 5 -2 win with an empty 00:16:48.620 --> 00:16:51.019 netter, which, for anyone new to the game, is 00:16:51.019 --> 00:16:52.940 when the losing team pulls their goalie in the 00:16:52.940 --> 00:16:55.019 final minutes to get an extra attacker on the 00:16:55.019 --> 00:16:57.899 ice, leaving the net wide open. Classic move. 00:16:58.250 --> 00:17:00.710 Then in game four, Jules Tremblay scored two 00:17:00.710 --> 00:17:03.129 power play goals, capitalizing when Toronto had 00:17:03.129 --> 00:17:05.569 a man in the penalty box to help seal a 4 -1 00:17:05.569 --> 00:17:08.009 victory. Montreal was operating like a machine. 00:17:08.430 --> 00:17:11.390 Meanwhile, the Detroit -Chicago series was a 00:17:11.390 --> 00:17:14.769 massive, stunning upset. Chicago was the powerhouse 00:17:14.769 --> 00:17:17.190 second seed. They had Bobby Hull coming off his 00:17:17.190 --> 00:17:19.609 historic record -breaking season and the legendary 00:17:19.609 --> 00:17:22.109 Glenn Hall in net. They sounded unstoppable. 00:17:22.630 --> 00:17:25.789 Detroit was the underdog fourth seed. But Detroit 00:17:25.789 --> 00:17:28.869 completely stunned Chicago, winning the series 00:17:28.869 --> 00:17:33.049 four games to two. Game two was an absolute demolition 00:17:33.049 --> 00:17:35.630 broadcast on national television. Detroit won 00:17:35.630 --> 00:17:38.670 7 -0 at Chicago Stadium. 7 -0 against the second 00:17:38.670 --> 00:17:41.369 seed. That is insane. Detroit's goaltender, Roger 00:17:41.369 --> 00:17:43.769 Crozier, pitched a perfect shutout. He didn't 00:17:43.769 --> 00:17:46.349 let a single puck pass him all game. And offensive 00:17:46.349 --> 00:17:48.910 guys like Floyd Smith and Andy Bathgate absolutely 00:17:48.910 --> 00:17:51.269 dominated the ice. Which brings us to the ultimate 00:17:51.269 --> 00:17:54.640 prize. The Stanley Cup finals. You have the defending 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:56.759 champion Montreal Canadiens going up against 00:17:56.759 --> 00:17:59.619 the underdog Detroit Red Wings. Montreal had 00:17:59.619 --> 00:18:02.940 won 18 out of 28 possible points against Detroit 00:18:02.940 --> 00:18:04.859 during the regular season. Everyone thought it 00:18:04.859 --> 00:18:07.099 would be a sweep. Every pundit expected Montreal 00:18:07.099 --> 00:18:09.440 to roll right over them. But Detroit came out 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:11.940 swinging. They took a shocking 2 -0 series lead, 00:18:12.099 --> 00:18:14.720 winning both of those opening games right there 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:17.680 in the hostile Montreal form. And the undisputed 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:20.539 architect of that shocking lead was Detroit's 00:18:20.539 --> 00:18:23.859 goaltender, Roger Crozier. He'd actually missed 00:18:23.859 --> 00:18:25.980 parts of the regular season dealing with an illness, 00:18:26.099 --> 00:18:28.460 but he returned for the playoffs and was absolutely 00:18:28.460 --> 00:18:31.359 brilliant. A total wall. He stood on his head 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:34.819 in Game 1, anchoring a tight 3 -2 victory. Then 00:18:34.819 --> 00:18:37.140 he locked it down again in a 5 -2 win in Game 00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:40.599 2, where Detroit spread the offense around. Andy 00:18:40.599 --> 00:18:43.119 Bathgate, Bruce McGregor, Ab McDonald, Floyd 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:45.380 Smith, and Dean Prentice all found the back of 00:18:45.380 --> 00:18:47.819 the net. Detroit was suddenly just two wins away 00:18:47.819 --> 00:18:50.000 from hoisting the cup. But then came the turning 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.779 point. The series shifted back to Detroit for 00:18:52.779 --> 00:18:55.500 Game 3, and Montreal fought back hard with a 00:18:55.500 --> 00:18:58.720 4 -2 win thanks to two crucial third period goals 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:01.470 from Gilles Tremblay. But the real disaster for 00:19:01.470 --> 00:19:03.369 Detroit, the moment that changed hockey history, 00:19:03.549 --> 00:19:06.049 happened in Game 4. Oh, this is rough. Roger 00:19:06.049 --> 00:19:07.789 Crozier, the goalie who had been carrying the 00:19:07.789 --> 00:19:10.049 entire team on his back, suffered an injury on 00:19:10.049 --> 00:19:12.369 the ice. When Crozier went down, the momentum 00:19:12.369 --> 00:19:15.710 of the entire series violently shifted. You cannot 00:19:15.710 --> 00:19:18.089 overstate the psychological and tactical blow 00:19:18.089 --> 00:19:20.470 of losing your hot goaltender in the middle of 00:19:20.470 --> 00:19:22.869 the Stanley Cup Finals. He's devastating. Montreal 00:19:22.869 --> 00:19:26.019 capitalized on the panic immediately. They won 00:19:26.019 --> 00:19:28.960 Game 4 with a tight 2 -1 score, with Jean -Beliveau 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:31.420 scoring a critical power play goal. Then they 00:19:31.420 --> 00:19:33.599 blew the doors off Detroit in Game 5, winning 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:36.640 5 -1 back in Montreal. And that set up a do or 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:39.460 die game six back at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. 