This Week in Chicago Blackhawks History: Tony Esposito, Bobby Orr, Dominik Hasek & more

The Chicago Blackhawks have been blessed to have some of the most iconic players in the history of the National Hockey League wear their sweater. Some of those legendary names had big moments this week. It’s time for our weekly trip on the CHGO Time Machine to relive all the great Blackhawks’ history throughout the decades.

Nov. 3

1902 – Leo Lafrance was born in Allomette, QC. The left wing was loaned to the Blackhawks by the Montreal Canadiens for cash on Dec. 30, 1927. He had one goal in his 15 games for the team during the 1927-28 season.

1908 – Ike Klingbeil was born in Hancock, MI. The defenseman played five NHL games for the Blackhawks during the 1936-37 season and scored a goal and three points. Klingbeil served as a Corporal in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.

1927 – Edward Leier was born in Rovno, Poland. He played 16 games for the Blackhawks between 1949 and 1951 and scored two goals and three points. In addition to playing professional hockey until 1956, Leier was a professional baseball player in Canada. He was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000. He was also Manitoba’s provincial champion in 100- and 200-yard dashes.

1970 – Doug Zmolek was born in Rochester, MN. On Sept. 3, 1998, he was traded to the Blackhawks by the Los Angeles Kings for a third-round draft pick. The defenseman had two goals and 23 points in 105 games over two seasons.

Nov. 4

1962 – Bill Gadsby picked up an assist to help the Red Wings beat the Blackhawks 3-1. He became the first defenseman in the history of the league to score 500 points. The Hall of Famer scored the first 186 points of his career in Chicago.

Nov. 5

1966 – Victor Posa was born in Bari, Italy. He was a seventh-round pick (137^th overall) of the Blackhawks in 1985 and played two games for them during the 1985-86 season. He is currently an amateur scout for the Canadiens.

1971 – Sergei Berezin was born in Voskrenensk, USSR. The Blackhawks acquired the winger from the Canadiens on June 30, 2002, for a fourth-round pick. In 66 games, he had 18 goals and 31 points. On March 11, 2003, he was dealt to the Washington Capitals for a fourth-round pick that was later traded to the Philadelphia Flyers.

1983 – Ken Yaremchuk scored 12 seconds into the second period before Darryl Sutter scored nine seconds later during a 10-5 loss to the Minnesota North Stars at Met Center. The two goals in 21 seconds set an NHL record for the fastest two goals from the start of a period by one team.

1992 – Goaltender Ed Belfour recorded his 10th career shutout as the Blackhawks beat Toronto 1-0 for their 10th straight home win over the Maple Leafs.

Nov. 6

1941 – Paul Thompson became the first coach in team history to begin a fourth season behind the bench. He led the Blackhawks to a 1-0 season-opening win over the New York Americans behind goaltender Sam Lopresti’s second career shutout.

1943 – For the first time in NHL history, a player over 40 scored against a teenage goaltender. It happened when 42-year-old center Frank Boucher of the New York Rangers beat the Blackhawks’ 19-year-old netminder Hec Highton. However, Highton earned his first NHL victory when the Blackhawks left Madison Square Garden with a 4-3 win.

1968 – Bobby Hull recorded four assists in the Blackhawks’ 6-5 loss to the Red Wings.

1983 – Defenseman Doug Wilson set a team record by putting up 12 shots on goal in a 6-3 loss at the New Jersey Devils.

1990 – Dominik Hasek made his NHL debut and stopped 28 shots in the Blackhawks’ 1-1 tie with the Hartford Whalers. He played the first 25 games of his career with the Blackhawks, who also had Belfour on the roster at the time. He was eventually traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 1992, where he laid the foundation of his Hall of Fame career.

On this day 30 yrs ago (November 6, 1990), a 25-year old Dominik Hasek- called up from the IHL's Indianapolis Ice- makes his NHL debut in a 1-1 #Blackhawks tie vs the Whalers at the Hartford Civic Center. In the start, the "Dominator" makes 28 saves & is named the game's 1st star pic.twitter.com/3ZbO2xNBue

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) November 7, 2020

1992 – Mike Keenan resigned from his general manager position just a few months after the Blackhawks made it to the Stanley Cup Final. He stepped down as the team’s head coach the previous summer to focus solely on his general manager duties.

