Pete Muldoon, born Colonel Linton Treacy in 1887 in St. Mary’s, Ontario, became the inaugural coach of the Chicago Black Hawks. After playing hockey in his youth, he relocated to the West Coast in the early 1900s to pursue a boxing career, adopting the name Pete Muldoon, which he felt was more fitting for a boxer.
Despite his boxing endeavors, hockey remained Muldoon’s true passion. He began his coaching career at 27 with the Portland Rosebuds of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association during the 1914-15 season. Two years later, he moved to Seattle to coach the Seattle Metropolitans in the same league, famously guiding them to the Stanley Cup against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Metropolitans’ victory made them the first American team to ever win the Stanley Cup. Muldoon himself holds the distinction of being the youngest coach to lead a U.S. team to a Stanley Cup triumph and the first to bring the coveted trophy south of the Canadian border.
Following the closure of the Seattle franchise after the 1924 playoffs, Muldoon returned to Portland. In 1926, Major Frederick McLaughlin, owner of the newly formed Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League, acquired most of the Rosebuds’ players. Muldoon was offered the coaching position for this new team, a role he ultimately accepted and thrived in, quickly bonding with his players. His influence was significant, as eight of Chicago’s sixteen players that season eventually became coaches themselves, including the legendary Dick Irvin, who later won Stanley Cups with both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens.
Eight of Chicago’s 16 players that season eventually became coaches
However, working for McLaughlin proved challenging due to the owner’s constant interference, including suggestions and even demands on player utilization. Fourteen days before the season’s end, a frustrated Muldoon informed McLaughlin of his resignation. The franchise had achieved moderate success in its inaugural year, finishing third in its division, but Stanley Cup glory remained elusive. True to his word, Muldoon departed the team. Tragically, after returning to Seattle, he died of a heart attack in March 1929 at the age of 41.
Regarding the infamous curse, it is said that Muldoon, utterly disillusioned by McLaughlin’s constant meddling, vowed to place an Irish hex on the team, declaring they would never finish in first place in the NHL standings. While there’s ongoing debate about whether this exchange truly occurred or was merely fabricated by journalist Jim Coleman, the individuals involved are no longer alive to confirm.
Nevertheless, during the 1966-67 season, the final year of the NHL’s “Original Six” era, the Black Hawks—featuring stars like Glen Hall, Pierre Pilote, Stan Mikita, Kenny Wharram, and Bobby Hull—finally finished in first place. This achievement reportedly broke Muldoon’s supposed curse, 23 years after McLaughlin’s death. However, Chicago still fell short, losing to Toronto in the semifinals.
