There used to be a time when playoff hockey ruled in the spring. It was a regular part of the city’s sports calendar. The tradition started 70 years ago when the Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup.
Back then, hockey was referred to as “hocky” in the newspapers. Fans embraced their new champions. But it didn’t last long, as tragedy hit the team a couple of months after winning their title.
What happened
The 1933-34 season: The Blackhawks still were relatively new on the scene. They played their first season in 1926-27 and moved into the Chicago Stadium in 1929. The Blackhawks had only modest success, losing in the Cup finals to Montreal in 1931. Expectations weren’t high for the 1934 playoffs. The team had finished only two games above .500 and scored a mere 88 goals in 48 games. However, with goalie Chuck Gardiner, scoring wasn’t a necessity as the playoffs began.
The playoffs: After eliminating the Montreal Maroons, the Hawks were prohibitive underdogs in the best-of-five finals against powerful Detroit. The Hawks pulled a stunner by winning the first two games on the road, putting them one victory from the Cup. Detroit rallied to win Game 3 in Chicago. But on April 10, 1934, more than 18,000 fans jammed the Stadium to watch Gardiner stop the Red Wings. Finally, at 30:05 of overtime, Harold “Mush” March scored to give the Hawks a 1-0 victory and their first title.
The aftermath: Gardiner, who registered five shutouts during the playoffs, was the star. However, he exhibited erratic behavior during the drive to the title. The mood swings were attributed to nerves. He even was sent to Milwaukee for a day to rest before shutting out Detroit. It turns out Gardiner wasn’t suffering from nerves. Shortly after returning to his home in Winnipeg, he went into a coma, the victim of a brain tumor. On June 13, just more than two months after leading the Hawks to the title, Gardiner died at age 29.
What they said then . . .
Tribune columnist Charles Bartlett
Wrote in the April 11, 1934 Tribune Harold “Mush” March, a shrimp of a hocky player who matches his 140 pounds against all the heavyweights in the game, is going home with the most valuable puck in existence this morning. He seized the little black disc out of the Detroit cage last night at the Chicago Stadium after having blazed past Wilfred Cude, the Red Wing goalie, to give Chicago the world’s championship and the Stanley Cup for the first time in their eight year career.
. . . and now
Dan Diamond
Editor of the “Total Hockey Encyclopedia”
“In retrospect, people realized that things clearly weren’t right with him (during the playoffs). He was moody. He had to hang onto the goalposts to stand up. When the Hawks clinched the title, he threw his stick in the air, and then collapsed. He was really sick.” Diamond says Gardiner, who was named to the Hall of Fame in 1945, would have gone down as one of the great goalies of all time if he had lived.
Epilogue
In 70 years since winning their first title, the Hawks have managed only two more: 1938 and 1961. Their 43-year drought is the longest in the game.
In perspective:
1934
– “Love in Bloom” by Bing Crosby and “Moon Glow” by Benny Goodman and his orchestra are among the top recording hits.
– “It Happened One Night” dominates the Academy Awards. It wins best picture, best actor (Clark Gable) and best actress (Claudette Colbert).
– People born in 1934
Hank Aaron, Feb. 5
Bill Russell, Feb. 12
Ralph Nader, Feb. 27
Shirley MacLaine, April 24
Luis Aparicio, April 29
Sources: “Chicago Blackhawks: 75 Years” by Bob Verdi; Tribune archives.
