1956 Stanley Cup Finals

1956 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 Total Montreal Canadiens 6 5 1 3 3 4 Detroit Red Wings 4 1 3 0 1 1
Location(s)	Montreal: Montreal Forum (1, 2, 5) Detroit: Olympia Stadium (3, 4)
Coaches	Montreal: Toe Blake Detroit: Jimmy Skinner
Captains	Montreal: Emile Bouchard Detroit: Ted Lindsay
Dates	March 31 – April 10, 1956
Series-winning goal	Maurice Richard (15:08, second)
Hall of Famers	Canadiens: Jean Beliveau (1972) Emile Bouchard (1966) Bernie Geoffrion (1972) Doug Harvey (1973) Tom Johnson (1970) Dickie Moore (1974) Bert Olmstead (1985) Jacques Plante (1978) Henri Richard (1979) Maurice Richard (1961) Red Wings: Johnny Bucyk (1981) Murray Costello (2005, builder) Alex Delvecchio (1977) Glenn Hall (1975) Gordie Howe (1972) Red Kelly (1969) Ted Lindsay (1966) Marcel Pronovost (1978) Norm Ullman (1982) Coaches: Toe Blake (1966, player)
Stanley Cup Finals

The 1956 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1955–56 season, and the culmination of the 1956 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Montreal Canadiens and the two-time defending champion Detroit Red Wings in the fourth Detroit-Montreal series in the 1950s, the two teams having met in the previous two years as well as in 1952; Detroit won all three. The Canadiens were appearing in their sixth consecutive Finals, the Red Wings their third. The Canadiens avenged their previous three losses to Detroit, as they defeated the Red Wings in five games to win their second Stanley Cup in four years.

Paths to the Finals

Montreal defeated the New York Rangers 4–1 to reach the final. Detroit defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–1 to reach the final.

Game summaries

The Canadiens, down 4–2 after two periods, scored four unanswered goals, in a 5:29 span, in the third period to win game one 6–4 at the Forum. Jacques Plante held the Red Wings to just 9 goals in the five games. This was the first Final for Henri Richard and former Habs player Toe Blake's first Final as coach.

March 31	Detroit Red Wings		4–6		Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap
Alex Delvecchio (5) - pp - 8:17		First period			No scoring
Bill Dineen (1) - 3:45 Ted Lindsay (5) - 8:11 Alex Delvecchio (6) - pp - 11:20		Second period			3:00 - pp - Jean Beliveau (6) 6:40 - Henri Richard (3)
No scoring		Third period			5:20 - Jack LeClair (1) 6:20 - Bernie Geoffrion (3) 7:31 - Jean Beliveau (7) 10:49 - Claude Provost (3)
Glenn Hall		Goalie stats			Jacques Plante

April 3	Detroit Red Wings		1–5		Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap
No scoring		First period			7:23 - pp - Donnie Marshall (1)
No scoring		Second period			11:37 - Henri Richard (4) 14:38 - Bernie Geoffrion (4)
Norm Ullman (1) - 00:31		Third period			2:48 - Jean Beliveau (8) 19:21 - Maurice Richard (4)
Glenn Hall		Goalie stats			Jacques Plante

April 5	Montreal Canadiens		1–3		Detroit Red Wings	Olympia Stadium	Recap
Jean Beliveau (9) - 19:20		First period			14:27 - pp - Red Kelly (2)
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			11:36 - Ted Lindsay (6) 18:12 - Gordie Howe (3)
Jacques Plante		Goalie stats			Glenn Hall

April 8	Montreal Canadiens		3–0		Detroit Red Wings	Olympia Stadium	Recap
Jean Beliveau (10) - 15:52		First period			No scoring
Jean Beliveau (11) - 11:39		Second period			No scoring
Floyd Curry (1) - 11:34		Third period			No scoring
Jacques Plante		Goalie stats			Glenn Hall

April 10	Detroit Red Wings		1–3		Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			14:16 - pp - Jean Beliveau (12) 15:08 - pp - Maurice Richard (5)
Alex Delvecchio (7) - 00:35		Third period			00:13 - Bernie Geoffrion (5)
Glenn Hall		Goalie stats			Jacques Plante

Montreal won series 4–1

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1956 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Emile Bouchard by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Canadiens 3–1 win over the Red Wings in game five.

The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1955–56 Montreal Canadiens

Players

  Centres

• 4 Jean Beliveau
• 8 Jack LeClair
• 16 Henri Richard
• 18 Ken Mosdell (A)

  Wingers

• 5 Bernie Geoffrion
• 6 Floyd Curry
• 9 Maurice Richard (A)
• 12 Dickie Moore
• 14 Claude Provost
• 15 Bert Olmstead
• 22 Don Marshall

  Defencemen

• 2 Doug Harvey (A)
• 3 Emile Bouchard (Captain)
• 10 Tom Johnson
• 17 Jean-Guy Talbot
• 19 Dollard St. Laurent
• 24 Bob Turner

  Goaltenders

• 1 Jacques Plante
• 1 Charlie Hodge (spare, did not play)

Coaching and administrative staff

• Donat Raymond (President/Owner), Frank Selke (Manager)
• Dalton Coleman (Vice President/Owner), William Northey (Vice Presidents/Owner)
• Ken Reardon (Asst. Manager), Toe Blake (Coach)
• Hector Dubois (Trainer)
• Gaston Bettez (Asst. Trainer)
• Camile DesRoches^, Frank Selke Jr.^ (Publicity Directors)
• ^- on the team picture, but missing from the Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup engraving

• Emile "Butch" Bouchard was engraved on the Stanley Cup in 1944, 1946 and 1953 as EMILE BOUCHARD. He was then engraved on the Stanley Cup as BUTCH BOUCHARD in 1956.
• In a mistake, Bob Turner is listed as Trainer when the Stanley Cup was redone in 1957–58, but he played defence. Hector Dubois and Gaston Bettez were the trainers, but no position was listed. These mistakes were not corrected on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.
• In a mistake, Claude Provost's name was misspelt C. PREVOST with an "E" instead of an "O". Provost spelling mistake was also not corrected on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93.
• In a mistake, Gaston Bettez was spelt wrong as G BETTEX when the Cup was redone in 1957–58 with an "X" instead of "Z", and the mistake was repeated on the Replica Cup. His name was spelt correctly on the original ring as G. BETTEZ.
• Hector "Toe" Blake was the ninth rookie coach to win the Stanley Cup.
• The 1956 Montreal Canadiens filled the last spot on the Stanley Cup. (See 1958 Stanley Cup Finals change)

See also

• 1955–56 NHL season

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
• "All-Time NHL Results".