Hatcheck: A birthday today for the incomparable Max Bentley, born this day in 1920 in Delisle, Saskatchewan. (He died in 1984, aged 63.) He’s the man on the left here, standing alongside Chicago teammates Red Hamill and brother Doug Bentley. That’s young Bill McLaughlin playing shop assistant in livery — son of the Black Hawks’ owner, Major Frederic McLaughlin. The photo comes undated but it’s annotated with a key piece of information: Hamill and the Bentley boys were getting new hats in reward for recent hat tricks. That might make it the fall of 1942. November 8, Hamill scored all the Chicago goals in a 3-3 tie with Detroit. Doug Bentley’s got three on November 19, also against the Red Wings and their goaltender, Johnny Mowers. Paul Bibeault was in the Montreal net on December 5 when Max put three past him in a 5-2 Chicago win. That was enough to lift him into a tie atop the NHL scoring chart with Lynn Patrick of the New York Rangers, each with 21 points. Doug was right behind them with 19 and indeed, when the season ended the following March, had crept ahead. There was no Art Ross Trophy then (Elmer Lach won the first one in 1948), so Doug Bentley was simply the NHL’s leading scoring champion, finishing with 73 points, just ahead of Boston’s Bill Cowley (72) and brother Max (70), followed by Patrick (61).