Jacques Plante by Todd Denault

Author:Todd Denault [Denault, Todd]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-55199-334-8
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Published: 2009-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

THE END OF THE LINE

AS THE CANADIENS BEGAN preparing for the playoffs and the possibility of a sixth consecutive Stanley Cup, they found themselves readying for a familiar foe. In the first round, for the third consecutive year they would face off with the Chicago Black Hawks, who had finished in third place, 17 points behind Montreal.

Having been swept by the Canadiens in the previous year’s playoffs, and bowing out in five games the year before that, the Black Hawks had responded by building a bigger, more physical squad to augment their skilled players like Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita.

The first game seemed to bear out the media’s prediction that the Canadiens would eliminate the Black Hawks for a third straight year. Chicago used its physical advantage to pound and outplay the Canadiens for the first two periods. However, after 40 minutes the game was tied at two, and the Black Hawks were overwhelmed by a four-goal barrage by the Canadiens in the third period. However, in the course of winning the first game 6–2 they had paid a heavy price.

“We didn’t know it at the time but the most telling blow of all was dealt by Jack Evans against Jean Béliveau,” recalled Bernie Geoffrion. “Jean was checked into the boards behind the net by the Chicago defenseman and struck his head on the glass as he was falling to the ice. The next day Béliveau still was complaining of a headache and would not be the same for the remaining games. If one check could turn a series, that was it.”1

In addition to a suddenly impaired Béliveau, forward Billy Hicke was sent to the hospital with a slight concussion, and forward Donnie Marshall suffered a knee injury. Although the medical team recommended that he sit out at least the next few games, he chose to play, yet his effectiveness was unquestionably compromised.

For the first 40 minutes, the second game appeared to be following a script similar to the first. The two teams were tied at the conclusion of the second period. They exchanged goals in the third period, then Eddie Litzenberger, a former Canadien, beat Plante with less than three minutes to play, and the Black Hawks evened the series with a surprising 4–3 victory.

The series shifted to Chicago for game three. “This was not a game for the faint-hearted,” Bernie Geoffrion later wrote. “Chicago Stadium was like a volcano waiting to erupt even before the opening face-off and it stayed that way throughout as bodies crunched bodies.”2

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Red Fisher has been witness to over 4,000 hockey games, from regular-season tilts to playoffs, Canada Cups, World Championships, and the Olympics. When asked which is the greatest game he has ever seen, his answer is always the same: the third game of the 1961 semifinal series between the Canadiens and the Black Hawks.

“What occurred that night in Chicago was, arguably, the greatest performances by two goaltenders in NHL history,” wrote Fisher. “From the start, the game belonged to Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.