1925–26 Boston Bruins season
NHL hockey team season
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The 1925â26 Boston Bruins season was the team's second season in the NHL. The Bruins finished fourth in the league standings, failing to make the playoffs.
| 1925â26 Boston Bruins | |
|---|---|
| League | 4th NHL |
| 1925â26 record | 17â15â4 (38 points) |
| Home record | 10â7â1 |
| Road record | 7â8â3 |
| Goals for | 92 |
| Goals against | 85 |
| Team information | |
| General manager | Art Ross |
| Coach | Art Ross |
| Captain | Sprague Cleghorn[1] |
| Arena | Boston Arena |
| Team leaders | |
| Goals | Carson Cooper (28) |
| Assists | Jimmy Herbert, Sprague Cleghorn (5) |
| Points | Carson Cooper, Jimmy Herbert (31) |
| Penalty minutes | Jimmy Herbert (50) |
| Wins | Doc Stewart (16) |
| Goals against average | Charles Stewart (2.21) |
Regular season
Opening the season with a 2â1 loss to the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates, it looked initially as if the Bruins would turn in as poor a season as the year before, as they won only two of their first ten games, and after two consecutive wins, turned in an 0â5â3 record for most of January.[2]
From a 5â0 shutout victory over the Maroons on January 30, however, the Bruins won 13 of their last 17 games, a 2â1 overtime loss to the Pirates on March 12 being the difference to lose out on a playoff berth to Pittsburgh by a single point.[3] The winning percentage improvement of .328 from the previous season was an NHL record at the time, and remains the third best single season improvement ever.[4]
A healthy Carson Cooper contributed to a near doubling of goals scored to lead the league, while the purchase of veteran star defenseman Sprague Cleghorn from the Montreal Maroons for $5000 solidified the defense[5] â despite a knee injury in the opener against Pittsburgh that sidelined Cleghorn for a month â and saw goals allowed decline by over a third.[6] Cooper and Jimmy "Sailor" Herbert finished second and third respectively in the league scoring race, behind Nels Stewart of the Maroons.[7]
Among other debuts was that of goaltender Moe Roberts, at age 19 the second youngest player in the league and its first Jewish player.[8] Roberts would wind up with one of the longest professional careers on record, playing his final game for the Chicago Black Hawks in 1951, the oldest player ever to play in the NHL, prior to Gordie Howe. He was the youngest player ever to play goal for twenty years, until surpassed by future Bruin Harry Lumley.
Final standings
| Teams | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | PIM | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa Senators | 36 | 24 | 8 | 4 | 77 | 42 | 341 | 52 |
| Montreal Maroons | 36 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 91 | 73 | 554 | 45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 36 | 19 | 16 | 1 | 82 | 70 | 264 | 39 |
| Boston Bruins | 36 | 17 | 15 | 4 | 92 | 85 | 279 | 38 |
| New York Americans | 36 | 12 | 20 | 4 | 68 | 89 | 361 | 28 |
| Toronto St. Patricks | 36 | 12 | 21 | 3 | 92 | 114 | 325 | 27 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 36 | 11 | 24 | 1 | 79 | 108 | 458 | 23 |
[9]
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
Record vs. opponents
| 1925â26 NHL Records [10] | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BOS | MTL | MTM | NYA | OTT | PIT | TOR | |||||
| Boston | â | 2â3â1 | 4â1â1 | 2â2â2 | 2â4 | 2â4 | 5â1 | |||||
| M. Canadiens | 3â2â1 | â | 1â5 | 2â4 | 0â6 | 2â4 | 3â3 | |||||
| M. Maroons | 1â4â1 | 5â1 | â | 4â1â1 | 1â2â3 | 3â3 | 6â0 | |||||
| New York | 2â2â2 | 4â2 | 1â4â1 | â | 1â5 | 3â3 | 1â1â4 | |||||
| Ottawa | 4â2 | 6â0 | 2â1â3 | 5â1 | â | 4â2 | 3â1â2 | |||||
| Pittsburgh | 4â2 | 4â2 | 3â3 | 3â3 | 2â4 | â | 3â2â1 | |||||
| Toronto | 1â5 | 3â3 | 0â6 | 1â1â4 | 1â3â2 | 2â3â1 | â | |||||
Schedule and results
| 1925â26 regular season[11] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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November
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December
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January
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February
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March
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Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
Player statistics
Leading scorers
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| Carson Cooper | 36 | 28 | 3 | 31 | 10 | â | â | â | â | â | ||
| Jimmy Herbert | 36 | 26 | 5 | 31 | 47 | â | â | â | â | â | ||
| Lionel Hitchman | 36 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 70 | â | â | â | â | â | ||
| Sprague Cleghorn | 25 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 49 | â | â | â | â | â | ||
| Hago Harrington | 26 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 6 | â | â | â | â | â | ||
| Red Stuart | 33 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 41 | â | â | â | â | â | ||
| George Geran | 33 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 6 | â | â | â | â | â | ||
| Stan Jackson | 28 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 30 | â | â | â | â | â | ||
| Herb Mitchell | 26 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 14 | â | â | â | â | â | ||
| Normand Shay | 13 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | â | â | â | â | â | ||
Goaltenders
Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average
| Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | GP | Min | W | L | T | GA | SO | GAA | GP | Min | W | L | GA | SO | GAA | ||
| Doc Stewart | 35 | 2173 | 16 | 14 | 4 | 80 | 6 | 2.21 | â | â | â | â | â | â | â | ||
| Moe Roberts | 2 | 85 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3.53 | â | â | â | â | â | â | â | ||
Transactions
- Purchased Sprague Cleghorn from the Montreal Maroons for $5,000.[12]