This Day in Hockey History – April 10, 1934 – Gardiner’s Final Game

(Photo: Chicago Tribune)

The Chicago Black Hawks joined the National Hockey League in 1926, their first players the result of a purchase of the players of the Portland Rosebuds, a team in the Western Hockey League that disbanded in 1926. They made it to the playoffs in their first season but did not qualify the next two years. During the 1929-30 season and the 1931-32 season they were knocked out in the quarterfinals. They came close to getting the Stanley Cup in 1931, as they went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final only to lose three games to two to the Montreal Canadiens. After once again not qualifying in 1933, they were back in the Stanley Cup Final in 1934.

In perhaps a bit of vindication, in 1934, the Black Hawks knocked out the Canadiens in the quarterfinals having beaten the Canadiens in total goals 4-3. Chicago then went on to eliminate the Montreal Maroons when they beat them with an impressive 6-2 total goals. During the Final, the Black Hawks stared across the ice at the Detroit Red Wings for a total of four games before a winner could be decided.

Game 4 took place in Chicago, with the Black Hawks leading the series 2-1. On April 10, the crowd of 16,500 fans watched a game where the first lines of both teams kept things busy, while the goaltenders at each end refused to allow anything in.

“The Western Canadian Black Hawks of Chicago, who struck the playoffs in full stride and hardly faltered on the way to the top, had the old Stanley Cup on display today. They won it last night by defeating Detroit Red Wings 1-0 in 30 minutes and five seconds of overtime,” reported the Star-Phoenix.

The Red Wings goaltender, Wilf Cude, gave his team every possible chance to take the win, kicking aside 53 shots. Meanwhile Black Hawks netminder Charlie Gardiner got the shutout, denying the 39 bids by Detroit.

“After more than 90 minutes of bitter, dogged hockey before a crowd of 16,500 spectatorS, [Mush] March, the littlest man on the ice, drove a waist-high shot into the net behind Wilf Cude, to give the Black Hawks a 1 to 0 victory over Detroit’s Red Wings, the old pewter cup and the world professional title,” printed The South Bend Tribune.

“The crowd cheered wildly for minutes on end, hailing Chicago’s first Stanley Cup winners until President Frank Calder of the National Hockey League presented the trophy itself to the Hawk owner, Major Frederic McLaughlin,” continued the Star-Phoenix.

For Gardiner, it was his second shutout of the playoffs and his fifth career shutout during the playoffs. It would also be his final NHL game.

The Edinburgh, Scotland native who was born in 1904, immigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba with his family in 1911. He was an original player to the Black Hawks and stood tall for them between the pipes for eight seasons.

He’d experienced a tonsil infection during the 1932-33 season, and it was because of this infection that he would continue to have problems with his health the remainder of his NHL career. In fact, during the Hawks playoff round against the Maroons, though Gardiner got his other shutout, he did so in extreme pain and battling a 102-degree (Fahrenheit) temperature. Because of the pain and temperatures, during stoppages in play, Gardiner could often be seen sagging against the net.

“During his last season, Charlie dodged about laughing between the posts, joking with the railbirds, as usual, but he was working harder than ever before. He was rewarded by the finest performance in his career, the Vezina Trophy awarded to the N.H.L.’s most valuable goalie, and the goal position on the N.H.L. all-star team for the third time in four years,” reported The Windsor Star.

Gardiner was experiencing much pain on Sunday, June 10th, and it was thought to be the result of his ongoing health issues. However on Wednesday, June 13, it was discovered he had a hemorrhage and he was taken to the hospital where he lay in a coma. He died leaving his wife of seven years, Myrtle, and a three-year-old son Bobby.

“Thousands of Winnipeg sport fans who had known Charlie from his amateur days, or in recent years at his summer-time trap-shooting, were saddened when the report of his death circulated in the city. One of the saddest was Wilf Cude, goalie who modelled his play on Gardiner’s and did so well he shared the starring honors in the 1934 Stanley Cup series, playing for Detroit Red Wings.”

“News of Chuck Gardiner’s untimely death comes as a great shock to all the hockey family as it must to the thousands of hockey fans the continent over who admired him much for his skill and more for his courage. No matter how tough the going was Chuck was always a cheery soul and a real inspiration to the team in front of him. During his years with the Chicago Black Hawks I came to know him well and to appreciate the sterling qualities which made up his character,” said NHL President Frank Calder.

Gardiner was a charter member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, inducted in 1945.

Additional Resources:

• “Blank Detroit Red Wings 1-0 in Overtime Battle,” Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), Wednesday, April 11, 1934, p. 21.
• “Hawks Capture Stanley Cup,” The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Indiana), Wednesday, April 11, 1934, Section 2, p. 2.
• “Goalie Chuck Gardiner Dies of Brain Hemorrhage,” The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario), Thursday, June 14, 1934, p. 27.