Mikita lived life the way he played the game of hockey.
He did it his way and he never stopped caring about what he did.
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RIP, Stan, thanks for all those great years of hockey.
RIP.
RIP, Stan.
Thanks for the great hockey.
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I used o watch Stan and Bobby Hull carry that team to championships, back in the early 60s. RIP, Stan.
Rest in peace Stan. You gave mea many hours of th. Listening to Blackhawk games.
Awww. Sad to read. I was addicted to the Blackhawks late 60s-early 70’s. I can’t believe he’s only 12 years older than I am.....sheesh, he was an adult when I was still a teenager!
I followed hockey years ago. The "French Connection" in Buffalo
Now, not so much. I've given up on professional sports. My kids are mad at me because I'm dropping out of our Fantasy Football league
RIP Hockey Warrior!
RIP. One of the all-time greats.
RIP to an all-time Blackhawks great.
Wow! there’s a name from the past!
He was among the Great Ones!
RIP Stan, …. and well done!
Thanks for the memories.
Stan Mikita was one of my sports heroes when I was growing up in Chicago. I was talking with a couple of buddies of mine from the old neighborhood on the north side of Chicago this afternoon, and I recalled we had seven big-time sports heroes at that time: Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Ron Santo from the Cubs; Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita from the Hawks; and Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus from the Bears. (We were north side, so we didn’t care too much about the Sox.)
IIRC, the only player to win the Hart, Art Ross and Lady Byng in the same season - and he did it twice. Truly a class act, and a pleasure to watch on the ice.
RIP.
RIP. Growing up in Chicago, south side, he was a hero to many, My favorite Blackhawks player. Prayers up for him and his family.
..saw him play once in early 70s. Great hands. Bobby Hull was power Stan was precision. RIP
Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull revolutionized the game of hockey. Back in the day, hockey sticks blades were straight. One day with about 20 minutes left for practice, the blade on Mikita’s stick broke, he didn’t want to have to go down stairs to the locker to get another stick so he got some duc tape and taped it up. When he taped it up the blade was curved. He was skating all over the ice with the puck and nobody could take it from him. Mikita noticed he could control the puck much easier with the curve in the stick.
Then after practice he tried to break the stick with slap shots. Bobby Hull was watching him from the bench and noticed the puck was raising up to the top of the net. Before the curved stick most slap shots only traveled about knee high. And the two of then talked after practice about bending a stick.
At first they broke a few sticks and then Mikita remembered to bend wood, you need to soak it in water for a few hours. So they stayed late and soaked a stick in water for a while and stuck the blade under a door and held it up with a chair. The next day the blade on the stick was curved. But Bobby Hull was a lefty so he did the same thing the next night for a lefty. Now Bobby Hull at the time had the hardest slap shot in the NHL. Goalies who didn’t wear mask back then were seeing pucks shot at them at 100 MPH’s coming right for their head from the blue line. How terrifying would that be? Although Bobby Hull had a huge banana curve and his shots would fly upward. So the NHL put a restriction on the curve...you can only have a one inch curve on the blade of your stick. And the game has never been the same since....