Mr. Blackhawk

Forty-eight years ago, on October 15, 1972, Blackhawks center Stan Mikita became the sixth player in National Hockey League history to reach 1,000 points (goals plus assists) in his career. Mikita assisted on Cliff Koroll's goal, the only one the Hawks scored in a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues.

     Bobby Hull, Mikita’s teammate for 14 years, was not at Chicago Stadium that night to see Mikita join the exclusive club to which he (Hull) already belonged (the other members were Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Norm Ullman, and Jean Beliveau). Hull had jumped to the Winnipeg Jets of the fledgling World Hockey Association during the previous off-season.

     In later years, Denis Savard and Patrick Kane have also joined the Blackhawks' section of the 1,000-point club.   

 

STAN MIKITA

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1940, Mikita was sent at the age of eight to live with his aunt and uncle in Canada, escaping the Communist subjugation of his homeland. When he joined the Hawks ten years later, at five-foot-nine and 152 pounds, he made up his mind to hit rather than be hit. “Either they were going to kill me and carry me out in a box, or I was going to survive,” Mikita recalled. “Luckily, I survived.” 

     Mikita was among the most penalized players in the league early in his career, earning the nickname Le petit diable (“the little devil”) from French-speaking fans. Then, in 1966-67, he suddenly decided that he needed to spend more time on the ice and less in the penalty box.
     The new Mikita was a revelation. His high-powered Scooter Line, featuring Kenny Wharram on right wing and Doug Mohns on left wing, accounted for 91 goals and 222 points as the Blackhawks broke the NHL record for goals scored in a season. The Hawks won their first Prince of Wales Trophy as regular-season champions, and Mikita was rewarded with three trophies of his own: the Art Ross as the league’s top scorer, the Lady Byng as its most gentlemanly player, and the Hart as the player “adjudged to be most valuable to his team.” No player had ever swept the three coveted awards in one year before, and no one (not even Wayne Gretzky) has done it since 1968—when Mikita repeated the feat.

     “The guy has such tremendous reflexes and so much talent,” goalie Glenn Hall said of Mikita, “that he can change his mind in mid-stride when he’s skating or shooting. And believe me, a guy who can do that drives goalkeepers nuts.” 

     Mikita remained with the Blackhawks for almost a decade after Hull’s defection to the WHA, retiring in 1980 after 22 seasons. He remains the franchise leader in games played, assists, points, and plus/minus. 

     Mikita and Hull were reunited when both were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.

 

 

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