49 Fun Facts About Blackhawks

Through the 2025 season, how many Stanley Cups had the Blackhawks won?

Six: 1934, 1938 and 1961, then a 49-year wait before three more arrived inside six seasons, in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

Which arena have the Blackhawks called home since the 1994-95 season?

United Center went up across the street from Chicago Stadium, the world's largest indoor arena when it opened in 1929, and the old building was torn down in 1995.

Which city, like Chicago, has an Original Six team?

New York's Rangers joined in the same 1926 expansion as Chicago, so neither club is original: the name only describes the six teams left when the league shrank in 1942.

What do Blackhawks fans traditionally do during the national anthem before home games?

Cheer and applaud throughout: the roar began in the 1985 playoffs, when fans tried to lift a team that had lost the first two games to Edmonton, and it has drowned out the singer ever since.

Original owner Frederic McLaughlin took the Black Hawks name directly from what?

His WWI Army division was nicknamed the Blackhawk Division after the Sauk leader Black Hawk, whom the team says the name honours; McLaughlin had commanded one of its machine-gun battalions.

Which coach supposedly cursed the Black Hawks never to finish first?

Pete Muldoon's curse is a fable invented years after he left the team in 1927, yet Chicago really did go until 1967 without finishing first.

Which Black Hawk swept the scoring, MVP and sportsmanship trophies as Chicago finished first in 1966-67?

Stan Mikita had served 154 penalty minutes two seasons earlier; in 1966-67 he took just 12 and became the first player to win all three trophies in one year.

Late in the lost 1936-37 season, Black Hawks owner Frederic McLaughlin had his team do what?

Ice an all-American-born lineup: the patriotic owner tried it in the season's final games, and a year later Chicago won the Stanley Cup under an American coach who had been a baseball umpire.

Which Black Hawks goaltender shut out Detroit in the deciding game of the 1934 Stanley Cup Final?

Charlie Gardiner, also the team's captain, won the decider 1–0 in double overtime; two months later he was dead at 29.

Whom did the Black Hawks beat in the 1938 Stanley Cup Final?

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost the opener to Alfie Moore, a minor-leaguer standing in for Mike Karakas and his broken toe; Karakas returned in a steel-toed skate to win the last two games.

Which owner turned the Blackhawks around after taking control in 2007?

Rocky Wirtz mended fences with retired stars who had fallen out with the club, bringing them back as ambassadors, and saw the Blackhawks win three Stanley Cups in six seasons.

Which policy of owner Bill Wirtz did the Blackhawks scrap soon after his death in 2007?

Refusing to televise home games locally kept them off Chicago screens for years; once the games went back on local TV, the club began a sellout streak that lasted until 2021.

Which Black Hawks goalie, nicknamed Mr. Goalie, started a record 502 consecutive games?

Glenn Hall kept the streak alive from 1955 to 1962 without ever wearing a mask, and despite being sick with nerves before games; he said he played better that way.

Which 1960s stick fashion did Bobby Hull help start?

Curved blades, soon called banana blades, sent pucks swerving so wildly that Chicago's own goalie complained that the shots no longer flew true.

Bobby Hull left the Black Hawks in 1972 for a million-dollar contract with which WHA team?

The Winnipeg Jets' signing gave the upstart league its first superstar and pushed salaries up across the NHL, as clubs paid more to stop their own players following him.

Which future superstar did Chicago trade to Boston in 1967 along with Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield?

Phil Esposito won five scoring titles and two Stanley Cups in Boston; the three players Chicago got back, Pit Martin, Gilles Marotte and Jack Norris, never won one there.

Which goalie won the Calder Trophy with 15 shutouts as a Black Hawks rookie in 1969-70?

Tony Esposito had just won the Stanley Cup as a Montreal backup; the Canadiens left him unprotected, Chicago claimed him, and he became the league's best rookie within a year.

Which legendary defenseman played only 26 games for the Black Hawks after arriving from Boston in 1976?

Bobby Orr's knees were already wrecked: he managed 20 games in 1976-77, missed the whole of the next season, then retired at 30 after six more.

Which eighth seed swept the top-seeded Blackhawks out of the 2017 playoffs, a first in NHL history?

The Nashville Predators allowed three goals in the four games and shut Chicago out twice on its own ice, an upset that carried them all the way to that year's Stanley Cup Final.

Which team swept the Blackhawks in the 1992 Final after Chicago's record 11 straight playoff wins?

Pittsburgh's sweep made it 11 wins in a row for the Penguins too, equalling the record Chicago had only just set, and Mario Lemieux lifted a second straight Cup.

Which Blackhawks anthem singer survived being shot in the throat after a home game in April 1994?

Wayne Messmer was shot at point-blank range as he drove away, steered himself back to get help, recovered his voice, and was singing the anthem at the World Series in 2016.

Which future superstar relieved Chicago's starting goalie in Game 4 of the 1992 Stanley Cup Final?

Dominik Hasek came off the bench seven minutes in and shone in a 6–5 defeat; Chicago traded him away two months later, and he went on to win six Vezina Trophies elsewhere.

Which nickname did Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews go by?

Captain Serious was handed the captaincy at 20, after a single NHL season; within two years he had led Chicago to the Stanley Cup and won Olympic gold with Canada.

Patrick Kane, the first overall pick of the 2007 draft, was born and raised in which city?

Buffalo raised him on Sabres games, but at 14 he left home for Michigan to play elite youth hockey, lodging with the family of former NHL player Pat Verbeek.

Which coach replaced Denis Savard four games into the Blackhawks' 2008-09 season?

