Blackhawks: When their captain scored a 21-second hat trick

The Chicago Blackhawks once had a player score a hat trick in less than 30 seconds. And none of their current superstars were even born when it happened.

On March 23, 1952, back when the Chicago Blackhawks were still the Black Hawks, what Bill Mosienko accomplished has since proven impossible to replicate. He scored three goals in 21 seconds.

In a season that saw the team finish in 6th place, when there were still only six teams involved, it may seem difficult to pull any positive. Chicago only earned 17 wins and 43 points from the 70 games they played that year. Unsurprisingly, the Blackhawks missed the post-season.

However, their captain made sure to cap the campaign off in style, as this historic game against the New York Rangers was the last scheduled match of the 1951-52 regular season.

Whether it happened during a winning year or not, there was no taking away from this remarkable achievement. Besides, no one is fixating on the season that team had when this story comes up.

It would be hard not to smile after a night like that, so no one can blame Bill for embracing all the personal glory that ran alongside the end of a lacklustre year for his Blackhawks. He’s even in the Guinness World Records with this achievement.

Scoring a hat trick is special enough, but finding a way to do it in less than half a minute seems somewhat mythical.

For instance, this past season, the Blackhawks only had two hat tricks.

The first came on December 12, 2019, when Patrick Kane scored three goals in a winning effort against the Minnesota Wild. Kane‘s first two goals alone were almost four minutes apart and he scored the third on an empty net with three seconds left in the game.

Dominik Kubalik achieved the team’s other hat trick on February 27, 2020, when the Blackhawks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning. Even though all three came in the same period, it still took him over 12 minutes (and an empty net) to earn this one.

Making Mosienko’s achievement that much more of one is the fact that he scored all of his on a net that actually had a goalie protecting it.

There have been storylines over the years that start off seeming like they could create something close to this one, but nothing really compares.

In November 2018, Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point scored the fastest hat trick in nearly 30 years. He netted all three in a span of 91 seconds. Not quick enough to catch Mosienko, though.

Still unsure of just how fast this record-setting feat really was? Consider this: Mosienko could have achieved four of his 21-second hat tricks within the one and a half minute time span that it took Point to earn his.

There were 67 hat tricks scored this past season. Even with the increased number of teams, players, and goals in this era of the game, it’s safe to say that no one will ever come close to achieving one that fast again. Bill Mosienko will hold this record forever.