Hockey and sports in general can be broken down into moments. Some moments are bigger than others and chart the course of a franchise and an entire league. These moments can define a team’s destiny for years to come. Last Word on Hockey’s Summer series looks at these defining moments. Today we feature the biggest defining moment of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Top Chicago Blackhawks Defining Moments in Team History
The Blackhawks are one of the more storied teams in the NHL. They have a long tradition and are closing in on their 100th anniversary as a team. There have been a lot of great moments that deserve mention. However, we only have a finite amount of space on the list.
There are a lot of great older moments we’ll mention, but we’ll focus on the 2000s and 2010s in this list. Moments further back in Blackhawks history will be mentioned, but this franchise has been through a lot since the turn of the century.
Patrick Kane Ends the Drought
The franchise had slowly started to turn things around in the mid-2000s. Then general manager Dale Tallon had selected a pair of cornerstones in Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and the destiny of this franchise slowly turned around. (We’ll delve into that further later on.)
The culmination of the turnaround would the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It would be the first time that the Blackhawks would reach the Stanley Cup Final since the 1991-92 season.
Some Background
Chicago had slowly emerged from its doldrums and earned the second seed in the Western Conference. The Blackhawks won the Central Division for the first time since the 1992-93 season and looked like a legitimate contender.
Chicago would face the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Final. San Jose was the top seed, but Chicago dispatched the Pacific Division champions in four straight games.
The Blackhawks would take on the surprising Philadelphia Flyers, who were the seventh seed in the East. Both clubs were desperate to end long Stanley Cup droughts. Chicago hadn’t won a title since 1961, while Philadelphia hadn’t won since 1975.
The Moment
Chicago and Philadelphia had each held serve at home in the first four games. The Blackhawks took Game 5 at the United Center in a wild 7-4 victory at home. It all set up for a Cup-clinching Game 6 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dustin Byfuglien and Scott Hartnell traded late-period, power-play goals in the first period. Patrick Sharp canceled out a Daniel Briere goal and Andrew Ladd scored a second-period goal to give Chicago a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes. However, Hartnell scored again with less than four minutes to go in regulation.
Some were prepared for a long overtime, but Kane took care of that. The Buffalo native scored four minutes, six seconds into overtime. However, only Kane and Sharp celebrated the goal. It took a video review to confirm that the Blackhawks had finally broken their long Stanley Cup drought.
The Aftermath
This would open the floodgates and Chicago wouldn’t have to wait very long for its next Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks would add titles in 2013 and 2015 as part of one their most successful eras.
Both Kane and Toews are surefire Hall of Famers. Players like Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and others cemented their respective legacies.
Those good times may be gone at the moment, but fans will never forget that era of the Chicago Blackhawks and its many defining moments.
Other Moments
The Kyle Beach Investigation
While Chicago celebrating its Stanley Cup title, something much darker happened en route to that historic victory. It took over a decade for the accusations to come out, but things finally came to a head in March 2021.
The charges stem from May 2010 when then video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted a player only identified as John Doe. This victim filed a lawsuit against the Blackhawks for failing to adequately address Aldrich’s wrongdoings or to file a police report.
According to a team-sanctioned independent investigation from the law firm Jenner and Block, Blackhawks executives held a meeting about the sexual assault claims and decided they would not address them until after the Stanley Cup Final.
Aldrich chose to resign, but would go on to be accused and convicted for other incidents after he moved on from the Blackhawks. In late October 2021, a former black ace named Kyle Beach revealed on an interview on Canadian SportsCentre that he was John Doe.
The Fall Out
Then general manager Stan Bowman, senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, the two remaining executives from the 2009–10 team all resigned. Joel Quenneville, who was then coach of the Florida Panthers, was forced out. Beach and the Hawks reached a confidential settlement.
Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz made a request that the engraving of Aldrich’s name be redacted from the Stanley Cup. This was taken care of when the Tampa Bay Lightning had their engravings made. Aldrich’s name has “Xs” over it.
Both Bowman (as general manager of the Edmonton Oilers) and Quenneville (as head coach of the Anaheim Ducks) have since returned to the league. It is a sad chapter that to a black mark on a historic run for the Blackhawks.
Getting with the Times
The good times with the Blackhawks finally came after one big change at the top. Chicago had languished at or near the bottom of the league since the mid 1990s. That can be attributed to the reign of “Dollar” Bill Wirtz, who seemingly ran the franchise into the ground and was stuck in his ways. ESPN writer Peter Keating had declared the Blackhawks the worst franchise in sports in 2004.
Wirtz and his tight-fisted ways had suffocated the franchise. The team did not broadcast its games on television, Wirtz had fired the beloved Pat Foley as play-by-play man and other terrible decisions. However, that would change with his passing on Sept. 26, 2007. His son, Peter, would get control, but he would immediately transfer ownership to his younger brother, Rocky.
Rocky Wirtz would bring back Foley and get games on local television. He’d also right the wrongs of his father by making Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, and Denis Savard as ambassadors. The change in leadership brought the Hawks into the modern NHL.
Honourable Mentions
We can’t forget other Chicago Blackhawks defining moments in history. Items like Dave Bolland‘s Cup-winning goal, the closing of Chicago Stadium in 1994, Hull getting 51 goals, Bill Mosienko getting a hat trick in 21 seconds, and Esposito being picked up are other great moments. However, we could only pick one, and their reign of league-wide dominance in the early 2010s was our choice.
Stick around all summer long as we look at more defining moments from each NHL team.
Main photo by: Jerry Lai-Imagn Images
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