BY GARY MELO
sportsnet.ca
With the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks going head-to-head in this year’s Stanley Cup final, we take a look back at the near-misses for both teams since they last hoisted the Cup. Here are Chicago’s close encounters with the Cup:
Total Stanley Cup victories: Three (1933-34, 1937-38, 1960-61)
Final appearances since last Cup: Five
1961-62 season
Coming off its third Stanley Cup victory in franchise history, Chicago’s title defence got off to a poor start in 1961-62. The Blackhawks dug an early hole for themselves with only one win in its first 11 games of the regular season. The team would eventually climb back to finish the year over .500 behind Bobby Hull’s emergence as a 50-goal man and Glenn Hall’s dominance in net, playing all 70 games for the Blackhawks.
Chicago was considered the underdog heading into their opening round playoff match-up against the Montreal Canadiens, who finished 23 points ahead of the Blackhawks in the standings. A couple of one-goal losses to the Habs at the Montreal Forum meant the resilient Blackhawks had to again battle back from adversity. A return to Chicago sparked the Blackhawks, who evened up the series on home ice en route to four straight wins. The series-clinching victory in Chicago was a 2-0 shutout win for Hall as the Blackhawks eliminated the Habs from the playoffs for the second straight year.
The Blackhawks found themselves in a familiar position against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup final: a 2-0 hole after dropping the first two games at Maple Leaf Gardens. Much like the previous round against the Habs, Chicago managed to even the series with two wins on home ice that included another shutout for Hall, a 3-0 victory in Game 3. It would be a different ending this time, however, as the Leafs won 8-4 back in Toronto in Game 5 before edging out the Blackhawks 2-1 in the sixth game at Chicago Stadium. It was Toronto’s first Cup since 1951 when defenceman Bill Barilko scored the Cup-clinching goal in overtime of Game 5 against the Habs. Four months after the victory, Barilko went missing in a plane crash and his body was not found until after the Leafs ended their Cup drought in ’62.
1964-65 season
 Blackhawks great Bobby Hull. |
Chicago had to shake off another slow start to the season in 1964-65. Despite Bobby Hull scoring 25 goals in his first 26 games, the Blackhawks struggled out of the gate until a 13-game unbeaten streak through the month of December turned the season around. Things eventually faded, however. Goaltender Glenn Hall, who had played no fewer than 65 games in his previous nine seasons, saw his workload reduced to 41 games due to back problems and the Blackhawks were banged-up heading into the playoffs.
For the third consecutive season, the Blackhawks met the Detroit Red Wings in the semifinals. The Red Wings, who finished first in the NHL during the regular season, opened the series by winning both games at the Detroit Olympia before the Blackhawks returned the favour by winning Games 3 and 4 back in Chicago. The home-ice trend continued throughout the series until Game 7 when the Blackhawks stole a road win with a 4-2 victory in Detroit to oust the Red Wings.
Chicago’s opponent in the final was the Montreal Canadiens, who hadn’t been to the big dance since last winning the Stanley Cup five years prior. Once again, home ice played a key role in the series but unlike the previous round, the Blackhawks couldn’t steal Game 7 on the road. Habs goalie Gump Worsley appeared in his first Stanley Cup final, splitting time with backup Charlie Hodge, and Montreal blanked the Blackhawks in three of their four wins. The inaugural Conn Smythe Trophy was awarded to Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau, who recorded eight goals and eight assists in 13 playoff games.
1970-71 season
With brothers Bobby and Dennis Hull both hitting the 40-goal plateau, the Blackhawks put together a franchise record 49-win season, a mark that stood until this year’s 52 wins (although, the 1970-71 season only played 78 games).
The first-place Blackhawks rolled right along in the first round, sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers while scoring 19 goals in four games. Under a new playoff system that pitted cross-over match-ups in the semifinals, Chicago moved on to face the New York Rangers of the Eastern Conference. Bobby Hull scored two game-winners on face-offs as the Blackhawks eliminated the Rangers in a competitive seven-game series.
