[News] Stan Mikita has died after a long illness

[flame^thrower]

RIP Mr Makita

[looooob]

Originally Posted by troutman

+ 329

regarding the remarkable 7 ES goals against stat, I guess given that there were only 6 teams, by definition many will be stacked with HOFers, but in some ways hard to imagine the Hawks come out of all that with only one cup


lots of great names on those teams, but if Mikita, Hull, Pilote and Hall are 4 of the 6 guys on the ice, chances are the other team isn't scoring all that much (and yes I realize just as one example the other team might have Beliveau, Geoffrion, , Harvey and Plante on the ice at the same time or whomever)

[Erick Estrada]

RIP Stosh Mikita.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by looooob

regarding the remarkable 7 ES goals against stat, I guess given that there were only 6 teams, by definition many will be stacked with HOFers, but in some ways hard to imagine the Hawks come out of all that with only one cup

Blame the ‘Norris House League’. (That was one of the NHL's actual nicknames back in the day.) The Norris family owned the Blackhawks and Red Wings outright, the majority of the Rangers, and I believe they held a mortgage on the Bruins. At any given time during the ‘Original Six’ era, there was only one good U.S.-based team, and the Norrises chose which team that would be. Most of the time it was Detroit, but for a few years only, it was Chicago.

The dynamite officially went ‘boom’ in 1957, when the Red Wings traded Glenn Hall and Ted Lindsay to Chicago for Johnny Wilson and three spare parts. However, the Habs were right in the middle of their five consecutive Stanley Cups, so Chicago only got the one championship out of the deal. After that it was Boston's turn to be good, and then the whole system fell apart due to expansion.

During their winning period, the Blackhawks shamelessly gouged their fans. They had the highest ticket prices in the league, up to 50 percent higher than Toronto or Montreal. Their concession prices were similarly high, earning them the nickname ‘Chicken Wings’. They even used the police to arrest scalpers and prevent the formation of any resale market for tickets. To top it all off, they enforced a blackout on playoff road games. The only way Chicago fans could see those games was to buy tickets to the Chicago Stadium and watch on closed-circuit TV.

As you can see, ‘Dollar Bill’ Wirtz was just doing business as usual.

You may wonder why the league allowed the Norris family to simply rob one team to enrich another. It's quite simple. Since they controlled three of the six votes on the Board of Governors, nobody could outvote them. If the league had tried to punish them, the matter would have gone to a vote, and been defeated on a 3-3 tie. Besides, the Canadian teams didn't much care what the American teams were doing, as long as the Leafs or Habs got to win the Cup most years.

I'm glad Mikita at least won the Cup once. He spent most of his career playing for a team that was intended to lose, and in my opinion, he got robbed.

[Sylvanfan]

When I wss a teen ager one of my friends Mom's claim to fame was teaching the Makita boys how to swear in English. She would be about 78 now.

RIP to a pretty unique player.

[Dion]

I can't think of more feared duo than Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull.



Stan got picked to play for Canada in the 72 Summit series against the Russians. He ended up only playing in 2 games during the series. As part of the series Canada played a couple of exhibition games in Sweden and Czechslovakia during the break when the series shifted to Russia for the final 4 games. The Czech game was extra special for Stan as coach Harry Sinden suited him up so he could play in front of his country.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Born Stanislav Guoth.

Quite a remarkable life story. Smuggled out of then-Czechoslovakia and raised by an aunt and uncle in Ontario.

One of the lesser-known stories of the 1972 Summit Series was a post-series exhibition game against the Czechoslovakian National Team in Prague. Mikita got to play before his parents and siblings.

Wow, It took till the guy died that I found out he wasn't of North American Indigenous descent, somehow I always thought he was Inuit.

RIP Stan, you have game

[hayduke's dad]

Very Sad day for me.

My Dad is a lifelong Blackhawks fan. His favourite player of all time #21 Stan Mikita.

Both of them born in 1940, Both immigrants and both diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia close to same time. Horrible disease that robbed both of them of the men they once were.

RIP #21

[transplant99]

Maybe the most under rated player in league history.

Amazing guy and tremendous hockey player.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by hayduke's dad

Very Sad day for me.

My Dad is a lifelong Blackhawks fan. His favourite player of all time #21 Stan Mikita.

Both of them born in 1940, Both immigrants and both diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia close to same time. Horrible disease that robbed both of them of the men they once were.

RIP #21

Must be a rough day today. My condolences.

Rest in peace, Stan Mikita

[troutman]

Public visitation for Stan Mikita set for Sunday at United Center

[Huntingwhale]

It's always sad to hear news about some of the old time greats passing away. Players who helped define generations of hockey, and pioneer their franchises to what they are today. I admittedly don't know much about Stan Makita, but I do know it's a huge loss for hockey fans everywhere.

RIP Mr. Mikita