Overview
Epic battles, fatal sacrifices, and highly improbable circumstances brought the Stanley Cup to Chicago twice during the 1930s. Long overlooked, the city’s 1934 and 1938 championships evoked a sense of triumph and jubilation during the darkness and gloom of the Great Depression. By combining tales of old-time hockey with rare photos and broader elements of history, Victory on Ice recreates a near-century-old landscape, teleporting readers to a bygone era when the Blackhawks’ earliest heroes played a brutal game against bitter rivals. Many players and their families lived simple, interconnected lives in small apartments and hotels. Teammates forged a unique camaraderie during long train rides between NHL cities. Salaries were modest, and players without cars took the bus to practices and games at the cavernous and electrifying Chicago Stadium. Underworld figures, intent on fixing games, occasionally threatened players. Experience all the action and excitement in this detailed account of two unforgettable seasons, concluding with one of the greatest Cinderella stories in professional sports.
Victory on Ice was written with strong cooperation from the families of many former players and members of the Society for International Hockey Research. The book includes a foreword by retired Northwestern University Professor Emeritus Virgil C. Johnson, whose father was a defenseman on the 1938 Stanley Cup team. Chicago artist Holly Tempka created an illustrated cover in the Art Deco style of the 1930s.
Publisher: North Hill Books
Released: November 2022
ISBN: 978-0-9659128-1-5
Soft Cover
Price: USD $21.95
Pages: 262
Photos: 126
Where to Order:
Amazon:
Victory on Ice: The Chicago Blackhawks' First Stanley Cups: Greenland, Paul R.: 9780965912815: Amazon.com: Books
Barnes & Noble:
Victory on Ice: The Chicago Blackhawks' First Stanley Cups|Paperback
Bookshop.org:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/victor...s-paul-r-greenland/19028949?ean=9780965912815
About the Author
Paul Greenland (Paul Greenland – Nonfiction Author) is the author of Hockey Chicago Style—The History of the Chicago Blackhawks (Sagamore Publishing, 1995), an authorized account and one of five comprehensive histories of the team published since 1970. His essay on the Blackhawks appears in The Encyclopedia of Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2004), a project of the Newberry Library in cooperation with the Chicago Historical Society. Greenland is a member of the Society for International Hockey Research and the Chicago Writers Association. He regularly contributes business and career content to reference books from leading publishers. In 2021, Greenland jointly authored The Vault Guide to Case Interviews, Ninth Edition (Vault.com Inc.), which Forbes calls “CliffsNotes for Careers.”
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction
Author’s Notes
SECTION I: HOCKEY, CHICAGO, AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Chapter 1: Hard Knock Hockey
Chapter 2: Working Class Heroes
SECTION II: 1933–34 STANLEY CUP
Section Introduction
Chapter 3: The Great Contenders (1933–34 player bios)
Chapter 4: Chasing Silver (1933–34 regular season)
Chapter 5: That Toddlin’ Title Town (1934 Stanley Cup playoffs)
SECTION III: 1937–38 STANLEY CUP
Section Introduction
Chapter 6: The Miracle Makers (1937–38 player bios)
Chapter 7: An Umpire Shall Lead Them (1937–38 regular season)
Chapter 8: Cinderella Story (1938 Stanley Cup playoffs)
Bibliography
Introduction (excerpt)
The inspiration for this book dates back to January 27, 1992, when I placed a long-distance call to Sun City, Arizona. After a few rings, I heard a voice that had been echoing through Chicago Blackhawks history since 1928, when Harold “Mush” March became one of the team’s earliest players. When his puck-shooting days were over in 1945, after 759 games, Mush stayed on the ice for another nine years as an NHL linesman. At 83, he was still golfing three to four times per week. I was barely 20, had never interviewed anyone, or written anything for publication. Mush probably did not realize that I was just a kid, and that in the world of writers and authors, I was as unknown and green as they came.
Back then, Ed Belfour, Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick, and Steve Larmer were my heroes. Pat Foley and Dale Tallon called games from the Madhouse on Madison. The previous summer, I had started researching what eventually became Hockey Chicago Style, an authorized history of the Blackhawks. Mush was the first of more than 40 players, coaches, and officials I interviewed for that project. But it was only fitting, because his name was synonymous with firsts. Mush scored the very first goal at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931, and the goal that gave Chicago its first Stanley Cup in 1934.
