Chicago lost another legend this past week, and this time it wasn’t to a trade… it was something a bit worse… death. Tony Esposito, or Tony O as he is affectionately known by, passed away at the age of 78 from pancreatic cancer.
What’s up with cancer? You’d figure they’d have a cure for it by now. It’s got to be one of the biggest causes of death across the board. That sucker creeps up all the time. There’s been too much death coming up lately around me; I guess that’s what happens when you get older… more and more people you know die. It sucks. Every day above ground is a good day.
But back to Tony O… The Hawks recently traded away Duncan Keith, and we had the discussion about where he ranks on the list of Blackhawks defensemen of all time. I never saw one better. I never saw Tony O play, but based on what I know about him, he can certainly make the case for the best Blackhawks goaltender of all time.
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Look up Hockey Reference, and the goaltender ranks in Blackhawks history… go ahead. Well, the one name you see dominating the goalie stats is Tony O. Game played, wins, saves, shutouts, minutes, goals saved above average, goalie point shares, point shares… I don’t even know what those last few mean, but it must mean he was pretty damn good. Another couple names that pop up that we haven’t mentioned is Charlie Gardner; remember him? I don’t either. He is the leader of goals against average with a 2.02; he was also the goaltender on the first Hawks Stanley Cup team ever back in 1934. Speaking of death, he died tragically at the age of 29 from a brain hemorrhage. Scott Darling leads in save percentage with 92.3%… he was key in that 2013 run. Of course the one guy that we’re missing is Glenn Hall, or Mr Goalie. Yeah, he’s got a Cup on the resume too, along with 2 Vezina trophies and 8 all star appearances. He played in 552 consecutive games counting the playoffs! 552 straight games! Wow. Is he the only one we can rank above Tony O?
These are always tough arguments; I didn’t see either of them play, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t all time. Out of the guys I saw play, it’s got to be Crow; all time Hawks goalie? I’ll let somebody else decide that, but one thing nobody can deny, is that Tony O is in that discussion. Shit, just for inventing the butterfly save that is used a lot still today, he’s an all timer. Sucks to see another legend go. RIP Tony…
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