# 1945–46 Chicago Black Hawks season

The 1945–46 Chicago Black Hawks season was the teams 20th season in the National Hockey League, and they were coming off a disappointing season in 1944–45, failing to qualify for the playoffs.
With Doug Bentley, Max Bentley, and Red Hamill returning to the team after World War II, the Black Hawks would set a team record by scoring 200 goals, which also led the NHL. The Hawks allowed 178, which ranked them 4th. The Hawks would finish the season with a 23–20–7 record, good for 53 points, which was their highest total since the 1934–35 season, and they would finish in 3rd place in the NHL.
Offensively, the Hawks were led by Max Bentley, who scored a team high 31 goals, and had an NHL high 61 points, while winning the Hart Trophy. Clint Smith had a solid season, registering 50 points, while Bill Mosienko would have 48. Doug Bentley missed 14 games due to injuries, but still finished with 40 points. Team captain John Mariucci would lead the Hawks defensemen with 11 points, and have a team high 58 penalty minutes.
In goal, Mike Karakas would get a majority of the action, earning a career high 22 wins, while posting a 3.46 GAA and a shutout along the way.
The 3rd seeded Hawks would face the 1st place team, the Montreal Canadiens, in a best of 7 series in the opening round of the playoffs. Montreal finished 8 points ahead of the Hawks, and had recently swept Chicago in the 1944 Stanley Cup Finals. The Canadiens once again proved to be too much for the Hawks to handle, as they blew out the Hawks in each of the 4 games they played to sweep the series.

## Season standings

National Hockey League vte :
| | | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts |
| 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 50 | 28 | 17 | 5 | 172 | 134 | +38 | 61 |
| 2 | Boston Bruins | 50 | 24 | 18 | 8 | 167 | 156 | +11 | 56 |
| 3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 50 | 23 | 20 | 7 | 200 | 178 | +22 | 53 |
| 4 | Detroit Red Wings | 50 | 20 | 20 | 10 | 146 | 159 | −13 | 50 |
| 5 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 50 | 19 | 24 | 7 | 174 | 185 | −11 | 45 |
| 6 | New York Rangers | 50 | 13 | 28 | 9 | 144 | 191 | −47 | 35 |

### Record vs. opponents

1945–46 NHL Records :
| Team | BOS | CHI | DET | MTL | NYR | TOR |
| Boston | — | 4–6 | 4–3–3 | 4–5–1 | 6–3–1 | 6–1–3 |
| Chicago | 6–4 | — | 3–4–3 | 4–5–1 | 5–2–3 | 5–5 |
| Detroit | 3–4–3 | 4–3–3 | — | 6–3–1 | 4–4–2 | 3–6–1 |
| Montreal | 5–4–1 | 5–4–1 | 3–6–1 | — | 8–1–1 | 7–2–1 |
| New York | 3–6–1 | 2–5–3 | 4–4–2 | 1–8–1 | — | 3–5–2 |
| Toronto | 1–6–3 | 5–5 | 6–3–1 | 2–7–1 | 5–3–2 | — |

