50 Years ago the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings met in the 1961 Stanley Cup Finals. The first time since 1950 that 2 US based teams met for the Cup, and this would be the last Stanley Cup win for the Black Hawks for 49 seasons.
The 1960-61 season was the year that Gordie Howe became the first player to have 1000 career regular season points, it would be 7 more seasons before Jean Beliveau would reach the same plateau.
The regular season ended with the Montreal Canadiens on top again with 92 points and the Black Hawks 3rd with 75 points. These 2 teams would meet in the semi finals for the Cup with Chicago winning 4 games to 2. The other semi final saw the Detroit Red Wings take out the Maple Leafs 4-1 and setting the all US Stanley Cup final.
This was the first appearance in the finals for Chicago since 1944 and the were loaded with talent with Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, Al Arbour, Pierre Pilote, Ab McDonald and in goal Glen Hall.
The teams traded wins in the first 6 games with the home team winning each one then in game 7 the Black Hawks stunned the home team Wings with a 5-1 victory and their first Stanley Cup since 1938.
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