1952–53 Chicago Black Hawks season

The 1952–53 Chicago Black Hawks season was the team's 27th season in the NHL, and they were coming off of two consecutive seasons of finishing in last place in the six team NHL. The Black Hawks had a record of 17–44–9 in 1951–52, missing the playoffs for the sixth straight season. In 1952–53, the Black Hawks qualified for the playoffs, losing in the first round to the Montreal Canadiens.

Off-season

In the off-season, the Black Hawks and Toronto Maple Leafs completed a trade which sent Harry Lumley to Toronto for Al Rollins, Cal Gardner and Gus Mortson. Chicago also fired head coach Ebbie Goodfellow, and replaced him with Sid Abel, who would be a player-coach. Abel would name defenceman Bill Gadsby as the new team captain.

Chicago also saw a change in ownership, as Arthur Wirtz and James D. Norris took over the struggling and near bankrupt franchise.

Regular season

The Black Hawks started the season off strong, sitting with a 10–5–3 record in their first 18 games, however, the club would fall into a slump, and went 2–7–5 in their next 14 games to fall to .500. Chicago would continue to hover around the .500 for the rest of the season, battling with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot. Going into the final weekend of the season, Chicago would earn big wins against the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers to clinch the fourth and final playoff spot, and advance to the playoffs for the first time since 1946. The Hawks finished with club records in wins with 27, and points with 69.

Offensively, the team was led by Jim McFadden, who scored a team high 23 goals and 44 points, while newly acquired Cal Gardner earned a club best 24 assists, en route to earning 35 points. Jimmy Peters would join McFadden as the only Hawks with over 20 goals and 40 points, as he scored 22 and 41 respectively. George Gee scored 18 goals and 39 points, while posting a team high 99 penalty minutes. Team captain Bill Gadsby led the defense with 22 points, while fellow blueliner Al Dewsbury scored 5 goals, and finished with 97 penalty minutes.

In goal, Al Rollins played in all 70 games, setting a team record with 27 victories, along with a solid 2.50 GAA, and 6 shutouts.

Season standings

National Hockey League^[1]
		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Detroit Red Wings	70	36	16	18	222	133	+89	90
2	Montreal Canadiens	70	28	23	19	155	148	+7	75
3	Chicago Black Hawks	70	27	28	15	169	175	−6	69
4	Boston Bruins	70	28	29	13	152	172	−20	69
5	Toronto Maple Leafs	70	27	30	13	156	167	−11	67
6	New York Rangers	70	17	37	16	152	211	−59	50

Playoffs

The Black Hawks would face the second place Montreal Canadiens in a best of seven opening round series. The Canadiens finished the year with a 28–23–19 record, earning 75 points, which was six more than the Hawks. The series opened up at the Montreal Forum, and the favored Canadiens won the series opener by a 3–1 score, then took a 2–0 series lead by winning a close second game by a 4–3 score. The series shifted to Chicago for the next two games, and the Black Hawks would respond, winning the third game in overtime to cut the series lead to 2–1, as the team won their first playoff game since 1944. The Hawks evened the series up at 2–2 with a 3–1 win in the fourth game, sending the series back to Montreal. Chicago stunned the Montreal crowd in the fifth game, defeating the Canadiens 4–2 to take a 3–2 series lead. The Canadiens, though, would shut out Chicago 3–0 in the sixth game, setting up a seventh and final game. Montreal would easily win the game, defeating the Black Hawks 4–1, putting an end to a very surprising season for the Black Hawks.

