This Week in Blackhawks History: Stanley Cup Final memories & more

The first week of June has a lot of great memories for the Chicago Blackhawks. There were numerous Stanley Cup Final games played to go along with winning another Western Conference championship. In addition, three important names in franchise history took their place in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Let’s begin our weekly trip back in time to relive all the top memories in Blackhawks’ history.

June 2

1926 – Dick Butler was born in Delisle, SK. The right wing scored two goals in his seven career games for the Blackhawks during the 1947-48 season.

1948 – The NHL held its annual meeting in Montreal, where it announced that the Art Ross Trophy would be awarded annually to the scoring leader rather than “the outstanding player.” Rory Conacher became the first Blackhawk to win the award by scoring 68 points during the 1948-49 season. Stan Mikita won the Art Ross Trophy four times in his career, while his teammate Bobby Hull won it three times. Patrick Kane is the only other player in franchise history to lead the NHL scoring, doing so in 2015-16 with 106 points.

1962 – Dan Frawley was born in Sturgeon Falls, ON. The Blackhawks selected the forward in the 10^th round (204^th overall) of the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. He had four goals and seven points in 33 games for the Blackhawks. The Pittsburgh Penguins claimed Frawley in the 1985 Waiver Draft, and played 240 games for them over the next four seasons.

1965 – Adam Creighton was born in Burlington, ON. The Buffalo Sabres traded him to Chicago before the 1988-89 season for Rick Vaive. He scored 77 goals and 162 points in 206 games for the Blackhawks before being dealt with Steve Thomas to the New York Islanders for Brad Lauer and Brent Sutter in 1991. Creighton returned to the Windy City as a free agent in 1996, where he played the final 19 games of his 14-season NHL career.

1976 – Center Josef Marha was born in Havlickuv Brod, Czechoslovakia. The Blackhawks acquired him midway through the 1999-2000 season from the Anaheim Ducks for a fourth-round draft pick. He had 12 goals and 32 points in 118 games before returning to Europe to finish his career in 2001.

2010 – The Philadelphia Flyers got their first victory of the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-3 overtime win over the Blackhawks in Game 3. The game headed into the third period tried 2-2 thanks to second-period goals from defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Sopel. Kane gave the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead early in the final frame, but he was answered quickly by Ville Leino. Claude Giroux beat Antti Niemi at 5:59 of overtime to give the home team the win.

2013 – The Blackhawks chased Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick from Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals with goals from Andrew Shaw, Brent Seabrook, Bryan Bickell, and Michal Handzus. The Kings fought back with a pair of goals to cut the lead in half, but the comeback effort was too little, too late. Chicago took a 2-0 series with the 4-2 victory.

June 3

1933 – Jim McBurney was born in Sault Ste. Marie, ON. The left wing had an assist in his lone NHL game for the Blackhawks in 1953.

1993 – Defenseman Nick Seeler was born in Eden Prairie, MN. The Blackhawks claimed him off waivers from the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 3, 2020. He had an assist in six games before he was released on Jan. 17, 2001. He signed with the Flyers last July and appeared in 43 games for them this past season.

2015 – The Tampa Bay Lightning hosted the Blackhawks in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Alex Killorn opened the scoring for the home team less than five minutes into the game. They held onto the 1-0 lead until Teuvo Teravainen got the Blackhawks on the board late in the third period and ended goaltender Ben Bishop’s shutout streak at 113:28. Teravainen set up Antoine Vermette’s game-winning goal less than two minutes later. The veteran center scored four goals for the Blackhawks during their championship run, with three of them being game-winners.

June 4

1963 – Billy Reay was named the team’s new head coach, replacing Rudy Pilous. He remained behind the Blackhawks’ bench for the next 13 seasons, taking them to three Stanley Cup Finals and only missing the playoffs once. He is the franchise’s all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (1,012) and wins (516). Reay used to be the leader in playoff games and wins until Joel Quenneville came along.

This day 1976: #Blackhawks Billy Reay becomes winningest NHL coach w/ 1 team, earning 501st W, 1 > #Habs Toe Blake pic.twitter.com/ZzHpyMjQ4g

— Dave Stubbs 🇨🇦 (@Dave_Stubbs) March 13, 2016

1990 – Brandon Manning was born in Prince George, BC. He joined the Blackhawks as a free agent in 2018. The blueliner played in just 27 games before being traded with Robin Norell to the Edmonton Oilers for Drake Caggiula and Jason Garrison.

