1966-67 Chicago Black Hawks Glenn Hall Jersey

For seven seasons - day in, day out - Glenn Hall tended goal every single game, every single minute from the start of the 1955-56 season for the Detroit Red Wings and then for the Chicago Black Hawks starting with the 1957-58 season up through this date in 1962.

502 complete games in goal, 551 if you count the 49 playoff games, without ever once being pulled or given a rest - all without a wearing a mask!

In that first season of the streak, Hall was the Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year while a member of the Detroit Red Wings. Surprisingly, Hall was sent, along with the union organizing Ted Lindsay, to the Chicago Black Hawks in a trade following the season.

In 1961, Hall led the Black Hawks to the Stanley Cup Championship, their first in 22 seasons. Hall was also a first or second team All-Star six times in the seven year run, no easy feat in a then six-team league against competition from Terry Sawchuk (who took over in goal in Detroit following Hall's departure), Johnny Bower, Jacques Plante, Roger Crozier and Gump Worsley.

Perhaps the closest he came to ending the streak was a puck to the face from the Toronto Maple Leaf's Jim Pappin that knocked out the only tooth he ever lost playing hockey and earned him 30 of the 250 stitches he would accumulate during his career.

Despite the end of his consecutive games streak due to a bad back, it would not deter Hall, who would go on to win the Vezina Trophy that season for the first of three times in his career and play in over 400 more games before retiring.

Hall is also known for throwing up before games, which he "credits" to being excited to play, not nerves for fear, and pioneering the butterfly style of goaltending, where a goaltender drops to his knees and spreads his legs out in a "V" shape, rather than doing the splits or laying sideways and stacking the pads on top of each other, the common styles used at the time. Keeping himself vertical also helped keep his face farther off the ice and away from the puck.

Playing with Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull was great for games, but very hard on Hall during practices. Mikita and Hull were the original developers of the curved stick and known for their blazing slap shots. Back in those days practices were not filled with the drills of today's modern practice, plus there were no rules at the time limiting the curvature on stick blades, and the players would blast shot after shot at the goaltenders, which would dip as much as two feet on their way to the net.

Hull in particular had no qualms about firing pucks at people, including trying to fire the puck at the glass in front of the goal judge at Chicago Stadium during pregame warmups to startle him into spilling his traditional coke. The problem for Hall was his location in the net in between Hull and the goal judge, requiring the puck to rip past Hall's head just over his shoulder on it's way to the glass!

Hall was set to retire at age 35, but was taken by the St. Louis Blues in the 1967 Expansion Draft, despite having just won the Vezina trophy! A 35% raise from $35,000 to $47,500 convinced Hall to extend his career. He led the Blues to the Stanley Cup Finals three years in a row and also finally began to wear a mask.

He would capture the Conn Smythe Trophy in the 1968 playoffs, despite being on the losing end of a 4 games to none sweep at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. Each game was a one-goal victory for Montreal, with Games 1 and 3 going to overtime. Hall would also share the Vezina trophy with Plante in 1968-69.

Vezina Trophy winners Hall and Plante

He retired with 84 shutouts and a lifetime goals against average of 2.51 and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975.

Today's featured jersey is a 1966-67 Chicago Black Hawks Glenn Hall jersey from his second Vezina Trophy winning season in Chicago. This style of Black Hawks jersey was worn during Hall's final two seasons in Chicago, as it features a v-neck collar which replaced the previous lace-up collar in 1965. No names were worn on the back of the jerseys in those days, just Hall's traditional goaltender's #1 in a simple single color.

photos courtesy of Classic Auctions

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1968-69 St. Louis Blues Glenn Hall jersey from his third Vezina Trophy winning season, this one coming in St. Louis following the great NHL expansion of 1967.

This was the original style of Blues road jersey, which remained in use through the 1971-72 season when the colors of the stripes were then reversed. It would take until 1977 for names to appear on the back of Blues road jerseys.

photos courtesy of Classic Auctions

First up in todays video section, this brief video focuses on Hall's consecutive games streak.

