Mike Karakas
Date of birth | December 12, 1911 |
place of birth | Aurora , Minnesota , USA |
date of death | May 2, 1992 |
Place of death | Wakefield Township , Minnesota , USA |
size | 180 cm |
Weight | 67 kg |
position | goalkeeper |
number | #1 |
Catch hand | Left |
Career stations | |
1930-1932 | Chicago shamrocks |
1932-1933 | St. Louis Flyers |
1933-1935 | Tulsa Oilers |
1935-1940 | Chicago Black Hawks |
1940 | Canadiens de Montréal |
1940-1944 | Providence Reds |
1944-1946 | Chicago Black Hawks |
1946-1947 | Providence Reds |
Michael "Mike" Karakas (born December 12, 1911 in Aurora , Minnesota , † May 2, 1992 in Wakefield Township , Minnesota) was an American ice hockey goalkeeper who played 359 games in the National Hockey League (NHL ) completed. Apart from a few missions with the Canadiens de Montréal , he spent his entire NHL career with the Chicago Black Hawks , in whose jersey he was awarded the Calder Trophy in 1936 and won the Stanley Cup in 1938 .
Karakas was the first American to establish himself as a goalkeeper in the NHL, and as a result was elected to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973, at the same time he was the first player of Greek descent in the NHL.
Career
Beginnings in the NHL
Mike Karakas began his professional career in the American Hockey Association (AHA), where he played between 1930 and 1935 for the Chicago Shamrocks , the St. Louis Flyers and the Tulsa Oilers . In the 1934/35 season he was elected to the First All-Star Team of the AHA after he had finished the regular season with a goal average of 1.75. In October 1935, he was from the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League is committed (NHL), the order to the violation of their previous regular goalkeeper Lorne Chabot responded. Thought as a substitute, Karakas won four of his first five NHL games and scored two shutouts , so that he rose to number one of the Black Hawks and Chabot was given to the Montreal Maroons . He finished his first NHL season with 21 wins from 45 games, a goal against goals of 1.85 and nine shutouts, so that he was awarded the Calder Trophy as the best rookie in the league. In the fourth year of this award, he was the first honored goalkeeper. In addition, he became the first American who was regularly used in the goalkeeper position in the NHL.
Stanley Cup and AHL
In the 1938 playoffs , Karakas won the Stanley Cup with the Black Hawks . He broke his toe in the semifinals, so he missed the first two finals. When the score was 1: 1 in the series, however, he returned to the ice with the help of a kind of self-made steel cap on his skate and won the following two games with Chicago and thus the final series.
His achievements and those of the team subsequently decreased, so that he should be given in the middle of the 1939/40 season to the Providence Reds from the American Hockey League (AHL). The goalkeeper refused, so the Black Hawks suspended him for the time being, before he was loaned to the Canadiens de Montréal a little later at the behest of league president Frank Calder . There he replaced the injured Wilf Cude in five games before he finally switched to the Reds in the AHL and promptly won the playoffs for the Calder Cup with them . Karakas spent almost three years in the AHL, briefly guarding the goal of the New Haven Eagles and the Springfield Indians , and was a member of the league's First All-Star Team and once to the Second All-Star Team .
End of career
In exchange for Hec Highton , Gordon Buttrey and $ 10,000, he finally returned to the Black Hawks in January 1944 and ran for another two and a half years for the team. During this time, the American reached another Stanley Cup final with the team, but was clearly defeated by the Canadiens de Montréal 4-0 in 1944 . The following year he was also a member of the NHL Second All-Star Team . After the season 1945/46 he rejoined the Providence Reds and let his career end there. In total, he had completed 369 NHL games, 125 of which had won and scored 31 shutouts, while at the end of his career no goalkeeper in the Black Hawks' jersey had played or won more games.
In 1973, Karakas was among the first elected members of the newly formed United States Hockey Hall of Fame . He died on May 2, 1992 of complications from a brain tumor .
