1937–38 Chicago Black Hawks season

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1937–38 Chicago Black Hawks
Stanley Cup champions
Division3rd American
1937–38 record14–25–9
Home record10–10–4
Road record4–15–5
Goals for97
Goals against139
Team information
General managerFrederic McLaughlin
CoachBill Stewart
CaptainJohnny Gottselig
ArenaChicago Stadium
Team leaders
GoalsPaul Thompson (22)
AssistsPaul Thompson and Doc Romnes (22)
PointsPaul Thompson (44)
Penalty minutesEarl Seibert (38)
WinsMike Karakas (14)
Goals against averageMike Karakas (2.80)

The 1937–38 Chicago Black Hawks season was the team's 12th season in the NHL, and they were coming off a horrible season in 1936–37, in which the club failed to qualify for the playoffs. In the off-season, the team would replace head coach Clem Loughlin with Bill Stewart. The Black Hawks would struggle again in 1937–38, finishing with 37 points with a 14–25–9 record, but managed to earn a playoff spot by finishing 2 points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings and clinch 3rd place in the American Division. They would score an NHL low 97 goals, while giving up the 2nd most goals in the league at 139. The Hawks were a .500 team at home with a 10–10–4 record, but would only have a record of 4–15–5 on the road.

Paul Thompson would lead the Hawks offensively, setting a club record with 44 points, along with a club high 22 goals, and tying Doc Romnes for the team lead with 22 assists. Johnny Gottselig would have another solid season, earning 32 points, tying Romnes for 2nd on the team scoring list. Earl Seibert would lead the defense with 21 points, and had a club high 38 penalty minutes.

In goal, Mike Karakas would win 14 games, earn a shutout and post a 2.80 GAA.

In the playoffs, the Black Hawks would face the Montreal Canadiens in the 1st round in a best-of-three series. The underdog Hawks would surprise Montreal, winning the best-of three series in the full three games, clinching the series with a 3–2 OT victory at the Montreal Forum. After losing Game One to Montreal, the Hawks were less than 90 seconds away from being eliminated in the quarterfinals, but managed to tie Game Two late in the third period. Chicago won the crucial game in overtime. Next up would be the New York Americans, who finished 2nd in the Canadian Division, and had 12 more points than the Hawks in the regular season. In a best-of-three semi-final series, the Black Hawks again lost the first game of the series and were on the verge of elimination in Game Two but won it in overtime. The Black Hawks would stun the favored Americans, winning the Game Three to win the series 2–1 and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Hawks opponent would be the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had just swept the best team in the regular season, the Boston Bruins, in a best-of-five semi-final series featuring the champions of the NHL's two divisions

Due to an injury to goaltender Mike Karakas, the Black Hawks would get permission by the Leafs to use goaltender Alfie Moore, who spent the season with the Pittsburgh Hornets of the IAHL in the first game, and he responded by helping the Black Hawks win the game 3–1. In the 2nd game, Karakas was still unavailable, and Chicago would call up Paul Goodman from the of the AHA. The Maple Leafs would even up the series with a 5–1 victory. The Black Hawks would get Karakas back into the lineup for the 3rd game, and he helped the Hawks to a 2–1 victory. Chicago would then wrap up the series in the 4th game, winning by a score of 4–1 to earn its 2nd Stanley Cup in team history, shocking the hockey world.

Season standings[]

American Division
GP W L T GF GA PTS
Boston Bruins 48 30 11 7 142 89 67
New York Rangers 48 27 15 6 149 96 60
Chicago Black Hawks 48 14 25 9 97 139 37
Detroit Red Wings 48 12 25 11 99 133 35

[1]

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.


Record vs. opponents[]

1937-38 NHL Records
Team BOS CHI DET MON MTM NYA NYR TOR
Boston – 6–2 5–2–1 2–2–2 4–0–2 3–1–2 5–3 5–1–2
Chicago 2–6 – 3–4–1 1–3–2 4–2 0–4–2 3–4–1 1–2–3
Detroit 2–5–1 4–3–1 – 3–2–1 0–3–3 2–2–2 1–6–1 0–4–2
M. Canadiens 2–2–2 3–1–2 2–3–1 – 4–4 3–2–3 3–1–2 1–4–3
M. Maroons 0–4–2 2–4 3–0–3 4–4 – 1–7 0–5–1 2–6
N.Y. Americans 1–3–2 4–0–2 2–2–2 2–3–3 7–1 – 1–4–1 2–5–1
N.Y. Rangers 3–5 4–3–1 6–1–1 1–3–2 5–0–1 4–1–1 – 4–2
Toronto 1–5–2 2–1–3 4–0–2 4–1–3 6–2 5–2–1 2–4 —

Game log[]

Regular season[]

