Kup's Chicago - Irv Kupcinet [80]
I cannot close this little love song to the Black Hawks without telling the story of a player who became a legendary figure in the history of the team, in spite of the fact that he played only one game in a Black Hawk uniform and never played in Chicago at all. His name was “English Alfie” Moore. It all happened in the 1938 Stanley Cup play-offs, which I covered as a sportswriter.
The 1938 Hawks had fought an uphill battle all season, just to stay in contention. They finished sixth in the regular-season standings. But by playing their hearts out – and with a little bit of luck – they had managed to advance to the finals in the competition for the cup that is emblematic of world professional championship. Their opponents in the final series were the Toronto Maple Leafs, who then had the most feared line in the game.
The series opened in Toronto. And it was not until the opening day that the Hawks suddenly learned what it had cost them to get there. Their goalie, Mike Karakas, had broken his toe in the last game of the semifinals against New York, but the extent of his injury had not become apparent until the morning of the opener in Toronto. Mike could not possibly play that night. And they had no other goalie!
What could they do?
Hawk Manager Bill Stewart (also a well-known major-league baseball umpire) was willing to use minor-league goalie Paul Goodman, of the Wichita team in the American Association. But Goodman couldn’t get to Toronto until the following day. So Stewart petitioned National Hockey League President Frank Calder for special permission to use New York Ranger goalie Dave Kerr in the opening game. With this, Stewart thought that everything was settled. It was almost game time when he learned that his request for Kerr had been denied, apparently after pressure had been brought by Connie Smythe of the Maple Leafs, and that another man had been assigned to tend goal for the Hawks that night – a member of the minor-league Pittsburgh Hornets, who had played higher-level hockey only as a substitute for the New York Americans. That man was “English Alfie” Moore. And Alfie, in town only to attend the game as a spectator, had spent most of the afternoon in a Toronto tavern! In his own words, he was in “no condition to play hockey” by the time he was notified of his unsolicited appointment.
About two hours before gametime, Moore was rushed from his bar stool to the stadium to dress and sober up. But he wasn’t taken to the Hawks’ dressing room. Instead he was led to a separate room, where trainers provided by the Leafs zealously gave him rubdowns and otherwise tried to restore his equilibrium, while Moore protested that he wouldn’t play because it wasn’t fair to the Black Hawks. Not unexpectedly, when Hawk Manager Stewart learned what was going on, he and Smythe began throwing punches – and only the intervention of players and the police prevented a possible double knockout.
“It’s not fair to the Hawks,” Moore kept mumbling as the teams warmed up. “They wanted Kerr. I was picked because I’m a bum.”
As the game started, it appeared that Moore’s self-appraisal might be all too correct. Before two minutes had elapsed, Toronto’s Syl Apps, Bob Davidson, and Gordon Drillon descended on him with the puck. Apps loosed a shot. Moore was barely able to stretch and make a save. Before he could regain his position, Drillon took the rebound and fired the puck past Moore into the corner of the net.
With that beginning, Toronto well might have gone on to stage a rout. But this was the spirited Black Hawk team of Doc Romnes,