1961 Stanley Cup Final
| 1961 Stanley Cup Finals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Location(s) |
Chicago, IL (Chicago Stadium) (1,3,5) Detroit, MI (Detroit Olympia) (2,4,6) |
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| Coaches | Chicago: Rudy Pilous Detroit: Sid Abel |
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| Captains | Chicago: Ed Litzenberger Detroit: Gordie Howe |
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| Dates | April 6 to April 16, 1961 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Ab McDonald (18:49, second, G6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1961 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks. Chicago was making its first Finals appearance since 1944, and Detroit its first appearance since 1956; both had lost to the Montreal Canadiens in those previous appearances. The Blackhawks would win the best-of-seven series four games to two to win their third Stanley Cup, their first since 1938. However, this proved to be the last time Chicago won the Cup until 2010, a 49-year drought. This was the only title not won by the Canadiens, Red Wings or Toronto Maple Leafs during the Original Six era.
Detroit defeated Toronto in five games and Chicago upset Montreal, the record five-time defending champion, in six, setting up the first all-American-team Finals since 1950, when the Wings beat the New York Rangers in a seven-game series.
Two future Hockey Hall of Fame members, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, made their first Stanley Cup appearances. Hull scored two goals in the first game, including the winner, and Mikita scored the winner in game five.
This was the only Stanley Cup championship in the 1960s not to be won by either the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Montreal Canadiens or feature either team.
† Left off the cup, but included on the team picture.
The 1961 Stanley Cup Finals were almost not televised in Canada at all. At that time, the CBC only had rights to the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs' games; home games only during the season and all games in the playoffs. However, with both the Canadiens and Maple Leafs eliminated in the semi-finals, the CBC's worst nightmare became reality. The CBC had to conceive a way to carry the Finals between the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Red Wings or face public revolt. According to lore, the CBC found a way to link their Windsor viewers as having a vested interest in the Finals with the across the river Red Wings. Thus, CBC was able to carry the series after inking special contracts with the Red Wings and Black Hawks as a service to the Windsor market. From Windsor, CBC linked the signal to Toronto and they relayed the coverage Dominion-wide. From there, Canadians were able to see the Finals with nary a glitch in the coverage.
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