April 7, 1974: The Jack Adams Award Is 1st Awarded

April 7, 1974: The National Hockey League's regular season comes to an end. And, for the 1st time, the League awards a Coach of the Year award. It is named the Jack Adams Award.

Adams was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player, a center. As a rookie, he played in the NHL's 1st season, 1917-18, for the Toronto Arenas, the team that won the Stanley Cup that season, and became the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1927. That was his last year as a player, and he was with the Ottawa Senators, and they won the Cup. In 1922, he was with the Vancouver Millionaires, and they reached the Finals, losing to the Arenas/Leafs, who were then known as the Toronto St. Patricks.

The team he coached also changed names. In 1927-28, the franchise's 2nd season, he was named head coach and general manager of the Detroit Cougars. In 1930, they became the Detroit Falcons. In 1932, they adopted the name by which they have been known ever since: The Detroit Red Wings. He remained their coach through 1947, winning the Cup in 1936, 1937 and 1943; and reaching the Finals but losing in 1934, 1941, 1942 and 1945. He remained their GM through 1962, and they won the Cup again in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955; and reached the Finals but lost in 1948, 1949, 1956 and 1961.

In 1959, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1966, he was named the 1st recipient of the Lester Patrick Trophy, for contributions to hockey in the United States. He died in 1968. In 1974, he was honored with his name on the Coach of the Year award. In the off-season, the NHL realigned, and named one of its Divisions the Adams Division. Also honored were Lester Patrick, James E. Norris and Conn Smythe.

Fred Shero was named the 1st winner of the Jack Adams Award. That year, he led the Philadelphia Flyers to their 1st Stanley Cup.

Perhaps appropriately, the 1st 2-time winner was a Detroit coach, Jacques Demers in 1987 and 1988. Pat Quinn, with the 1980 Flyers and the 1992 Vancouver Canucks, was the 1st to win it with 2 different teams. Scotty Bowman, Pat Burns, Jacques Lemaire, John Tortorella and Barry Trotz have also won it twice. Burns is the only one to win it 3 times.

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April 7, 1974 was a Sunday. There were 6 games played in the NHL that day:

* The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-4 at Madison Square Garden. Steve Vickers, Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle each scored 2 goals.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-4 at the Boston Garden. Bobby Orr was involved in all of the Bruins' goals, scoring 2 and assisting on the other 4.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Bill Barber scored a hat trick, and also had an assist.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3 at The Omni in Atlanta. In goal for the Pens, Andy Brown faced 31 shots and stopped 25 of them. In so doing, he became the last goaltender in the NHL to play without a facemask. I have a separate entry for this event.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at the Chicago Stadium.

The World Hockey Association was already into its Playoffs, with 3 games:

* The New England Whalers beat the Chicago Cougars, 4-3 in overtime at the Eastern States Coliseum (now the Big E Coliseum) in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

* The Toronto Toros beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 4-0 at Varsity Arena in Toronto.

* And the Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Edmonton Oilers, 8-5 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Football was out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA Playoffs:

* The New York Knicks beat the Capital Bullets, 106-105 at Madison Square Garden. Walt Frazier scored 38 points. This was the Bullet's 1st season in the Washington, D.C. area after 10 years as the Baltimore Bullets. The next season, they adopted the name "Washington Bullets."

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Bulls, 102-87 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-92 at the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA (now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena).

And there was 1 game in the ABA's Playoffs: The New York Nets beat the Virginia Squires, 116-88 at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virignia.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-4 at Shea Stadium. The Yankees had just begun a 2-year exile, groundsharing with the Mets while the original Yankee Stadium was being renovated.

Thurman Munson hit a home run. Chris Chambliss went 1-for-4. Pat Dobson outpitched Dick Tidrow. Just 19 days later, the Yankees would acquire Chambliss, Tidrow and Cecil Upshaw from the Indians for 4 pitchers.

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Jon Matlack outpitched Jim Lonborg. Jerry Grote went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Cleon Jones and John Milner each also had 3 hits for the Mets. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* A doubleheader was split at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles won the opener, 5-1. Ross Grimsley Jr. nearly went the distance, while Woodie Fryman didn't get out of the 1st inning, giving up all the Baltimore runs.

The Detroit Tigers won the nightcap, 8-4. Mike Cuellar and Lerrin LaGrow started, but neither factored in the decision. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Al Kaline, in his final season and playing in his hometown, led off the top of the 10th inning with a walk, and this was followed by singles by Willie Horton, Ron Cash, Bill Freehan and Ed Brinkman. (Ron Cash was no relation to Tiger star Norm Cash, but was an uncle of future player and manager Kevin Cash.) Horton and Mickey Stanley hit home runs for the Tigers, Bobby Grich for the O's.

Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 4-for-9 with an RBI, while  Kaline went 2-for-8 with that walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Phil Niekro outpitched Clay Kirby. Pete Rose went 2-for-5. Johnny Bench went 2-for-3 with a walk. With manager and former slugging partner Eddie Mathews ordered by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn to play him, despite his having hit the record-tying 714th home run and everyone but Kuhn wanting him to hit the record-breaking 715th at home, Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts, before Mathews decided he'd carried out Kuhn's order, and replaced him in the field and the lineup.

* The California Angels and the Chicago White Sox were tied 4-4 after 10 innings at Comiskey Park in Chicago, when the game was called due to rain.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 8-4, at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Reggie Jackson went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 7 RBIs.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 9-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Andy Messersmith went the distance for the win, while Jim McAndrew didn't get out of the 3rd inning. Ron Cey went 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs, and Steve Garvey and Jimmy Wynn hit home runs. For the Padres, Willie McCovey went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Dave Winfield did not play.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 8-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 24. The Cards swept, 3-1 and 4-0. Lou Brock did not play in the 1st game, but went 1-for-4 with a stolen base in the 2nd game. Bob Gibson pitched a 4-hit shutout in the 2nd game, striking out 11. Over the 2 games, Willie Stargell went 1-for-8.

* The Boston Red Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers were rained out at Milwaukee County Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 6. The Sox swept, 6-3 and 6-0. Reggie Cleveland outpitched Jim Slaton in the 1st game. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with a walk, while rookie Robin Yount went 0-for-3.

Neither Yaz nor Yount played in the 2nd game. Juan Marichal, running out the string in Boston, pitched 7 innings of 2-hit shutout ball, outpitching Clyde Wright, and Diego Seguí finished the 3-hit shutout.

* The Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins were rained out at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 7. The Royals swept, 7-6 and 5-1. Harmon Killebrew only appeared as a pinch-hitter in the 1st game. Rookie George Brett did not appear in that game. In the 2nd game, Brett went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Killebrew went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Over the 2 games, Rod Carew went 3-for-10 with 3 RBIs.

* The Chicago Cubs and the Montreal Expos were rained out at Jarry Park in Montreal. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 11. The Expos swept, 6-1 and 13-4.