This Week in Blackhawks History: Steve Larmer born, Duncan Keith & Brent Seabrook drafted & more

While this isn’t the busiest week in Chicago Blackhawks history, there is still plenty of memorable events. One of the greatest players to ever wear the sweater was born and some key players were drafted, who got the Blackhawks one step closer to a Stanley Cup victory.

June 16

1926 – Gordie Fashoway was born in Portage la Prairie, MB. He had three goals and five points in 13 games for the Blackhawks during the 1950-51 season.

1929 – Frank Sullivan was born in Toronto, ON. The Blackhawks acquired the defenseman in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1954. He appeared in just two games for Chicago.

1961 – Steve Larmer was born in Peterborough, ON. He never missed a game in 13 seasons with the Blackhawks, playing 891 in a row. He scored 406 goals and 923 points. On Nov. 2, 1993, Larmer was traded to the Hartford Whalers with Bryan Marchment for Patrick Poulin and Eric Weinrich. He was quickly moved to the New York Rangers, where he won a Stanley Cup in 1994.

According to the @NHLdotcom squad, Steve Larmer is the best to don No. 28.

Make sure you watch the latest episode of NHL's Who Wore it Best? ➡️ https://t.co/mRey1zsCoR pic.twitter.com/F8dF4fFweH

— NHL (@NHL) May 30, 2020

1982 – Orval Tessier was named the 26^th head coach in franchise history. He won the Jack Adams Award and led the Blackhawks to the Campbell Conference Final in his first season, where they were swept by Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers. After going down 0-2 in the series by a combined score of 16-6, Tessier told reporters that his players needed “heart transplants.” The team lost in the first round of the playoffs the following season, and he was fired 53 games into the 1984-85 season despite being in second place in the Norris Division.

1983 – Pascal Pelletier was born in Labrador City, NL. He was acquired from the Boston Bruins in 2008 for Martin St. Pierre. He had no points in seven games for the Blackhawks during the 2008-09 season.

June 17

1955- Goaltender Bob Sauve was born in Ste-Genevieve, QC. The 1980 Vezina Trophy winner was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in 1985 for a third-round draft pick. He spent two seasons with the Blackhawks, going 38-32-7 with a 3.76 goals-against average (GAA) and .890 save percentage (SV%).

1962 – Rik Wilson was born in Long Beach, CA. The Blackhawks acquired the defenseman from the Calgary Flames in 1986 for Tom McMurchy. He played the final 14 games of his NHL career during the 1987-88 season, scoring four goals and nine points.

1999 – Henri Jokiharju was born in Oulu, Finland. The Blackhawks took the defenseman in the first round (29^th overall) of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. After 38 games in Chicago, he was traded to the Sabres for Alex Nylander.

2013 – The Bruins took a 2-1 series lead after beating the Blackhawks 2-0 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. David Paille and Patrice Bergeron provided all the offense in the second period. Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask stopped all 28 shots he faced. Marian Hossa was a surprise scratch, but it was later revealed that he was dealing with an upper-body injury. This was the last time the Blackhawks tasted defeat in 2013.

June 18

1993 – The Blackhawks traded goaltender Jimmy Waite to the San Jose Sharks for future considerations, which later turned out to be defenseman Neil Wilkinson. He played 15 games for the Sharks before being traded back to Chicago in 1995. Waite is still part of the organization, serving as goaltending coach.

1998 – Boris Katchouk was born in Waterloo, ON. Originally a second-round draft pick (44^th overall) by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2016, he was acquired in the deal for Brandon Hagel last March. He had one goal in 21 games for the Blackhawks.

June 19

1995 – Darryl Sutter stepped down as head coach after three seasons behind the Blackhawks’ bench. He had a record of 110-86-26 and was eventually replaced by Craig Hartsburg. The decision was made to spend time with his family, mainly his son, Christopher, who has Down syndrome. However, he returned to the coaching ranks for the Sharks in 1997.

2013 – The Blackhawks evened the Stanley Cup Final with a 6-5 overtime win at the Bruins. After the series’ first three games saw 12 total goals, the two teams exploded for 11 combined tallies in Game 4. Michal Handzus’ shorthanded goal opened the scoring in the first period before Rich Peverley evened things up for the Bruins about eight minutes later.

The action picked up in the second period with five total goals. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane scored about two minutes apart to give the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead. Milan Lucic got one of those goals back but was quickly answered in 49 seconds by Marcus Kruger. Bergeron’s power-play goal cut the Chicago lead down to just one as the teams headed off the ice for the second intermission.

Brent Seabrook. is. 𝘾𝙇𝙐𝙏𝘾𝙃.

Relive Game 4 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final at 4 PM today on @NBCSChicago. #HawksRewind pic.twitter.com/T6NEFdxzKB

— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) May 31, 2020

Bergeron’s second goal of the night tied the game early in the final period. Patrick Sharp put the Blackhawks back on top with a power-play tally. However, Bruins’ defenseman Johnny Boychuk scored 55 seconds later to force overtime. Brent Seabrook scored his second overtime goal of the 2013 postseason at 9:51 of the extra time to lead his team to victory.