Schedule and results

Regular season

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Pts
1	October 9	Chicago Black Hawks	3–2	Montreal Canadiens	1–0–0	2
2	October 11	Chicago Black Hawks	6–2	Toronto Maple Leafs	2–0–0	4
3	October 12	New York Rangers	0–2	Chicago Black Hawks	3–0–0	6
4	October 14	Detroit Red Wings	1–1	Chicago Black Hawks	3–0–1	7
5	October 16	Chicago Black Hawks	0–7	Detroit Red Wings	3–1–1	7
6	October 19	Toronto Maple Leafs	3–2	Chicago Black Hawks	3–2–1	7
7	October 23	Montreal Canadiens	2–2	Chicago Black Hawks	3–2–2	8
8	October 26	Boston Bruins	1–1	Chicago Black Hawks	3–2–3	9
9	October 29	Chicago Black Hawks	3–1	New York Rangers	4–2–3	11
10	October 30	New York Rangers	3–8	Chicago Black Hawks	5–2–3	13
11	November 2	Boston Bruins	1–4	Chicago Black Hawks	6–2–3	15
12	November 8	Chicago Black Hawks	4–6	Montreal Canadiens	6–3–3	15
13	November 9	Chicago Black Hawks	1–4	Boston Bruins	6–4–3	15
14	November 12	Chicago Black Hawks	2–5	New York Rangers	6–5–3	15
15	November 13	New York Rangers	2–6	Chicago Black Hawks	7–5–3	17
16	November 15	Chicago Black Hawks	3–1	Toronto Maple Leafs	8–5–3	19
17	November 16	Montreal Canadiens	1–4	Chicago Black Hawks	9–5–3	21
18	November 20	Boston Bruins	1–3	Chicago Black Hawks	10–5–3	23
19	November 22	Chicago Black Hawks	1–10	Detroit Red Wings	10–6–3	23
20	November 23	Detroit Red Wings	0–3	Chicago Black Hawks	11–6–3	25
21	November 27	Toronto Maple Leafs	3–3	Chicago Black Hawks	11–6–4	26
22	November 29	Chicago Black Hawks	1–1	Montreal Canadiens	11–6–5	27
23	November 30	New York Rangers	1–1	Chicago Black Hawks	11–6–6	28
24	December 3	Chicago Black Hawks	5–3	New York Rangers	12–6–6	30
25	December 4	Chicago Black Hawks	1–5	Boston Bruins	12–7–6	30
26	December 6	Detroit Red Wings	2–0	Chicago Black Hawks	12–8–6	30
27	December 7	Toronto Maple Leafs	2–0	Chicago Black Hawks	12–9–6	30
28	December 11	Montreal Canadiens	3–2	Chicago Black Hawks	12–10–6	30
29	December 13	Chicago Black Hawks	0–3	Montreal Canadiens	12–11–6	30
30	December 14	Chicago Black Hawks	2–2	Boston Bruins	12–11–7	31
31	December 18	Boston Bruins	3–3	Chicago Black Hawks	12–11–8	32
32	December 20	Chicago Black Hawks	1–4	Toronto Maple Leafs	12–12–8	32
33	December 21	Toronto Maple Leafs	2–4	Chicago Black Hawks	13–12–8	34
34	December 25	Chicago Black Hawks	3–3	Detroit Red Wings	13–12–9	35
35	December 28	Chicago Black Hawks	6–3	New York Rangers	14–12–9	37
36	January 1	Montreal Canadiens	2–2	Chicago Black Hawks	14–12–10	38
37	January 3	Chicago Black Hawks	1–1	Toronto Maple Leafs	14–12–11	39
38	January 4	Chicago Black Hawks	3–5	Detroit Red Wings	14–13–11	39
39	January 7	Chicago Black Hawks	6–4	New York Rangers	15–13–11	41
40	January 10	Chicago Black Hawks	2–5	Montreal Canadiens	15–14–11	41
41	January 11	Chicago Black Hawks	4–2	Boston Bruins	16–14–11	43
42	January 14	Chicago Black Hawks	0–3	Toronto Maple Leafs	16–15–11	43
43	January 15	Montreal Canadiens	2–0	Chicago Black Hawks	16–16–11	43
44	January 18	New York Rangers	0–2	Chicago Black Hawks	17–16–11	45
45	January 22	Chicago Black Hawks	3–3	Boston Bruins	17–16–12	46
46	January 24	Chicago Black Hawks	5–1	Montreal Canadiens	18–16–12	48
47	January 25	Toronto Maple Leafs	4–3	Chicago Black Hawks	18–17–12	48
48	January 29	Detroit Red Wings	5–2	Chicago Black Hawks	18–18–12	48
49	January 31	Chicago Black Hawks	0–4	Detroit Red Wings	18–19–12	48
50	February 1	New York Rangers	1–0	Chicago Black Hawks	18–20–12	48
51	February 5	Chicago Black Hawks	1–4	Boston Bruins	18–21–12	48
52	February 7	Chicago Black Hawks	4–2	Toronto Maple Leafs	19–21–12	50
53	February 8	Toronto Maple Leafs	2–4	Chicago Black Hawks	20–21–12	52
54	February 12	Montreal Canadiens	3–2	Chicago Black Hawks	20–22–12	52
55	February 15	Detroit Red Wings	4–1	Chicago Black Hawks	20–23–12	52
56	February 16	Chicago Black Hawks	1–3	Detroit Red Wings	20–24–12	52
57	February 19	New York Rangers	4–2	Chicago Black Hawks	20–25–12	52
58	February 22	Boston Bruins	0–2	Chicago Black Hawks	21–25–12	54
59	February 27	Boston Bruins	0–3	Chicago Black Hawks	22–25–12	56
60	March 1	Boston Bruins	2–2	Chicago Black Hawks	22–25–13	57
61	March 4	Chicago Black Hawks	4–1	New York Rangers	23–25–13	59
62	March 5	Toronto Maple Leafs	1–3	Chicago Black Hawks	24–25–13	61
63	March 7	Chicago Black Hawks	0–1	Montreal Canadiens	24–26–13	61
64	March 8	Chicago Black Hawks	1–2	Boston Bruins	24–27–13	61
65	March 12	Montreal Canadiens	2–2	Chicago Black Hawks	24–27–14	62
66	March 14	Chicago Black Hawks	3–1	Detroit Red Wings	25–27–14	64
67	March 15	Detroit Red Wings	0–0	Chicago Black Hawks	25–27–15	65
68	March 18	Chicago Black Hawks	3–4	Toronto Maple Leafs	25–28–15	65
69	March 21	Detroit Red Wings	3–4	Chicago Black Hawks	26–28–15	67
70	March 22	Chicago Black Hawks	3–1	New York Rangers	27–28–15	69

