The 1934 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings. It was the Red Wings' first appearance in the Finals, and Chicago's second, after 1931. The Black Hawks won the best-of-five series 3–1 to win their first Stanley Cup.

Paths to the Finals

Detroit defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3–2 in a best-of-five series to reach the Finals. Chicago defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4–3 and Montreal Maroons 6–2 in two game total-goals series to reach the Finals.

Game summaries

Chicago's Chuck Gardiner would limit Detroit to just two goals in Chicago's three victories, including a shutout in the final game which went to double overtime. It was Mr. Gardiner's last game as he would die of a brain hemorrhage after the season.

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1934 Stanley Cup was presented to Black Hawks captain Charlie Gardiner by NHL President Frank Calder following the Black Hawks 1–0 double overtime win over the Red Wings in game four.

The following Black Hawks players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1933–34 Chicago Black Hawks

Players

Stanley Cup engraving

• Chuck Gardiner became the only goalie to be engraved on the Stanley Cup as a Captain. In 1948 Bill Durnan of the Montreal Canadiens became the last goalie to wear the "C" as captain. In the summer of 1948, NHL changed the rules saying goaltenders can no longer serve as the captain. Only one goalie has served as captain since (Roberto Luongo with Vancouver Canucks in 2009, 2010), but he could not wear the "C".
• Canadian Johnny Gottselig was the first Russian-born player (born in Odesa, then of Russian Empire, now of Ukraine) to win the Stanley Cup. Gottselig moved to Canada with his family at a very young age.
• Lionel Conacher's name was misspelt T. Conacher instead of L. Conacher. He was the 2nd player to win the Grey Cup and Stanley Cup as a player. Lionel Conacher scored 15 points as the Toronto Argonauts defeated Edmonton Esks 23–0 to win the Grey Cup 1921. (See Joe Miller, Carl Voss, Leo Dandurand, Norman Kwong & Wayne Gretzky other persons who won both the Grey Cup and Stanley Cup.)
• Joe Starke never played in the NHL as a goalie, but his name is on the Stanley Cup. Some sources say Starke played 2 regular-season games at defence. The NHL officially says Starke did not play a game in NHL at any position.
• Chicago did not add a ring, they just used up the rest of the ring put on by the New York Rangers the prior season. When the New York Rangers won the Cup in 1933 they put 2 rings on the cup, with the first listing the members. On the second ring they included the following: "1933 Marked the seventh consecutive year in which Lester Patrick had piloted the Rangers to the National Hockey League Playoffs". Chicago did not have room to include any playoff scores.