 Next is the excellent Legends of Hockey profile on Hall.

1966-67 Chicago Black Hawks Glenn Hall Jersey

For seven seasons - day in, day out - Glenn Hall tended goal every single game, every single minute from the start of the 1955-56 season for the Detroit Red Wings and then for the Chicago Black Hawks starting with the 1957-58 season up through this date in 1962.

502 complete games in goal, 551 if you count the 49 playoff games, without ever once being pulled or given a rest - all without a wearing a mask!

In that first season of the streak, Hall was the Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year while a member of the Detroit Red Wings. Surprisingly, Hall was sent, along with the union organizing Ted Lindsay, to the Chicago Black Hawks in a trade following the season.

In 1961, Hall led the Black Hawks to the Stanley Cup Championship, their first in 22 seasons. Hall was also a first or second team All-Star six times in the seven year run, no easy feat in a then six-team league against competition from Terry Sawchuk (who took over in goal in Detroit following Hall's departure), Johnny Bower, Jacques Plante, Roger Crozier and Gump Worsley.

Perhaps the closest he came to ending the streak was a puck to the face from the Toronto Maple Leaf's Jim Pappin that knocked out the only tooth he ever lost playing hockey and earned him 30 of the 250 stitches he would accumulate during his career.

Despite the end of his consecutive games streak due to a bad back, it would not deter Hall, who would go on to win the Vezina Trophy that season for the first of three times in his career and play in over 400 more games before retiring.

Hall is also known for throwing up before games, which he "credits" to being excited to play, not nerves for fear, and pioneering the butterfly style of goaltending, where a goaltender drops to his knees and spreads his legs out in a "V" shape, rather than doing the splits or laying sideways and stacking the pads on top of each other, the common styles used at the time. Keeping himself vertical also helped keep his face farther off the ice and away from the puck.

Playing with Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull was great for games, but very hard on Hall during practices. Mikita and Hull were the original developers of the curved stick and known for their blazing slap shots. Back in those days practices were not filled with the drills of today's modern practice, plus there were no rules at the time limiting the curvature on stick blades, and the players would blast shot after shot at the goaltenders, which would dip as much as two feet on their way to the net.

Hull in particular had no qualms about firing pucks at people, including trying to fire the puck at the glass in front of the goal judge at Chicago Stadium during pregame warmups to startle him into spilling his traditional coke. The problem for Hall was his location in the net in between Hull and the goal judge, requiring the puck to rip past Hall's head just over his shoulder on it's way to the glass!

Hall was set to retire at age 35, but was taken by the St. Louis Blues in the 1967 Expansion Draft, despite having just won the Vezina trophy! A 35% raise from $35,000 to $47,500 convinced Hall to extend his career. He led the Blues to the Stanley Cup Finals three years in a row and also finally began to wear a mask.

He would capture the Conn Smythe Trophy in the 1968 playoffs, despite being on the losing end of a 4 games to none sweep at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. Each game was a one-goal victory for Montreal, with Games 1 and 3 going to overtime. Hall would also share the Vezina trophy with Plante in 1968-69.

Vezina Trophy winners Hall and Plante

He retired with 84 shutouts and a lifetime goals against average of 2.51 and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975.

Today's featured jersey is a 1966-67 Chicago Black Hawks Glenn Hall jersey from his second Vezina Trophy winning season in Chicago. This style of Black Hawks jersey was worn during Hall's final two seasons in Chicago, as it features a v-neck collar which replaced the previous lace-up collar in 1965. No names were worn on the back of the jerseys in those days, just Hall's traditional goaltender's #1 in a simple single color.

photos courtesy of Classic Auctions

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1968-69 St. Louis Blues Glenn Hall jersey from his third Vezina Trophy winning season, this one coming in St. Louis following the great NHL expansion of 1967.

