The 1961-62 Topps set consists of 66 hockey cards and is noted for the rookie cards of New York Rangers greats Jean Ratelle and Rod Gilbert. The set features players from the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers. Included are the head coaches from each team.
Phil Watson – Boston Bruins
We won’t go into too much detail about the playing career and non-NHL coaching career of the late Phil Watson. Phil was featured at VHCR just this past week – for more a much more detailed account of his hockey career, check out this article: Phil Watson. His 1961-62 Topps hockey card is valued at around twice that of a common card.
Watson coached in the National Hockey League from 1955-56 to 1959-60 with the New York Rangers and the 1961-62 and 1962-63 seasons with the Bruins. His Rangers teams qualified for the post season in the first three years he was behind the bench but Phil never won a Stanley Cup playoff series as a head coach.
He coached in the hockey world until the 1972-73 season in the NHL, AHL, EHL and WHA. His final year was spent with the Philadelphia Blazers of the brand new World Hockey Association. He took over as head coach thirteen games into the season after the player/head coach role proved to be too much for John McKenzie. The following year, the Blazers moved across the continent to Vancouver, British Columbia but Watson’s coaching days were over.
Rudy Pilous – Chicago Black Hawks
Pilous first tasted success as a head coach with the St. Catherines Teepees of the OHA in 1953-54. The team was crowned Memorial Cup champions, winning four and tying one against the Edmonton Oil Kings in the final series held at Maple Leafs Gardens in Toronto.
Rudy would strike it rich again in 1960-61 as head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks. Pilous coached the Hawks from 1957-58 to 1962-63. In 1960-61, Chicago won the Stanley Cup with a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in a final series that pitted the number 3 and number 4 seeds against each other.
The following year, Chicago reached the finals again, this time against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Black Hawks couldn’t make it two in a row, falling in six games to Toronto. Chicago would not win another Stanley Cup championship until 2009-10.
Rudy came close to a championship in 1964-65 but this time in the WHL as head coach of the Victoria Maple Leafs. Victoria reached the finals before falling to Hal Laycoe and the Portland Buckaroos in five games. The following year, the Maple Leafs got their revenge, downing the Buckaroos in the finals. However, Pilous had moved on to coach the Hamilton Red Wings in the OHA for the 1965-66 season.
The rest of Rudy’s career was spent starting seasons but being replaced before the end. In 1966-67, he was replaced as head coach of the WHL’s California Golden Seals by Charlie Burns. In both 1969-70 and 1970-71, he was replaced midseason as head coach of the WHL’s Denver Spurs, both times by Bill Dineen. In 1974-75, he coached the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA for 36 games before Bobby Hull took over as player/head coach.
In 1985, the late Rudy Pilous was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builders category.
Doug Harvey – New York Rangers
Harvey’s first and only year as an NHL head coach came with still seven years left in his playing career. For just the 1961-62 season, Doug was player / head coach of the New York Rangers. He would take on the same dual role in 1967-68 but this time with the Kansas City Blues of the Central Hockey League.
Harvey played 1,113 regular season games in the National Hockey League between 1947-48 and 1968-69 with the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues. The defenseman scored 88 goals and assisted on 452 for 540 points.
Doug won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman an amazing seven times. Six times as a member of the Canadiens, Harvey has his name scribed on the Stanley Cup. He was also a member of the Calder Cup winning Pittsburgh Hornets of the American Hockey League in 1966-67.
Pittsburgh was in their last year of existence with the expansion Pittsburgh Penguins joining the NHL for 1967-68. The Hornets finished first overall in the nine team AHL and swept the Rochester Americans in the finals for the the championship.
Doug Harvey was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973. That 1961-62 Topps card is valued at nearly four times that of a common card.