January 13, 1968: Bill Masterton is Killed

January 13, 1968: Bill Masterton of the Minnesota North Stars suffers a head injury in a game against the Oakland Seals. He dies 2 days later. He remains the only NHL player to die directly as a result of an injury suffered during a game.

William Masterton (I can find no reference to him having a middle name) was born on August 13, 1938 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In 1955-56, his 1st season of junior hockey, he led the St. Boniface Canadiens to the Turnbull Cup, the championship of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

After one more season with them, he went to the University of Denver, which ended its football program in 1961, while he was there. But it has had a great hockey program, and has won more NCAA National Championships in skiing than any other school. It's also known for its engineering department, and that's where he got his degree.

He helped them win the National Championship in 1960 and 1961, and in '61 was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Valuable Player. He became the school's all-time leading scorer, and held that distinction of the next 25 years. For these achievements, he was elected to the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1985, and to the NCAA's 50th Anniversary hockey team in 1997.

But this was the era of the inaccurately-named "Original Six." There were just 6 teams in the National Hockey League, and at 20 men on a roster, there were only 120 slots available for anyone who wanted to play in the League.

After graduation, Masterton signed with the Montreal Canadiens. At age 23, he should already have been ready for the NHL. But the Habs already had Jean Béliveau and Henri Richard, 2 future Hall-of-Famers, at center. So they assigned Masterton to their farm team, the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens of the Eastern Professional Hockey League. He scored 31 goals in 1961-62. He was assigned to the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League. He led the team in scoring in 1962-63. Still, the Canadiens wouldn't promote him for the 1963-64 season.

So he quit hockey. He got his master's degree at the University of Denver. He got a job with the Honeywell Corporation in Minneapolis. He married a woman named Carol, and they adopted a son named Scott and a daughter named Sally.

And then he applied for the restoration of his amateur status, and for U.S. citizenship, and got both. Still in the Twin Cities, he played the 1964-65 and 1965-66 seasons with the St. Paul Steers of the United States Hockey League. In 1966-67, he was named Captain of the U.S. national hockey team.

Finally, the NHL expanded. Wren Blair, hired as the 1st head coach and the 1st general manager of the Minnesota North Stars, playing in Bill's adopted metro area, bought his NHL rights from the Canadiens, making him the 1st player to sign with the North Stars. On October 11, 1967, 2 months past his 29th birthday, at the St. Louis Arena, he finally made his NHL debut, and scored the franchise's 1st regular season goal, in a 2-2 tie against the St. Louis Blues.

Blair said, "Because he had a habit of giving everything he had for every second he was on the ice, Bill was the type of player who didn't have to score a lot of goals to help a club." Well, in the team's 1st 38 games, he scored 4 goals and had 8 assists.

Then came the 39th game, against another expansion team, the Oakland Seals, at the Metropolitan Sports Center, built next-door to Metropolitan Stadium, home of MLB's Minnesota Twins and the NFL's Minnesota Vikings, in suburban Bloomington, equidistant from the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

During the 1st period, he carried the puck up the ice at full speed. Just as he passed it, 2 Seals players, Larry Cahan and Ron Harris, converged on him. One of their sticks tangled with his skates, and he pitched forward. The other defender knocked him backward, and he hit the back of his head on the ice. "It sounded like a baseball bat hitting a ball," his teammate André Boudrias recalled.

Like most players of the era, he wasn't wearing a helmet. Also like most players of the era, he had short hair, so he didn't have much protection for his head that way, either. He was bleeding from his nose, ears and mouth. Referee Wally Harris did not call a penalty on the play. He said, "He was checked hard, but I'm sure it wasn't a dirty play."

He was taken to Fairview-Southdale Hospital. Incredibly, the game went on. Ray Cullen scored for the Stars at the 17:39 mark of the 2nd period. Mike McMahon (not to be confused with the later Rutgers quarterback who washed out with the Philadelphia Eagles), scored a power-play goal at 3:41 in the 3rd, to make it 2-0 Stars. But the Seals then scored twice in quick succession, with John Brenneman and Wally Boyer. Over the last 13:16 of the game, both teams struggled to find a winner, and couldn't, and, like Masterton's 1st NHL game, his last NHL game ended 2-2.

Carol was in the stands, and went to the hospital. His parents were listening to the game on the radio in Winnipeg, and they came, too. His brother and the children were also brought. The doctors realized that his brain was too swollen to operate. Without ever regaining consciousness, he died shortly after midnight on January 15, 1968. He was 29 years old.