Nov. 7

1910 – Glenn Brydson was born in Swansea, ON. The Blackhawks acquired the right wing on Jan. 26, 1936, from the Rangers for Howie Morenz. He had 14 goals and 27 points in 70 games over three seasons. On Jan. 8, 1938, he was traded to the New York Americans for cash.

1911 – Butch Schaeffer was born in Hinkley, MN. The defenseman played five games for the Blackhawks during the 1936-37 season and did not record a point.

1927 – Metro Prystai was born in Yorkton, SK. The center spent three seasons with the Blackhawks and scored 48 goals and 88 points in 178 games. On July 13, 1950, he was part of a nine-player trade with the Red Wings. Detroit traded him back to Chicago on Nov. 9, 1954, for Lorne Davis. Prystai had 12 goals and 28 points in 64 games in his second stint with the team. On Oct. 24, 1955, he was traded back to the Red Wings for Ed Sandford.

1962 – Glenn Hall, making his 502nd consecutive start, had to leave the game against the Boston Bruins in the first period because of a back injury. He was replaced by Denis DeJordy as the Blackhawks and Bruins skated to a 3-3 draw.

Nov. 8

1910 – Bob Gracie was born in North Bay, ON. The Blackhawks acquired the two-time Stanley Cup winner from the Canadiens for cash on Nov. 25, 1938. He played his final 30 NHL games in Chicago, scoring four goals and 11 points.

1934 – The NHL played its first game in St. Louis as the Eagles played their first home game, hosting the Blackhawks in front of 12,600 fans at the St. Louis Arena. The Blackhawks played spoiler by beating the new home team 3-1. The Eagles went 11-31-6 during their only season. The team folded due to financial trouble, primarily due to the cost of travel. The league bought all the contracts and distributed the players among the remaining eight teams through a dispersal draft.

1945 – Max Bentley scored his third career hat trick to lead the Blackhawks to a 5-4 win at the Rangers. Four of his six career hat tricks came at New York’s expense, with whom he spent his final NHL season in 1953-54.

1965 – Mike Peluso was born in Pengilly, MN. The rugged left wing signed with the Blackhawks in 1989. He played the first 118 games of his NHL career with the team, scoring 12 goals and 16 points while racking up 743 penalty minutes. The Ottawa Senators drafted him in the 1992 NHL Expansion Draft.

1978 – Bobby Orr officially retired from the NHL. He finished his career with 270 goals, 645 assists, and 915 points; at the time, all were records for defensemen. Severe knee injuries limited Orr to just 26 games over three seasons with the Blackhawks, but he still scored six goals and 27 points.

1992 – Michel Goulet scored his 15th career hat trick to lead the Blackhawks to a 7-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The three goals put him into 14th place on the all-time NHL goals list with 514, passing Buffalo Sabres’ legend Gilbert Perreault.

1998 – Chris Chelios became the Blackhawks’ all-time leader in career penalty minutes in a 3-2 loss to the Oilers. He was called for two minor penalties to give him 1,444 penalty minutes with Chicago, two more than Keith Magnuson.

Nov. 9

1957 – Ted Lindsay scored his 324th career NHL goal to tie Nels Stewart as the third-highest goal-scorer in league history. Hall earned his 21st career shutout as the Blackhawks beat the Rangers 5-0.

1965 – Todd Gill was born in Cardinal, ON. He signed with the Blackhawks on March 5, 2003. He played the final five games of his NHL career in Chicago, picking up one assist.

1969 – Tony Esposito picked up his second shutout of the season in the Blackhawks’ 9-0 blowout of the Maple Leafs. Stan Mikita scored the 12th hat trick of his career and added an assist, while Jim Wiste set a team record with four assists in the third period. Esposito set an NHL rookie record with 15 shutouts during the 1969-70 season.

NHL Network mourns the passing of Chicago Blackhawks legend Tony Esposito. pic.twitter.com/TiQBF2Yk6c

— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) August 10, 2021

1973 – Esposito recorded his 39th career shutout to lead the Blackhawks to a 4-0 win at the Vancouver Canucks.

1975 – Esposito earned the 55th shutout of his career in a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota North Stars.

2015 – Defenseman Phil Housley was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame with Angela Ruggiero, Chris Pronger, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Sergei Fedorov. He played 137 of his 1,495 career games with the Blackhawks. He was claimed off waivers from the Calgary Flames on Sept. 28, 2001. He scored 21 goals and 68 points before being traded to the Maple Leafs on March 11, 2003, for a fourth and ninth-round draft pick.