Much like the 1964-65 Stanley Cup, the 1971 final between the Blackhawks and Canadiens followed a similar script with the home team winning in the first six games. Montreal would break the trend in the series decider, however, in a hot and steamy Chicago Stadium where the Blackhawks had a 7-1 record during the playoffs. After erasing a 2-0 deficit, Montreal’s Henri Richard broke a 2-2 tie with his second goal of the game when he caught Blackhawks defenceman Keith Magnuson heading to the bench on a line-change. Chicago nearly tied the game in the dying seconds when a Jim Pappin shot rang off the crossbar. The Habs hung on to become only the second team to win a Game 7 of a Stanley Cup final, claiming their third title in four years.
1972-73 season
 Habs coach Scotty Bowman. |
Despite losing the face (and mouth) of the franchise when Bobby Hull signed with the Winnipeg Jets of the newly-formed World Hockey Association, the Blackhawks found offence in some unlikely sources. Jim Pappin and Cliff Koroll both had career years by scoring 41 and 33 goals respectively and Pit Martin also stepped up by supplying a personal-best 61 assists. Bobby’s brother, Dennis, also continued to light the lamp with his third straight 30-goal season, falling just one shy of the 40-mark.
Chicago cruised to its fourth straight first-place finish in their division and carried the momentum into the first round against the St. Louis Blues. The Blackhawks stormed out to a 3-0 series lead, eventually eliminating the Blues in five games while out-scoring St. Louis 22-9.
The Blackhawks then took on the New York Rangers, who just knocked off the defending Cup champion Boston Bruins in five games. The Blueshirts jumped out to an early series lead with a 4-1 victory in Chicago, but it would be the last ‘W’ they recorded. The Blackhawks reeled off four straight wins, holding the Rangers to only one goal per game in the final three victories.
It was another final showdown between the Blackhawks and Canadiens. Scotty Bowman, in his first year as Habs coach, had made three trips to the Stanley Cup final during his tenure with the Blues but lost each time. His first-place Canadiens, however, would not let him down. Montreal’s offence broke out in full force, scoring 33 goals in winning the series 4-2. Yvan Cournoyer and Jacques Lemaire both recorded 12 points in the final with Cournoyer winning the Conn Smythe. It was the first of five Cups Bowman would go on to win the Canadiens in the 1970s and the final one for Henri Richard, his 11th with the franchise.
1991-92 season
A year after winning the Presidents’ Trophy with the league’s best record, the Blackhawks slipped in the standings in 1991-92 — hard to believe considering their goaltending tandem of Ed Belfour and Dominik Hasek and an emerging leader in Jeremy Roenick, who broke the 50-goal mark (53) for the first time in his career. The Blackhawks ended the regular season with a second-place finish behind the Norris Division champion Detroit Red Wings.
Chicago opened the post-season against the St. Louis Blues and a red-hot Brett Hull, son of former Blackhawks great Bobby. Brett was coming off his third consecutive 70-goal season, but Chicago held him to a modest (by Brett’s standards) eight points in eliminating the Blues in six games.
The Blackhawks then went on to meet the Red Wings and eliminated the division champions in four straight games. While the end result may have seemed one-sided, three of the four wins were one-goal games including the series-clincher, a 1-0 shutout that saw Belfour stop 29 shots.
A new-look Oilers team was up next for the Blackhawks and they certainly didn’t play anything like Edmonton’s battled-tested teams before them. With players like Mark Messier, Grant Fuhr and Glenn Anderson no longer with the Oilers, it was the Blackhawks who put on an offensive clinic with Steve Larmer and Roenick each registering eight points (four goals, four assists for the both of them) in four games.
It was Chicago’s first Stanley Cup final appearance in nearly 20 years. Having swept two of their three series heading into the final, the Blackhawks looked like a worthy opponent for the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. It certainly started off that way for Chicago before letting a Game 1 lead slip to the Penguins. Then, with the game tied at 4-4, Mario Lemieux snuck in off the blueline on a face-off to bury the game-winning goal in the dying seconds. The Blackhawks never recovered from that heartbreaking loss, getting swept themselves this time while losing three of the four games by a single goal. Chicago’s big guns failed to make much of an impact in the final, with Larmer recording only one assist and Roenick scoring just two goals. Despite missing a few games, Lemieux’s 34 points (16 goals, 18 assists) in 15 games was good enough to earn him his second straight Conn Smythe Trophy.
