Blackhawks Goalies: The Sixties

1957-67: Mr. Goalie

In what will forever go down as one of the greatest heists in hockey trade history, the Black Hawks obtained goaltender Glenn Hall and winger Ted Lindsay from the Detroit Red Wings for what amounted to a bag of pucks in July of 1957. Wings manager Jack Adams was upset by Lindsay's attempts to unite the players and in his anger dealt the pair to the Hawks.

Hall's arrival in the Second City solidified the keeper position which had become something of a revolving door. Hall was the goalie they had been missing since the days of Iron Mike Karakas.

Almost overnight, the fog of losing that had blanketed the Chicago Black Hawks for most of the 50's began to lift. The acquisitions of Hall and Lindsay and emergence of rookie Bobby Hull started a renaissance in Chi-Town hockey.

In his first season in the Indian Head, the man known as "Mr. Goalie" would log 4200 minutes in the Hawks crease. He would register 24 victories, a 2.86 goals against mark and a .909 save percentage, all the while being named as an NHL First Team All-Star. The Hawks missed the playoffs that year, but it was evident their sad sack ways had begun to change.

A consecutive games-played streak, started while he was still in Detroit continued to grow during the next few seasons in Chicago and his legend began to grow right alongside. In 1958, he was again named as a First Team All-Star, a feat he would accomplish 8 times in his career to go along with 3 Second Team All-Star nominations.

When the 1960-61 season rolled around the Hawks were primed for a cup run. With Hall's consecutive games streak still intact, he was surrounded by the likes of Pierre Pilote and Eric Nesterenko, Al Arbour and a kid named Stan Mikita. When the regular season had concluded, the Hawks found themselves in third place behind the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs.

In the opening round of the second season, Chicago was in tough against the defending champs from Montreal. Hall backstopped them to a 4-2 series win and they earned their first Stanley Cup final berth since 1944, coincidentally against the team that sent Mr. Goalie to the Hawks; the Detroit Red Wings.

Glenn Hall and the Hawks would go on to win the see-saw affair 4 games to 2. It was the Hawks third Stanley Cup Championship. To this day, they are still looking for their fourth. Hall was fantastic in the playoffs that year logging a spakling 2.02 GAA to go along with two shutouts.

The following season they were back in the Finals and again in 1965, sadly they were defeated in those series by Toronto and Montreal respectively.

The consecutive games played streak, a record which still stands today, finally came to an end on November 8, 1962. Hall, suffering from a back injury, had to be replaced by Denis DeJordy during a match with Boston. He had played every minute of every game for 502 games. A record that will likely never be broken.

Hall would continue his solid play throughout the better part of the 1960's capturing a Vezina in 63 and sharing another with DeJordy in 67, his last season in Chicago. Left unprotected by the Hawks in the expansion draft, he was selected by the newly-minted St. Louis Blues. A ten year run of greatness in Chicago had come to a close. His final numbers in a Chicago sweater would be 275 regular season wins to go along with 31 in the playoffs and a total of 56 shutouts, five of which were of the playoff variety.

A few fast facts about Glenn Hall:

• He would vomit before every game and sometimes during the game, so the Hawks would keep a bucket on the bench should he feel the need.
• He was the first goalie to use the butterfly style, used pretty much exclusively by today's netminders.
• In 1998, The Hockey News ranked Glenn Hall #16 in their list of 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
• The city of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, his hometown, erected a permanent monument to his career in Glenn Hall Park.
• In 1975, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
• Hall's #1 was retired by the Blackhawks on November 20, 1988.