Montreal Canadiens star player Johnny Gagnon was actually nicknamed "Black Cat" during his NHL playing days 1930-1940.

Virginia Cigarettes brand Black Cat was a perfect fit with Gagnon to endorse their brand.
Most Hockey players in pre war years were smokers.

NOTE
Black Cat is now a cigarette brand sold around the world named after a real black domestic cat. The cat spent hours curled up asleep in the window of Don José’s Wardour Street shop, well before the turn of the 20th century. Because the cat became such a familiar sight to the passers-by, the shop began to be known as the “black cat shop”. Don José decided to adopt the cat as part of the company's image and in 1886 it became the first trademark to be registered by Carreras. Eventually, the cat became an integral part of the design of the Black Cat pack where it appeared in a white circle surrounded by a black border.