The 1969 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

's (NHL) 1968–69 season, and the culmination of the

1969 Stanley Cup playoffs This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

. It was contested between the defending champion

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

and the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

, a rematch of the previous year's finals. As they did in the previous matchup, the Canadiens won the series in four games.

Paths to the Finals

Montreal defeated the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

4–0 and the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

4–2 to advance to the finals. St. Louis defeated the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

and

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

in four games each.

Game summaries

This was the second playoff series between these two teams. Their only previous meeting came in the previous year's Stanley Cup final. In this year's six-game regular season series, there were five wins for Montreal and one tie.

Claude Ruel Claude Ruel (September 12, 1938 – February 9, 2015) was a professional ice hockey Coach (ice hockey), coach for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). Ruel grew up playing hockey in Sherbrooke. He was considered to be ...

became the eleventh rookie coach to win the Stanley Cup. Montreal goaltender

Rogie Vachon Rogatien Rosaire "Rogie" Vachon (born September 8, 1945) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League. Montre ...

limited St. Louis to three goals in four games. In the process, he earned his first career playoff shutout.

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1969 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau by NHL President

Clarence Campbell Clarence Sutherland Campbell, (July 9, 1905 – June 24, 1984) was a Canadian ice hockey executive, referee, and soldier. He refereed in the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1930s, served in the Canadian Army during World War II, th ...

following the Canadiens 2–1 win over the Blues in game four. The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup 1968–69 Montreal Canadiens

Won 4 Stanley Cups in 5 Years with Montreal 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969

Ralph Backstrom, Jean Beliveau, Yvan Cournoyer, Dick Duff, John Ferguson, Terry Harper, Ted Harris, Jacques Laperriere, Claude Provost, Henri Richard, Bobby Rousseau, Gilles Tremblay, Jean-Claude Tremblay, Gump Worsley (14 players), David Molson, Sam Pollock, Larry Aubut (3 non-players).

Notes

References