The other five teams were the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers. McLaughlin named the team after a military unit that he had been a part of during World War I.

The team was originally known as the Chicago Black Hawks but sometimes the club called itself the Blackhawks. Eventually in 1986, the club officially named itself the Blackhawks as per the original documents of the franchise. The team made the playoffs in their very first season but lost in the first round to the Boston Bruins. After that, McLaughlin fired the head coach Pete Muldoon who threatened to put a curse on the team. The “Curse of Muldoon” was thus born which apparently affected the team’s performance. The team had the worst record in the 1927 season.

In 1931, things looked up again as the Hawks reached the Stanley Cup Finals. They lost to the Montreal Canadiens. They finally tasted success in 1934 when they defeated the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup for the first time. Tragedy struck as goaltender Charlie Gardiner died of brain hemorrhage after the end of the season. The Hawks fared badly again for the next three years and in 1938 they came back to barely make the playoffs. They surprised everyone to reach the Stanley Cup Finals. They eventually won the Cup after beating the Toronto Maple Leafs. The team has the record for winning the Stanley Cup after posting the poorest regular season record.

The Blackhawks reached the Finals again in 1944 but lost to the Canadiens again. Frederic McLaughlin died in 1944 and the team was sold to Bill Tobin. He was however working for the Red Wings owner James E. Norris and so Chicago was ignored for a few years after that. In 1952, Norris’ son James D. Norris along with Arthur Wirtz bought and rebuilt the club. In 1961, they faced the Montreal Canadiens in the semifinals and beat them to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. They defeated the Detroit Red Wings to win their third and last Stanley Cup till date.

The Blackhawks continued to be in contention for the cup over the next few years but never managed to win it again. In the 1980’s and 1990’s they won a few Division Championships and a Conference Championship in 1992.

They retired a few jersey numbers including Bobby Hull 9, Denis Savard 18, Glenn Hall 1, Stan Mikita 21 and Tony Esposito 35.