This was the original style of Blues road jersey, which remained in use through the 1971-72 season when the colors of the stripes were then reversed. It would take until 1977 for names to appear on the back of Blues road jerseys.

photos courtesy of Classic Auctions

First up in todays video section, this brief video focuses on Hall's consecutive games streak.

 Next is the excellent Legends of Hockey profile on Hall.

1966-67 Chicago Black Hawks Glenn Hall Jersey

For seven seasons - day in, day out - Glenn Hall tended goal every single game, every single minute from the start of the 1955-56 season for the Detroit Red Wings and then for the Chicago Black Hawks starting with the 1957-58 season up through this date in 1962.

502 complete games in goal, 551 if you count the 49 playoff games, without ever once being pulled or given a rest - all without a wearing a mask!

In that first season of the streak, Hall was the Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year while a member of the Detroit Red Wings. Surprisingly, Hall was sent, along with the union organizing Ted Lindsay, to the Chicago Black Hawks in a trade following the season.

In 1961, Hall led the Black Hawks to the Stanley Cup Championship, their first in 22 seasons. Hall was also a first or second team All-Star six times in the seven year run, no easy feat in a then six-team league against competition from Terry Sawchuk (who took over in goal in Detroit following Hall's departure), Johnny Bower, Jacques Plante, Roger Crozier and Gump Worsley.

Perhaps the closest he came to ending the streak was a puck to the face from the Toronto Maple Leaf's Jim Pappin that knocked out the only tooth he ever lost playing hockey and earned him 30 of the 250 stitches he would accumulate during his career.

Despite the end of his consecutive games streak due to a bad back, it would not deter Hall, who would go on to win the Vezina Trophy that season for the first of three times in his career and play in over 400 more games before retiring.

Hall is also known for throwing up before games, which he "credits" to being excited to play, not nerves for fear, and pioneering the butterfly style of goaltending, where a goaltender drops to his knees and spreads his legs out in a "V" shape, rather than doing the splits or laying sideways and stacking the pads on top of each other, the common styles used at the time. Keeping himself vertical also helped keep his face farther off the ice and away from the puck.

Playing with Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull was great for games, but very hard on Hall during practices. Mikita and Hull were the original developers of the curved stick and known for their blazing slap shots. Back in those days practices were not filled with the drills of today's modern practice, plus there were no rules at the time limiting the curvature on stick blades, and the players would blast shot after shot at the goaltenders, which would dip as much as two feet on their way to the net.

Hull in particular had no qualms about firing pucks at people, including trying to fire the puck at the glass in front of the goal judge at Chicago Stadium during pregame warmups to startle him into spilling his traditional coke. The problem for Hall was his location in the net in between Hull and the goal judge, requiring the puck to rip past Hall's head just over his shoulder on it's way to the glass!

Hall was set to retire at age 35, but was taken by the St. Louis Blues in the 1967 Expansion Draft, despite having just won the Vezina trophy! A 35% raise from $35,000 to $47,500 convinced Hall to extend his career. He led the Blues to the Stanley Cup Finals three years in a row and also finally began to wear a mask.

He would capture the Conn Smythe Trophy in the 1968 playoffs, despite being on the losing end of a 4 games to none sweep at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. Each game was a one-goal victory for Montreal, with Games 1 and 3 going to overtime. Hall would also share the Vezina trophy with Jacques Plante in 1968-69.

He retired with 84 shutouts and a lifetime goals against average of 2.51. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975.

Today's featured jersey is a 1966-67 Chicago Black Hawks Glenn Hall jersey from his second Vezina Trophy winning season in Chicago. This style of Black Hawks jersey was worn during Hall's final two seasons in Chicago, as it features a v-neck collar which replaced the previous lace-up collar in 1965. No names were worn on the back of the jerseys in those days, just Hall's traditional goaltender's #1 in a simple single color.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1968-69 St. Louis Blues Glenn Hall jersey from his third Vezina Trophy winning season, this one coming in St. Louis following the great NHL expansion of 1967.

