St Catharines junior hockey star Stan Mikita has passed away at the age of 78 after a lengthy illness.
He played for Teepees from 1956 to 1959.
Mikita, a nine-time all-star played his entire NHL 21-year career with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Mikita, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, led the Blackhawks (then the Black Hawks) to a Stanley Cup title in 1961 and won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player in 1967 and 1968.
He was also named to Canada's team for the 1972 Summit Series, but was limited to two games due to injury.
Mikita was born in the Slovak Republic in 1940, but moved from Czechoslovakia to St. Catharines as a young boy.
Known for using a stick with a wicked curve, Mikita had 541 goals and 926 assists over 1,394 regular-season NHL games.