# Date Visitor Score Home Record Pts
1 November 4 New York Americans 3–0 Chicago Black Hawks 0–1–0 0
2 November 9 Chicago Black Hawks 2–2 Montreal Canadiens 0–1–1 1
3 November 11 Chicago Black Hawks 3–1 New York Rangers 1–1–1 3
4 November 13 Chicago Black Hawks 3–7 Toronto Maple Leafs 1–2–1 3
5 November 14 Toronto Maple Leafs 3–3 Chicago Black Hawks 1–2–2 4
6 November 18 Detroit Red Wings 1–3 Chicago Black Hawks 2–2–2 6
7 November 21 Boston Bruins 2–1 Chicago Black Hawks 2–3–2 6
8 November 25 Chicago Black Hawks 1–4 Detroit Red Wings 2–4–2 6
9 November 27 Chicago Black Hawks 0–4 New York Americans 2–5–2 6
10 November 30 Chicago Black Hawks 0–1 Montreal Maroons 2–6–2 6
11 December 2 New York Rangers 1–2 Chicago Black Hawks 3–6–2 8
12 December 5 Montreal Canadiens 3–2 Chicago Black Hawks 3–7–2 8
13 December 12 Montreal Maroons 2–3 Chicago Black Hawks 4–7–2 10
14 December 16 Detroit Red Wings 1–3 Chicago Black Hawks 5–7–2 12
15 December 19 New York Americans 1–0 Chicago Black Hawks 5–8–2 12
16 December 21 Chicago Black Hawks 1–2 Boston Bruins 5–9–2 12
17 December 26 Chicago Black Hawks 3–1 New York Rangers 6–9–2 14
18 December 30 Chicago Black Hawks 2–2 Detroit Red Wings 6–9–3 15
19 January 2 Montreal Canadiens 4–2 Chicago Black Hawks 6–10–3 15
20 January 6 New York Rangers 4–1 Chicago Black Hawks 6–11–3 15
21 January 9 Montreal Maroons 0–1 Chicago Black Hawks 7–11–3 17
22 January 11 Chicago Black Hawks 1–1 New York Americans 7–11–4 18
23 January 13 Chicago Black Hawks 2–2 Montreal Canadiens 7–11–5 19
24 January 15 Chicago Black Hawks 4–4 Toronto Maple Leafs 7–11–6 20
25 January 16 Toronto Maple Leafs 7–2 Chicago Black Hawks 7–12–6 20
26 January 18 Chicago Black Hawks 1–5 Boston Bruins 7–13–6 20
27 January 20 Chicago Black Hawks 2–4 Detroit Red Wings 7–14–6 20
28 January 23 Boston Bruins 2–3 Chicago Black Hawks 8–14–6 22
29 January 27 Detroit Red Wings 3–4 Chicago Black Hawks 9–14–6 24
30 January 30 New York Rangers 2–2 Chicago Black Hawks 9–14–7 25
31 February 1 Chicago Black Hawks 1–6 New York Rangers 9–15–7 25
32 February 3 Chicago Black Hawks 2–4 Montreal Maroons 9–16–7 25
33 February 6 Boston Bruins 7–2 Chicago Black Hawks 9–17–7 25
34 February 8 Chicago Black Hawks 1–3 Boston Bruins 9–18–7 25
35 February 10 Chicago Black Hawks 1–2 Montreal Maroons 9–19–7 25
36 February 12 Chicago Black Hawks 2–1 Toronto Maple Leafs 10–19–7 27
37 February 13 Toronto Maple Leafs 1–1 Chicago Black Hawks 10–19–8 28
38 February 17 New York Americans 3–3 Chicago Black Hawks 10–19–9 29
39 February 20 Detroit Red Wings 1–0 Chicago Black Hawks 10–20–9 29
40 February 22 Chicago Black Hawks 6–5 Montreal Maroons 11–20–9 31
41 February 24 Chicago Black Hawks 3–6 New York Rangers 11–21–9 31
42 February 27 New York Rangers 4–1 Chicago Black Hawks 11–22–9 31
43 March 3 Boston Bruins 2–3 Chicago Black Hawks 12–22–9 33
44 March 6 Montreal Maroons 1–7 Chicago Black Hawks 13–22–9 35
45 March 10 Montreal Canadiens 1–4 Chicago Black Hawks 14–22–9 37
46 March 13 Chicago Black Hawks 1–5 Detroit Red Wings 14–23–9 37
47 March 15 Chicago Black Hawks 1–2 New York Americans 14–24–9 37
48 March 20 Chicago Black Hawks 1–6 Boston Bruins 14–25–9 37

Playoffs[]

Chicago Black Hawks 2, Montreal Canadiens 1[]

# Date Visitor Score Home Record
1 March 22 Chicago Black Hawks 4–6 Montreal Canadiens 0–1
2 March 24 Montreal Canadiens 0–4 Chicago Black Hawks 1–1
3 March 26 Chicago Black Hawks 3–2 Montreal Canadiens 2–1

Chicago Black Hawks 2, New York Americans 1[]

# Date Visitor Score Home Record
1 March 29 Chicago Black Hawks 1–3 New York Americans 0–1
2 March 31 New York Americans 0–1 Chicago Black Hawks 1–1
3 April 3 Chicago Black Hawks 3–1 New York Americans 2–1

Chicago Black Hawks 3, Toronto Maple Leafs 1[]

# Date Visitor Score Home Record
1 April 5 Chicago Black Hawks 3–1 Toronto Maple Leafs 1–0
2 April 7 Chicago Black Hawks 1–5 Toronto Maple Leafs 1–1
3 April 10 Toronto Maple Leafs 1–2 Chicago Black Hawks 2–1
4 April 12 Toronto Maple Leafs 1–4 Chicago Black Hawks 3–1

Season stats[]

Scoring leaders[]

Player GP G A Pts PIM
Paul Thompson 48 22 22 44 14
Johnny Gottselig 48 13 19 32 22
Doc Romnes 44 10 22 32 4
Mush March 42 11 17 28 16
Louis Trudel 42 6 16 22 15

Goaltending[]

Player GP TOI W L T GA SO GAA
Mike Karakas 48 2980 14 25 9 139 1 2.80

Playoff stats[]

Scoring leaders[]

Player GP G A Pts PIM
Johnny Gottselig 10 5 3 8 4
Earl Seibert 10 5 2 7 12
Paul Thompson 10 4 3 7 6
Mush March 9 2 4 6 0
Doc Romnes 10 2 4 6 2

Goaltending[]

Player GP TOI W L GA SO GAA
Alfie Moore 1 60 1 0 1 0 1.00
Mike Karakas 8 525 6 2 15 2 1.71
Paul Goodman 1 60 0 1 5 0 5.00

References[]

  1. ^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
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