1995 – The Blackhawks fell behind 2-0 to the Detroit Red Wings in Western Conference Finals after a 3-2 loss at the Joe Louis Arena. They took a 2-1 lead into the third period thanks to goals from Chris Chelios and Tony Amonte. Doug Brown tied the game eight minutes into the final frame before Kris Draper scored the game-winning goal with less than two minutes to play.

2010 – The Flyers evened the Stanley Cup Final at 2-2 by beating the Blackhawks 5-3 in Game 4. Chicago found themselves down 3-1 after the first period, with Patrick Sharp netting his ninth goal of the playoffs. Dave Bolland and Brian Campbell scored in the third period to bring the Blackhawks to within a goal, but Jeff Carter’s empty-net goal sealed the deal for Philadelphia.

2013 – The Western Conference Finals shifted to Los Angeles, with the Kings scoring a 3-1 victory in Game 3. Bryan Bickell had the lone goal for the Blackhawks as Justin Williams and Slava Voynov scored before Dwight King iced the game with a late empty-net tally.

June 5

1908 – Leo Carbol was born in Ottawa, ON. The defenseman suited up in six games for the Blackhawks during the 1942-43 season, earning one assist.

1945 – Center Andre Lacroix was born in Lauzon, QC. The Flyers traded him to the Blackhawks in 1971 for Rick Foley. He had four goals and 11 points in 51 games during 1971-72. He spent the next seven seasons playing in the World Hockey Association (WHA).

1963 – The NHL held its first-ever amateur draft in Montreal. During the draft, the Blackhawks traded goaltender Roger Crozier and Ron Ingram to the Red Wings for a player to be named later. The player ended up being defenseman Howie Young, who played just one season with the Blackhawks.

1965 – Bob Probert was born in Windsor, ON. After being a hated rival with the Red Wings for nine seasons, he signed with the Blackhawks in July of 1994. He was suspended for the entire 1994-95 season for violating the NHL’s substance abuse policy. Once he returned, he played 461 games over seven seasons, scoring 49 goals and 125 points to go with 1,210 penalty minutes.

26 years ago, the #Blackhawks signed Bob Probert.

He tops our list of the the 15 All-Time Hawks Enforcers, but see who else made it here: https://t.co/mOgtPnwsVn pic.twitter.com/2HOAiPpGtq

— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) July 23, 2020

1986 – Bolland was born in Mimico, ON. The Blackhawks selected him in the second round (32^nd overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He scored 70 goals and 168 points in 332 games and was a big part of the 2010 and 2013 Stanley Cup titles. A few days after that 2013 championship, Bolland was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a second and two fourth-round draft picks.

1990 – The Blackhawks named Mike Keenan as their new general manager, replacing Bob Pulford. He pulled double duty as general manager and head coach for two seasons before leaving the bench for the front office before the 1992-93 season. He resigned after the season due to an ongoing power struggle with Pulford, who was promoted to Senior Vice President.

2001 – Alex Vlasic was born in Wilmette, IL. The 2019 second-round pick (43^rd overall) made his NHL debut this past season. He had a goal and an assist in 15 games.

June 6

1946 – Bob Kelly was born in Fort William, ON. The winger signed with the Blackhawks in 1977 and played the final 138 games of his NHL career over two seasons, scoring nine goals and 17 points.

1987 – Niklas Hjalmarsson was born in Eksjo, Sweden. He was a fourth-round pick (108^th overall) in 2005 and made his NHL debut in 2008. He was a key member of all three Stanley Cup championships in the 2010s. He had 23 goals and 143 points in 623 games for the Blackhawks. In the summer of 2017, he was traded to the Arizona Coyotes for Laurent Dauphin and Connor Murphy.

1995 – Victor Ejdsell was born in Karlstad, Sweden. He was acquired by the Blackhawks on Feb. 26, 2018, in the trade that sent Ryan Hartman to the Nashville Predators. He had one assist in six NHL games before returning to Sweden in 2019. The Blackhawks selected defenseman Nicolas Beaudin with the first-round pick also acquired in the Ejdsell trade. The fourth-round pick from the Predators was used on Philipp Kurashev.

1995 – Vladimir Konstantinov scored the game-winning goal in double overtime as the Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final. Denis Savard opened the scoring, and Bernie Nicholls gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead early in the second period. Jeff Shantz forced overtime with a third-period tally, but it wasn’t enough as Detroit took a 3-0 series lead.

