When the Boston Bruins take the ice on October 8 in Washington, DC, Marco Sturm will become the 12th individual in franchise history to play a regular-season game for the Bruins (sorry, Don Cherry) and serve as Boston’s head coach. There have been long tenures from former Bruins players-turned-coaches, short tenures, great and not-so-great, and two of the Bruins’ six Stanley Cups have been won with a former player as bench boss. Among all of them, though, only one was able to call himself the first.
Cooney Weiland: The Player
Ralph ‘Cooney’ Weiland began his NHL career with Boston in the 1928-29 season. Weiland combined with other Bruins forwards, Dit Clapper and Dutch Gainor, to form the ‘Dynamite Line’. The Bruins went on to win their first Stanley Cup in Weiland’s rookie season. In his sophomore season, Weiland broke the NHL single-season points record when he scored 73 in 44 games. His record held strong until 1943-44, when another Bruin, Herb Cain, broke it with an 82-point season.
In the summer of 1932, the Bruins traded Cooney to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for forward Joe Lamb and cash. Weiland played in Ottawa for parts of two seasons and then for the Detroit Red Wings for two seasons, before being traded back to the Bruins in July 1935 with defenseman Walt Buswell in exchange for Marty Barry and Art Giroux.
Cooney played four more seasons for the Bruins, which included being a part of the franchise’s second Stanley Cup win in the final season of his playing career (1938-39). He finished his time as a Bruin with 238 points in 365 games.
Even though he was done on the ice, Cooney was not leaving the Boston Bruins just yet. Boston head coach Art Ross stepped aside from his coaching role after the Stanley Cup win and prior to the first preseason workouts for the 1939-40 campaign. Weiland was named the new head coach of the Bruins.
Cooney Weiland: The Coach
Weiland’s appointment as new head coach would actually not be the first time he piloted the Bruins. In September 1938, Art Ross named Cooney the Assistant Manager the team. In late January 1939, Ross was busy for a few days, at an NHL board of governors meeting and was stopping by Springfield to check on the farm team. In his absence, Weiland took over coaching duties for a few games.
“The first time is quite an experience,” Weiland told the Boston Globe. “When you’re just a player and taking orders from somebody else, it looks easy, but when you’re put in charge it is an entirely different story.”
With the games he coached in January 1939, and the knowledge he received working under Ross as Assistant Manager, Cooney was ready to take over the post.
Weiland and the Bruins started the 1939-40 season with a shaky 3-3-2 record. Once December came, they settled in, though, and dominated the month, going 10-2-1. It was a difficult first season as coach for Weiland, as he was missing the league’s leader in goals in 1938-39, Roy Conacher for 17 of the 48 games, ‘Sudden Death’ Mel Hill for 10 games, and quite a few others due to injury. The Bruins marched on, though, and finished the season with a 31-12-5 record, first place in the league.
This set up a Bruins-New York Rangers matchup in the first round of the playoffs, but Boston lost the series in six games. The injury bug followed the Bruins into the 1940-41 season, but the team came through with a much different result.
Weiland and Boston were once again in rough shape after the first month of the 1940-41 season, going 2-3-3. And then like clockwork, once December hit, the Bruins were off to the races, but this time, Weiland and his team made history. The Bruins went undefeated from December 22, 1940 to February 23, 1941, 23 games without a loss. The team would hold this record until the 1977-78 season when the Montreal Canadiens broke it, going undefeated in 28 games.
The historical undefeated streak was mired in controversy, though, due to some roster moves the Bruins made. In January, the Bruins sent underperforming Mel Hill and defenseman Flash Hollett to their farm team, Hershey Bears, to try out two players they had called up, Gordie Bruce and Pat McReavy. Fans were calling for Weiland’s head and demanding a change in management because of this move, and Hollett even threatened to retire from hockey.
“However, after a talk with Weston Adams (president of the Bruins) later in the day, I decided I should do my part and give the minors a two weeks’ trial to see how things work out. After that, though, it will be back to the majors or home to Toronto as far as the way I feel right now,” Hollett told the Boston Globe.
Hollett and Hill were called back up in shortly afterwards and the undefeated streak continued. The Bruins finished the 1940-41 season back in first place with a 27-8-13 record. Boston’s first round playoff matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs was set.
The Bruins won the series in seven games, when they beat the Leafs 2-1 in the final game. In what was a redeeming moment for both Hollett and Hill, the players scored the two goals for Boston that led them to the Stanley Cup Final, with Hill even adding the assist to Hollett’s tally.
The Bruins met the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final, and swept the series 4-0. Cooney had coached the Bruins to their third Stanley Cup victory. Being the first player-turned-coach in Bruins history, it was also the first and only occurrence of that accomplishment, until Tom Johnson coached the Bruins to a Stanley Cup victory in 1972, the only other time it has happened.
In September 1941, Cooney stepped away from coaching the Bruins and took the minor league affiliate, Hershey Bears’, coaching job. He finished his coaching tenure in Boston with a 58-20-18 record in the regular season and a 17-10-7 playoff record, including the 1941 Stanley Cup. Weiland was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player in 1971.