Bill Mosienko was small, even by the standards of the NHL off the 40s and 50s. His speed, the tool that carried him through a 14-year NHL career that saw him enshrined in the hockey Hall of Fame, would probably stand up well in today’s NHL.

The 5’ 8”, 160-pounder spent his junior years in his home town of Winnipeg, was signed by the Blackhawks days before his 19th birthday and after his initial training camp was sent to the minors for some seasoning. Dividing the 1940-41 season between Kansas City and Providence, the youthful speedster joined the big team for 11 regular season games in 1941-42 and gave every indication that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with in years to come, picking up 14 points as the schedule wound down and adding a pair of goals in the postseason. On February 9th, 1942 he scored the first of his eventual 258 regular season goals, getting them not only in the same game and period but within 21 seconds of each other, a period of time that would have greater significance a decade later.

Arriving for good to begin the 1943-44 season, Mosienko and line-mates Clint Smith and Doug Bentley skated circles around their opponents, setting a new record with 219 points that season. Mosienko posted what would prove to be the biggest offensive numbers of his career, his 70 points on 32 goals and 38 assists placing him among league leaders as the Hawks made it to the finals, the closest he would come to drinking from the Stanley Cup. Despite his outstanding rookie numbers, the Calder Trophy went to Toronto’s Gus Bodnar.

Mosienko escaped the dreaded sophomore jinx, proving he was no flash in the pan, lighting the lamp 28 times in 1944-45 and assisting on 26 other occasions. While his team was a traditional cellar-dweller, Mosienko’s performances attracted enough notice that he was named to the second All-Star team in 1945. His excellent play and sportsmanship in a year he managed to avoid the penalty box entirely, earned him the Lady Byng Trophy.

Matched with both Max and Doug Bentley to start the 1945-46 season, Mosienko played alongside two other small, fast forwards. All three could skate, stickhandle, pass and score with the best of them despite their small statures. Nicknamed The Pony Line, the tiny terrors were often the only thing fans had to cheer at Chicago Stadium. Limited to only 40 games his first year with the line, Mosienko recorded 48 points and earned another second All-Star Team mention.

The NHL of the 40s and 50s featured strict positional play, with each player operating in clearly defined areas, not unlike the way players on table hockey games are limited in their movements to working their lanes. Weaving in and out at high speeds and using the entire ice surface while doing it, made the Pony Line almost impossible to check, as defenses around the league soon learned and all three were regularly among the top Chicago scorers. The NHL didn’t play All-Star games in the years that Mosienko was selected for the second team but once they began the annual extravaganzas, Mosienko was a regular feature.

He left the 1947 game on a stretcher, the result of a collision with an opposing All-Star, losing the first 20 games of the ‘47-48 campaign as a result. During the 1950 game, held at the Montreal forum, he defeated representatives of the other five teams in a race, proving what as most observers had long suspected; that he was the fastest skater in the league.

Mosie, as he was known to friends and teammates, enjoyed five years where he topped the 20-goal mark and twice got more than 30 in a season but is probably best remembered for his exploits on March 25th, 1952. The Rangers and Blackhawks met in the last game of the schedule, one that meant absolutely nothing since both clubs had been eliminated from playoff contention some time earlier, as was the case in most campaigns.

Things were going as well as possible for New York as they cruised along, taking a lead into the final period. Six minutes and nine seconds into the final stanza, Mosienko scored. He lit the lamp again at the six minute, 20 second mark and put a third goal behind netminder Lorne Anderson ten seconds after that, setting a hat trick record that has stood ever since, completing the feat in a mere 21 seconds. Joining Mosienko in immortality was Gus Bodnar, the center who assisted on all three goals, the man who beat him out for Rookie of the Year eight years earlier.

Retiring after the 1954-55 season, Mosienko left the NHL as Chicago’s top all-time scorer with 540 points. A half century later he is still in the team’s top ten. After suiting up for his hometown Winnipeg Warriors of the Western Hockey League, Mosienko hung up his skates for good but didn’t leave the game. He slipped behind the Warriors bench for a year and then became actively involved in minor hockey, both with kids and adults.

Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1965, Bill Mosienko died in 1994. A rink in Winnipeg was renamed in his honor in 1991.