1997 – Caleb Jones was born in Arlington, TX. The Oilers traded the young defender to the Blackhawks last summer to acquire Keith. He had five goals and 15 points in 51 games this past season.

2010 – The Blackhawks moved to within one win of their first championship since 1961 by beating the Flyers 7-4 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. Brent Seabrook, Bolland, and Kris Versteeg all scored in the first period to get things rolling. Kane and Dustin Byfuglien added to lead in the middle frame. Sharp squashed a third-period Flyers’ comeback with his 10^th goal of the playoffs before Byfuglien added a late empty-net goal.

2013 – The Blackhawks beat the Kings 3-2 in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final. Marian Hossa broke a 2-2 tie just over a minute into the third period. The Blackhawks held the Kings to just two shots on goal in the final frame and took a 3-1 series lead without the services of defenseman Duncan Keith, who served a one-game suspension for a high-sticking incident in Game 3.

2015 – The Lightning evened the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-3 Game 2 win over the Blackhawks. Shaw and Teravainen gave Chicago a 2-1 lead early in the second period before Nikita Kucherov, and current Blackhawk Tyler Johnson answered. Seabrook tied the game early in the third period. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy relieved an injured Ben Bishop twice and stayed in after the second time, less than eight minutes into the third period. He was in net when Garrison broke the tie to secure the win. Vasilevskiy became just the fourth goaltender to win a Stanley Cup Final game that he didn’t start and the first since Frank Pietrangelo did it for the Penguins in 1991.

June 7

1922 – Defenseman Leo Reise was born in Stoney Creek, ON. After 23 games with the Blackhawks, he was traded to the Red Wings with Pete Horeck for Adam Brown and Ray Powell. He won two Stanley Cups in Detroit before finishing his career with the New York Rangers.

1945 – Gilles Marotte was born in Montreal, QC. The blueliner was part of the return in the awful 1967 deal that sent Phil Esposito to the Boston Bruins. He played 192 games in Chicago, scoring 10 goals and 73 points. The Blackhawks traded him to the Kings in 1970 with Denis DeJordy and Jim Stanfield for Bryan Campbell, Gerry Desjardins, and Bill White.

1983 – Hull and Mikita were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, along with a former rival, Montreal Canadiens goaltender Ken Dryden.

June 8                       

1973 – Bryan Muir was born in Winnipeg, MB. The Blackhawks acquired the defenseman in 1998 from the New Jersey Devils for a third-round pick. That draft picked was used to select Mike Rupp. After three goals and 10 points in 64 games, he was traded with Reid Simpson to the Lightning for Michael Nylander.

1975 – Bryan McCabe was born in St. Catharines, ON. The Blackhawks acquired from Vancouver Canucks in 1999 for a first-round pick. He had six goals and 25 points in his lone season with Chicago. The following summer, he was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fourth-round draft pick and Alexander Karpovtsev.

1976 – Owner Bill Wirtz was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. Johnny Bower, Bill Quackenbush, Jack Gibson, and Philip Ross rounded out the rest of the class.

1979 – Quintin Lang was born in Rosetown, SK. The left win had an assist in three games for the Blackhawks during the 2003-04 season.

1979 – Michael Holmqvist was born in Stockholm, Sweden. The Ducks traded the former first-round pick to the Blackhawks in 2005 for Travis Moen. He had six goals and 13 points in 63 games during the 2006-07 season.

1995 – The Blackhawks kept their season alive with a 5-2 win over the Red Wings in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. The home team stormed out to a 5-0 lead after 40 minutes with two goals from Savard and Joe Murphy with a Dirk Graham tally sandwiched in between.

2013 – Kane’s goal at 11:40 of double overtime gave the Blackhawks a 4-3 win over the Kings in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals and sent them back to the Stanley Cup Final. Keith returned from his one-game suspension and opened the scoring less than four minutes into the contest. Kane scored in the first and third periods before completing the hat trick with the game-winner.

2015 – The Lightning beat the Blackhawks 3-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Cedric Paquette scored the game-winning goal with just over three minutes to play to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead in the series. Bishop, who left Game 2 of the series with an injury, made 36 saves in the win. Brad Richards and Brandon Saad scored in the final Blackhawks’ loss of the 2014-15 season.