Joel Quenneville had joined only a month earlier as a scout; in his second season behind the bench, Chicago won its first Stanley Cup in 49 years.

Where did the Blackhawks host the 2009 Winter Classic?

Wrigley Field saw Chicago lead 3–1 after one period, only for Detroit to score five goals in a row and win 6–4 on New Year's Day.

Which free agent signed a 12-year, $62.8 million deal with Chicago before the 2009-10 season?

Marian Hossa had lost the previous two Finals, with Pittsburgh and then Detroit; in Chicago he reached a third in a row with a third team, and finally lifted the Cup.

Whom did the Blackhawks beat in six games to win the 2010 Stanley Cup?

The Philadelphia Flyers lost in overtime of Game 6 on a shot almost nobody saw go in: for a few seconds the scorer was nearly alone in knowing the Cup was won.

Who was the first Blackhawk ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, in 2010?

Jonathan Toews was named playoff MVP without scoring a goal in the Final itself: he had three assists in the six games, but 29 points in 22 across the whole run.

Which two Blackhawks scored 17 seconds apart to win the 2013 Stanley Cup in Boston?

Bryan Bickell tied the game with 76 seconds left and Dave Bolland scored 17 seconds later; until then Boston had been leading and on course to force a seventh game.

Which Blackhawk won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2013?

Patrick Kane had 19 points that spring, including a hat trick against Los Angeles whose third goal, in double overtime, sent Chicago to the Final.

Whom did Chicago beat in the 2015 Final for its third Cup in six seasons?

The Tampa Bay Lightning were never more than a goal behind at any point in the series until five minutes from its end, and still lost it in six games.

Which song became the Blackhawks' goal song during the team's late-2000s revival?

Chelsea Dagger, by the Scottish band the Fratellis, takes its title from the burlesque stage name of the singer's future wife; he wrote it after watching her perform.

Which trophy did hockey writers award the Blackhawks' top scorer after his 106-point 2015-16 season?

The Hart Memorial Trophy named him league MVP, but the season ended badly: the defending champions went out in the first round, beaten by St. Louis in seven games.

Which Blackhawks winger won the 2016 Calder Trophy playing alongside the team's leading scorer?

Artemi Panarin was never drafted by an NHL team: Chicago signed him as a free agent from Russia's KHL, and he scored 30 goals in his first season.

Whose overtime goal in Game 7 completed the Blackhawks' 2013 comeback from 3-1 down against Detroit?

Brent Seabrook's shot, three and a half minutes into overtime, rescued the league's best regular-season team from a series in which it had lost three games in a row.

Whom did the Blackhawks draft first overall in 2023 after winning the lottery?

Connor Bedard broke his jaw midway through his first season and missed 14 games, yet still led all rookies in scoring and won the Calder Trophy.

The 1937-38 Black Hawks hold which distinction among Stanley Cup champions?

The worst regular-season record of any champion, 14 wins in 48 games, still earned a playoff place because six of the league's eight teams qualified that year.

Which Blackhawks defenseman signed a 13-year, $72 million extension in December 2009?

Duncan Keith lost seven teeth to a puck in that season's conference final, returned minutes later, and said after the Stanley Cup win that his first stop would be a dentist.

Which general manager ran the Blackhawks' front office for all three championships of the 2010s?

Stan Bowman got the job in July 2009 when Dale Tallon, who had assembled most of the roster, was demoted after missing a deadline for contract offers; the first Cup came 11 months later.

Which play-by-play voice called Blackhawks games for 39 seasons, either side of two years with the Chicago Wolves?

Pat Foley was fired in 2006 after 25 years, called minor-league games across town, and was rehired once the club changed hands; the Hockey Hall of Fame honoured him in 2014.

Which captain led the Blackhawks to the 1990-91 Presidents' Trophy, only to lose to Minnesota in the first round?

Dirk Graham, voted the league's best defensive forward that season, was knocked out by the club he had once played for, and the North Stars went on to reach the Final.

The Blackhawks' run of 28 straight playoff seasons, which ended in 1998, fell one short of which team's record?

The Boston Bruins had reached the playoffs 29 years running, and that streak had only just ended too: a year before Chicago's, when Boston finished last in the whole league.

In 2004, ESPN The Magazine's ranking of 121 pro teams gave the Blackhawks which label?

Worst franchise in sports, ESPN said, after the club came last in nine of its 21 categories; six years later the same franchise won the Stanley Cup.

In April 2026, the Blackhawks inducted a first class of twelve into what?

Its own franchise Hall of Fame opened with the nine players whose numbers were already retired, inducted automatically, plus three more; later classes go to a vote of fans, players and media.

With which other team do the Blackhawks share their home arena?

The Bulls put up a statue of Michael Jordan when the building opened in 1994; the Blackhawks answered in 2011 with bronzes of two of their own greats.

Which goalie won both the Calder and Vezina Trophies as a Blackhawks rookie in 1990-91?

Ed Belfour had already played 23 NHL games two seasons earlier, too few to cost him his rookie status; handed the job in 1990-91, he won 43 of his 74 games.

In which city did the Blackhawks buy their top minor-league affiliate, the IceHogs, in 2021?

Rockford kept its team as part of the deal: the purchase came with a $23 million arena renovation and a commitment to stay in the city through 2036.

Which Chicago-born defenseman came home from Montreal in 1990 in a trade for Denis Savard?

Chris Chelios won two more Norris Trophies in his home town, then was traded at 37 to rival Detroit, where he won two more Stanley Cups.