1940 Stanley Cup Finals

1940 ice hockey championship series

The 1940 Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-seven series between the New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. New York would win the series 4–2 to win their third Stanley Cup. The Rangers would not win another for 54 years, a circumstance termed the Curse of 1940.

Paths to the Finals

New York defeated the Boston Bruins in a best-of-seven 4–2 to advance to the Finals. The Maple Leafs had to play two best-of three series; winning 2–0 against the Chicago Black Hawks, and 2–0 against the Detroit Red Wings to advance to the Finals.

Game summaries

The Finals series between the Rangers and the Maple Leafs was an exciting one that went back and forth with three overtime games. The Rangers took the first two at home and the Leafs took the next two in Toronto. The circus forced the Rangers to vacate Madison Square Garden after the first two games. The Rangers would score three game-winning goals in overtime including the Cup winner. Lynn and Murray Patrick played for the Rangers to become the third and fourth members of the Patrick family to win the Stanley Cup.^[1]

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1940 Stanley Cup was presented to Rangers captain Art Coulter by NHL President Frank Calder following the Rangers 3–2 overtime win over the Maple Leafs in game six.

The following Rangers players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1939–40 New York Rangers

Players

  Centres

• 6 Neil Colville
• 7 Phil Watson
• 10 Clint Smith
• 16 Alf Pike

  Wingers

• 4 Alex Shibicky
• 5 Mac Colville
• 8 Wilbert Dutch Hiller
• 9 Lynn Patrick
• 12 Bryan Hextall Sr.
• 14 James Kilby MacDonald
• 17 Stanford Smith
  ^a(played 1 game finals)

  Defencemen

• 2 Art Coulter (Captain)
• 3 Erhardt Ott Heller
• 8 Walter Babe Pratt
• 15 Murray Muzz Patrick

  Goaltenders

• 1 Dave Kerr

Coaching and administrative staff

• John Reed Kilpatrick (President/Owner), Lester Patrick (Manager)
• Frank Boucher (Coach), Harry Westerby (Trainer)
• Stanton Griffis (Vice President/Owner)^a

Stanley Cup engraving

^a Missing from the Stanley Cup, but qualified to be on it.

• Frank Boucher was 6th NHL rookie coach to win the Stanley Cup.
• Lester Patrick and Frank Boucher became the first (and to this date, the only) duo to win the Stanley Cup together as players and then as a coach-managerial team, having won as players on the Rangers in 1928.^[2]
• A new ring was added to the Stanley Cup. This large ring had room to hold 7 winning Stanley Cup teams.

See also

• 1939–40 NHL season

References and notes

Notes

1. "Stanley Cup Champions 1940-1949". NHL.com. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
2. Branch, John (June 1, 2006). "New York Is Edmonton's Home Away From Home". The New York Times. p. D7. If the Oilers win the Stanley Cup, Lowe and MacTavish will be the second twosome in NHL history to win as teammates, and as general manager and coach. Lester Patrick was the Rangers' general manager and Frank Boucher was the coach when they won the championship in 1940. They played together when the Rangers won the Cup in 1928.

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.