Chicago Blackhawks: Murray Bannerman Days Until Banner Raising

We had so much fun doing our Countdown to Faceoff series last season that we decided to do it again. In case you’re new to the series, we’ll do a roster preview as we count down the days until the Chicago Blackhawks raise their 6th Stanley Cup Banner on October 7th season opener against the New York Rangers.

The countdown hits its final day in the 30’s, and it’s a number that was last worn by Ray Emery of the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions.

Ed Belfour was the greatest Chicago Blackhawk player to ever wear #30, but today’s countdown goes to one of my favorite players and names from my childhood and that of course is Murray Bannerman.

What made Bannerman great was probably more of the call on radio and then TV by Pat Foley on nightly basis during the 1980’s, but Bannerman was the backstop of some very good Chicago Blackhawks teams in the mid 1980’s.

The other thing that made Bannerman was his old school hockey mask.

Photo: Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images

Bannerman of course never could lead the Chicago Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup Final, but none of the other #30’s could do it either. Bannerman of course isn’t the only great name on today’s list that Foley would blare out during telecasts. Alain Chevrier wore #30 in the late 80’s and although he had one great playoff run, he too couldn’t get the Blackhawks to where they wanted to be.

Here is a quick snapshot of all the other #30’s in Chicago Blackhawks franchise history.

1. Denis DeJordy-1963-1967 DeJordy played 6 seasons with the Hawks also wearing #1 during that time, he had a record in the net for the Hawks of 90-69-32.

2. Dave Dryden 1967-1969 Dryden played in 69 games for the Hawks going 21-24-8 he would move on to the Buffalo Sabres to end his NHL career.

3. Jack Norris 1969 Norris played 6 games with the Hawks going 3-3.

4. Gerry Desjardins-1970 Dejardins made a 28 game pit stop in Chicago during a 331 NHL game career. While in Chicago he scored 17 goals and 8 assists.

5. Ken Brown-1971 Brown got between the pipes once for the Blackhawks while giving up 1 goal and he didn’t receive a win or loss.

6. Gilles Meloche-1971 Meloche 788 games in the NHL going 270-351-131, the 5th round pick by the Hawks only played 2 games with the Hawks both victories before being traded to the California Golden Seals.

7. Michel Dumas-1975-1977 Dumas saw action in 8 games going 2-1 with a 3.98 Goals Against Average

8. Eddie Johnston -1978 Johnston played the last 4 games of his NHL career with the Hawks going 1-3, while his 592 NHL game career totals were 234-257-80

9. Murray Bannerman 1981-1987 Bannerman played all but 1 of his 289 games with the Blackhawks going 116-125-33. Bannerman is one my favorite players of my youth, from the great mask to all the saves he made that were announced by Pat Foley. As a kid, hearing his name on the radio meant one less puck was in the back of the net. Bannerman may not be the greatest Hawks goalie of all-time but the memories of him between the pipes will always be there.

10. Alain Chevrier 1990 Chevrier was also a great name for Pat Foley to announce, but he was only in town for parts of two seasons going 29-25-6.

11. Ed Belfour-1990-1997 Belfour is the 2nd greatest goalie in Blackhawks history, helping the Hawks to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1992. Only Tony Esposito stands ahead of Belfour in most Blackhawks All-time Goalie records. Belfour was traded to the San Jose Sharks in 1997 right before the worst stretch of seasons in Blackhawks history.

12. Mark Fitzpatrick-1998 Fitzpatrick wore #30 for one season in Blackhawks history playing in 27 contests going 6-8-6.

13. Michel Larocque-2001 Larocque played in 3 games for the Hawks going 0-2 with a 3.87 Goals Against Average.

14. Michael Leighton-2003 Leighton broke into the NHL with the Hawks appearing in 42 games going 8-21-10. Leighton re-signed with the Blackhawks this offseason and more than likely will spend the season with the Rockford Ice Hogs.

15. Adam Munro-2003-2005 Munro appeared in 17 games going 4-10-3 with a 3.30 Goals Against Average.

16. Marty Turco-2010-2011 Turco came to Chicago to replace Antti Niemi, but it didn’t work out so well and the Corey Crawford era began. Turco’s time with the Hawks went 11-11-3 with a 3.02 Goals Against Average.

17. Ray Emery 2013 Emery had a great season as Corey Crawford‘s back up but really his stats were so good he was his counterpart. Emery was 17-1-3 and it looked like there would be a goalie controversy going into the playoffs but Emery was injured right before the playoff and Crawford was great for the entire 2013 playoffs which ended with a Stanley Cup. Emery took his season and parlayed it to a big contract with the Philadelphia Flyers but Emery couldn’t win the starting job and was the backup again in the city of brotherly love.

30 Days until Banner raising night!

Next: Why The Hawks Will Repeat

Chicago Blackhawks: Murray Bannerman Days Until Banner Raising

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