1963-64

Season Summary:

Perhaps the biggest change change to the PHL entering the 1963-64 season was the absence of former superstar Skippy Cleveland in New York. Cleveland was routinely at or near the top of the scoring race since the league's inception in 1939 and had retired the previous season as arguably the greatest player ever to play the game. To replace Cleveland, the Civics recruited 19-year-old Doug Stevens, who had been a star in the Canadian junior league. Despite Stevens' strong play as a rookie, the Civics failed to make the playoffs for the second year in a row, finishing fifth in the American Division. In Detroit, the defending champs picked up right where they left off, starting the season with a record 22 straight wins. They would finish the year with 58 wins, cruising to first place overall. The Quebec Nationale continued their dominance in the Canadian Division, finishing with 52 wins while Gilbert Girouix led the league in scoring with 44 goals. The Nova Scotia Claymores finally made their first appearance in the playoffs, thanks to a 33-goal effort by Brian Millard, while Boston barely made the playoffs in the American Division after a tough rebuilding season.

The first round of the 1964 playoffs played out as expected in the Canadian Division, with Quebec defeating Nova Scotia in 6 games, while Toronto took out Montreal, also in 6. The American Division, however, saw two big upsets. The Chicago Shamrocks, after a very average regular season, shocked their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Redshirts in 4 straight. In Detroit, after the heavily favoured Mustangs took a 2-0 lead over the Boston Bulldogs, Detroit head coach Johnny Chadwick made the fatal mistake of predicting a sweep, gauranteeing that the Mustangs would win games 3 and 4 in Boston. The Bulldogs stormed back to not only win both games in Boston but to win the next two as well, taking the series in one of the biggest upsets in PHL history. The division finals would feature two more upsets, as Boston continued their strong play in a 5-game victory over Chicago to reach the Lewis Cup finals for the 9th time in franchise history. In the Canadian Division final, Toronto took down Quebec in a mild upset with Mark Benson leading the way with 4 goals including the OT winner in game 6. In the Championship round, Toronto won the first two at home, before Boston tied the series on their home ice. The Bulldogs then won game 5 in Toronto to take a 3-2 series lead. One win away from their 7th Lewis Cup, the Bulldogs gave up a pair of 2-goal leads in a heartbreaker, as the Racers won game 6 in overtime on a goal from David Stairs, before blowing out the Bulldogs 6-1 in game 7 to claim their third Lewis Cup.