This Day in Hockey History – April 29, 1959 – Exhibition Games and Experiments

The Boston Bruins, who were eliminated from the playoffs after the first round, and the New York Rangers, who missed the 1959 playoffs altogether, found themselves getting to play some bonus hockey anyway. April 29, 1959 found the two of them playing their first of 23 games in 26 days on a true whirlwind tour of Europe. The first stop? London, England. In addition to spreading some NHL hockey love on the continent, they were also trying a new puck.

“The two National Hockey League teams have taken along two gross of a new type of puck designed by Clair F. Kinney of Toronto. After using the disks the team will report to league president Clarence Campbell of Montreal whether they consider them an improvement over the pucks now in regular play,” reported The Windsor Star.

Kinney’s puck, instead of being all black, had a bright orange side. This was to make it more visible for the goaltenders, but also for the fans. In addition to the color change, it was also made out of a something that was supposed to slide better and not require freezing to cut down on bounce.

As for the first game between the Bruins and the Rangers? Well, midway through the game, which was played at Wembley, saw the Bruins trailing 5-1. However, the second half of the game saw the Bruins pile on six more goals to take the win in the first game. Among the Rangers, both Les Colwill and Dean Prentice netted two each, and Bobby Hull—who was on loan from the Chicago Blackhawks for the tour—notched one. Meanwhile the Bruins got goals from seven different players: Bronco Horvath, Johnny Bucyk, Jim Morrison, Earl Reibel, Leo Labine, Guy Gendron, and Larry Leach.

The teams took on each other the following night once again at Wembley, and this time the Rangers beat the Bruins 4-2.

From London, the teams headed to Geneva, Switzerland where they played two games on May 2nd and 3rd before heading on to Paris. After losing the third game 4-3, the Bruins came back to pummel the Rangers during the third period of the fourth game ultimately outscoring the Rangers 12-4 to knot the games at two each. Bucyk had a hat-trick to help his Bruins with those 12 goals.

The Bruins lost 6-2 in Paris on May 4th but once again tied up the series when they took the 6-4 win in Paris on May 6. Bucyk accounted for three of those six goals, his hat trick coming in the third period.

In the first eight days of the tour, they had played six games in four countries, with reports abroad of capacity crowds wherever they went.

From Paris the teams traveled to Antwerp, Belgium; Zurich, Switzerland; Dortmund, Essen, Krefeld, and Berlin, West Germany; and finished things off with three games in Vienna, Austria May 22nd through May 24th.

The Rangers took the series 11-9-3 but for two teams who were out of the playoffs it was a chance to keep playing while sharing their skill across Europe.

“The Russians would be chased out of the rink by these ice hockey players. As concerns speed, lightning-fast reaction, body control and sheer physical power, the North American professionals have no equals,” wrote Walter Schwarz. “I did not have the impression watching an exhibition game like that between New Rangers and Boston Bruins that it was a friendly ball-juggling stint like the Harlem Globetrotters in basketball here some time ago. The ice hockey we saw was a real battle and no quarter was given.”

Schwarz was a sports editor for Austria’s largest circulating daily, and while he had seen and covered a number of amateur hockey tournaments, his first glimpse at an NHL professional game came when he saw the Bruins and Rangers play their first game in Austria on May 22. The game resulted in a 2-2 tie. His thoughts were written up for the Associated Press and shared back in North America.

While some of the venues saw capacity crowds, that wasn’t true of all of the games. Lack of publicity was attributed by Lynn Patrick to some of the smaller crowds, while Bruins coach Milt Schmidt felt the high-priced tickets kept people away. Although the players admitted to having a “wonderful experience” the Bruins came home from Europe a bit hungry, portions being a bit smaller over in Europe.

“We’re used to big breakfasts,” shared Larry Hillman in comment to the continental breakfasts they were fed, consisting of juice, rolls and some other beverage.

Not surprisingly a few of the players extended their stays in Europe or elected to travel home by boat. Jerry Toppazzini and  Rangers’ Lou Fontinato visited the birthplaces of their parents in Italy.

As for the experimental pucks? Nothing was reported about them in the newspapers, so perhaps the players weren’t too impressed with them.

Additional Sources:

• “Bruins, Rangers to Experiment,” The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario), Wednesday, April 29, 1959, p. 43.
• “Boston Bruins Win on Tour,” The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee), Thursday, April 30, 1959, p. 29.
• “Bruins, Rangers Resume Series At Geneva,” The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), Saturday, 2 May 1959, p. 17.
• “Rangers, Bruins Split In Geneva,” Calgary Herald (Calgary, Alberta), Monday, May 4, 1959, p. 17.
• “Rangers Top Bruins,” The Gazette and Daily (York, Pennsylvania), Tuesday, May 5, 1959, p. 22.
• “Boston, New York Tied in Europe,” The Herald-News (Passaic, New Jersey), Wednesday, May 6, 1959, p. 28.
• Walter Schwarz, “Pros Too Strong For Reds,” The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Canada), Monday, May 25, 1959, p. 13.
• Herb Ralby, “Hungry Bruins Squad Home From Europe,” The Boston Daily Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), Thursday, May 28, 1959, p. 36.