Glenn Hall, aka ‘Mr. Goalie,’ who helped the Chicago Blackhawks win the 1961 Stanley Cup, dies at 94
Blackhawks goaltender Glenn Hall, right, makes a save against the Maple Leafs on Dec. 20, 1959, at Chicago Stadium. Hall, who backstopped the Hawks to the 1961 Stanley Cup, died Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, at age 94. (Chicago Tribune)
By Chris Kuc
PUBLISHED: January 7, 2026 at 9:23 PM CST
The nickname said it all: “Mr. Goalie.”
Glenn Hall, who backstopped the Chicago Blackhawks to the 1961 Stanley Cup and was one of the most dominant — and innovative — goaltenders in NHL history, has died. He was 94.
A league historian in touch with Hall’s son, Pat, said Hall died at a hospital Wednesday in Stony Plain, Alberta.
Born in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on Oct. 3, 1931, Hall captured just about every award a player can achieve during a Hall of Fame career that ran from 1952-71. He holds the record for consecutive games started in goal at 502 — all without wearing a mask.
Counting the postseason, Hall started 552 games in a row.
“Glenn Hall was the very definition of what all hockey goaltenders aspire to be,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “Glenn was sturdy, dependable and a spectacular talent in net. That record, set from 1955-56 to 1962-63, still stands, probably always will and is almost unfathomable.”
Named in 2017 to the 100 Greatest NHL Players list, Hall was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975 after an 18-season career for the Detroit Red Wings (1952-57), Blackhawks (1957-67) and St. Louis Blues (1967-71).
Hawks Chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz called Hall “one of the greatest and most influential goaltenders in our sport and a cornerstone of our franchise.”
“Glenn’s legacy is monumental,” Wirtz said in a statement. “His recognitions are befitting of a career defined by excellence and invention. But it was his consistency and leadership for which he was most revered.
“Glenn’s No. 1 jersey hangs proudly in the United Center rafters, a permanent tribute to this enduring impact on the Blackhawks and the game.”
A jersey worn by goaltender Glenn Hall in the late 1950s sits on display at the Blackhawks Convention on July 16, 2016 at the Hilton Chicago. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)
The Hawks retired Hall’s number in November 1988 in a pregame ceremony at Chicago Stadium.
The team paid tribute to Hall and former coach and general manager Bob Pulford with a moment of silence before Wednesday night’s game against the Blues at the United Center. Pulford died Monday.
A Hall highlight video was shown on the center-ice video board. The lights were turned off for the moment of silence, except for a spotlight on the No. 1 banner for Hall in the rafters.
Hall captured the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 1956, was an 11-time All-Star and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the 1968 postseason despite being on a Blues team that lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final.
He also is regarded as one of the inventors of the butterfly style of goaltending, later adopted by some of the greatest to play the position.
It’s for those reasons that Hall often was called “Mr. Goalie,” a moniker he embraced.
“It’s very complimentary,” Hall told the Tribune in 2016. “I do like it.”
Of his legendary work ethic, Hall said: “I worked hard to play well — playing well is not an accident. You have to prepare, you have to be ready, you have to know the opposition and you have to know how your own people are going to play.”
Throughout his career, it was rumored that Hall threw up from nerves before each game, a fact the late Hawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz supported, having witnessed it while attending games during his youth at Chicago Stadium.
“At the time, our seats were right behind the bench and there was no glass — it was just a railing,” Rocky Wirtz once told the Tribune. “You’d see him come over and the trainer would bring over an aluminum pail and Hall would come over and lean over and get sick and then go back to the net. He’d do that every game.”
Goaltender Glenn Hall, top left, protects the net against the Red Wings during the Stanley Cup Final on April 16, 1961, in Detroit. (Chicago Tribune)
Successful at each stop of his career, Hall was on top of his game with the Hawks after arriving via a trade with the Red Wings after the 1956-57 season. He was voted a first-team All-Star five times and a second-team All-Star three times during his decade with the organization. He posted a 276-229-107 record and 2.60 goals-against average in 618 regular-season games with the Hawks.
“Glenn Hall was one of the greatest goalies in the history of the game and played a major role in our winning the Stanley Cup (in ’61),” former Hawks President John McDonough said in 2017. “He is a world-class gentleman, very respectful of the game and really isn’t much for accolades whatsoever. But he is a big, big part of this franchise. A great Hall of Famer.”
Although Hall won his third Vezina Trophy — at the time awarded to the goalies on the team that allowed the fewest goals — in 1966-67, the Hawks left him unprotected in the NHL expansion draft, and the Blues pounced.
“He put us on the map there,” Scotty Bowman, Hall’s coach with the Blues, told NHL.com in 2017. “Glenn was a breed apart. Not only for what he did on the ice but for how he was in the locker room and with fans. In a class by himself.”
Hall was in net when the Boston Bruins’ Bobby Orr scored in overtime to win the Stanley Cup in 1970, a goal that’s among the most famous in hockey history because of the flying-through-the-air celebration that followed.
Hall finished with a 407-326-164 record and 2.50 GAA in 906 career games.
Fellow Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, the league’s all-time leader with 691 wins and 1,266 games played, posted a photo of the last time he saw Hall along with a remembrance of him.
“Glenn Hall was a legend, and I was a big fan of his,” Brodeur wrote on X. “He set the standard for every goaltender who followed. His toughness and consistency defined what it meant to play.”
Chris Kuc is a former Chicago Tribune sports reporter. Associated Press contributed. |