Carol said it was a fluke, that it could have happened to anyone. The Masterton family never blamed Cahan or Harris for what happened. But, in the one interview he's given on the subject, with the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 2003, Harris said, "It bothers you the rest of your life. It wasn't dirty, and it wasn't meant to happen that way. Still, it's very hard, because I made the play. It's always in the back of my mind."

Harris became an original Atlanta Flame in 1972, but was traded in mid-season to the New York Rangers, remaining with them through 1976. He went into coaching. He is still alive, age 78. Cahan, who had played with the Rangers before that season, hung on in the WHA until 1974, never publicly spoke about the incident, and died in 1992.

An autopsy showed that the injury wasn't Masterton's 1st brain injury. Two weeks earlier, against the Boston Bruins, he had been checked hard into the glass, and had complained to his wife and his teammates about headaches. But, in the era's macho culture, he didn't tell coach Blair. It's been suggested that the kind of brain swelling he sustained is rare as the result of one injury -- but not from two in quick succession.

Boudrias was one of the few players to wear a helmet at the time. He became an original Vancouver Canuck in 1970, and in his 6 seasons with them, he became known as "Superpest" for his hard checking. He later served as a scout with the New Jersey Devils, helping to build their 3 Stanley Cup winners. Before his death in 2019, he told an interviewer that, if Masterton had been wearing one, he would have survived: "There's no doubt in my mind about that."

The North Stars, not even halfway through their 1st season of play, immediately retired Masterton's Number 19. That season, the NHL created the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to "the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey."

The 1st winner was Claude Provost of the Canadiens. It tends to be awarded to players who overcame terrible injuries or illnesses, including Rod Gilbert of the Rangers, who survived a nearly-paralyzing back injury; Bryan Berard, who nearly saw his career end with an eye injury while with the Islanders; and Brian Boyle, a former Ranger who overcame leukemia to star with the Devils. 

On June 1, 1979, the NHL made helmets mandatory for new players, but allowed those who signed professional contracts before that date to not wear them. In 1997, with the Blues, Craig MacTavish became the last player to enter a game without a helmet.

*

January 13, 1968 was a Saturday. It was the off-season for Major League Baseball. The next day, Super Bowl II would be played, and the NFL Champion Green Bay Packers would beat the AFL Champion Oakland Raiders, 33-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

In addition to the game in which Masterton was killed, there were 4 other NHL games:

* The New York Rangers beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at the St. Louis Arena. Phil Goyette, Don Marshall and Rod Gilbert scored for the Broadway Blueshirts.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 5-1 at the Montreal Forum. John Ferguson had 2 goals for Les Habitantes. Also scoring was a rookie who would go on to help them win 8 Stanley Cups, starting with this season, and then coach the New Jersey Devils to their 1st Cup: Jacques Lemaire.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Bob Pulford scored a hat trick for the Cup holders -- which the Leafs haven't been since.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings, arch-rivals, played to a 4-4 tie at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. (Up until 1986, when the team's original charter was found, showing "Blackhawks" written as one word, the name was listed as 2 words: "Black Hawks.")

There were 3 games played in the NBA that day:

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the San Diego Rockets, 122-116 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Oscar Robertson scored 32 and Jerry Lucas 28 for the Royals, who became the Kansas City Kings in 1972 and the Sacramento Kings in 1985. John Block scored 30 for the Rockets, who moved to Houston in 1971.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Detroit Pistons, 115-106 at Cobo Hall in Detroit. Wilt Chamberlain scored 27 points, but he did not lead all scorers. Dave Bing scored 29 in defeat.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Baltimore Bullets, 110-106 at the Chicago Stadium. Bob Boozer scored 32 points.

And 2 games were played in the ABA, which was in its 1st season:

* The New Jersey Americans beat the Oakland Oaks, 118-110 at the Teaneck Armory. Tony Jackson led all pro basketball players that day, with 34 points. The Oaks won the 1969 ABA title, and still had to move, becoming the Washington Caps the next season, and the Virginia Squires the season after that, folding with the ABA in 1976.

The Americans moved to Long Island for 1968-69, becoming the New York Nets. They joined the NBA in 1976, became the New Jersey Nets in 1977, and became the Brooklyn Nets in 2012.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Pittsburgh Pipers, 113-99 at the Indiana Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis. The Pipers went on to win the title that season, anyway. On the other hand, they folded well before the ABA did. The Pacers won 3 ABA titles, and joined the NBA in 1976.

Also, Arsenal drew with Sheffield United, 1-1 at Highbury in North London.