## Game log
### Regular season

| # | Date | Visitor | Score | Home | Record | Pts |
| 1 | October 24 | Chicago Black Hawks | 5–4 | Boston Bruins | 1–0–0 | 2 |
| 2 | October 27 | Chicago Black Hawks | 4–8 | Montreal Canadiens | 1–1–0 | 2 |
| 3 | October 31 | New York Rangers | 1–5 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–1–0 | 4 |
| 4 | November 4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 4–7 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3–1–0 | 6 |
| 5 | November 8 | Chicago Black Hawks | 5–4 | New York Rangers | 4–1–0 | 8 |
| 6 | November 10 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–3 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 4–2–0 | 8 |
| 7 | November 11 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 3–5 | Chicago Black Hawks | 5–2–0 | 10 |
| 8 | November 15 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–5 | Detroit Red Wings | 5–3–0 | 10 |
| 9 | November 18 | Detroit Red Wings | 5–3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 5–4–0 | 10 |
| 10 | November 22 | New York Rangers | 3–3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 5–4–1 | 11 |
| 11 | November 25 | Montreal Canadiens | 1–5 | Chicago Black Hawks | 6–4–1 | 13 |
| 12 | December 1 | Chicago Black Hawks | 8–2 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 7–4–1 | 15 |
| 13 | December 2 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 5–3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 7–5–1 | 15 |
| 14 | December 5 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3–6 | Boston Bruins | 7–6–1 | 15 |
| 15 | December 9 | Boston Bruins | 3–8 | Chicago Black Hawks | 8–6–1 | 17 |
| 16 | December 13 | Chicago Black Hawks | 7–4 | New York Rangers | 9–6–1 | 19 |
| 17 | December 16 | Detroit Red Wings | 4–6 | Chicago Black Hawks | 10–6–1 | 21 |
| 18 | December 19 | Montreal Canadiens | 4–4 | Chicago Black Hawks | 10–6–2 | 22 |
| 19 | December 22 | Chicago Black Hawks | 6–4 | Detroit Red Wings | 11–6–2 | 24 |
| 20 | December 23 | Detroit Red Wings | 4–4 | Chicago Black Hawks | 11–6–3 | 25 |
| 21 | December 29 | Chicago Black Hawks | 5–4 | Montreal Canadiens | 12–6–3 | 27 |
| 22 | December 30 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–3 | New York Rangers | 12–7–3 | 27 |
| 23 | January 1 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 1–3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 13–7–3 | 29 |
| 24 | January 5 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3–0 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 14–7–3 | 31 |
| 25 | January 6 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–3 | Detroit Red Wings | 14–8–3 | 31 |
| 26 | January 12 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3–4 | Boston Bruins | 14–9–3 | 31 |
| 27 | January 13 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–3 | New York Rangers | 14–10–3 | 31 |
| 28 | January 16 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–1 | Montreal Canadiens | 15–10–3 | 33 |
| 29 | January 20 | New York Rangers | 1–9 | Chicago Black Hawks | 16–10–3 | 35 |
| 30 | January 23 | Montreal Canadiens | 2–7 | Chicago Black Hawks | 17–10–3 | 37 |
| 31 | January 26 | Chicago Black Hawks | 5–6 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 17–11–3 | 37 |
| 32 | January 27 | Boston Bruins | 1–4 | Chicago Black Hawks | 18–11–3 | 39 |
| 33 | January 30 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3–4 | Boston Bruins | 18–12–3 | 39 |
| 34 | February 3 | Boston Bruins | 1–3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 19–12–3 | 41 |
| 35 | February 6 | New York Rangers | 2–6 | Chicago Black Hawks | 20–12–3 | 43 |
| 36 | February 9 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–6 | Montreal Canadiens | 20–13–3 | 43 |
| 37 | February 10 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–2 | New York Rangers | 20–13–4 | 44 |
| 38 | February 13 | Montreal Canadiens | 5–1 | Chicago Black Hawks | 20–14–4 | 44 |
| 39 | February 16 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3–3 | Detroit Red Wings | 20–14–5 | 45 |
| 40 | February 17 | Detroit Red Wings | 2–2 | Chicago Black Hawks | 20–14–6 | 46 |
| 41 | February 20 | Boston Bruins | 3–4 | Chicago Black Hawks | 21–14–6 | 48 |
| 42 | February 24 | New York Rangers | 2–2 | Chicago Black Hawks | 21–14–7 | 49 |
| 43 | March 2 | Chicago Black Hawks | 4–9 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 21–15–7 | 49 |
| 44 | March 3 | Boston Bruins | 3–5 | Chicago Black Hawks | 22–15–7 | 51 |
| 45 | March 6 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 5–2 | Chicago Black Hawks | 22–16–7 | 51 |
| 46 | March 10 | Montreal Canadiens | 3–1 | Chicago Black Hawks | 22–17–7 | 51 |
| 47 | March 13 | Detroit Red Wings | 4–9 | Chicago Black Hawks | 23–17–7 | 53 |
| 48 | March 14 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3–7 | Detroit Red Wings | 23–18–7 | 53 |
| 49 | March 16 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3–6 | Montreal Canadiens | 23–19–7 | 53 |
| 50 | March 17 | Chicago Black Hawks | 3–5 | Boston Bruins | 23–20–7 | 53 |

### Playoffs
#### Montreal Canadiens 4, Chicago Black Hawks 0

| # | Date | Visitor | Score | Home | Record |
| 1 | March 19 | Chicago Black Hawks | 2–6 | Montreal Canadiens | 0–1 |
| 2 | March 21 | Chicago Black Hawks | 1–5 | Montreal Canadiens | 0–2 |
| 3 | March 24 | Montreal Canadiens | 8–2 | Chicago Black Hawks | 0–3 |
| 4 | March 26 | Montreal Canadiens | 7–2 | Chicago Black Hawks | 0–4 |

## Season stats
### Scoring leaders

| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Max Bentley | 47 | 31 | 30 | 61 | 6 |
| Clint Smith | 50 | 26 | 24 | 50 | 2 |
| Bill Mosienko | 40 | 18 | 30 | 48 | 12 |
| Alex Kaleta | 49 | 19 | 27 | 46 | 17 |
| Pete Horeck | 50 | 20 | 21 | 41 | 34 |

### Goaltending

| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | T | GA | SO | GAA |
| Mike Karakas | 48 | 2880 | 22 | 19 | 7 | 166 | 1 | 3.46 |
| Doug Stevenson | 2 | 120 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 6.00 |

## Playoff stats
### Scoring leaders

| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Clint Smith | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Bill Mosienko | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Hully Gee | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Doug Bentley | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Red Hamill | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 |

### Goaltending

| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | GA | SO | GAA |
| Mike Karakas | 4 | 240 | 0 | 4 | 26 | 0 | 6.50 |