Between the eras of Glenn Hall and Tony Esposito, Chicago fans were treated to another standout goaltender: Denis DeJordy. Though often overlooked, DeJordy was no mere stopgap; he shared the Vezina Trophy with Hall in 1966-67 before Hall was claimed by the St. Louis Blues in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft.
With Hall gone, DeJordy took over as the Blackhawks’ number one goalie for the 1967-68 season and quickly proved he was up to the task. He posted a 2.71 goals-against average with four shutouts over 50 games, guiding Chicago past the Rangers in the playoffs before bowing out to the powerhouse Montreal Canadiens.
But it was December 1967 that defined his season, a stretch where DeJordy was simply unbeatable.
On December 10, he blanked the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 at the Spectrum, stopping 30 shots as Doug Mohns and Bobby Hull provided the offense. A week later, on December 17, he turned away 29 shots to shut out the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 at Chicago Stadium, with Pit Martin finally breaking through Johnny Bower late in the third.
To cap off the month, DeJordy cruised to a 3-0 New Year’s Eve win over the expansion Oakland Seals, needing just 23 saves as Dennis Hull, Mohns, and Martin took care of the scoring.
His fourth and final shutout of the campaign came on February 29, when he stopped 38 shots in a 1-0 victory over Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens with Bobby Schmautz netting the lone goal.
Though his time as Chicago’s starter was short-lived, Tony Esposito’s arrival soon pushed him out, DeJordy’s December heroics remain a bright chapter in Blackhawks history. After a stint with the Los Angeles Kings, his NHL career began to fade, but for one icy month in 1967, Denis DeJordy was as good as any goaltender in the league.
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