March 12, 1966

Chicago's Bobby Hull becomes the first player to score more than 50 goals in a season when his blistering 40-foot slap shot beats screened Rangers goalie Cesare Maniago early in the third period of the Blackhawks' 4-2 victory.

Four times NHL players have scored 50 goals, twice by Hull and one each by Montreal's Rocket Richard and Boom Boom Geoffrion. Hull's record-breaking goal comes in Chicago's 61st game, but it is only the 56th for the left wing, who missed five with knee injuries.

Following Hull's power-play goal, the crowd of 16,666 in Chicago Stadium explodes, giving the Golden Jet an eight-minute ovation and littering the ice with hats and other debris. After receiving congratulations from his teammates, Hull skates to where his wife is seated while photographers take pictures.

"It felt wonderful and certainly was a load off my back," Hull says later. "It was a thrill getting the goal, but the biggest thrill was that roar from the crowd."