This was the original style of Blues road jersey, which remained in use through the 1971-72 season when the colors of the stripes were then reversed. It would take until 1977 for names to appear on the back of Blues road jerseys.

photos courtesy of Classic Auctions

First up in todays video section, this brief video focuses on Hall's consecutive games streak.

 Next is the excellent Legends of Hockey profile on Hall.

1967-68 St. Louis Blues Gary Sabourin Jersey

Since the demise of the Brooklyn Americans in 1942, the NHL consisted of just six member teams, commonly referred to as "The Original Six". Finally, following the success of the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball on the west coast, the idea of expanding the NHL was first brought up in 1963, partly due to concerns that the Western Hockey League was intending to operate as a major league in the near future and also in hopes of making the league more attractive to American television networks with coast-to-coast appeal.

The original discussions promoted San Francisco and Vancouver as acceptable locations with Los Angeles and St. Louis also as potential candidates in March of 1965.

In February of 1966, applications were received from groups from Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Baltimore, Buffalo and Vancouver. But not St. Louis.

In the end, franchises were awarded to Oakland (across the bay from San Francisco), Los Angeles, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and...

St. Louis!

The decision to exclude Vancouver caught many by surprise, especially those involved in the construction of the brand new Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, and angered not only the locals, but all of Canada, since the six chosen cities were all in the United States. Various reasons emerged to explain the surprise inclusion of St. Louis, despite the fact there was no formal proposal from a group representing St. Louis.

Reportedly, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens did not want to share Canadian TV revenues with a third club and support for any expansion from the Chicago Black Hawks was contingent on the creation of a team in St. Louis, which would result in a near by rival as well as the sale of the run-down St. Louis Arena, which just conveniently happened to be owned by the Chicago Black Hawks ownership group at the time...

The St. Louis Arena

With the franchise now granted, the club's original owners spent several million dollars to massively renovate the arena, which included expanding it's capacity from 12,000 to 15,000 seats.

While Lynn Patrick was the original St. Louis Blues head coach, the legendary Scotty Bowman took over after a mere 16 games a roster which included veteran players Dickie Moore, leading scorer Red Berenson (51 points in 55 games after arriving in a trade) and goaltender Glenn Hall. While many of the players on the roster were NHL rookies or players with very limited NHL experience, they were not fresh-faced kids just out of juniors, but grizzled veterans with many seasons of minor league experience who were unable to crack the rosters of the Original 6 era, but who were more than capable of competing in the now 12 team NHL, some of whom would remain with the Blues for many seasons to come. Players such as Frank St. Marseille, Gary Sabourin, Barclay Plager, Noel Picard and Bob Plager.

The 1967-68 St. Louis Blues

That club would play the first game in franchise history on this date in 1967, when the Blues hosted their fellow expansion brothers the Minnesota North Stars at the arena in a game which ended in a 2-2 tie.

While the Blues had a rough early going, sinking to a 5-16-2 record, which included a 2-11 stretch in November and early December, the team came together following the coaching change to Bowman on November 20th. From December 9th to the end of January, the Blues reeled off a 13-5-6 run to climb to within 3 games of .500. Over the final two months of the campaign, the Blues won 9, lost 10 and tied 8 to finish the regular season with a 27-31-16 record for 70 points, just three back of the Philadelphia Flyers, and a spot in the playoffs.

As a way to allow the six new teams a chance to be competitive, or at least maintain the illusion of competitiveness for their fans, the six new clubs were placed together in the West Division, while the Original 6 teams comprised the East Division with the first two rounds of the playoffs conducted within one division, ensuring one of the new expansion teams a berth in the Stanley Cup finals.

The imbalance in the established clubs strength versus the six new teams was evident heading into the playoffs, as the fifth team in the East and first non-qualifyer for the playoffs, the Maple Leafs, had more points in the standings (76) than the all the teams in the West, led by Philadelphia's 73!

