1961-62 Topps 19 Cliff Pennington Hockey Card (Front)
1961-62 Topps 19 Cliff Pennington Hockey Card (Back)
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Card Notes
Cliff led Eastern Pro League in scoring with 102 points despite fact he missed several games when Canadiens called him up for trial. Bruins purchased his contract last summer. It was his first year as pro. Tall, fair-haired right-winger, he has sizzling shot. Gets it away accurately.
En Français
Cliff a dominé chez les compteurs de la ligue de l’Est avec un total de 102 points même s’il a manqué quelques joutes. Les Bruins ont acheté son contrat des Canadiens. Un rapide patineur, Pennington lance aussi avec force et précision. Un compteur naturel.
Details
Cliff Pennington is an interesting hockey story that is definitely worth uncovering. In 1961-62, he played all 70 games for the Boston Bruins, scoring nine goals and assisting on 32 for 41 points as a rookie. He was second in the voting for the Calder Trophy behind winner Bobby Rousseau of the Montreal Canadiens. He received just a single minor penalty over the season but was not considered for the Lady Byng Trophy.
The previous season, his rookie pro campaign after a stellar junior career with the Flin Flon Bombers, Pennington ripped up the EPHL as a member of the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens. Over 65 regular season games, he scored 33 goals and assisted on 69 for 102 points while sitting just five minor penalties. He led the league in both assists and total points.
In the playoffs, he helped the Canadiens win the championship with the team taking out the Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds in the final. Along with the championship, Cliff was named best rookie, most gentlemanly player, most valuable player and top scorer.
With a start like that, it would be expected that Pennington would continue on with a decent NHL career. However, after appearing in just 27 games for the Bruins in 1962-63, the rest of his career was spent in the minors.
He did continue his scoring ways with three seasons of 100 points or more in the minors. He totaled 116 in both the 1967-68 and 1968-69 campaigns in the EHL with the Nashville Dixie Flyers. In the second of those two years, he scored 58 goals. In 1969-70, he finished with exactly 100 points for the Des Moines Oak Leafs of the IHL and earned the James Gatschene Memorial Trophy as the league’s most valuable player.
Between 1960-61 and 1962-63, Cliff Pennington appeared in 101 regular season games in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. He did not get a chance to compete in the post season. On May 10, 1961, he was traded from Montreal to Boston with Terry Gray for Willie O’Ree and Stan Maxwell.