If you were to look up "Hockey Game Changer" in an old school book of definitions, you would find an image of Stan Mikita. Mikita changed the game as much or more than anyone, and in my youth his stories were stuff of Legend, and still are. His first few years in the NHL Stan was known to be nasty, by his own admission. In his first year in the league at age 18, Mikita topped 100 penalty minutes, and did it again his second season. Quick to run his mouth, quicker to drop his gloves, he then hit 97 in year three. He had spent over five hours in the penalty box. A hefty chunk of those were misconducts. This reference image is from a black and white photo by Lee Balterman of that young fiery Mikita enjoying a smoke between periods, and it epitomizes that tough era of hockey in the early 60's. In 1965 his young daughter asked why daddy always sat by himself and never with his friends on the bench. Mikita felt terrible explaining it to her, and changed his game overnight. From that day forward he became the perfect role model on how to play the game hard, but clean. He then won consecutive Lady Byng awards for gentlemanly play, with back-to-back scoring titles and MVP honours. His peers noticed, and it changed the game. Mikita is widely credited with popularizing, if not outright inventing, the practice of curved blades. When his blade got caught in the bench door and bent like a banana, he noticed something extra on his shot. Before long, Mikita was borrowing the trainers’ propane gas torch and making blades that created slap-shots like no one had ever seen, until teammate Bobby Hull figured out how to use one. Thanks to Mikita, it changed the game. In a December 1967 game against Pittsburgh, an errant puck ripped off a chunk of Mikita's right ear. Doctors stitched the missing piece back on, so Mikita taped a steel athletic cup to the side of an earless helmet and played the next game. Thanks to Stan, a new generation of safety helmets began. A dozen years before the NHL began mandating protective headgear to new players—and much longer before saying “concussion” instead of saying “he got his bell-rung”. Stan was among the first to start wearing the new style helmet full-time. His peers noticed, and it changed the game. If I'm painting a series on Boyhood Legends, this guy is absolutely one of the first to be chosen as a subject. It's hard to find a bigger game changer, or anyone more Legendary, than Stan Mikita.