June 20

1992 – The NHL Entry Draft was held in Montreal. The Blackhawks used the 12^th overall pick to select Russian forward Sergei Krivokrasov. He is best remembered for overtime playoff goals against the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 and 1997. They followed up that pick by taking Jeff Shantz in the second round. The only other members for the 1992 draft to play with the Blackhawks were Sergei Klimovich (1 game played) and Mike Prokopec (15 GP).

1994 – Collin Delia was born in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. The soon-to-be unrestricted free agent has a career 9-12-5 record in the NHL with a 3.68 GAA and .904 SV%

2008 – The Ottawa Senators hosted the NHL Entry Draft. The Blackhawks selected forward Kyle Beach with the 11^th overall pick. The most successful member of this rather unspectacular draft class was sixth-round pick Ben Smith, who had 23 goals and 39 points in 156 games for the Blackhawks.

June 21

1973 – Pascal Rheaume was born in Quebec City, QC. The Blackhawks signed the center as a free agent in 2001. After two assists in 19 games, he was claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Thrashers.

1976 – Reed Low was born in Moose Jaw, SK. He played the final six games of his NHL with the Blackhawks after signing with the team in 2006. He had no points.

1997 – The NHL Entry Draft took place in Pittsburgh. The Blackhawks had two picks in the first round, 13^th and 16^th overall, and used them to take Daniel Cleary and Ty Jones. Cleary played 41 games for the Blackhawks before he was traded to the Oilers in 1999 with Chad Kilger, Christian Laflamme, and Ethan Moreau for Jonas Elofsson, Dean McAmmond, and Boris Mironov. Jones played just eight games for the Blackhawks. He was traded to the Florida Panthers in 2004 for unknown compensation.

The best pick of the 1997 draft was Kyle Calder in the fifth round. He had 85 goals and 210 points in 359 games with Chicago. He was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2006 for Michal Handzus. In 2007, he was traded back to the Blackhawks for a third-round pick and Lasse Kukkonen. However, he was quickly flipped to the Detroit Red Wings for Jason Williams.

2003 – The Nashville Predators hosted the NHL Entry Draft. This was a huge draft in building eventual Stanley Cup-winning teams. General manager Mike Smith drafted Seabrook with the 14^th overall pick. He then took goaltender Corey Crawford in the second round. Smith found great value late in the draft by selecting defenseman Dustin Byfuglien in the eighth round (245^th overall).

2019 – The Blackhawks selected Kirby Dach with the third overall pick of the NHL Entry Draft. His production has been disappointing so far, with 19 goals and 59 points through the first 152 games of his NHL career. Second-round pick Alex Vlasic is the only other player from this class to make his NHL debut. Forward Michal Teply, selected in the fourth round, made serious strides for the Rockford IceHogs this past season.

June 22

1974 – Matt Henderson was born in White Bear Lake, ND. The Blackhawks signed the left win as a free agent in 2001. He had a lone assist in the four games he dressed for the team. This was the only point of his NHL career.

1991 – Buffalo was the host city for another NHL Entry Draft. The Blackhawks selected Dean McAmmond with the 22^nd overall pick. He played five games for the team during the 1991-92 season. In 1993, he traded to the Oilers with Igor Kravchuk, who was taken in the fourth round of the 1991 draft, for Joe Murphy. He returned to Chicago in the 1999 trade that sent Cleary to Edmonton. McAmmond scored 25 goals and 63 points in 149 games before being traded to the Flyers in 2001 for a third-round draft pick. 10^th-round pick Alexander Andrievski was the only other member of this draft class to play for the Blackhawks, one game during the 1992-93 season.

2002 – Smith started to lay the foundation for future success at the NHL Entry Draft in Toronto. After selecting Anton Babchuk in the first round, he took Duncan Keith out of Michigan State in the second round. Matt Ellison was drafted in the fourth round, and he was later traded to the Flyers for Patrick Sharp. One round later, Smith took blueliner James Wisniewski. He capped off his draft by taking Adam Burish in the ninth and final round.

2013 – The Blackhawks beat the Bruins 3-1 to take a 3-2 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final. Patrick Kane was the hero by scoring his eighth and ninth goals of the postseason. The first came late in the opening period, with the eventual game-winning goal coming early in the second frame. Future Hall of Famer Zdeno Chara got the Bruins to within a goal early in the third period before Dave Bolland picked up an empty-net tally in the game’s final seconds.

Crawford, who gave up five goals in Game 4, bounced back with a huge 24-save performance to get his team to within one win of the Stanley Cup. Both teams lost the key players to injury. Bergeron left the game in the second period and was taken to an area hospital for observation. Captain Jonathan Toews sat out the entire third period with an upper-body injury. Both players returned for Game 6.