Tony Esposito, 1943 - 2021

Tony Esposito was one of the greatest of the greats in hockey history. A pioneer of the “butterfly” style of goaltending, he played 873 regular-season games and 99 playoff games for the Blackhawks. He ranks as the franchise’s all-time leader in wins (418) and shutouts (74). It was his propensity for shutouts, of course, that earned him the unforgettable nickname “Tony O.”

Esposito won the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1969-70 and the Vezina Trophy as outstanding goalie three times. He was a five-time All-Star and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, his first year of eligibility. Hockey-Reference.com ranks him as the greatest player (not just the greatest goalie) in the Blackhawks’ illustrious history.

The Hawks acquired Esposito from Montreal after the 1968-69 season in the greatest waiver deal in NHL history. The Canadiens stuck with the two goalies who had just carried them to the Stanley Cup championship, future Hall of Famers Gump Worsley and Rogie Vachon, while letting another future Hall of Famer get away.

 

The passage below is a look back at Tony O’s sensational 1969-70 season.    

 

TONY ESPOSITO

 

When the Blackhawks visited Montreal’s Forum to play the Canadiens on October 25, 1969, they were winless in six games for the young season and seemed destined for a second straight last-place finish, while the Canadiens were heavy favorites to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup.

 The Hawks had gone one game over .500 in 1968-69, but had nonetheless finished sixth and last in the NHL’s powerful Eastern Division, missing the playoffs for the first time since 1958. They entered the next season with more questions than answers. First, Ken Wharram, the plucky winger who was one of the club’s veteran leaders, suffered a heart attack that left him in critical condition for a time (he recovered, but his playing career was over). Then superstar Bobby Hull walked out of training camp, charging that the Hawks had reneged on certain promises made during his contract negotiations the year before. The goalie position was unsettled, with coach Billy Reay torn between Denis DeJordy, who had disappointed since replacing the great Glenn Hall two years earlier, and Tony Esposito, whose entire NHL experience consisted of 13 games with Montreal the season before.   

     With seven rookies (including Esposito and future mainstays Keith Magnuson and Cliff Koroll) in the lineup, the Hawks were bombed 7-2 in the season opener at St. Louis. Then they lost four more games before managing a tie at New York. “It may take 30 or 35 games before we play the kind of hockey I believe we are capable of playing,” Reay said, “but I am not discouraged.”

 The game in Montreal was the first portent of better things to come. Esposito, who had looked so bad in the opening-night debacle, was brilliant as the Hawks won 5-0. It was the Canadiens’ first loss of the season and their first on home ice in 25 games dating back to the previous January. “I decided to go with Tony,” said Reay, “in the hopes that he’d be fired up against the team that let him go, and it worked. I can’t remember winning that decisively too often in Montreal.”

     

The Hawks were a different team after Esposito’s shutout of the Canadiens. They lost their next game, then reeled off a 10-game unbeaten streak of eight wins and two ties. Esposito played every minute of the streak and allowed a total of 10 goals. Two of the games were shutouts, one of them a 1-0 decision over Montreal at the Stadium.

     Beginning with the game in Montreal on October 25, the Hawks went 45-17-8 for the rest of the season. For the last 12 weeks, they were 30-7-4.  

     Although their record of 38-22-16 would have easily won the Western Division (home of the six three-year-old expansion teams), the Canadiens were out of the playoffs for the first time since 1948. For the first time ever, the postseason would not include either Montreal or Toronto. 

     “Tony’s the guy who made the difference,” center Pit Martin said after the Hawks thrashed the Canadiens 10-2 in the regular-season finale. “He has made stops nobody could believe in game after game. He is the guy we’ve rallied around. I don’t think there ever has been a goaltender with a season like the one he’s had.”   

     Esposito’s season for the ages carried the Hawks from last place to first and earned him the Vezina Trophy as outstanding goalie and the Calder as rookie of the year (he finished second to Boston’s Bobby Orr in the MVP balloting). He played 63 games, allowing just one goal in 15 of them and setting a record with 15 shutouts. 

     As quick to refuse credit as he was to accept blame, Esposito was matter-of-fact about his feats. “All the guys worked so hard for me,” he said. “They have all year. I kept thinking, ‘Don’t ease up; you don’t want to let them down.’”

 

 

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