When the final game was played at the Gardens in February 1999, Mush joined former Maple Leaf Red Horner, his one-time enemy, in a ceremonial puck drop, using the actual “first goal” puck from 1931. The year before he died, Mush dropped the puck for the 2000–01 season opener at United Center. Sadly, he was not there to see his old team win the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013, and 2015. Following the third victory, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman declared the Blackhawks a “dynasty.” The proclamation sparked more than a few debates but was widely accepted. Dynasty or not, a new era of NHL hockey had arrived in Chicago, defined by modern-day heroes like Corey Crawford, Patrick Kane, and Jonathan Toews.
Chicago’s recent Stanley Cup wins are fresh in the city’s collective hockey psyche. The 1961 championship, which happened six decades ago, can still be recalled by well-seasoned fans. Thanks to rekindled relationships between the team and icons like Bobby Hull and the late Stan Mikita, these greats of yesteryear became a more visible part of the United Center landscape. Their last names still appear on the backs of fans’ jerseys.
Most committed followers know the Blackhawks won Stanley Cups in 1934 and 1938, but these milestones, which happened a very long time ago—well before the “dynasty”—are seldom discussed and often overlooked. On April 14, 1994, the Blackhawks played their very last regular season game at Chicago Stadium. The cover of that night’s 72-page souvenir game program carried the tagline, “Remember the Roar,” in honor of the legendary arena. A full-page photo of the 1960–61 Stanley Cup team appears midway through the book, along with tributes to legends Tony Esposito, Glenn Hall, Bobby Hull, and Stan Mikita. An entire page is devoted to Al Secord, but photos of the 1933–34 and 1937–38 Stanley Cup teams are missing.
Their absence is unfortunate, because these early championship teams initiated the “roar” that fans were being encouraged to remember. Long before Tony “O” and Mr. Goalie made their marks as puck stoppers and the Golden Jet and Stosh became scoring legends, an earlier generation of players electrified Stadium crowds. Chicago’s early hockey milestones were attained by players who were the superstars of their day. Many were pioneers, and some were enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame, the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, and numerous Canadian provincial halls of fame.
Like life itself, hockey was different during the Blackhawks’ formative years. In a later interview, Mush recalled the early days of his career when hockey players earned meager salaries. “It was a different time,” he said, remembering a game that was slower, but also tougher, with longer shifts for players, no helmets, modest protective equipment, brutal physical play, and locker rooms that were anything but plush.
Many players and their families lived in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood, in small apartments and hotels where they did life together, celebrating birthdays, cooking meals, playing games, and watching out for each other. Some took the bus to practices and games at the Stadium. Travel between Chicago and other NHL cities involved long train rides. Camaraderie was strengthened aboard Pullman cars, where players smoked cigarettes, played cards, and engaged in practical jokes.
When I described this project to other hockey authors and researchers, more than one said the Chicago Blackhawks’ early history has never been honored very well. This did not surprise me, but it confirmed that my efforts were meaningful. So did the remembrances of the many families I connected with. Sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren of former players generously took the time to recall not just hockey accomplishments, but the kind of people their ancestors were. The photographs, scrapbook pages, telegrams, and letters they provided helped me to re-create scenes from Chicago’s golden era of hockey, which is worth remembering and celebrating.
The quest for Chicago’s first Stanley Cup unfolded against the backdrop of the World’s Fair, an exciting event that inspired millions of people to experience the latest wonders, even as the Great Depression imposed incredible suffering and hardship on the nation. Victory was achieved with legendary players like offensive powerhouse Paul Thompson, who led the Blackhawks in scoring for six consecutive seasons; defensemen Lionel “Big Train” Conacher, who later became Canada’s “Athlete of the Half Century” for his athletic prowess in multiple sports; and Chuck Gardiner, one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history. Chicago’s heart was broken when Gardiner died the summer after the 1934 victory, as did rookie forward Jack “Newsy” Leswick, whose body was recovered from a muddy Winnipeg river, less his gold Stanley Cup watch.
This book ends with coverage of the 1938 Stanley Cup finals—one of the greatest Cinderella stories in professional sports. After winning just 14 of 48 regular season games, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup under coach Bill Stewart. An NHL referee and Major League Baseball umpire by trade, Stewart was the first American to lead an NHL team to hockey’s ultimate prize. In the nets that season was “Iron Mike” Karakas, the first American-born goalie to play in the NHL. Earl Seibert, the bone-crushing “Big Dutchman,” patrolled Chicago’s blue line, striking fear in the hearts of opponents, including Boston’s notorious Eddie Shore.
By resurrecting, honoring, and preserving the Blackhawks’ first two championships, I have attempted to fill a void in the canon of sports books. Victory on Ice recreates a near-century-old landscape, taking readers beyond scores and statistics and allowing them to grasp what it was like to be a professional hockey player in Chicago during the 1930s. It is a tribute to the generation that ignited the roar that echoes through United Center today.
