Advent Day 21 - Stan Mikita

Born Stanislav Guot in Slovakia, Stan Mikita moved to Ontario as a boy and was raised by an aunt and uncle who gave him their surname. He played 22 years in the NHL, all with the Blackhawks and was one of the brightest stars in the league during the 1960's. When he retired in 1980 only Gordie Howe had scored more points.

Among Mikita's achievements the one that probably sticks out the most is the fact that in the 1966-67 season he won the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Art Ross and the Lady Byng - and also played in the All-Star game. He's the only player to ever win all three in a season. If that wasn't enough he did it again the following season. That he even won the Lady Byng is something of an achievement, the two seasons he did win it he had a total of 12 and 14 penalty minutes. Just two years before that he had 154.

Mikita is usually given credit as the first player to adopt a curved stick which he used quite well racking up 541 career goals. His only Stanley Cup came in 1961, however he played in 9 All-Star games and led the league in scoring 4 times.

His number 21 was retired by the Blackhawks in 1980, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983. In 2002 he was inducted into the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame.

More on Mikita can be found at the HHOF's Legends of Hockey page here.

His jerseys in the database can be found here.

About the jerseys: The Chicago Blackhawks have made no major changes to their uniforms for more than 50 years. They have however made small adjustments over the years. The tomahawk first appeared on their sweaters in 1955, it has been moved up and down the sleeves three or four times and has been on the shoulders since the early 1960s. The sleeve stripes have altered slightly over the years as well as the collars. The numbers first used outlines in 1973, and names appeared in the 1977-78 season when the league made them mandatory.

Stosh in action via ChicagoBlackhawks.com