1953 Stanley Cup Finals

The 1953 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens. The Bruins were appearing in the Final for the first time since 1946. The Canadiens, who were appearing in their third straight Final series, won the series four games to one, matching their previous Cup-winning performance (against Boston in 1946).

1953 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 Total Montreal Canadiens 4 1 3 7 1* 4 Boston Bruins 2 4 0 3 0* 1
* indicates periods of overtime.
Location(s)	Montreal: Montreal Forum (1, 2, 5) Boston: Boston Garden (3, 4)
Coaches	Montreal: Dick Irvin Boston: Lynn Patrick
Captains	Montreal: Emile Bouchard Boston: Milt Schmidt
Dates	April 9 – April 16
Series-winning goal	Elmer Lach (1:22, OT)

Paths to the Final

Montreal defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 4–3 to reach the final. Boston defeated the defending champion Detroit Red Wings 4–2 to reach the final.

The series

Jacques Plante would be pulled after the first two games in favour of Gerry McNeil. The move paid off as McNeil posted two shutouts in the last three games.

April 9	Boston Bruins		2–4		Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap
Bob Armstrong (1) - pp - 2:08		First period			13:42 - Dickie Moore (2)
No scoring		Second period			2:37 - Ken Mosdell (2) 16:05 - Floyd Curry (2)
Johnny Peirson (3) - pp - 10:11		Third period			11:12 - Maurice Richard (4)
Jim Henry		Goalie stats			Jacques Plante

April 11	Boston Bruins		4–1		Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap
Leo Labine (2) - 3:53 Ed Sandford (7) - 18:13		First period			No scoring
Ed Sandford (8) - 7:26		Second period			1:36 - Bert Olmstead (2)
Milt Schmidt (4) - 15:43		Third period			No scoring
Jim Henry, Gord Henry		Goalie stats			Gerry McNeil

April 12	Montreal Canadiens		3–0		Boston Bruins	Boston Garden	Recap
Tom Johnson (2) - 11:53		First period			No scoring
Paul Masnick (1) - 6:30		Second period			No scoring
Ken Mosdell (3) - pp - 11:27		Third period			No scoring
Gerry McNeil		Goalie stats			Gord Henry

April 14	Montreal Canadiens		7–3		Boston Bruins	Boston Garden	Recap
Lorne Davis (1) - 3:23 Maurice Richard (5) - 10:58 Dickie Moore (3) - 16:40		First period			18:22 - Dave Creighton (4)
Bernie Geoffrion (6) - pp - 18:56		Second period			No scoring
Maurice Richard (6) - 5:33 Calum MacKay (1) - 17:59 Maurice Richard (7) - 18:27		Third period			7:23 - Milt Schmidt (5) 16:25 - Jack McIntyre (4)
Gerry McNeil		Goalie stats			Gord Henry

April 16	Boston Bruins		0–1	OT	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	Recap
No scoring		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
No scoring		First overtime period			1:22 - Elmer Lach (1)
Jim Henry		Goalie stats			Gerry McNeil

Montreal won series 4–1

Montreal Canadiens 1953 Stanley Cup champions

Players

  Centres

• 11 Paul Masnick
• 14 Billy Reay (A)
• 16 Elmer Lach (A)
• 17 Johnny McCormack
• 18 Kenny Mosdell
• 20 Paul Meger (also played Wing)
• 23 Doug Anderson

  Wingers

• 4 Calum MacKay
• 5 Bernie Geoffrion
• 6 Floyd Curry
• 8 Dick Gamble
• 9 Maurice "Rocket" Richard
• 12 Dickie Moore
• 15 Bert Olmstead
• 22 Lorne Davis

  Defencemen

• 2 Doug Harvey
• 3 Emile Bouchard (Captain)
• 10 Tom Johnson
• 19 Dollard St. Laurent
• 21 Jim Bud MacPherson
• 23 Eddie Mazur

  Goaltenders

• 1 Gerry McNeil
• 1 Jacques Plante

Coaching and administrative staff

• Donat Raymond (President/Owner), Dalton Coleman (Vice President/Owner)
• William Northey (Vice Presidents/Owners), Frank Selke Sr. (Manager)
• Dick Irvin Sr. (Coach), Hector Dubois (Trainer), Gaston Bettez (Asst. Trainer)
• Camile DesRoches^, Frank Selke Jr.^ (Publicity Directors)
• &- Doug Anderson played 2 games in the Semi-Finals, qualified to be on the Stanley Cup, but name was still left off
• ^- on the team picture, but missing from the Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup engraving

• Eddie Maruz was misspelled EDDIE MARUZE, with an extra "E" on the Replica Cup created in 1992–93. His name was spelled correctly on the other two rings.
• Mistake Gaston Bettez name was misspelled in 1953. Gettez was GOSTON BETTES on the original ring in 1953, G Bettes on the other two rings of 1953 Montreal.

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions

Notes

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".

Preceded by Detroit Red Wings 1952	Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup Champions 1953	Succeeded by Detroit Red Wings 1954