Stan Mikita, Chicago Blackhawks’ Hall of Fame centre, reveals that he has been diagnosed with oral cancer
Chicago Blackhawk’s premier centre, Stan Mikita, announced today that he was diagnosed with oral cancer. Mikita is a member of the NHL Hall of Fame.
Mikita was born on the 20th of May 1940 and spent the entire career associated with Chicago Blackhawks. He spent a total of 22 seasons with the team during which he was able to put his hands on the Stanley Cup, once in 1961.
With the productivity level that he maintained, he managed to establish his position among some of the best Hawks’ players that the team had come across and was always a first choice in the team.
He scored a total of 541 goals during his time with the Hawks and piled up a staggering 926 assists.
It was confirmed by doctors that he is currently at stage-one of oral cancer and would be operated by the doctors, using external beam radiation, in their attempt to remove his tumours after shrinking them.
With the passage of time, he got better and better and won the Hart Memorial Award for being the most valuable player in 1968 and 1969. There were multiple times during his career that he won the Art Ross Trophy (1964, 1965, 1967 and 1968) for being the leading scorer in the league.
He also set a new benchmark for others by becoming the only player in the National Hockey League history to win the Hart, Art Ross, and Lady Byng trophies in the same season and that too in two consecutive seasons.
When the list of greatest 100 ice hockey players was established in 1998, he was given the 17th spot in the list.
The performances he bagged for Hawks during his career earned him immense respect for the rest of his life and his number 21 jersey was retired after he announced that he would no longer be playing. This means that no Hawks’ player can wear the number-21 jersey ever.
He is considered as one of the key elements in the 1961 team that won the Stanley Cup title to break a 49-year trophy-less drought.
He parted ways with NHL in 1980 as he retired but continued to work for Hawks even after his retirement. He was working in the team as an ambassador and celebrated his 71st birthday this past Friday.
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