He was one of the best goalies of his era, helping lead his team to the Stanley Cup.
Then, without warning, his life was cut far too short.
This is the story of Charlie Gardiner.
Charlie Gardiner was born in Scotland, the fourth of five children to John and Janet Gardiner.
When he was seven, he moved with his family to Winnipeg where his father took a job repairing rail cars. It was from his father’s work that Gardiner developed an interest in trains that would last the rest of his life.
When Gardiner was 10, the First World War erupted and two of his brothers enlisted to fight. His father also enlisted but died on May 30, 1916, before he was sent overseas. Both of his brothers survived the war, but one brother, John, was hit by a poison gas attack that left him seriously ill. He died in December 1928 from the long-term effects of that gas attack.
With his father dead and brothers away, Gardiner began to work for the J.H. Ashdown Hardware Company in 1916 to help his family with money.
While working at the hardware store, Gardiner began to play organised sports for the store’s baseball team. While he enjoyed baseball, he quickly developed a passion for hockey.
Due to not learning how to skate until later in his youth, he was too slow to play as a forward or defenceman. With no other option, he began to play goalie. Playing on the frozen ponds of Winnipeg, he developed an acrobatic style that kept him moving so his hands and feet wouldn’t become too cold.
He briefly played for the Winnipeg Victorias in the Winnipeg City League when he was 13, recording a shutout in his first game. After the team was shutout the next game, he was cut.
From 1921 to 1924, Gardiner played for the Winnipeg Tigers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.
With the team, he was easily the best player. The Winnipeg Tribune wrote of him on Dec. 20, 1923,
“Skating was fast and the fans had a rare treat in watching the performance of Charlie Gardiner in goal. His work was of sensational order throughout.”
One week later, the Winnipeg Free Press wrote of him,
“Charlie Gardiner played in tip top fashion and it was largely due to his good work that the team turned in a victory.”
In 1924-25, he joined the Selkirk Fishermen, who played in the highest amateur league in Manitoba. He immediately made the team better. The Star Weekly wrote,
“Better for the very reason that the forward line is stronger, while in Charlie Gardiner they have one of the best goaltenders in hockey today, a goalie who has outplayed Jack Langtry in Manitoba league games.”
In 18 games for the team, he posted two shutouts and had a 1.83 goals against average.
Throughout his amateur career, Gardiner took his play very seriously. When a dozen goals were scored on him in an intermediate game when he was playing for Winnipeg, he went home and cried. While with the Selkirks, after a playoff loss despite his brilliant play, he walked down back alleys so he could avoid looking any hockey fans in the eyes.
In 1927, Gardiner joined the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Chicago Tribune wrote,
“The addition of Charlie Gardiner is welcomed here, as it is well known that the veteran Hughie Lehman has had much trouble with his eyes.”
Before he could join the team, he had to get over the border and that was apparently harder than he expected.
On Nov. 7, 1927, as he was travelling to Chicago, he was held up at the border over what was called the alien labor law, which prohibited a person in Canada from contracting for employment in the United States. No one knew why Gardiner was singled out since two others that also signed got through the border no problem.
Black Hawks owner Frederick McLaughlin was furious and said,
“The cause of the ruling is a mystery to me. Baseball players, actors and hockey players have been permitted access to the United States in the past and I see no reason why the Immigration Department should desire to end this understanding.”
Before long, Gardiner was allowed across the border.
Gardiner came along at the perfect time as Lehman was in his last season of his Hall of Fame career. Once known as Old Eagle Eyes, he became a mentor to Gardiner and most of the goaltending duties went to his protégé.
Before his first NHL game, Gardiner had a bit of stage fright and became incredibly nervous about his debut. He was calmed down by his team, and he went and was showered with pucks and the team lost badly.
In his first season, 1927-28, he played in 40 out of 44 games for the team. The team was terrible, but Gardiner kept them in many games with his 2.83 goals average. The team only won or tied eight games, but three of those games was a shutout.