Epic battles, fatal sacrifices, and highly improbable circumstances brought the Stanley Cup to Chicago twice during the 1930s. Long overlooked, the city’s 1934 and 1938 championships evoked a sense of triumph and jubilation during the darkness and gloom of the Great Depression. By combining tales of old-time hockey with rare photos and broader elements of history, Victory on Ice recreates a near-century-old landscape, teleporting readers to a bygone era when the Blackhawks’ earliest heroes played a brutal game against bitter rivals. Many players and their families lived simple, interconnected lives in small apartments and hotels. Teammates forged a unique camaraderie during long train rides between NHL cities. Salaries were modest, and players without cars took the bus to practices and games at the cavernous and electrifying Chicago Stadium. Underworld figures, intent on fixing games, occasionally threatened players. Experience all the action and excitement in this detailed account of two unforgettable seasons, concluding with one of the greatest Cinderella stories in professional sports.
Victory on Ice was written with strong cooperation from the families of many former players and members of the Society for International Hockey Research. The book includes a foreword by retired Northwestern University Professor Emeritus Virgil C. Johnson, whose father was a defenseman on the 1938 Stanley Cup team. Chicago artist Holly Tempka created an illustrated cover in the Art Deco style of the 1930s.
Publisher: North Hill Books
Released: November 2022
ISBN: 978-0-9659128-1-5
Soft Cover
Price: USD $21.95
Pages: 262
Photos: 126
Where to Order:
Amazon:
Victory on Ice: The Chicago Blackhawks' First Stanley Cups: Greenland, Paul R.: 9780965912815: Amazon.com: Books
Barnes & Noble:
Victory on Ice: The Chicago Blackhawks' First Stanley Cups|Paperback
Bookshop.org:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/victor...s-paul-r-greenland/19028949?ean=9780965912815
About the Author
Paul Greenland (Paul Greenland – Nonfiction Author) is the author of Hockey Chicago Style—The History of the Chicago Blackhawks (Sagamore Publishing, 1995), an authorized account and one of five comprehensive histories of the team published since 1970. His essay on the Blackhawks appears in The Encyclopedia of Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2004), a project of the Newberry Library in cooperation with the Chicago Historical Society. Greenland is a member of the Society for International Hockey Research and the Chicago Writers Association. He regularly contributes business and career content to reference books from leading publishers. In 2021, Greenland jointly authored The Vault Guide to Case Interviews, Ninth Edition (Vault.com Inc.), which Forbes calls “CliffsNotes for Careers.”
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction
Author’s Notes
SECTION I: HOCKEY, CHICAGO, AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Chapter 1: Hard Knock Hockey
Chapter 2: Working Class Heroes
SECTION II: 1933–34 STANLEY CUP
Section Introduction
Chapter 3: The Great Contenders (1933–34 player bios)
Chapter 4: Chasing Silver (1933–34 regular season)
Chapter 5: That Toddlin’ Title Town (1934 Stanley Cup playoffs)
SECTION III: 1937–38 STANLEY CUP
Section Introduction
Chapter 6: The Miracle Makers (1937–38 player bios)
Chapter 7: An Umpire Shall Lead Them (1937–38 regular season)
Chapter 8: Cinderella Story (1938 Stanley Cup playoffs)
Bibliography
Introduction (excerpt)
The inspiration for this book dates back to January 27, 1992, when I placed a long-distance call to Sun City, Arizona. After a few rings, I heard a voice that had been echoing through Chicago Blackhawks history since 1928, when Harold “Mush” March became one of the team’s earliest players. When his puck-shooting days were over in 1945, after 759 games, Mush stayed on the ice for another nine years as an NHL linesman. At 83, he was still golfing three to four times per week. I was barely 20, had never interviewed anyone, or written anything for publication. Mush probably did not realize that I was just a kid, and that in the world of writers and authors, I was as unknown and green as they came.
Back then, Ed Belfour, Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick, and Steve Larmer were my heroes. Pat Foley and Dale Tallon called games from the Madhouse on Madison. The previous summer, I had started researching what eventually became Hockey Chicago Style, an authorized history of the Blackhawks. Mush was the first of more than 40 players, coaches, and officials I interviewed for that project. But it was only fitting, because his name was synonymous with firsts. Mush scored the very first goal at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931, and the goal that gave Chicago its first Stanley Cup in 1934.