For whatever reason, the logic of the day dictated that the third place Blues drew the first place Flyers in the opening round, rather than the Flyers taking on the fourth place North Stars, as would be the case today. Regardless, the Blues, led by Hall's superb goaltending, shut out the Flyers at home in Game 1 by a score of 1-0. Philadelphia rebounded in Game 2 with a 4-3 win but St. Louis put the Flyers on the brink of elimination with 3-2 in overtime and 5-2 wins back at home.

The Flyers stayed alive with a dominant 6-1 back in Philadelphia and then forced a Game 7 when they defeated the Blues 2-1 in overtime in St. Louis. The Blues then eliminated the Flyers on the road 2-1 to advance to the semifinals where they would meet Minnesota.

That series would prove to be a knock-down, drag-out affair. The teams split the first two games in St. Louis, with the second one going to Minnesota in overtime. The North Stars took a 2-1 series lead before the Blues won the fourth game 4-3 in overtime to even the series at 2-2. St. Louis won 3-2 back at home in overtime followed by the North Stars holding serve at home in Game 6 by a score of 5-1. The deciding Game 7 was tied at 1-1 at the end of regulation before the Blues advanced to the Stanley Cup finals with the deciding goal at 22:50 of overtime, the fourth extra period of the seven game series.

Now forced to face the powerful Canadiens of the Original 6, the survivor of the East Division, the Blues acquitted themselves well, but fell in Game 1 3-2 in overtime and 1-0 at home before dropping Game 3 in overtime 4-3. Montreal then completed the sweep at home with a 3-2 win, bringing to an end the Blues exciting first season in the NHL. It would be the fourth game decided by a single goal thanks to the inspired play of Hall, who was praised by writer Red Burnett "A number of Hall's saves were seemingly impossible. Experts walked out of the Forum convinced no other goaltender had performed so brilliantly in a losing cause."

Glenn Hall

Today's featured jersey is a 1967-68 St. Louis Blues Gary Sabourin jersey from the Blues first season of play in the NHL. This first year Blues jersey is distinguished by the yellow waist and sleeve stripes, which would reverse colors for the playoffs and beyond.

Names were not worn on the backs of the white Blues jerseys until 1974-75. This original Blues style, albeit with the change in waist and sleeve stripes, would remain in use all the way through the 1983-84 season although the logo has stood the test of time and remains in use through today.

Today's video section begins with highlights of the 1968 Stanley Cup finals, set to some hip tunes probably better suited to surfing highlights.

Next is a better song, the one which inspired the club's name, the St Louis Blues sung by Bessie Smith.

1957-58 Chicago Black Hawks Glenn Hall Jersey

For seven seasons - day in, day out - Glenn Hall tended goal every single game, every single minute from the start of the 1955-56 season for the Detroit Red Wings and then for the Chicago Black Hawks starting with the 1957-58 season up through this date in 1962.

502 complete games in goal, 551 if you count the 49 playoff games, without ever once being pulled or given a rest - all without a wearing a mask!

In that first season of the streak, Hall was the Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year while a member of the Detroit Red Wings. Surprisingly, Hall was sent, along with the union organizing Ted Lindsay, to the Chicago Black Hawks in a trade following the season.

In 1961, Hall led the Black Hawks to the Stanley Cup Championship, their first in 22 seasons. Hall was also a first or second team All-Star six times in the seven year run, no easy feat in a then six-team league against competition from Terry Sawchuk (who took over in goal in Detroit following Hall's departure), Johnny Bower, Jacques Plante, Roger Crozier and Gump Worsley.

Perhaps the closest he came to ending the streak was a puck to the face from the Toronto Maple Leaf's Jim Pappin that knocked out the only tooth he ever lost playing hockey and earned him 30 of the 250 stitches he would accumulate during his career.

Despite the end of his consecutive games streak due to a bad back, it would not deter Hall, who would go on to win the Vezina Trophy that season for the first of three times in his career and play in over 400 more games before retiring.

