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Blackhawks legend Mikita passes away at age 78
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Hall of Famer Stan Mikita, a two-time NHL MVP with the Chicago Blackhawks, died on Tuesday. He was 78.
Mikita, the all-time leading scorer in franchise history, had been battling a form of dementia since 2015.
“With great sorrow, the Mikita family announces that Stan passed away on Tuesday August 7, 2018, at the age of 78,” the Mikita family said in a statement distributed by the Blackhawks. “He was surrounded by his loving family whom he fiercely loved. Details of planned services will be released when they become available. We respectfully ask for privacy at this time.”
Mikita played center for the Blackhawks from 1958-80 and famously teamed with fellow star Bobby Hull in Chicago.
He won back-to-back Hart Trophies as MVP in 1966-67 and 1967-68, and he was the NHL’s leading scorer on four occasions during the 1960s. He scored 1,467 career points and ranks second in Blackhawks history with 541 goals, behind Hull.
Hull, who knew Mikita since 1955, talked about both the good side and bad side of Mikita’s death in a television interview on Tuesday.
“My very good friend and great teammate passed away,” Hull told the CBS affiliate in Chicago. “You know it’s coming but it is tough when it hits you.
“First reaction is now he’s at peace and his family now can go living because his wife was with him every waking hour that he was in hospice. He didn’t know his children, he didn’t know her, he didn’t know his grandchildren.”
Mikita was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. There is a statue of him outside the United Center.
“There are no words to describe our sadness over Stan’s passing,” Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz said in a statement. “He meant so much to the Chicago Blackhawks, to the game of hockey, and to all of Chicago. He left an imprint that will forever be etched in the hearts of fans — past, present and future. Stan made everyone he touched a better person.”
The Blackhawks went to five Stanley Cup Finals during Mikita’s career, winning the Cup in 1961.
Born in Czechslovakia, Mikita also won the Lady Byng sportsmanship award twice as well as being a nine-time All-Star.
He scored 150 points (59 goals, 91 assists) in 155 career playoff games.
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