The Muldoon Curse was believed to have prevented the Chicago Blackhawks from ever finishing in first place of the NHL standings.

The Blackhawks first season in the NHL (1926-27) was considered a moderate success for their first season. Blackhawks forwards Mickey MacKay, Dick Irvin and Babe Dye (had one of the hardest slap shots of his time) all finished near the top of the scoring race. The Hawks even made it into the playoffs but they ended up losing in the first round to the Boston Bruins.

After the series was owner, Frederic McLaughlin (team owner) decided to make a statement and he fired the head coach (Pete Muldoon). Muldoon responded to Frederic McLaughlin, “Fire me, and you’ll never finish first. I’ll put a curse on this team that will hoodoo it until the end of time.”

The alleged curse that seemed to work as Blackhawks would not capture first place until the 1966-67 season ( even though the team did win the Stanley Cup in 1934 & 1961). During that era of the NHL, finishing first place was often considered to be a similar achievement to that of winning the Cup.

Here is a scanned new spaper article about the ending of the Curse of Muldoon

After breaking the Muldoon curse, the Blackhawks seemed to have developed a new one that has made Chicago the longest Stanley Cup winning drought of any current team.  Since then they have made five appearances in the Stanley Cup finals but no luck.

However the Chicago Blackhawks finally ended their 49 year Cup drought in 2010 by capturing their first Stanley Cup since 1961 and the fourth in Blackhawks franchise history when Patrick Kane scored the dramatic Over Time winning goal in a game six win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

[Source: Wikipedia.org]

We just heard that legendary enforcer Bob Probert passed away today at age 45. In a brief statement provided by a Probert family spokesman, it was stated that Probert was on his boat Lake St. Clair with his family, including his children and in-laws, when he began experiencing serious chest pains.  By the time they reached Windsor Regional Hospital, Probert was absent of vital signs. An autopsy is planned to determine the cause of death.

In 16 NHL seasons, Probert earned 3,300 penalty minutes (fourth on the NHL’s all-time list) in 935 regular season games and participated in 233 hockey fights. He accumulated over 40 points with his first season with the Blackhawks but from then on, his points production and penalty minutes gradually decreased.

During the remainder of this time with the blackhawks While he never reached the levels of point production that he achieved while with the Detroit Red Wings however he remained a dominant physical force on the ice and continued to battle many long-term rivalries with other enforcers like Tie Domi (see high light video below). Probert saw it as his job to protect his teammates.

After the 2001–02 season, Probert was placed on waivers by Chicago. No other team picked him up so he was advised that his role with the Blackhawks would be limited, or even relegated to playing in the minor leagues again. On November 16, 2002, Probert opted to “unofficially” retire so that he could join the Blackhawks radio broadcasting team. during the 2002/03 off season, Probert officially announced his retirement.

Probert will always remain in NHL history as one of the dominant team enforcers.