1970-71

Season Summary:

As the 1970-71 season began, The Boston Bulldogs were determined this would be their year. Twelve seasons removed from their last Lewis Cup in 1959, and after several playoff failures throughout the 1960s, the Bulldogs loaded up their roster in an attempt to finally excersise their post-season demons. Among the additions was future hall-of-fame defenseman Doug West, who came over from Winnipeg in exchange for prospect Rick Chandler. Boston initially got off to a big start, winning 19 of their first 22 games. The team continued to dominate the Atlantic division until mid-February, when a 13-game losing streak dropped them to second place, behind Nova Scotia. Meanwhile, in year 2 in Calgary, The Wranglers found themselves in a playoff position, thanks to a big rookie year from Warren Jensen, who scored 44 goals and 92 points. Skippy Cleveland continued to be effective at age 47, scoring 32 goals as Calgary managed to finish just two oints out of first place in the Pacific Division. In the Northeast Division, Ottawa returned to the post-season, while Quebec failed to repeat their magical 1969-70 season, falling out of playoff contention. In Buffalo, it was a season of goodbyes for the few remaining fans. On March 28, 1971, the Bulls played their final game in Buffalo, a 2-1 win against the Pittsburgh Stingers. In an emotional scene, the players saluted the 7,000 fans in attendance after the win.

In the first round of the playoffs, Calgary took out California in five games, while Toronto made short work of Ottawa in four straight. The Minnesota Lumberjacks managed to win a very tough seven-game rematch with the Chicago Shamrocks. It appeared that the Boston Bulldogs off-season efforts might go to waste when they found themselves down 2-1 to the New York Civics. However, after a spirited 3-2 win in overtime in game 4, the Bulldogs rode the momentum all the way to game seven, where they eeked out another overtime win thanks to a big goal from Jeff Coleman. In round two against Nova Scotia, the Bulldogs once again had to climb out of a 2-1 hole, this time, Boston never looked back after winning game 4, taking the next two games to take the series in six. The Bulldogs knew all along that they would likely face the powerful Detroit Mustangs in a showdown for the Cup. However, in the misdst of their adversity, the Bulldogs were completely unaware that the Mustangs had been upset in their second round tilt with the Minnesota Lumberjacks. Suddenly it appeared that Boston would be the teams to beat. Predictably, the Lumberjacks swept their expansion cousins, the Winnipeg Pioneers, in the Western final while the Bulldogs defeated Montreal without too much trouble to set up a final matchup between one of hockey's all-time greatest franchises versus an up-and-coming club loaded with young talent. After the teams split the first two games however, Boston once again found the resilience that had eluded them for the last 12 years and the form that had gotten them off to such a big start and pulled them out of two series deficits. Johnny Bedford put the team on his back, scoring 4 goals and earning 7 points in only five games as the Boston Bulldogs finally took the Lewis Cup for the seventh time in their history.

Standings:

Round 1:

Round 2

Round 3

Lewis Cup Finals