ML - Michigan Avenue

2012 - Issue 8 - December 2012/January 2013

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS F ront Runners Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita celebrate after the Blackhawks' win against the New York Rangers. breaking the ice ON A LEGENDARY DECEMBER NIGHT, TWO BLACKHAWKS FORWARDS ETCHED THEIR NAMES IN HOCKEY HISTORY. BY MEG MATHIS B 10 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM obby Hull first met Stan Mikita while playing for the St. Catharines Teepees in Ontario, Canada, and they formed a kinship outside of the rink while attending school and playing recreational soccer and football. After being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, the formidable duo achieved a major milestone together on December 11, 1963, during their 6-2 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden III, where left winger Hull notched his 200th career goal and center Mikita posted his 100th. "He was always using a slap shot," says Mikita of Hull, who earned the nickname "The Golden Jet" for his speed and tenacity on the ice. "All he kept doing was yelling, 'Give me that puck! Give me that puck!' When I thought it was the correct time to give it to him, I gave it to him." Mikita also gave Hull an idea about how to improve the hockey stick: "Stan tried to break his Northland Pro and, in doing so, put a hook in it," says Hull. "When he was fooling around with the pucks waiting for a new stick, he was firing them in the net. He said, 'After practice, I'm going to call Northland and have them send me half a dozen with the hook in the blade.' I said, 'Well, have them send me a half dozen—only hook them the other way.'" (Hull is a lefty.) Unstoppable with the curved blade, Hull and Mikita were both inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, and the duo is still active today as Blackhawks ambassadors. MA

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