The Friday Flashback: Your 1929 Chicago Black Hawks

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 4, 2008 2:00PM

In a day packed with college football bowl games, the coolest televised sporting event on New Year's Day had to be watching the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins play an NHL game outside in Buffalo, in front of over 71,000 fans. It brought the game back to its roots, played outside on frozen ponds and lakes throughout the Midwest and Canada. Now imagine that same game outside, only featuring two of the NHL's "Original Six." With the Black Hawks roaring back from the brink of irrelevance in the months after Bill Wirtz's passing, playing hockey in a sold-out Soldier Field, for example, would be the capper on an impressive resurrection.

The photo above is of Ernest "Ty" Arbour, a left wing from Waubaushene, Ontario who was the Black Hawks' third official team captain. Arbour spent four seasons with the Hawks and wore the "C" on his jersey during the 1930-31 season, his final year with the team. In 209 career NHL games, Arbour scored 28 goals and 28 assists. By all accounts, Arbour had a fairly nondescript pro career, albeit with one lasting legacy in Black Hawks lore.

SDN-069453, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.