Now You Know Big Book of Sports. Doug Lennox

11–4 plastering of the Boston Bruins at Maple Leaf Gardens. That record for points still stands. Centreman Sittler was the first Maple Leaf ever to hit 100 points in a season, achieving that plateau in 1975–76, then did it again in 1977–78 when he got 117.

       Who is the only NHL player to win the Art Ross, Hart, and Lady Byng trophies in consecutive seasons?

      Czechoslovakia-born Stanislaus Gvoth, better known as Stan Mikita, achieved this distinction in 1967 (the first to do so) and then again in 1968. Mikita played for the Chicago Black Hawks from 1958–59 to 1979–80 and won the Art Ross as scoring leader two other times (1964 and 1965). The scrappy forward had a notorious bad temper, got into numerous fights, and racked up significant penalty minutes in his career, which makes it all the more incredible that he somehow managed to win the Lady Byng twice, an award given out for sportsmanship and gentlemanly play!

       What NHL player holds the record for the most 50-goal seasons?

      Even when single-season scoring tallies started escalating after NHL expansion in 1967– 68, scoring 50 goals in a single season still meant something as a personal plateau, and it continues to. The Montreal Canadiens’ Maurice “Rocket” Richard was the first to do it in 1944–45, and achieved it in 50 games. Teammate “Boom Boom” Geoffrion was the second to hit the mark in 1960–61. The first player to pot more than 50 was the Chicago Black Hawks’ Bobby Hull, who got 54 in 1965–66 (Hull had earlier joined the 50-goal club in 1961–62). As to who’s recorded the most 50-goal seasons in a career, that’s a tie between Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky. Both did it nine times. However, Bossy only played 10 seasons in his career (all with the New York Islanders), while the Great One got his nine in 20 seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, and New York Rangers. What’s more, Bossy nabbed his nine in consecutive seasons from 1977–78 to 1985–86, which is also a record, one he doesn’t share with anybody.

       Who was the first NHL player to score 100 points in a regular season?

      The Detroit Red Wings’ Gordie Howe almost hit 100 points in 1952–53 when he got 95, but it took more than another decade and a half before the Boston Bruins’ Phil Esposito broke the 100 barrier in 1968–69 on his way to ending up with 126 points. Of course, Wayne Gretzky blew everybody away with his remarkable feats in the 1980s, topping 200 points four times, with a record 215 in 1985–86. The Great One is still the only NHL player to score more than 200 points in one season. The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux came close in 1988–89 when he managed 199 points. Incidentally, Number 99 has the most 100-point seasons (15) and the most consecutive 100-pointers (13).

       Quickies

       Did you know …

      that Gordie Howe was 41 and in his 23rd year with the Detroit Red Wings in 1968–69 when he achieved his only 100-point season? Howe is the sole 40-year-old in the NHL to achieve this plateau. That season he ended up with 103 points. Of course, Howe went on to retire from the Red Wings in the early 1970s, then came out of retirement to play through most of that decade in the World Hockey Association, and finally returned to the NHL with the Hartford Whalers when he was 51! He retired at last in 1980 at age 52.

       Who was the first NHL player to score more than 500 goals in a career?

      Few players dominated his era the way Maurice “Rocket” Richard dominated his. On October 19, 1957, at the Montreal Forum he scaled another plateau when he scored goal number 500, the first to do so in the NHL. The Rocket was playing in his 863rd game. Strangely enough, Richard never won a scoring championship. In fact, he holds the record for being the runnerup, accomplishing that unfortunate mark five times in 1945, 1947, 1951, 1954, and 1955. To date only two NHL players have scored more than 800 regular-season career goals: Wayne Gretzky (894) and Gordie Howe (801).

       Who is the only rookie to win the NHL scoring championship?

      Scrappy, surly Nels Stewart was already 23 when he joined the NHL as a Montreal Maroon in 1925–26. Previously, “Old Poison,” as he was nicknamed, had played for five years with the Cleveland Indians in the USA Hockey Association. Born in Montreal, Stewart scored 34 goals and eight assists for 42 points in 36 games in his inaugural season. That year he also won the Hart Trophy as most valuable player and helped the Maroons to win the Stanley Cup. Old Poison won a second Hart in 1929–30 and scored 39 goals and 16 assists for 55 points in only 44 games. The next season, on January 3, 1931, he potted two goals in four seconds, an NHL record that still stands, though it was equalled by the Winnipeg Jets’ Deron Quint in 1995. The record for most goals scored by a rookie in the NHL belongs to Teemu Selanne, who got 76 in 1992–93 while playing for the Winnipeg Jets. That same year Selanne racked up 132 points, which is also a record for a rookie.

       How long was the longest undefeated streak in NHL annals?

      With Pat Quinn behind the bench as coach and top-notch, feisty players such as Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, and Reggie Leach headmanning the attack on the ice, the Philadelphia Flyers put together an amazing streak of wins and ties that began on October 14, 1979, when they edged the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–3 and continued unbeaten until they were defeated by the Minnesota North Stars 7–1 on January 7, 1980. All told the Broad Street Bullies won 25 games and tied 10 during their streak.

       Who was the first black player in the NHL?

      Black players and managers have been noticeably absent from the NHL for much of its existence. Whether this had more to do with the fact that almost all big-league players before 1970 hailed from Canada and in those days the country had, relatively speaking, a small black population, or with the fact that there was an active colour barrier in place, is open to debate. But one thing isn’t subject to conjecture: Fredericton, New Brunswick– born Willie O’Ree was the first player of African descent to play in the NHL. The right winger’s stint in the major league was brief — he played two games for the Boston Bruins in January 1958 and 43 matches for the same team in 1960–61 — but his place in hockey history is significant. The New Brunswicker experienced much racial abuse at the hands of opposing players as well as fans, the latter insulting him by throwing black hats onto the ice. O’Ree may not have had a lengthy career in the NHL and only recorded 14 points in the big league, but he was a legend in the minors, playing in various leagues such as the American Hockey League and the Western Hockey League (largely for the San Diego Gulls) well into the 1970s. He did all this even though he was legally blind in one eye, due to an errant puck during a game when he was 18.

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       Did you know …

      that Sidney Crosby is the youngest NHL player and the only teenager ever to win the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion? He achieved that in his second season in 2006–07 with the Pittsburgh Penguins when he scored 36 goals and 84 assists for 120 points. That year Crosby also won the Hart Trophy as most valuable player (chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association) and the Lester B. Pearson Award (picked by the NHL Players’ Association).

       Who was the first full-blooded aboriginal player in the NHL?

      A Saskatchewan Cree named Fred Saskamoose from the Sandy Lake Reserve appeared in 11 games with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1953–54, making him the first full-blooded aboriginal player to make it to the NHL. Saskamoose recorded no points and notched six penalty minutes in his short NHL dalliance. Later, though, he was the playing coach of the Kamloops Chiefs. During his time in British Columbia, the Shushwap and Chilcotin Bands of the province’s interior awarded him the name Chief Thunder Stick, a title he assumed when he was elected chief of the Sandy Lake Cree.

       Quickies

       Did you know …

      that Jarome Iginla was the first black player to