Playoffs

Montreal Canadiens 4, Chicago Black Hawks 3

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	March 24	Chicago Black Hawks	1–3	Montreal Canadiens	0–1
2	March 26	Chicago Black Hawks	3–4	Montreal Canadiens	0–2
3	March 29	Montreal Canadiens	1–2	Chicago Black Hawks	1–2
4	March 31	Montreal Canadiens	1–3	Chicago Black Hawks	2–2
5	April 2	Chicago Black Hawks	4–2	Montreal Canadiens	3–2
6	April 4	Montreal Canadiens	3–0	Chicago Black Hawks	3–3
7	April 7	Chicago Black Hawks	1–4	Montreal Canadiens	3–4

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring leaders

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Jim McFadden	70	23	21	44	29
Jimmy Peters	69	22	19	41	16
George Gee	67	18	21	39	99
Gerry Couture	70	19	18	37	22
Bill Mosienko	65	17	20	37	8

Goaltending

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	SO	GAA
Al Rollins	70	4200	27	28	15	175	6	2.50

Playoff

Scoring leaders

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Bill Mosienko	7	4	2	6	7
Jim McFadden	7	3	0	3	4
George Gee	7	1	2	3	6
Al Dewsbury	7	1	2	3	4
Gus Mortson	7	1	1	2	6

Goaltending

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	GAA
Al Rollins	7	425	3	4	18	0	2.54

Roster

1952–53 Chicago Black Hawks

Goaltenders

1 – Al Rollins

Defensemen

2 – Gus Mortson
3 – Lee Fogolin
4 – Bill Gadsby – C
5 – Al Dewsbury
6 – Ed Kryzanowski
6 – Fred Hucul
19 – Rags Raglan
19 – Jack Price

Wingers

7 – Jimmy Peters
8 – Bill Mosienko
9 – Pete Conacher
10 – Pete Babando
10 – Vic Lynn
14 – Sid Finney
14 – Enio Sclisizzi
15 – Gerry Couture
17 – George Gee
14 – Jim McBurney ^[2]

Centers

12 – Gus Bodnar
14 – Fred Glover
16 – Cal Gardner
18 – Jim McFadden
20 – Sid Abel

GM: Bill Tobin
Coach: Sid Abel

References

↑ "1952–1953 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
↑ listed elsewhere as #18 - Impossible. McFadden, also listed as #18, team's top scorer, played all 70 games. Game program Maple Leaf Gardens, Sat.Feb.7,1953 shows a fan's handwritten notation "14 McBurney". #14 was randomly used by 'call ups', see Finney, Sclisizzi, Glover above. McBurney played just one game, scoring an assist.

Sources

Hockey-Reference
National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007

Chicago Blackhawks seasons

1920s	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30

1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40

1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50

1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60

1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70

1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80

1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90

1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00

2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10

2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

1952–53 NHL season by team

Teams	Boston Chicago Detroit Montreal New York Toronto

See also	All-Star Game 1953 Stanley Cup Finals Tansactions

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