Stan Mikita

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Mikita was born as Stanislav Guoth in Sokolče, Slovak Republic, during the brief period it was in existence as a client state of Nazi Germany. He was adopted and moved to Canada at the age of eight. He played his entire NHL career with the Black Hawks, winning the Stanley Cup in 1961 and leading the league in goals during the playoffs with six. He won the Art Ross Trophy four times, the Hart Memorial Trophy twice, and the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy four times. He was the first player to win the Hart, Lady Byng, and Art Ross in the same season (1966–67) and repeated the feat in 1967–68. Mikita recorded over 500 goals and 900 assists in nearly 1,400 games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002. His jersey number 21 was retired by the Black Hawks in 1980, though he was not the first player to receive the honor in franchise history (Glenn Hall's number 1 was retired in 1968).

In Their Own Story

In December 1967, an errant shot tore a piece off one of Mikita's ears during a game. It was stitched back on, and Mikita became one of the first players to wear a helmet full-time. The curved stick that became his trademark started by accident: his standard stick got caught in a bench door, bending the blade before he hit the ice. He soon began using a propane torch from team trainers to create a deliberate curve. That curve gave him a comparative advantage as a shooter, and the NHL eventually limited blade curvature to ½ inch in 1970. Mikita's drastic change in behavior came after a road trip when his wife told him their daughter Meg had watched a game on television and asked, 'Mommy, why does Daddy spend so much time sitting down?' The camera had just shown Mikita in the penalty box. He went on to win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanlike conduct in 1967 and 1968. In the 1972 Summit Series, Mikita played two games for Canada against the Soviet Union, both in Canada, plus two exhibition games against Sweden and Czechoslovakia. He also played several exhibition games for Czechoslovakia in summer 1967 when he visited his family in his country of origin.

Reader's Guide

Mikita's early years were marked by high penalty minutes, but he later reformed his play to win the Lady Byng Trophy. He was known for using a curved stick and was one of the first players to wear a helmet full-time. After retiring, he became a golf pro and owned a restaurant. He was a goodwill ambassador for the Blackhawks and a statue of him was raised at the United Center in 2011. He died on August 7, 2018, at age 78, and was posthumously diagnosed with stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Did You Know?

• Mikita was the first Slovak-born player to win the Stanley Cup.
• He was the sixth player in NHL history to record 1,000 points and the seventh to score 500 goals.
• Mikita co-founded the American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association in 1973.
• He appeared as himself in the 1992 film Wayne's World.