1937–38 Chicago Black Hawks season

1937–38 Chicago Black Hawks
Division	3rd American
1937–38 record	14–25–9
Home record	10–10–4
Road record	4–15–5
Goals for	97
Goals against	139
Team information
General manager	Frederic McLaughlin
Coach	Bill Stewart
Captain	Johnny Gottselig
Arena	Chicago Stadium
Team leaders
Goals	Paul Thompson (22)
Assists	Paul Thompson Doc Romnes (22)
Points	Paul Thompson (44)
Penalty minutes	Earl Siebert (38)
Wins	Mike Karakas (14)
Goals against average	Mike Karakas (2.80)

The 1937–38 Chicago Black Hawks season was the team's 12th season in the NHL. In the off-season, the team replaced coach Clem Loughlin with Bill Stewart. The Black Hawks defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1938 Stanley Cup Finals 3 games to 1 to win their second Stanley Cup.

Regular Season

Black Hawks logo from 1937-41.

After adding colour to the primary logo for the 1935-36 season, the background in the center of the roundel was changed from black to white. This logo was used for the next three seasons.

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.

Phil Watson scores on Mike Karakas while #8 Alex Levinsky and #15 Cully Dahlstrom look on, February 1, 1938.

Paul Thompson led 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 had another solid season, earning 32 points, tying Romnes for 2nd on the team scoring list. Earl Siebert would lead the defense with 21 points, and had a club high 38 penalty minutes.

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

Final 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

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.

Game Log

#	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

Mike Karakas makes a save, 1938 Quarter-finals Game 1, March 22, 1938.

In the playoffs, the Black Hawks would face the Montreal Canadiens in the 1st round in a best of 3 series, and the underdog Hawks would surprise Montreal, winning the series in 3 games, clinching the series with a 3–2 OT victory at the Montreal Forum on a goal by Paul Thompson. 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 3 series. After dropping the opening game, the Black Hawks won Game 2 by 1-0 in double overtime on a goal by Cully Dahlstrom and took the series by winning Game 3 by 3-1 to advance to the 1938 Stanley Cup Finals.

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 (OT)	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 (2OT)	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

Earl Seibert, Gordie Drillon, Alfie Moore, Game 1 of the 1938 Stanley Cup Finals, April 5, 1938.

The Black 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 5 series.

Due to a broken toe suffered by goaltender Mike Karakas in the Semi-finals, the Black Hawks got permission from the Maple Leafs to use goaltender Alfie Moore in Game 1. Moore spent the season with the Maple Leafs farm team the Pittsburgh Hornets of the IAHL. He responded by helping the Black Hawks win the game 3–1.

Moore was declared ineligible by NHL President Frank Calder for Game 2 and as Karakas was still unavailable, Chicago called up Paul Goodman from the Wichita Skyhawks 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 Game 3 (wearing a steel-toed skate to protect his broken toe), and he helped the Hawks to a 2–1 victory.

Chicago wrapped up the series in Game 4, winning by a score of 4–1 to earn its 2nd Stanley Cup in team history, shocking the hockey world. So improbable was the Black Hawks' victory that NHL President Frank Calder didn't arrange for the Stanley Cup to be sent to Chicago for Game 4, having it remain in Toronto, resulting in no presentation ceremony after Chicago's win.

The Black Hawks set a record with eight Americans on their roster and also set a record for attendance with 18,497 in Game 4. It was the last time that a Chicago team would win a championship at Chicago Stadium until the Chicago Bulls won their second straight NBA championship in 1992.

#	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

Player 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 Siebert	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

Awards and Records

• Calder Memorial Trophy: Cully Dahlstrom
• Paul Thompson, Left Wing, NHL First Team All-Star
• Earl Seibert, Defense, NHL Second Team All-Star

Gallery

Bruins-Black Hawks action, December 21, 1937.

A scrum from the deciding game of the 1938 Semi-finals won by the Black Hawks over the Americans 3-2, April 3, 1938. #6 is Nels Stewart.

Coach Bill Stewart and the Hawks celebrate their Cup win, April 12, 1938.

See Also

• 1937–38 NHL season

References

• SHRP Sports
• The Internet Hockey Database
• National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007