In 1928-29, Gardiner played in all 44 games for Chicago and was named The Goalless Wonder for having a 1.85 goals against average. The team had only seven wins and only scored 33 goals the entire season, but Gardiner had five shutouts in those seven games.
On Feb. 3, 1929, Montreal Maroons manager WJ Holmes saw Gardiner play, he offered Frederic McLaughlin, the owner of the Black Hawks, $3,500 for Gardiner. McLaughlin agreed before he was talked out of it by head coach Barney Stanley.
Despite his stellar play for the Black Hawks, many fans blamed him for the team’s poor performance. After he was booed by fans, Gardiner nearly retired but was talked out of it by his friend Duke Keats.
In 1929-30, the NHL changed the rules to allow forward passing in the offensive zone. This caused Chicago’s goals scored to rise to 117, but Gardiner’s goals against average only rose .57 to 2.42. He still recorded three shutouts.
That season, Chicago’s record improved immensely to 21 wins, 18 losses and 15 ties. The team made the playoffs after finishing second in their division but lost to the Montreal Canadiens.
In 1930-31, Chicago improved again and finished once again in second. Gardiner recorded 12 shutouts and had a 1.73 goals against average.
Gardiner was so good that that the New York Americans offered the Black Hawks $10,000, which was double Gardiner’s salary but the team refused.
He was also fearless in net. During one game, the great Howie Morenz was rushing in on a breakaway towards Gardiner. Not wanting to give Morenz and inch, Gardiner rushed out of his net and slammed into Morenz, sending him several metres down the ice, while also grabbing the puck.
In the playoffs that year, despite the heroics of Gardiner, the Black Hawks once again lost to the Canadiens.
Each summer during his NHL career, Gardiner worked with a manufacturing company he had formed with his friend W.F. Maxwell. Even with his work each summer, Gardiner was always the first person to report for training camp at the start of each season.
In 1931-32, the team slipped slightly to 18-19-11 but Gardiner still had four shutouts and a 1.85 goals against average. That season, he won the Vezina Trophy and was the first goalie who caught right-handed to win the award. The team made the playoffs but lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In 1932-33, the team finished with 16 wins and 20 losses and missed the playoffs for the first time in several seasons. Gardiner recorded five shutouts. He had developed a tonsil infection that drained his strength. He kept the infection private until he went public on Dec. 23, 1932.
On Dec. 22, 1932, he played a game in Toronto despite being extremely ill. He made 55 saves to help the Black Hawks win. His performance earned him praise from league president Frank Calder and Maple Leafs star Charlie Conacher. During that game, Gardiner was so sick that he collapsed in the dressing room in the intermission and had a severe fever. After the game, he was rushed to the hospital.
Gardiner was released from the hospital on Dec. 24, and went into the game that night between Chicago and Toronto. That night, he got a shoutout as the Black Hawks won 2-0, giving the Maple Leafs their first loss on home ice of the season to that point.
The following season, 1933-34, Gardiner’s teammates elected him as captain. Gardiner was widely respected on the team and considered one of the nicest players in the league.
During one famous incident, Gardiner was in goal in a game against Toronto and at one point he was hit in the head by a puck. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher and received 14 stitches. In the third period, the backup was hit in the head and Gardiner returned to the game with his head bandaged. By this point, the score was 10-1 for Toronto. When Toronto scored its 11th goal, a fan threw his hat on the ice. Gardiner picked up the hat, put it on his head and played the rest of the game wearing a bowler hat to the delight of fans at the game.
The team immediately improved to 20 wins and 17 losses. Gardiner had 10 shutouts and a 1.63 goals against average. That season, he earned his second Vezina Trophy.
That season in January 1934, Gardiner experienced intense pain in his throat that spread to his kidneys. When asked if he was okay, Gardiner said he just had a headache. When he woke up in the morning, he had trouble seeing with black spots in his vision.