Hall is also known for throwing up before games, which he "credits" to being excited to play, not nerves for fear, and pioneering the butterfly style of goaltending, where a goaltender drops to his knees and spreads his legs out in a "V" shape, rather than doing the splits or laying sideways and stacking the pads on top of each other, the common styles used at the time. Keeping himself vertical also helped keep his face farther off the ice and away from the puck.

Playing with Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull was great for games, but very hard on Hall during practices. Mikita and Hull were the original developers of the curved stick and known for their blazing slap shots. Back in those days practices were not filled with the drills of today's modern practice, plus there were no rules at the time limiting the curvature on stick blades, and the players would blast shot after shot at the goaltenders, which would dip as much as two feet on their way to the net.

Hull in particular had no qualms about firing pucks at people, including trying to fire the puck at the glass in front of the goal judge at Chicago Stadium during pregame warmups to startle him into spilling his traditional coke. The problem for Hall was his location in the net in between Hull and the goal judge, requiring the puck to rip past Hall's head just over his shoulder on it's way to the glass!

Hall was set to retire at age 35, but was taken by the St. Louis Blues in the 1967 Expansion Draft, despite having just won the Vezina trophy! A 35% raise from $35,000 to $47,500 convinced Hall to extend his career. He led the Blues to the Stanley Cup Finals three years in a row and also finally began to wear a mask.

He would capture the Conn Smythe Trophy in the 1968 playoffs, despite being on the losing end of a 4 games to none sweep at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. Each game was a one-goal victory for Montreal, with Games 1 and 3 going to overtime. Hall would also share the Vezina trophy with Jacques Plante in 1968-69.

He retired with 84 shutouts and a lifetime goals against average of 2.51. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975.

Today's featured jersey is a 1957-68 Chicago Black Hawks Glenn Hall jersey from his first season in Chicago. The crossed tomahawks and C logo was still worn over the sleeve stripes at the time before relocating up to the shoulder area for the 1960 season. The jersey also has the classic tie-neck collar used through the 1964-65 season. No names were worn on the back of the jerseys in those days, just Hall's traditional goaltender's #1.

First up in todays video section is the excellent Legends of Hockey profile on Hall.

This brief video focuses on Hall's consecutive games streak.

1967-68 St. Louis Blues Gary Sabourin Jersey

Since the demise of the Brooklyn Americans in 1942, the NHL consisted of just six member teams, commonly referred to as "The Original Six". Finally, following the success of the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball on the west coast, the idea of expanding the NHL was first brought up in 1963, partly due to concerns that the Western Hockey League was intending to operate as a major league in the near future and also in hopes of making the league more attractive to American television networks with coast-to-coast appeal.

The original discussions promoted San Francisco and Vancouver as acceptable locations with Los Angeles and St. Louis also as potential candidates in March of 1965.

In February of 1966, applications were received from groups from Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Baltimore, Buffalo and Vancouver. But not St. Louis.

In the end, franchises were awarded to Oakland (across the bay from San Francisco), Los Angeles, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and...

St. Louis!

The decision to exclude Vancouver caught many by surprise, especially those involved in the construction of the brand new Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, and angered not only the locals, but all of Canada, since the six chosen cities were all in the United States. Various reasons emerged to explain the surprise inclusion of St. Louis, despite the fact there was no formal proposal from a group representing St. Louis.

Reportedly, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens did not want to share Canadian TV revenues with a third club and support for any expansion from the Chicago Black Hawks was contingent on the creation of a team in St. Louis, which would result in a near by rival as well as the sale of the run-down St. Louis Arena, which just conveniently happened to be owned by the Chicago Black Hawks ownership group at the time...

The St. Louis Arena

With the franchise now granted, the club's original owners spent several million dollars to massively renovate the arena, which included expanding it's capacity from 12,000 to 15,000 seats.

