This Day in Hockey History – May 3, 1968 – Blues Schock North Stars

In February of 1966, the National Hockey League looked to expand from six teams to twelve, including adding teams in the American west. They accepted applications from four different ownership groups from Los Angeles (5 groups), Pittsburgh (2 groups), and one each from Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Philadelphia, San Francisco-Oakland, Buffalo and Vancouver. From those applications the new six teams became the California Seals (San Francisco-Oakland), Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and St. Louis Blues.

The St. Louis Blues would go far in their first postseason. As they went into the semifinals they would take on the Minnesota North Stars in a series that would go seven games. Perhaps it was not surprising that the Blues were up against the North Stars, the same team they played in their first franchise game on October 11, 1967 at St. Louis Arena—a game that would end in a 2-2 tie.

By the end of the season St. Louis sat in third place in the new Western Division—which was full of all the new teams. During the quarterfinals, St. Louis would have to go seven games against the Philadelphia Flyers, to win the series 4-3 while on the road in Pennsylvania. The semifinals would likewise require them to go the full seven and would find them at home on May 3, 1968 with one of those two expansion teams going to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they would take on the Montreal Canadians.

To say that everything was on the line would not be an understatement.

Just as the series with the North Stars went to the seventh game, 60 minutes was not enough to determine the winner. The game had been scoreless through the first two periods and then well into the third.

“Dickie Moore scored the… St. Louis goal with 2:40 remaining in regulation time, 31 seconds after rookie Walt McKechnie had given Minnesota a lead that looked as if it would stand up,” reported the Star-Phoenix the day after the game.

Blues head coach Scotty Bowman had all but benched Ron Schock as a result of a play during the quarterfinals against Philadelphia that saw Schock’s clearing attempt wind up on the stick of Ed Van Impe’s stick, which gave the Flyers a tying goal with 15 seconds remaining in regulation. The Flyers went on to win that game in overtime and Schock would spend most of the games thereafter riding the pines until game seven.

“After the teams had gone through almost 83 minutes of bruising action Friday night, the rest proved valuable. Schock outskated Minnesota defenceman Bob McCord for a clear shot at Minnesota’s Cesare Maniago and the goal that delighted a record St. Louis crowd of 15,566,” shared Graham Cox of The Ottawa Journal.

While the North Stars netminder Maniago had blocked 34 shots including four from the Blues in the second overtime, St. Louis’ own goaltender Glenn Hall worked hard in his net to give his team the best opportunity for the win, making 44 saves.

With the win the St. Louis Blues became the first expansion team to make it into the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year. However, they would find themselves schooled and swept by the Montreal Canadiens in the final.

Undaunted the Blues would return to the Finals in 1969 and 1970, eliminated each time. The Canadiens swept them again in 1969 and then the Boston Bruins swept them in 1970, with the final game going into overtime in which Bobby Orr scored the game winner and the iconic photo of him looking like he was flying through the air was taken.

It would take 40 years for another expansion team to get to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year as a franchise. The Vegas Golden Knights managed to do it in 2018 and also managed to last one game longer than the Blues, when they fell 4-1 to the Washington Capitals.

Additional Sources:

• Graham Cox, “Blues in Cup Final On Schock’s Goal,” The Ottawa Journal, May 4 ,1968, p. 13, col. 6-8.
• Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), May 4, 1968, p. 24, col. 4-8.