When the final game was played at the Gardens in February 1999, Mush joined former Maple Leaf Red Horner, his one-time enemy, in a ceremonial puck drop, using the actual “first goal” puck from 1931. The year before he died, Mush dropped the puck for the 2000–01 season opener at United Center. Sadly, he was not there to see his old team win the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013, and 2015. Following the third victory, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman declared the Blackhawks a “dynasty.” The proclamation sparked more than a few debates but was widely accepted. Dynasty or not, a new era of NHL hockey had arrived in Chicago, defined by modern-day heroes like Corey Crawford, Patrick Kane, and Jonathan Toews.
Chicago’s recent Stanley Cup wins are fresh in the city’s collective hockey psyche. The 1961 championship, which happened six decades ago, can still be recalled by well-seasoned fans. Thanks to rekindled relationships between the team and icons like Bobby Hull and the late Stan Mikita, these greats of yesteryear became a more visible part of the United Center landscape. Their last names still appear on the backs of fans’ jerseys.
Most committed followers know the Blackhawks won Stanley Cups in 1934 and 1938, but these milestones, which happened a very long time ago—well before the “dynasty”—are seldom discussed and often overlooked. On April 14, 1994, the Blackhawks played their very last regular season game at Chicago Stadium. The cover of that night’s 72-page souvenir game program carried the tagline, “Remember the Roar,” in honor of the legendary arena. A full-page photo of the 1960–61 Stanley Cup team appears midway through the book, along with tributes to legends Tony Esposito, Glenn Hall, Bobby Hull, and Stan Mikita. An entire page is devoted to Al Secord, but photos of the 1933–34 and 1937–38 Stanley Cup teams are missing.
Their absence is unfortunate, because these early championship teams initiated the “roar” that fans were being encouraged to remember. Long before Tony “O” and Mr. Goalie made their marks as puck stoppers and the Golden Jet and Stosh became scoring legends, an earlier generation of players electrified Stadium crowds. Chicago’s early hockey milestones were attained by players who were the superstars of their day. Many were pioneers, and some were enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame, the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, and numerous Canadian provincial halls of fame.
Like life itself, hockey was different during the Blackhawks’ formative years. In a later interview, Mush recalled the early days of his career when hockey players earned meager salaries. “It was a different time,” he said, remembering a game that was slower, but also tougher, with longer shifts for players, no helmets, modest protective equipment, brutal physical play, and locker rooms that were anything but plush.
Many players and their families lived in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood, in small apartments and hotels where they did life together, celebrating birthdays, cooking meals, playing games, and watching out for each other. Some took the bus to practices and games at the Stadium. Travel between Chicago and other NHL cities involved long train rides. Camaraderie was strengthened aboard Pullman cars, where players smoked cigarettes, played cards, and engaged in practical jokes.
When I described this project to other hockey authors and researchers, more than one said the Chicago Blackhawks’ early history has never been honored very well. This did not surprise me, but it confirmed that my efforts were meaningful. So did the remembrances of the many families I connected with. Sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren of former players generously took the time to recall not just hockey accomplishments, but the kind of people their ancestors were. The photographs, scrapbook pages, telegrams, and letters they provided helped me to re-create scenes from Chicago’s golden era of hockey, which is worth remembering and celebrating.
The quest for Chicago’s first Stanley Cup unfolded against the backdrop of the World’s Fair, an exciting event that inspired millions of people to experience the latest wonders, even as the Great Depression imposed incredible suffering and hardship on the nation. Victory was achieved with legendary players like offensive powerhouse Paul Thompson, who led the Blackhawks in scoring for six consecutive seasons; defensemen Lionel “Big Train” Conacher, who later became Canada’s “Athlete of the Half Century” for his athletic prowess in multiple sports; and Chuck Gardiner, one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history. Chicago’s heart was broken when Gardiner died the summer after the 1934 victory, as did rookie forward Jack “Newsy” Leswick, whose body was recovered from a muddy Winnipeg river, less his gold Stanley Cup watch.
This book ends with coverage of the 1938 Stanley Cup finals—one of the greatest Cinderella stories in professional sports. After winning just 14 of 48 regular season games, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup under coach Bill Stewart. An NHL referee and Major League Baseball umpire by trade, Stewart was the first American to lead an NHL team to hockey’s ultimate prize. In the nets that season was “Iron Mike” Karakas, the first American-born goalie to play in the NHL. Earl Seibert, the bone-crushing “Big Dutchman,” patrolled Chicago’s blue line, striking fear in the hearts of opponents, including Boston’s notorious Eddie Shore.
By resurrecting, honoring, and preserving the Blackhawks’ first two championships, I have attempted to fill a void in the canon of sports books. Victory on Ice recreates a near-century-old landscape, taking readers beyond scores and statistics and allowing them to grasp what it was like to be a professional hockey player in Chicago during the 1930s. It is a tribute to the generation that ignited the roar that echoes through United Center today.
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