Chicago Blackhawks Morning Links- Blackhawk Great Remembered

Good morning Chicago Blackhawks fans! Late Monday we found out that Chicago Blackhawks great Chico Maki had passed away. He wasn’t the first player named when talking about the Blackhawks greats when talking to my Dad, but he always would put Maki in his list.

When you look back at Maki’s career it was a great one. His first season in the NHL he was a part of the 1961 Stanley Cup Championship, and his first regular line was made up with Phil Esposito and Bobby Hull. Maki was a favorite of Hull because of his passing. Maki ranked 39th in our all-time Chicago Blackhawks greatest players list last summer, and this is what we had to say about him last summer.

"Chico Maki- 1961-1976Games-841Goals-143Assists-292Points-435Penalty Minutes-345Game Winning Goals-9PlayoffsGames-113Goals-17Assists-21Penalty Minutes-43Game Winning Goals-3Chico Maki was Ben Smith before Ben Smith was Ben Smith. Maki appeared in one game during the 1961 playoffs and his name was engraved on the Stanley Cup forever with the rest of the 61 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.Maki’s rookie season would be the 1961-62 season and he would skate with all of the great Blackhawks of that generation all the way until the mid 70’s. Maki was an unselfish player that was more grinder that flash but a great teammate to have on your roster.A great story about Maki comes from the season ending game in 1970. In the third period with the Hawks up 3 goals the Montreal Canadiens coach decided to pull his goalie to try to catch the New York Rangers for 4th place. The Hawks scored 5 empty net goals that period, with one being a puck Maki skated down the wing with and instead of scoring passed it to Bobby Hull for the goal. The next time down Hull trying to duplicated the assist gave the puck to Maki, but in Bobby Hull’s words (Maki being Maki) passed it right back to Hull for another goal.Maki’ ranks 9th in games played in Chicago Blackhawks history and ends up at #39 in our countdown for a long distinguished Blackhawks career complimenting some of the greatest Hawks to ever skate on Chicago Stadium ice."

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