|
- Most of the organ from Chicago Stadium was destroyed when the Phoenix warehouse its new owner was storing it in burned to the ground. The console of the organ survived the fire and now resides in the home of an organ collector in Las Vegas, NV.
- The famous #9 of Bobby Hull was worn one time by another Blackhawk after the Golden Jet left the Hawks. In a pre-season game against the Hawks' Dallas farm club played at Notre Dame, rookie Dale Tallon wore #9. Tallon refused to wear the number again after that because he didn't feel like he was worthy of it.
- 50% of the 1938 Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks team were American players. That's the highest percentage of Americans on any Cup winning squad.
- Jeremy Roenick was the last player to leave the ice after the last Hawks game in Chicago Stadium.
- The Blackhawks are 0-2-0 in international play. The Hawks lost exhibition games against the Soviet Wings on January 7, 1976, and against Czechoslovakia on December 31, 1977.
- Before joining other goaltenders in wearing a mask full-time, former Minnesota North Star goalie Cesare Maniago only wore a mask when he faced Bobby Hull's blazing slapshot. Maniago said that Hull could have killed somebody with the power of his shot.
- Former Blackhawk Howie Young was an extra in the movies Young Guns and Lonesome Dove.
- Among the 10 coaches who have appeared in at least four All-Star Games, only Tommy Ivan has managed to post an undefeated record. Ivan, a former executive with the Blackhawks, finished his coaching career with three wins and one tie in four games. He coached in the 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1952 All-Star contests.
- When the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 1961, Bobby Hull never got the chance to drink from the Cup. For some reason, he was drinking beer from Michael Wirtz's (the team owner's son) hat and he became ill. He went home early and was in bed as the rest of the team celebrated.
- Bobby Hull is the highest-scoring North American player against famed Russian goaltender Vladislav Tretiak.
- During the 1971 Stanley Cup finals, the Chicago Cubs were playing the Montreal Expos in Montreal at the same time the Hawks and Canadiens were battling for the Stanley Cup. Cubs manager Leo Durocher intentionally got himself ejected from the baseball game in the first inning so he could attend the hockey game.
- Before Jarome Iginla accomplished the feat in 2001-02, Bobby Hull was the last player to win the league scoring championship while having more goals than assists. He did it in the 1965-66 season.
- The tuning fork used on the legendary organ from Chicago Stadium rests in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
- The large statue of Stan Mikita that stood atop the fictional Stan Mikita's Donuts in the movie Wayne's World now sits at the end of MacGyver star Richard Dean Anderson's driveway. The statue was offered to Mikita, but he said, "It's a nice likeness, but what the hell would I do with it?"
- Wayne Gretzky scored his first point in the NHL on October 10, 1979, against the Chicago Blackhawks, when he helped set up Kevin Lowe for the first goal in Edmonton Oilers history.
- Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau scored his first goal in the NHL against the Blackhawks in a 4-2 win on January 27, 1951.
- In September of 1992, the Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens played a pair of exhibition games at Wembley Arena in London, England. The second game ended in a 4-4 tie in regulation, before going to a shootout. The Hawks eventually won, 6-4, before a near sell-out crowd of 8,587.
- The All-Star game has been played in Chicago four times: In 1948, 1961, 1974, and 1991.
- In 1962, the Stanley Cup was on display in the lobby of Chicago Stadium while the Hawks and Canadiens battled for it on the ice. When Chicago took a commanding lead in the game, a Montreal fan left his seat. He went to the lobby, broke into the showcase, lifted out the Cup and was on his way out the door before he was stopped. He said that he was taking the Cup to Montreal, where it belonged.
- Pete Muldoon, who was the first Blackhawks head coach ever, was the coach of the first U.S. team to capture the Stanley Cup. Muldoon led the Seattle Metropolitans past the Montreal Canadiens in 1917.
- In 1964, five Blackhawks were named first-team all-stars. Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Ken Wharram made up the forward line while Pierre Pilote was one of the defensemen and Glenn Hall was the goalie. The only non-Blackhawk chosen was Toronto defenseman Tim Horton. It was only the second time in history that one team had placed five men on the first All-Star squad.
- The Blackhawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 12, 1931, on the opening night of Maple Leaf Gardens. It was the Hawks' first win ever in Toronto.
- When the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 1961, the bonus for each player was $1,750.
- Journeyman Pete Palangio played three games for the Blackhawks in the 1938 playoffs but got his name on the Cup twice, once spelled correctly and once, he is listed merely as "Palagio".
- Tony Esposito is one of only two players to win the Stanley Cup with one team and the Calder Trophy the following year with a different team. The other player was Danny Grant.
- Former Blackhawk Tom Lysiak holds the distinction of receiving the longest NHL suspension ever for a playing infraction. After being thrown out of the face-off circle by linesman Ron Foyt in 1983, Lysiak waited until the puck was dropped, skated to the Blackhawk bench where Foyt was standing, and deliberately took the feet out from under him. At his disciplinary hearing, Lysiak was suspended for 20 games for physical abuse of an official.
- Former Blackhawk Wayne Hicks was the only U.S.-born player to hoist the Stanley Cup during the league's 6-team era of 1942 to 1966.
- The Hawks, along with all other teams in the NHL, used to wear their white sweaters on the road and their colored sweaters at home. This was reversed in 1970.
- 311 hats were thrown to the ice in Chicago Stadium after Dirk Graham scored his third goal in the last game of the 1992 Stanley Cup finals.
- The Hawks were the first team to travel by air on a chartered flight. They flew to Toronto on March 18, 1940, for the Stanley Cup finals.
- The first hockey game televised in the U.S. was between the Blackhawks and the Rangers. The Hawks lost 4-1 in that game on January 5, 1957.
- The 1938 Blackhawks are the team with the worst regular season record to go on to win the Stanley Cup. The Hawks went 14-25-9 that year for a .385 winning percentage.
- Former Hawk netminder Glenn Hall was the first "butterfly" type goalie.
- In 1954, former Hawks goalie Al Rollins won the Hart trophy as the league's MVP despite finishing with a dismal 12-47-7 record.
- The first time three brothers were linemates in a game was on January 1, 1943, when Chicago coach Paul Thompson sent Max, Doug, and Reg Bentley out as a unit against the Rangers.
- Former Blackhawk Gordon "Duke" Keats is the player who ended Ottawa goaltender Alex Connell's NHL shutout record of 460 minutes, 49 seconds, when he scored against him on February 22, 1928.
- Stan Mikita is the only player ever to win the Hart, Art Ross, and Lady Byng trophies all in the same season. He did it twice, in 1967 and 1968.
- Glenn Hall's consecutive-game streak was chosen by Sports Illustrated as the most unbeatable record in all of sports.
|