Blackhawks Goalies: The Eagle Has Landed

1984-1997

By the 1984-85 season, Tony Esposito had retired and backup Murray Bannerman was promoted to the starters role. Truth is, he had wrested control from Espo the previous year.

Bannerman would be the man for the next couple of seasons until his career was derailed by a broken metacarpal in his left hand. Oddly enough, the injury was not hockey related, Bannerman broke it falling out of a tree. After the injury, Bannerman's GAA ballooned to a whopping 4.48 for the 85-86 season. Meanwhile his save percentage dipped to a paltry .869.

Teammates and coaches said he lacked the focus and motivation needed of a big-time puck stopper. He was demoted to the minors in '87. Murray Bannerman quit hockey after one season in the minors.

Meanwhile, with all of this in mind, the Blackhawks used the No. 8 overall pick in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft on a kid they thought would be their goalie of the future- Jimmy Waite. That same spring the Blackhawks signed an undrafted kid from the University of North Dakota- Ed Belfour. This was also around the time that eastern european players began to come to the NHL in droves. Amongst them was a guy the Blackhawks had drafted four years earlier- Dominik Hasek. Suddenly, the Hawks had a glut of good young goaltenders in their system.

Jimmy Waite was going to be the next big thing in the late 80's. Despite an appalling 4.88 goals against and a weak .869 save percentage with Chicoutimi of the QMJHL, scouts and hockey people remained high on him. They attributed his inflated GAA to the high scoring 'Q'. A league which boasted two 70-plus goal scorers that season. The fact of the matter is that Waite was a complete bust, never living up to the hype of being the eighth overall pick and to this day the world is still waiting for Jimmy Waite to arrive.

In the meantime, the Hawks turned to pint-sized Darren Pang to handle their immediate goaltending needs, but he wouldn't be in the position for long. Just two years after inheriting the job, Pang lost it to Jacques Cloutier. In 1990, Pang suffered a career-ending knee injury.

In 90-91, Eddie "The Eagle" Belfour had emerged as Chicago's new top-netminder. He played in an amazing 74 games that season winning 43 of them. The following year with Dominik Hasek and Jimmy Waite playing the roles of No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, the Hawks would advance to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since the days of Tony Esposito.

The Eagle had led the way putting up a 2.47 goals-against and a .902 save pct. playing in 18 playoff games, but Hasek wasn't far behind.

After losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in in 92, the Blackhawks thought highly enough of Belfour to trade Hasek to the Buffalo Sabres in return for Stephane Beauregard and future considerations. As we all know Hasek would go on to star with the Sabres and later the Detroit Red Wings. Looking back, it was a pretty bad deal for the Hawks.

Chicago had made their commitment to Belfour however, and for the next five seasons, the enigmatic Belfour would be the man in Chicago.

Known for his temper, Belfour ultimately forced his way out of the Windy City in 1997. Unable to come to an agreement on a contract, the Hawks sent him to San Jose where he would play out the remainder of the season. Later that summer he joined the Dallas Stars as a free agent.

In a strange twist, when Ed Belfour and the Dallas Stars made it to the Stanley Cup against Buffalo in 1999, it was Dominik Hasek in goal for Buffalo. The two goalies who fought for playing time as rookies with the Blackhawks were now facing each other in the championship. Belfour and the Stars would go on to win a controversial final and claim the cup.