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1960s Sports / ICE HOCKEYHighlights & Winners
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SPORTS
Sports Home Baseball Basketball Football Olympics Olympics - Winter Hockey Golf Auto Racing POP HISTORY BY YEAR 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Famous People - Politics & World Famous Entertainers Inventions Pop History Home 1950s SPORTS |
Hockey in the early 1960s wasn't much different than it was in the fifties. Gordie Howe remarkably was still a powerhouse for the Detroit Red Wings
and would continue in hockey for another two decades
Howe was now being upstaged by Bobby Hull who became the goal scoring leader in the 60s with 446 total. Hull was the first player to score over 50 goals in a single season
doing so in four seasons with two back to back (1966-7 & 1967-8). Stan Mikita was the total points leader with 530 assists and 796 points. 
Since around 1942 and well into the sixties there were only six teams comprising the National Hockey League (NHL), the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In 1967 the league in an effort to grow revenues through television coverage and stave off a move for a new competitive league in the Western U.S. granted six new expansion franchises, all were in the U.S.The newly formed clubs were the California Seals (Oakland/San Francisco),Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars (Twin Cities), Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues. Only having six teams limited player movement between teams and competition between teams for players. Salaries were kept at minimum levels and entrance to the teams was tightly controlled. After the expansion tv coverage increased public awareness of the players, competition between teams grew and the players started receiving fairer compensation and private endorsement deals. Thus started the commercialization of professional hockey. Helmets remained a controversial topic all throughout the 60s. A majority of on ice injuries resulted from head concussions and all of the players realized it. Knowing that however wearing a helmet remained unpopular with the players feeling that it hurt their game and made them appear "less tough". They all agreed that it would reduce injuries but until the league mandated it they weren't going to be the first one to do it. Even after the tragic death in 1968 of Bill Masterton of the North Stars whose concussion could have been avoided by the use of a helmet no changed came about. The NHL would not pass a mandatory helmet rule until 1979 and then made it apply to new players in the league only, effectively exempting all current players. 
 One good thing that was started in the 1960s was the wearing of face masks by some of the teams goalies. Initiated by Montreal Canadian Jacques Plante in 1959 his coach originally wouldn't allow him to wear it in regular games until Plante received a face injury and his coach caved in. This paved the way for more goalies to likewise protect themselves, the practice was still not universal until the end of the sixties and into the seventies. |
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