00:19:39.740 --> 00:19:42.559 It was a total nail biter. Jean Beliveau scored 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:45.279 in the first period for Montreal. Detroit's Norm 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:47.299 Ullman tied it on a power play in the second. 00:19:47.500 --> 00:19:49.839 Floyd Smith actually gave Detroit the lead in 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:51.960 the third. But Montreal wasn't done. No, they 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:54.299 tied it back up, forcing the game into sudden 00:19:54.299 --> 00:19:57.400 death overtime. And at 2 .20 of the first overtime 00:19:57.400 --> 00:19:59.720 period, Henri Richard scored the game winner. 00:19:59.900 --> 00:20:02.599 The Montreal Canadiens won the game 3 -2, taking 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:05.220 the series four games to two. claiming their 00:20:05.220 --> 00:20:08.079 second consecutive Stanley Cup. It was a heartbreaking 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:11.059 end for Detroit, a franchise that wouldn't return 00:20:11.059 --> 00:20:14.779 to the Stanley Cup finals again until 1995. But 00:20:14.779 --> 00:20:16.980 there was a highly unique silver lining for them. 00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:19.859 What was that? Despite losing the series, Roger 00:20:19.859 --> 00:20:22.819 Crozier was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for 00:20:22.819 --> 00:20:25.759 playoff MVP. That is incredibly rare, isn't it, 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:28.059 for a player on the losing team to win MVP? It 00:20:28.059 --> 00:20:30.200 is a testament to just how extraordinary his 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:32.650 performance was before he got hurt. To win the 00:20:32.650 --> 00:20:34.730 most valuable player award as a member of the 00:20:34.730 --> 00:20:36.750 losing team tells you everything you need to 00:20:36.750 --> 00:20:38.690 know about his massive impact on the ice that 00:20:38.690 --> 00:20:41.710 spring. We should also mention the Vizina Trophy 00:20:41.710 --> 00:20:43.950 that year, given to the league's top goaltenders, 00:20:44.130 --> 00:20:46.970 went to the Montreal duo of Gump Worsley and 00:20:46.970 --> 00:20:50.369 Charlie Hodge, who secured an amazing 2 .36 and 00:20:50.369 --> 00:20:53.809 2 .58 goals against average, respectively. Truly, 00:20:53.910 --> 00:20:56.809 1966 was a year defined by the men in the crease, 00:20:57.009 --> 00:20:59.089 the painted blue area right in front of the net 00:20:59.089 --> 00:21:01.259 where the goalies live and work. So as we wrap 00:21:01.259 --> 00:21:02.880 up this journey, let's bring it all back to you, 00:21:02.940 --> 00:21:06.400 the listener. Why is the 1965 -66 NHL season 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:08.710 matter today? Because it wasn't just another 00:21:08.710 --> 00:21:11.289 year in the record books. It was the exact hinge 00:21:11.289 --> 00:21:13.670 upon which modern hockey swung. Perfectly said. 00:21:13.769 --> 00:21:16.910 You had the sheer amateurish absurdity of stolen 00:21:16.910 --> 00:21:19.089 jerseys and borrowed junior sweaters existing 00:21:19.089 --> 00:21:21.630 in the exact same moment that the NHL was breaking 00:21:21.630 --> 00:21:24.569 onto American network television. You had legendary, 00:21:24.710 --> 00:21:27.009 unbreakable records being set by Gordie Howe 00:21:27.009 --> 00:21:29.130 and Bobby Hall on the ice, while behind closed 00:21:29.130 --> 00:21:31.609 doors, billionaires were orchestrating massive 00:21:31.609 --> 00:21:34.490 multi -city expansions purely to sell aging real 00:21:34.490 --> 00:21:37.670 estate and hoard broadcast revenue. It is the 00:21:37.670 --> 00:21:40.910 perfect chaotic snapshot of a sport transitioning 00:21:40.910 --> 00:21:44.309 from a gritty regional pastime into a massive 00:21:44.309 --> 00:21:46.690 polished corporate empire. When you look at how 00:21:46.690 --> 00:21:49.710 the NHL operates today, or really any major professional 00:21:49.710 --> 00:21:52.190 sports league, it gives you an entirely new lens. 00:21:52.410 --> 00:21:54.910 We love the romance of the game. We look back 00:21:54.910 --> 00:21:57.329 and celebrate the undeniable on -ice heroics 00:21:57.329 --> 00:22:00.009 of players like Hull, Mikita, Bolivio, and Crozier. 00:22:00.170 --> 00:22:02.130 But this deep dive leaves you with an important 00:22:02.130 --> 00:22:04.190 question to mull over next time you watch a game. 00:22:04.250 --> 00:22:06.170 What's that? How much of the sports world we 00:22:06.170 --> 00:22:08.289 consume right now, from which cities are deemed 00:22:08.289 --> 00:22:11.250 worthy of having teams, to the massive televised 00:22:11.250 --> 00:22:14.069 spectacle of who gets drafted, to which networks 00:22:14.069 --> 00:22:16.990 allow us to watch the games, is secretly dictated 00:22:16.990 --> 00:22:19.930 by forgotten real estate deals and behind closed 00:22:19.930 --> 00:22:22.730 doors revenue hoarding, exactly like the St. 00:22:22.809 --> 00:22:25.470 Louis of Vancouver. dramas of 1965 the players 00:22:25.470 --> 00:22:27.769 and the uniforms change but the boardroom brawls 00:22:27.769 --> 00:22:29.869 are forever thank you so much for joining us 00:22:29.869 --> 00:22:33.490 on this deep dive into the 1965 -66 NHL season 00:22:33.490 --> 00:22:35.970 keep your sticks on the ice and we will catch 00:22:35.970 --> 00:22:36.569 you next time