STAN MIKITA

'Stanislav "Stan" Mikita' (born May 20 1940) is a retired Slovak-Canadian professional ice hockey player, generally regarded as the best center of the 1960s.
Mikita was born in SokolÄe, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), as Stanislav Gvoth, but moved to Ontario, Canada, as a young boy to avoid the political troubles in the area due to Communist control. He was adopted by his aunt and uncle who gave him their surname, Mikita.

Contents
Playing Career
Retirement
Career statistics
Awards and accomplishments
Notes
See also

Playing Career


After three starring junior seasons with the St. Catharines Teepees of the Ontario Hockey Association, Mikita was promoted for good to the parent Chicago Black Hawks in 1959. In his second full season, the Hawks won their third and most recent Stanley Cup, and the young center led the league in goals in the playoffs with six.
The following season was his breakout year as a star, and centering the famed "Scooter Line" (with right wing Ken Wharram and left wingers Ab McDonald and Doug Mohns), became the most-feared center of the Sixties, and with superstar teammate Bobby Hull, the Black Hawks had the most powerful offense of the decade, generally leading the league in goals scored. Combining skilled defense and a reputation as one of the game's best faceoff men with his innovative curved stick, Mikita led the league in scoring four times in the decade, tying Bobby Hull's single-season scoring mark in 1966-67 with 97 points (a mark broken two years later by former teammate Phil Esposito and currently held by Wayne Gretzky).
In his early years, he was among the most-penalized players in the league, but he then decided to play a cleaner game and went on to win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanlike conduct twice.

Retirement


His latter years marred by chronic back injuries, Mikita finally retired during the 1980 season. Upon his retirement he had the second-highest career scoring point total of any NHL player, after Gordie Howe, and had played in the seventh most games of any player at the time.
Mikita was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 and into the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.

Career statistics


    Regular season   Playoffs
SeasonTeamLeagueGPGAPtsPIM+/-PPSHGWGPGAPtsPIM
1958-59Chicago Black HawksNHL30114 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
1959-60Chicago Black HawksNHL6781826119 -- -- -- --30112
1960-61Chicago Black HawksNHL66193453100 -- -- -- --12651121
1961-62Chicago Black HawksNHL7025527797 -- -- -- --126152119
1962-63Chicago Black HawksNHL6531457669 -- -- -- --63252
1963-64Chicago Black HawksNHL70395089146 --141073698
1964-65Chicago Black HawksNHL70285987154 --80614371053
1965-66Chicago Black HawksNHL6830487858 --111161232
1966-67Chicago Black HawksNHL7035629712 --81562242
1967-68Chicago Black HawksNHL7240478714 -313281157126
1968-69Chicago Black HawksNHL7430679752 +17732 -- -- -- -- --
1969-70Chicago Black HawksNHL7639478650 +29708846102
1970-71Chicago Black HawksNHL7424487285 +21704185131816
1971-72Chicago Black HawksNHL7426396546 +1650683144
1972-73Chicago Black HawksNHL5727568332 +3171515713208
1973-74Chicago Black HawksNHL7630508046 +246211156118
1974-75Chicago Black HawksNHL7936508648 +141206834712
1975-76Chicago Black HawksNHL4816415737 -460140004
1976-77Chicago Black HawksNHL5719304920 -961420110
1977-78Chicago Black HawksNHL7618415935 +1860243030
1978-79Chicago Black HawksNHL6519365534 +3401 -- -- -- -- --
1979-80Chicago Black HawksNHL1725712 +2000 -- -- -- -- --
22 yearsTotalsNHL139454192614671270+15912712601555991150169

Awards and accomplishments



★ Currently 24th all-time in games played, 25th in goals, 14th in assists, and 12th in points.

★ Won the Hart Memorial Trophy as most valuable player in 1967 and 1968.

★ Won the Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer in 1964, 1965, 1967 and 1968.

★ Won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1967 and 1968.

★ Named to the NHL's First All-Star Team in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967 and 1968.

★ Named to the NHL's Second All-Star Team in 1965 and 1970.

★ Played in NHL All-Star Game in 1964, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975.

★ Won the Lester Patrick Trophy in 1976.

★ The only player in NHL history to win the Hart, Art Ross, and Lady Byng trophies in the same season, doing so in consecutive seasons, in 1966-67 and 1967-68.

★ Only Alex Delvecchio and Steve Yzerman had a longer career playing for only a single team.

★ Was named to Team Canada for the 1972 Summit Series, but only played two games due to injuries.

★ Inducted into the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.

★ In 1998, he was ranked number 17 on ''The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players, making him the highest-ranked player born outside of Canada, although he was trained in Canada.

Notes



★ His name was used in ''Wayne's World'' as the name of a doughnut shop, as a parody reference to the Canadian chain Tim Hortons. A restaurant named "Stan Mikita's" and closely resembling the movie's version was opened at the Virginia amusement park Kings Dominion,And Paramounts Carowinds in Charlotte which was then owned by Paramount, in 1994. The Virginia restaurant was later converted into a Happy Days theme.

★ Reportedly the first player to ever use a curved blade on his stick and was one of the first practitioners of the slapshot.

★ In 1973, Stan teamed up with Chicago business man Irv Tiahnybik to form the American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association (AHIHA), to bring together deaf and hard-of hearing hockey players from all over the country.

★ Also known as "Stosh"

★ Is the main character in the book "My Man Stan" by Tim Wendel.

★ His daughter is married to the caddie of golfer David Toms. [1]

See also



Captain (ice hockey)

List of NHL statistical leaders

List of NHL players

List of NHL seasons

List of NHL players with 1000 points

List of NHL players with 500 goals

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