Glenn Hall

Glenn "Mr Goalie" Hall was born on October 3, 1931 in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Canada. He played his minor hockey in the Western Hockey League and after a couple of short NHL stints, made the Detroit Red Wings lineup as their starting goalie in 1955, replacing the great Terry Sawchuk. Glenn Hall was first to master the butterfly style of goaltending. As a young goalie he often found himself beaten by shots through the five hole (between his legs). But he lacked strength in his arms to keep his stick on the ice so he began dropping down to his knees to stop the low shots. He worked on the butterfly through the minors and perfected it during his NHL career.

In his first full season Glenn Hall played all 70 games and led the National Hockey League with 12 shutouts and won the Calder Trophy as the league's best rookie. He would continue to stop pucks for a total of 502 straight games, a record for consecutive games played by a goalie that still stands to this day. Just as Hall was establishing himself as an NHL all-star in Detroit, he was traded in 1957 along with Ted Lindsay to the Chicago Blackhawks for John Wilson, Forbes Kennedy, William Preston and Hank Bassen. Hall played in net for the Blackhawks for five straight seasons and helped them win a Stanley Cup along the way in 1961. His consecutive games played streak came to an end in 1962 due to a strained back muscle he sustained attaching a toe strap.

In 1967 the St. Louis Blues selected Glenn Hall in the expansion draft. He helped lead the Blues all the way to the Stanley Cup finals in 1968 and won the Conn Smythe trophy as the playoff MVP even though the Blues lost to the Montreal Canadiens. Hall continued to share the goaltending duties in St Louis with Jacques Plante and retired from hockey in 1971. In 1975 he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of fame.

Here is a summary of Glenn Hall's NHL career statistics;

Year     Team                GP   Min   GA   W    L   T  SO   AVG
1952-53 Detroit Red Wings     6   360   10   4    1   1   1  1.67 
1954-55 Detroit Red Wings     2   120    2   2    0   0   0  1.00 
1955-56 Detroit Red Wings    70  4200  148  30   24  16  12  2.11
1956-57 Detroit Red Wings    70  4200  157  38   20  12   4  2.24 
1957-58 Chicago Blackhawks   70  4200  202  24   39   7   7  2.89
1958-59 Chicago Blackhawks   70  4200  208  28   29  13   1  2.97
1959-60 Chicago Blackhawks   70  4200  180  28   29  13   6  2.57
1960-61 Chicago Blackhawks   70  4200  180  29   24  17   6  2.57 
1961-62 Chicago Blackhawks   70  4200  186  31   26  13   9  2.66
1962-63 Chicago Blackhawks   66  3910  166  30   20  15   5  2.55
1963-64 Chicago Blackhawks   65  3860  148  34   19  11   7  2.30 
1964-65 Chicago Blackhawks   41  2440   99  18   17   5   4  2.43 
1965-66 Chicago Blackhawks   64  3747  164  34   21   7   4  2.63 
1966-67 Chicago Blackhawks   32  1664   66  19    5   5   2  2.38 
1967-68 St. Louis Blues      49  2858  118  19   21   9   5  2.48 
1968-69 St. Louis Blues      41  2354   85  19   12   8   8  2.17 
1969-70 St. Louis Blues      18  1010   49   7    8   3   1  2.91
1970-71 St. Louis Blues      32  1761   71  13   11   8   2  2.42 
NHL Totals                  906 53484 2239 407  326  163 84  2.51



Trophies
George Vezina Trophy - 3 (1963, 1967, 1969)
Calder Trophy - 1 (1956)
Conn Smythe Trophy - 1 (1968)


Championships
Stanley Cup - 1 (1961)

Team Pages:
Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues

Other Glenn Hall Resources