While Lynn Patrick was the original St. Louis Blues head coach, the legendary Scotty Bowman took over after a mere 16 games a roster which included veteran players Dickie Moore, leading scorer Red Berenson (51 points in 55 games after arriving in a trade) and goaltender Glenn Hall. While many of the players on the roster were NHL rookies or players with very limited NHL experience, they were not fresh-faced kids just out of juniors, but grizzled veterans with many seasons of minor league experience who were unable to crack the rosters of the Original 6 era, but who were more than capable of competing in the now 12 team NHL, some of whom would remain with the Blues for many seasons to come. Players such as Frank St. Marseille, Gary Sabourin, Barclay Plager, Noel Picard and Bob Plager.

The 1967-68 St. Louis Blues

That club would play the first game in franchise history on this date in 1967, when the Blues hosted their fellow expansion brothers the Minnesota North Stars at the arena in a game which ended in a 2-2 tie.

While the Blues had a rough early going, sinking to a 5-16-2 record, which included a 2-11 stretch in November and early December, the team came together following the coaching change to Bowman on November 20th. From December 9th to the end of January, the Blues reeled off a 13-5-6 run to climb to within 3 games of .500. Over the final two months of the campaign, the Blues won 9, lost 10 and tied 8 to finish the regular season with a 27-31-16 record for 70 points, just three back of the Philadelphia Flyers, and a spot in the playoffs.

As a way to allow the six new teams a chance to be competitive, or at least maintain the illusion of competitiveness for their fans, the six new clubs were placed together in the West Division, while the Original 6 teams comprised the East Division with the first two rounds of the playoffs conducted within one division, ensuring one of the new expansion teams a berth in the Stanley Cup finals.

The imbalance in the established clubs strength versus the six new teams was evident heading into the playoffs, as the fifth team in the East and first non-qualifyer for the playoffs, the Maple Leafs, had more points in the standings (76) than the all the teams in the West, led by Philadelphia's 73!

For whatever reason, the logic of the day dictated that the third place Blues drew the first place Flyers in the opening round, rather than the Flyers taking on the fourth place North Stars, as would be the case today. Regardless, the Blues, led by Hall's superb goaltending, shut out the Flyers at home in Game 1 by a score of 1-0. Philadelphia rebounded in Game 2 with a 4-3 win but St. Louis put the Flyers on the brink of elimination with 3-2 in overtime and 5-2 wins back at home.

The Flyers stayed alive with a dominant 6-1 back in Philadelphia and then forced a Game 7 when they defeated the Blues 2-1 in overtime in St. Louis. The Blues then eliminated the Flyers on the road 2-1 to advance to the semifinals where they would meet Minnesota.

That series would prove to be a knock-down, drag-out affair. The teams split the first two games in St. Louis, with the second one going to Minnesota in overtime. The North Stars took a 2-1 series lead before the Blues won the fourth game 4-3 in overtime to even the series at 2-2. St. Louis won 3-2 back at home in overtime followed by the North Stars holding serve at home in Game 6 by a score of 5-1. The deciding Game 7 was tied at 1-1 at the end of regulation before the Blues advanced to the Stanley Cup finals with the deciding goal at 22:50 of overtime, the fourth extra period of the seven game series.

Now forced to face the powerful Canadiens of the Original 6, the survivor of the East Division, the Blues acquitted themselves well, but fell in Game 1 3-2 in overtime and 1-0 at home before dropping Game 3 in overtime 4-3. Montreal then completed the sweep at home with a 3-2 win, bringing to an end the Blues exciting first season in the NHL. It would be the fourth game decided by a single goal thanks to the inspired play of Hall, who was praised by writer Red Burnett "A number of Hall's saves were seemingly impossible. Experts walked out of the Forum convinced no other goaltender had performed so brilliantly in a losing cause."

Glenn Hall

Today's featured jersey is a 1967-68 St. Louis Blues Gary Sabourin jersey from the Blues first season of play in the NHL. This first year Blues jersey is distinguished by the yellow waist and sleeve stripes, which would reverse colors for the playoffs and beyond.

