Glenn Hall, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose streak of 502 starts as a goaltender remains an NHL record, has died. He was 94.
A spokesperson for Chicago’s NHL team confirmed the team received word of Hall’s death from his family. A league historian in touch with Hall’s son, Pat, said Hall died at a hospital in Stony Plain, Alta., on Wednesday.
Hall backstopped Chicago to the Stanley Cup in 1961 and was named the most valuable player of the playoffs in 1968 with St. Louis when the Blues reached the final before losing to Montreal.
Hall’s run of more than 500 games in net is one of the most untouchable records in sports, given how the position has changed in the decades since. Counting the postseason, Hall started 552 games in a row.
“Glenn was sturdy, dependable, and a spectacular talent in net,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “That record, set from 1955-56 to 1962-63, still stands, probably always will, and is almost unfathomable — especially when you consider he did it all without a mask.”
Nicknamed “Mr. Goalie,” Hall won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1956 when playing for the Detroit Red Wings. After two seasons, he was sent to Chicago along with legendary forward Ted Lindsay.
Hall earned two of his three Vezina Trophy honours as the league’s top goalie with Chicago, in 1963 and ’67. The Blues took him in the expansion draft when the NHL doubled from six teams to 12, and he helped them reach the final in each of their first three years of existence.
Hall was in net when Boston’s Bobby Orr scored in overtime to win the Cup for the Bruins in 1970, a goal that’s among the most famous in hockey history because of the flying through the air celebration that followed.
A native of Humboldt, Sask., Hall was a seven-time first-team NHL All-Star who had 407 wins and 84 shutouts in 906 regular-season games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975, and his No. 1 was retired by Chicago in 1988.
Hall was chosen as one of the top 100 players in the league’s first 100 years.
Chicago’s chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz called Hall an innovator and “one of the greatest and most influential goaltenders in the history of our sport and a cornerstone of our franchise.”
“We are grateful for his extraordinary contributions to hockey and to our club, and we will honour his memory today and always,” Wirtz said.
