Stan Mikita: Pro Hockey’s Unsung Hero
In the 1960′s, the NHL was almost entirely made up of Canadian born players. There were a few US natives, but players from other countries were unheard of. Stan Mikita, born the country formerly known as Czechoslovakia, started to change that. While he was sometimes overshadowed by teammates like Bobby Hull, most hockey experts consider Mikita the best NHL center of the 1960′s. He was born in what is now Slovakia, and sent to live in Canada as a young boy. Like most boys his age, he began playing the national sport of hockey.
As a teenager, Mikita starred for the St. Catherine Teepees of the junior league Ontario Hockey Association. In 1959, he made the jump to the NHL for good joining the Chicago Blackhawks. He played sparingly in his first partial season in the NHL, but quickly became an important part of the Chicago offense in his first and second full seasons as a pro. In 1961, he led the team in playoff scoring as they won the Stanley Cup”his only championship during his career and the last time the franchise would win the NHLs highest team honor.
During the early and mid 1960′s, Mikita’s Blackhawks were the most feared offensive team in the NHL. Mikita centered the Scooter Line with Ken Wharram on the right wing and Ab McDonald or Doug Mohns on the left wing, and earned a reputation as one of the most complete offensive players in the game.
Never content with being a one way player, Mikita was a fearless defender and one of the most reliable faceoff specialists in the NHL. He also started a revolution when he became the first to play with a curved stick blade. That was considered radical, almost avant garde at the time but is now the standard in the NHL.
When he first came to the NHL, Mikita was a tough, hard hitting player who spent a considerable amount of time in the penalty box. That changed in the mid 1960′s when he became a very sportsmanlike player almost overnight. This cleaner style of play would earn him the Lady Byng Trophy for most gentlemanly player twice. The story goes that he had a change of heart when his young daughter asked why he spent so much time sitting in the box on televised games.
Mikitas career accomplishments are among the most impressive in the history of the sport. He won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHLs leading scorer four times (1964, 1965, 1967, 1968), the Hart Memorial Trophy for Most Valuable Player twice (1967 and 1968) and the Lady Byng Trophy in 1967 and 1968. He remains the only player in NHL history to win the Ross, Hart and Byng trophies in the same season (1967).
Mikita suffered from back injuries in his last years as an active player, finally retiring in 1980. He played his entire career for the Chicago Blackhawks, and was voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. He became something of a trivia answer for a younger generation when a donut shop called ‘Stan Mikita’s Donuts’ was featured in the popular movie ‘Wayne’w World’.