Names were not worn on the backs of the white Blues jerseys until 1974-75. This original Blues style, albeit with the change in waist and sleeve stripes, would remain in use all the way through the 1983-84 season although the logo has stood the test of time and remains in use through today.

Today's video section begins with highlights of the 1968 Stanley Cup finals, set to some hip tunes probably better suited to surfing highlights.

Next is a better song, the one which inspired the club's name, the St Louis Blues sung by Bessie Smith.

1957-58 Chicago Black Hawks Glenn Hall Jersey

For seven seasons - day in, day out - Glenn Hall tended goal every single game, every single minute from the start of the 1955-56 season for the Detroit Red Wings and then for the Chicago Black Hawks starting with the 1957-58 season up through this date in 1962.

502 complete games in goal, 551 if you count the 49 playoff games, without ever once being pulled or given a rest - all without a wearing a mask!

In that first season of the streak, Hall was the Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year. In 1961 he led the Black Hawks to the Stanley Cup Championship, their first in 22 seasons and to date, their last. Hall was also a first or second team All-Star six times in the seven year run, no easy feat in a then six-team league against competition from Terry Sawchuk, Johnny Bower,Jacques Plante, Roger Crozier and Gump Worsley.

Perhaps the closest he came to ending the streak was a puck to the face from the Toronto Maple Leaf's Jim Pappin that knocked out the only tooth he ever lost playing hockey and earned him 30 of the 250 stitches he would accumulate during his career.

Despite the end of his consecutive games streak due to a bad back, it would not deter Hall, who would go on to win the Vezina Trophy that season for the first of three times in his career and play in over 400 more games before retiring.

Hall is also known for throwing up before games, which he "credits" to being excited to play, not nerves for fear, and pioneering the butterfly style of goaltending, where a goaltender drops to his knees and spreads his legs out in a "V" shape, rather than doing the splits or laying sideways and stacking the pads on top of each other, the common styles used at the time. Keeping himself vertical also helped keep his face farther off the ice and away from the puck.

Playing with Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull was great for games, but very hard on Hall during practices. Mikita and Hull were the original developers of the curved stick and known for their blazing slap shots. Back in those days practices were not filled with the drills of today's modern practice, plus there were no rules at the time limiting the curvature on stick blades, and the players would blast shot after shot at the goaltenders, which would dip as much as two feet on their way to the net.

Hull in particular had no qualms about firing pucks at people, including trying to fire the puck at the glass in front of the goal judge at Chicago Stadium during pregame warmups to startle him into spilling his traditional coke. The problem for Hall was his location in the net in between Hull and the goal judge, requiring the puck to rip past Hall's head just over his shoulder on it's way to the glass!

Hall was set to retire at age 35, but was taken by the St. Louis Blues in the 1967 Expansion Draft, despite having just won the Vezina trophy! A 35% raise from $35,000 to $47,500 convinced Hall to extend his career. He led the Blues to the Stanley Cup Finals three years in a row and also finally began to wear a mask.

He would capture the Conn Smythe Trophy in the 1968 playoffs, despite being on the losing end of a 4 games to none sweep at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. Each game was a one-goal victory for Montreal, with Games 1 and 3 going to overtime. Hall would also share the Vezina trophy with Jacques Plante in 1968-69.

He retired with 84 shutouts and a lifetime goals against average of 2.51. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975.

Today's featured jersey is a 1957-68 Chicago Black Hawks Glenn Hall jersey from his first season in Chicago. The crossed tomahawks and C logo was still worn over the sleeve stripes at the time before relocating up to the shoulder area for the 1960 season. The jersey also has the classic tie-neck collar used through the 1964-65 season. No names were worn on the back of the jerseys in those days, just Hall's traditional goaltender's #1.

First up is the Legends of Hockey profile on Glenn Hall

This brief video focuses on Hall's consecutive games streak.