Frank Brimsek

Francis Charles "Mr. Zero" Brimsek (September 26, 1913 – November 11, 1998) was an American professional ice hockey goaltender who played ten seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks.

He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as a rookie, and the Vezina Trophy twice, and he was named to the NHL All-Star team eight times (twice on the First Team and six times on the Second Team).

Brimsek was born in Eveleth, Minnesota on September 26, 1913.

His parents were of Slovene descent.

The town of Eveleth produced at that time four other hockey players who would play in the National Hockey League (NHL): Mike Karakas, Sam LoPresti, Al Suomi and John Mariucci.

Brimsek and Karakas played on the same baseball team in high school.

Brimsek first started playing hockey when his brother, John, the second-string goalie on the Eveleth High School team, switched to defense, and Frank replaced him in the net.

Soon, Brimsek found himself spending most of his spare time playing hockey.

Unlike most of his friends who wanted to be high-scoring forwards, Brimsek never showed any desire to play any other position than goalie.

Just before every winter, Brimsek and his friends would get on a dry lot and they would practice shooting at him.

After graduating from high school, Brimsek played for the St. Cloud State Teachers College hockey team.

He also graduated from college with a machine shop student's degree.

In the fall of 1934, Brimsek was invited to the Detroit Red Wings training camp for a shot at playing in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Jack Adams, the Red Wings' coach and manager, made a bad impression on Brimsek, who felt that Adams had a habit of favoritism.

This led him to try out for another professional team, the Baltimore Orioles of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL).

Unfortunately, the Orioles cut him, and Brimsek hitchhiked back to Eveleth.

On his way back home, he had a chance meeting with the owner of the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets, John H. Harris.

The Yellow Jackets were in need of a goaltender and Harris signed Brimsek to the team.

Brimsek started playing for the Yellow Jackets in sixteen exhibition games in 1934–35; he won fourteen of them.

The next season, the Yellow Jackets joined the EAHL.

Brimsek finished with twenty wins and eight shutouts, the most by any goalie in the league.

He was named to the league's second All-Star team and awarded the George L. Davis Trophy for the lowest goals against average (GAA).

Impressed by Brimsek, Harris wanted to protect his interests in the goalie so he had the Red Wings put Brimsek on their protected list.

Harris then tried to get the Red Wings to call Brimsek up.

However, the Red Wings wanted Brimsek to first play one year for their amateur team in Pontiac, but Brimsek turned down the offer, choosing to stay with the Yellow Jackets instead.

Harris then shopped Brimsek around the NHL until he was accepted by the Boston Bruins in October 1937.

The Bruins were already well established in net with future hall-of-famer Tiny Thompson, so Brimsek was assigned to the Providence Reds of the International-American Hockey League (IAHL) for the 1937–38 season.

In his only full season with the Reds, Brimsek helped his team win the Calder Cup and he was named to the league's first All-Star team.

Brimsek started the 1938–39 season with the Reds, but he would not stay long with them.

During an NHL exhibition game, Thompson got injured and it was unlikely that he would recuperate in time for the beginning of the regular season, so the Bruins called up Brimsek.

In his NHL debut, Brimsek helped his new team defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3–2.

He played another game, a 4–1 victory against the Red Wings, before being sent back down to the Reds after Thompson recovered.

Art Ross, the Bruins' coach and general manager, had seen enough of Brimsek to consider promoting Brimsek to starting goalie with the Bruins.

Thompson was traded to the Detroit Red Wings for goaltender Normie Smith and $15,000.00 U.S. cash on November 16, 1938, and Ross brought Brimsek back from Providence.

This did not sit well with Bruins fans as Thompson was a favorite and had won the Vezina Trophy.

On December 1, 1938, in Brimsek's first game as the starting goalie, his team fell 2–0 to the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal.

He was also a member of two Stanley Cup championships (1939 and 1941).

At the time of his retirement in 1950, he held the records for most wins and shutouts recorded by an American goaltender; these records stood for 54 years and 61 years respectively.

In 1966, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, the first American goalie to be inducted; and in 1973, he was part of the inaugural class of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

In 1998, Brimsek was ranked number 67 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players, the highest ranked American goaltender.