1951–52 Chicago Black Hawks season



The 1951–52 Chicago Black Hawks season was the team's 26th season in the NHL. The Hawks finished last in the league and did not qualify for the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

Off-season
In the off-season, the Black Hawks were involved in the largest cash deal at the time, as they gave the Detroit Red Wings $75,000 in exchange for Jim McFadden, George Gee, Jimmy Peters, Clare Martin, Clare Raglan and Max McNab.

Regular Season
In an early season matchup against the Detroit Red Wings at the Detroit Olympia, Black Hawks captain Jack Stewart made his return to the team after missing nearly a year of action due to a back injury. The Black Hawks defeated the powerful Red Wings 6–2 in his return. Also, during the game, Chicago goaltender Harry Lumley suffered a minor knee injury, and team trainer Moe Roberts, who had first played in the NHL in 1925–26 with the Boston Bruins, and had not played in the league since 1933–34 with the New York Americans, made an emergency appearance. Roberts stopped every shot he faced to help the Hawks win the game.

Bill Mosienko wore a helmet early in the season, the only NHL players to don one in 1951-52.

The Black Hawks started the season off playing .500 hockey through their opening eight games, as they sat with a 3–3–2 record, however, the team fell into a five game losing streak, and quickly fell out of playoff contention. Chicago would slump all season long, ending up in last place in the league for the second consecutive season with a 17–44–9 record, earning 43 points, which was a seven point improvement on the previous season.

With the team having some attendance problems, the Black Hawks decided to experiment with afternoon games, and it worked, as on January 20, 1952, the Hawks had a season high crowd of 13,600 in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Black Hawks forward Bill Mosienko set an NHL record during Chicago's final game of the season at Madison Square Garden in New York, as he scored 3 goals on New York Rangers goaltender Lorne Anderson in 21 seconds as Chicago defeated New York 7–6.

Offensively, Bill Mosienko led the team with 31 goals and 53 points, while newly acquired George Gee had a club high 31 assists, and finished second in team scoring with 49 points. Al Dewsbury led the Black Hawks blueline, scoring 7 goals and earning 24 points, while posting a team high 99 penalty minutes, while fellow defenceman Bill Gadsby also had a solid season, scoring 7 goals, registering 22 points and accumlated 87 penalty minutes.

In goal, Harry Lumley played in all 70 games, winning 17 of them, while posting a GAA of 3.46, and earning 2 shutouts.

Playoffs

 * The Black Hawks did not qualify for the post season.

Awards and Records

 * Bill Mosienko set an NHL record by scoring the fastest three goals by one player, 21 seconds.