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The Curse of Muldoon, named after Pete Muldoon, was a sports-related curse that supposedly prevented the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League from finishing in first place between 1927 and 1967. [1]
The Hawks' first season, 1926–27, was a moderate success, with the forward line of Mickey MacKay, Babe Dye, and Dick Irvin each finishing near the top of the league's scoring race. The Hawks lost their 1927 first-round playoff series to the Boston Bruins. Following this series, team owner Frederic McLaughlin fired head coach Pete Muldoon.
Jim Coleman, a sportswriter for The Globe and Mail wrote in 1943 that the reason for Muldoon's firing boiled down to a heated end-of-season argument with McLaughlin. As the story goes, McLaughlin felt that the Black Hawks were good enough to finish first in the American Division. Muldoon disagreed, and McLaughlin fired him. Muldoon supposedly responded, "Fire me, Major, and you'll never finish first. I'll put a curse on this team that will hoodoo it until the end of time." At the time, finishing in first place was considered to be as much of an achievement as winning the Stanley Cup. While the team would win the Stanley Cup in 1934 (defeating the Detroit Red Wings in the Finals), 1938 (defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs) and 1961 (again defeating the Red Wings), they would do so without having finished in first place either in a multi-division or a single-league format.
In 1967, the last season of the six-team NHL, the Hawks finished first, breaking the supposed Curse of Muldoon, 23 years after the death of McLaughlin. Afterward, sportswriter Jim Coleman, who first printed the story of the curse in 1943, admitted that he made the story up to break a writer's block he had as a deadline approached. [2]
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and have won six Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926. They are one of the "Original Six" NHL teams, along with the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers. Since 1995, the team has played their home games at the United Center, which they share with the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls; both teams previously played at the now-demolished Chicago Stadium.
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Charles William "The Big Bomber" Conacher Sr. was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and New York Americans in the National Hockey League. An early power forward, Conacher was nicknamed "The Big Bomber", for his size, powerful shot and goal scoring. He led the NHL five times in goals, and twice led in overall scoring. Over five seasons from 1931-32 to 1935-36 Conacher was named to three NHL First All-Star Teams and two NHL Second All-Star Teams. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2013, Charlie Conacher was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017 Conacher was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history.
Maj. Frederic McLaughlin was an American businessman and soldier. He was the first owner of the Chicago Black Hawks National Hockey League (NHL) ice hockey team.
The 1944–45 NHL season was the 28th season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 50 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in seven games versus the Detroit Red Wings.
The 1927–28 NHL season was the 11th season of the National Hockey League. Ten teams played 44 games each. This was the first full season that the Toronto club used the Toronto Maple Leafs name following ownership changes in February 1927. The New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup beating the Montreal Maroons, becoming the first NHL team based in the United States to win it.
The 1963–64 NHL season was the 47th season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 70 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs won their third consecutive Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings four games to three in the final series.
The 1965–66 NHL season was the 49th season of the National Hockey League. Six teams each played 70 games. The Montreal Canadiens won their second consecutive Stanley Cup as they defeated the Detroit Red Wings four games to two in the final series.
The 1977–78 NHL season was the 61st season of the National Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens won their third Stanley Cup in a row, defeating the Boston Bruins four games to two in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Carl Sidney "Cully" Dahlstrom was an American professional ice hockey center who played eight seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Black Hawks between 1937 and 1945. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's top rookie for the 1937–38 season and won the Stanley Cup in the same season. He played 342 career NHL games, scoring 88 goals and 118 assists for 206 points. In 1973 he was elected to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
Linton Muldoon Treacy, better known as Pete Muldoon, was a Canadian ice hockey coach. He was the coach of the Seattle Metropolitans from 1915 to 1924 and led the team to a Stanley Cup championship in 1917. Muldoon later became the first coach of the Chicago Black Hawks. He was known for reportedly putting a curse on the Black Hawks after he was fired at the end of the 1926–27 season.
The 1927–28 Chicago Black Hawks season was the team's second season of play.
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This is a complete alphabetic list of all players who won the Stanley Cup with years and total wins. The Stanley Cup was first awarded in 1893, and since 1926 it has been the championship trophy of the National Hockey League (NHL). The list includes all known players from each winning team from 1893 to 1923. Since 1924, all players whose names were actually engraved on the Stanley Cup are listed. The list also includes any player who qualified but whose name was not engraved on the Stanley Cup, and any player who did not qualify but who dressed in the playoffs.
James Alexander Coleman was a Canadian sports journalist, writer and press secretary. His journalism career began with The Winnipeg Tribune in 1931, and included tenures with The Province and The Globe and Mail. He became Canada's first national print syndication sports columnist in 1950, writing for The Canadian Press and Southam Newspapers. He also appeared as a radio sports commentator and hosted The Jim Coleman Show on CBC Television, and served as press secretary for the Ontario Jockey Club and Stampede Park in Calgary. His father was D'Alton Corry Coleman, a former journalist and later president of the Canadian Pacific Railway. While travelling about North America to sporting events as a youth with his father, Coleman developed a lifelong love of horse racing, Canadian football and ice hockey.
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