|
|
 |
| |
|
Home > Hockey > Hockey Hall of Famers > Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
NHL, the National Hockey League is a premier professional North American Sports League played in indoor stadiums. It’s divided into two conferences, each comprising of three divisions of ice hockey teams. The league was established in 1917 in Montreal, Quebec and it is composed of 30 teams out of which 24 teams based in U.S. and 6 in Canada. They have a regular season and playoffs leading to the Stanley Cup, which is the NHL Championship final.
The Chicago Blackhawks were founded on September 25, 1926, when the National Hockey League awarded a franchise to Major Frederic McLaughlin On November 17, 1926, in front of 9,000 fans at the Chicago Coliseum, the Chicago Blackhawks made their debut, defeating the Toronto St. Pat's by a score of 4-1.
The name of the team refers to Chief Black Hawk, a prominent figure in the history of Illinois, and is one of many sports team names using Native Americans as icons. For many years the name was spelled primarily Black Hawks, but sometimes Blackhawks, even by the club itself. This ambiguity was finally settled in the summer of 1986 when the club officially decided on the one-word version based on the spelling found in the original franchise documents.
In their first season, the Hawks finished in third place in the NHL's old American Division with a record of 19-23-3 and made the playoffs. The team included future Hall-of-Famers Dick Irvin, whose 36 points were second best in the League that year, goalie Hugh Lehman, Babe Dye, George Hay, and Mickey McKay. The Blackhawks would play their first game at the Chicago Stadium nine months later. On December 15, 1929, Chicago defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1 before 14,212 fans with 6,000 more people than the largest hockey crowd ever assembled at the Blackhawks' previous home, the Chicago Coliseum.
The Blackhawks were eager to make a splash in the free-agent market, and offered big money to many of the top free agents. They were, however, denied, only being able to acquire two backup goalies in Patrick Lalime and Sebastien Caron. Chicago was one of the biggest buyers in the trade market, though, acquiring a future franchise player in left winger Martin Havlat, as well as center Bryan Smolinski from the Ottawa Senators in a three-way deal that also involved the San Jose Sharks.
Back to Hockey Hall of Famers
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|