Achievements and Awards
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Career statistics
Regular season | Play-offs | ||||||||||||||||||
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season | team | league | Sp | S. | N | U | Min. | GT | SO | GTS | Sp | S. | N | Min. | GT | SO | GTS | ||
1930/31 | Chicago shamrocks | AHA | 8th | 5 | 2 | 0 | 435 | 16 | 0 | 2.21 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1931/32 | Chicago shamrocks | AHA | 45 | 29 | 11 | 5 | 2624 | 65 | 9 | 1.49 | 4th | 3 | 1 | 242 | 10 | 0 | 2.48 | ||
1932/33 | St. Louis Flyers | AHA | 43 | 23 | 19th | 1 | 2702 | 85 | 5 | 1.89 | 4th | 2 | 2 | 284 | 6th | 1 | 1.27 | ||
1933/34 | Tulsa Oilers | AHA | 48 | 23 | 25th | 0 | 2918 | 110 | 7th | 2.26 | 4th | 2 | 2 | 260 | 7th | 1 | 1.62 | ||
1934/35 | Tulsa Oilers | AHA | 41 | 20th | 17th | 4th | 2640 | 77 | 4th | 1.75 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 130 | 8th | 0 | 3.69 | ||
1935/36 | Chicago Black Hawks | NHL | 48 | 21st | 19th | 8th | 2990 | 92 | 9 | 1.85 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 120 | 7th | 0 | 3.50 | ||
1936/37 | Chicago Black Hawks | NHL | 48 | 14th | 27 | 7th | 2980 | 131 | 5 | 2.64 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1937/38 | Chicago Black Hawks | NHL | 48 | 14th | 25th | 9 | 2980 | 139 | 1 | 2.80 | 8th | 6th | 2 | 525 | 15th | 2 | 1.71 | ||
1938/39 | Chicago Black Hawks | NHL | 48 | 12 | 28 | 8th | 2990 | 130 | 5 | 2.61 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1939/40 | Chicago Black Hawks | NHL | 17th | 7th | 9 | 1 | 1050 | 58 | 0 | 3.31 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1939/40 | Canadiens de Montréal | NHL | 5 | 0 | 4th | 1 | 310 | 18th | 0 | 3.48 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1939/40 | Providence Reds | AHL | 14th | 7th | 5 | 2 | 860 | 43 | 1 | 3.00 | 8th | 6th | 2 | 545 | 21st | 2 | 2.31 | ||
1940/41 | Providence Reds | AHL | 56 | 31 | 21st | 4th | 3450 | 171 | 0 | 2.97 | 4th | 1 | 3 | 279 | 13 | 0 | 2.80 | ||
1941/42 | Providence Reds | AHL | 56 | 17th | 32 | 7th | 3470 | 237 | 1 | 4.10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1941/42 | New Haven Eagles | AHL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 60 | 7th | 0 | 7.00 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1941/42 | Springfield Indians | AHL | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | 0 | 2 | 160 | 7th | 0 | 2.63 | ||
1942/43 | Providence Reds | AHL | 56 | 27 | 27 | 2 | 3430 | 216 | 2 | 3.78 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 130 | 7th | 0 | 3.23 | ||
1943/44 | Providence Reds | AHL | 24 | 6th | 15th | 3 | 1440 | 67 | 0 | 2.79 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1943/44 | Chicago Black Hawks | NHL | 26th | 12 | 9 | 5 | 1560 | 79 | 3 | 3.04 | 9 | 4th | 5 | 550 | 24 | 1 | 2.62 | ||
1944/45 | Chicago Black Hawks | NHL | 48 | 12 | 29 | 7th | 2880 | 187 | 4th | 3.90 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1945/46 | Chicago Black Hawks | NHL | 48 | 22nd | 19th | 7th | 2880 | 166 | 1 | 3.46 | 4th | 0 | 4th | 240 | 26th | 0 | 6.50 | ||
1946/47 | Providence Reds | AHL | 62 | 21st | 31 | 10 | 3720 | 266 | 0 | 4.29 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1947/48 | Providence Reds | AHL | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 120 | 7th | 0 | 3.50 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
AHA total | 185 | 100 | 74 | 10 | 11319 | 353 | 25th | 1.87 | 14th | 7th | 7th | 916 | 31 | 2 | 2.03 | ||||
AHL total | 271 | 110 | 133 | 28 | 16550 | 1014 | 4th | 3.68 | 17th | 7th | 9 | 1114 | 48 | 2 | 2.59 | ||||
NHL overall | 336 | 114 | 169 | 53 | 20620 | 1000 | 28 | 2.91 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 1435 | 72 | 3 | 3.01 |
( Legend for the goalkeeper statistics: GP or Sp = total games; W or S = wins; L or N = defeats; T or U or OT = draws or overtime or shootout defeats; min. = Minutes; SOG or SaT = shots on goal; GA or GT = goals conceded; SO = shutouts ; GAA or GTS = goals conceded ; Sv% or SVS% = catch quota ; EN = empty net goal ; 1 play-downs / relegation ; italics : statistics not complete)
Web links
- Mike Karakas in the database of the National Hockey League (English)
- Mike Karakas in the database of hockey-reference.com (English)
- Mike Karakas at legendsofhockey.net (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Rick Weegman: DECC Hall of Fame: Karakas was tough on the ice, loving off it. duluthnewstribune.com, May 11, 2015, accessed March 20, 2018 .
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Karakas, Mike |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Karakas, Michael |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American ice hockey goalkeeper |
DATE OF BIRTH | December 12, 1911 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Aurora , Minnesota , United States |
DATE OF DEATH | May 2, 1992 |
Place of death | Wakefield Township , Minnesota , United States |