1966-67 Chicago Blackhawks: The One That Got Away

1966-67 is typically remembered by NHL fans as the last season of the ‘Original Six’ era, the first year of Bobby Orr and the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs would win the Stanley Cup. Chicago Blackhawks fans remember that year as a seemingly guaranteed Stanley Cup victory gone horribly wrong.

Chicago dominated the 1966-67 NHL regular season, winning 41 of 70 games and finishing seventeen points above the next competitor. The Black Hawks score 264 goals, 42 more than the Detroit Red Wings and allowed just 170, 18 less than the Montreal Canadiens.

Five of the top point-getters in the NHL that season wore a Chicago Black Hawks uniform. Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull went one-two with Mikita tying Hull’s single season record with 97 points. Ken Wharram finished fourth, Phil Esposito finished seventh and Doug Mohns came in ninth.

The well-rounded team also took the Vezina Trophy on the backs of the goaltending duo of Glenn Hall and Denis DeJordy. Three time Norris Trophy winner, Pierre Pilote, was runner-up to Harry Howell of the New York Rangers for the award for the top defenseman.

The Black Hawks took home the hardware in 1966-67. Of course, they won the Prince of Wales Trophy as the best team in the regular season. It was the first time in team history that the Hawks finished first in the NHL. Stan Mikita won the triple crown, taking home the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy and Lady Byng Trophy.

Four of the six players on the First All-Star Team were from Chicago. Pierre Pilote was on defense, Stan Mikita was at centre, Ken Wharram was on right wing and Bobby Hull was on the left side. Glenn Hall was the Second Team All-Star goaltender.

Yet, in spite of all this success, the Black Hawks bowed out in the opening round of the playoffs to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. What should have been Chicago’s fourth Stanley Cup victory, and first since 1961, instead became a Cup celebration for the third seed Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals in six games after Montreal took out the New York Rangers in four games in the opening round.

Chicago would make it to the Stanley Cup finals three more times, only to lose. It wasn’t until 2010 before the Blackhawks won their next Cup, their first since 1961. The Maple Leafs, after stealing the Cup from Chicago in 1967, have yet to make another appearance in the finals.