A month later on Feb. 14, 1934, he took part in the first NHL All-Star Game, a benefit game for Ace Bailey after his career was ended by a vicious on-ice hit by Eddie Shore on Dec. 12, 1933. Playing against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the NHL All-Stars with Gardiner backstopping them lost 7-3.
In the first round, Gardiner and Chicago defeated the Montreal Canadiens in two games on total goals 4-3 to advance on to play the Montreal Maroons in the Semifinals.
Throughout the playoffs, his health was suffering. On March 29, 1934 in a playoff game against the Montreal Maroons, he led the Black Hawks to a 3-0 win but was in pain the entire game and had a fever. A doctor was on hand in the intermissions to help him.
With Gardiner in net, Chicago beat the Maroons in two games on total goals 6-2.
In the Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings, the first game went into double overtime, which Chicago won 2-1.
Chicago took the second game 4-1, but Detroit won the third game 5-2.
In the fourth game, which went to double overtime, Chicago won 1-0 to capture their first Stanley Cup. Gardiner could only play in the regulation part of the game and had to leave overtime because he was not feeling well.
In that Stanley Cup winning playoffs for Chicago, Gardiner had a 1.33 goals against average. He lost only one game that entire playoffs.
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix wrote,
“Gardiner has always wanted to play on a world championship club and who can blame him? He has been the mainstay of the Black Hawks for several seasons and, outside of a healthy pay cut two years ago, received little recognition for his services.”
Unfortunately, just as he was in his prime and likely to get a boost in salary, Gardiner’s career and life came to a sudden and abrupt end.
On June 10, 1934, Gardiner left a singing lesson and collapsed as he walked out the door. Rushed to the hospital, doctors did what they could to help him but were perplexed about his condition. He fell into a coma and never woke up.
On June 13, 1934, Gardiner died of a brain hemorrhage brought on by the throat infection he had been suffering with.
The Winnipeg Tribune wrote,
“A grim vista of death which settled over one of the greatest performers in hockey history yesterday left in its wake a gloomy shadow of mourning that spread over Winnipeg within a few hours of the calamity upon the doubtful lips of Dame Rumor. The passing of Charlie Gardiner left a city stunned with its suddenness and a multitude of Gardner’s friends, in all walks of life, shocked into a silence.”
Detroit general manager Jack Adams said that Gardiner was,
“A grand chap, one could not help but like him. He was undoubtedly the finest netminder in the league. What is more, he always played the game as a gentleman.”
One example of what made everyone like him came early in Gardiner’s career. Black Hawks coach Godfrey Matheson didn’t want Gardiner to wear himself out in training camp, so he told him to rest until the season started. To help his players practice, he got a dummy, dressed it in goalie pads and equipment with a Black Hawk uniform and had the players shoot at it for ten days.
One day he came in to find Gardiner giving the dummy a massage. Gardiner said,
“He’s been working too hard. He’s earned a rubdown.”
Gardiner’s funeral was held at the Grace United Church, the same one Gardiner married in eight years earlier, in Winnipeg. Pall bearers for the funeral included Hall of Famer Dick Irvin.
In his career, Gardiner played 316 games, winning 122 and recording 42 shutouts. He was named to the NHL First All-Star team three times and the second All-Star Team once.
In 1945, Gardiner was one of the first inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In 1998, he was named one of the greatest players in NHL history by The Hockey News.
Along with the Hall of Fame, Gardiner is a member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
In 2018, an arena in Winnipeg near his childhood home was named for him.
The Winnipeg Tribune published a poem to Charlie Gardiner on the day of his death. It read,
“They called you king, of fearless men
Who guard nets in this smashing game
They called you great, the reigning one
And rich were you in hockey’s fame.
But now tonight the distant cheers.
Echo beyond the setting sun.
In those dim halls where heroes dwell
Midst glory of a task well done.”
