Rocket-less Playoffs

On March 16, 1955, a hearing was held at the NHL offices in Montreal to ascertain what really happened in Boston, After scrutinizing reports from the game officials, and after listening to explanations from both Richard and Hal Laycoe of the Boston Bruins and other witnesses, officials concluded the following:

At about the 14-minute mark of the third period, when Boston was playing a man short and the Canadiens had removed their goaltender for a sixth attacker (an odd strategy with so much time remaining), Richard was proceeding over the Boston blue line. As Richard skated past Hal Laycoe, the latter highsticked him on the side of the head. The referee promptly and visibly signalled a penalty to Laycoe but permitted the play to continue as the Canadiens were still in possessionn of the puck.

Richard skated around the Boston goal and back almost to the blue line when the whistle blew. Richard rubbed his hand on his head and indicated to the referee that he had been injured. Suddenly he skated toward Laycoe, who was a short distance away, and, swinging his stick over his head with both hands, he struck Laycoe a blow on the shoulder and face. At the time Laycoe was struck, he had dropped his stick and gloves.

The linesmen grabbed the two players and Richard's stick was taken away from him. However, he was able to break away from linesman Thompson, and, picking up a loose stick, again attacked Laycoe with two one-handed swings, striking him over the back and breaking the stick. Again linesman Thompson got a grip on Richard but the Montreal player was able to get away. Somehow the Rocket found another stick and struck Laycoe a third time across the back as the Bruin ducked to avoid the blow.

Linesman Thompson again restrained Richard. This time he forced the Rocket to the ice and held him there until a Montreal player pushed Thompson away, allowing Richard to scramble to his feet. He was seething with anger and lashed out at Thompson, striking him in the face with two hard blows.

Thompson finally got Richard under control and signalled for the Canadiens trainer to come and escort Richard to the first-aid room, where he received four or five stiches on the left side of his head. Referee Frank Udvari handed a match penalty to Richard for deliberately inguring Laycoe and a five-minute penalty to Laycoe for high-sticking Richard, causing the head wound.

At the penalty box, Udvari ordered Laycoe to take a seat - inside the box. When he failed to do so, the Bruin was assessed a further ten-minute misconduct penalty. When he finally entered the box, Laycoe threw a towel at Udvari, striking him on the leg.

At the hearing in Montreal, Laycoe testified that in the original contact with Richard when the game was in progres, he had been struck a terrific blow on his glasses by Richard's stick. He immediately and instinctively hit back. Referee Udvari made no reference to this earlier blow and Richard said he did not know whether he hit Laycoe at that time or not.

Richard contended that he was dazed and did not kow what he was doing because of the blow he had received on the head. He also said that when he struck the linesman in the face with his fists, he mistook him for one of the Boston players, some of whom were milling around the area.

Following the hearing, Clarence Campbell ruled that Richard be suspended for the remainder of the regular season and also for the playoffs. Compared to a modern-day suspensions - Colorado's Claude Lemieux received a two-game suspension and a $1,000 fine for a cheap-shot hit from behind on an unsuspecting Chris Draper of Detroit in the 1996 playoffs, leaving Draper with a fractured jaw, a broken nose, and more than 30 stitches - Richard's punishment seems unusually harsh. It left a multitude of his supporters seething with rage.

Three weeks later, Montreal coach Dick Irvin was still steaming over the Richard suspension. During the Stanley Cup finals against Detroit, Irvin encountered linesman Sammy Babcock sitting in the lobby of the Leland Hotel in Detroit. Irvin walked directly toward Babcock and began verbally assaulting the startled official, who was the other linesman on the ice the night Richard attacked Hal Laycoe in Boston.

Pounding the air with his arms, Irvin shouted, "And what did you do? All three of you officials told Campbell that Richard was carrying the puck at the time. But at the same hearing Laycoe claimed it was he who was carrying the puck. That makes all three of you blankety-blank liars!"