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Montreal Canadiens; Hockey Institution Part 2

© Jeff Justiz

Well, when we left off, the Canadiens were bought by Leo Dandurand, which he bid $11,000 for in an auction. The '20's were the start of Montreal's great hockey dynasty. Howie Morenz and Aurel Joliat joined the team and would become hockey's first great 1-2 punch.

Joliat was coming from a bad past. Not his childhood or anything, just a bad game in Iroquois Falls. It was the championship game so a couple of gamblers approached him before the game. They offered him $500 to throw the game. So, he scored 6 goals, Iroquois Falls won, and the gamblers came looking for him. They were obviously very dumb not knowing the dressing room had two exits. Joliat never saw Iroquois Falls again. Aurel Joliat was only 130 lbs. and wore a black baseball cap whenever he played. Sometimes, while he was streaking down the ice, a player would swat at his cap and knock it off revealing his bald self. Joliat would do one of two things. Either he would humiliate the guy by scoring a goal, or he'd make sure the guy would never do it again... by two-handing his shins. Either way, you wouldn't knock off Joliat's hat again.

In 1924, the Montreal Maroons were gearing up for their inaugural season of play. Their new arena, the Montreal Forum, was nearing completion. The Canadiens, meantime, would play in the Mount Royal Arena. Unfortunately, warm weather in Montreal melted the ice, so they played in the Forum's first ever hockey game. The Canadiens beat the Toronto St. Patricks 7-1 on November 29, 1924 and it would the beginning of hockey's first and oldest shrine. In 1926, the Habs moved in full time, and hockey's greatest rivalry was born, and possibly sports'. Leafs-Habs, Rangers-Isles, Yankees-Dodgers, Lakers-Celtics, all these pale in comparison to the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Maroons. When these two met, not even the crowd was safe. Pushing, punching and 1920's swearing in two languages were all there. The Maroons folded in 1938.

Howie Morenz could possibly be the greatest player in history. Rocket Richard, Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux probably wouldn't have anything on him. Unfortunately, he never got to play a full career. On January 28, 1937, Montreal won 6-5 over Chicago. But they lost someone very valuable. Morenz was going after a puck near the boards, when Earl Seibert cut him off. Normally, especially today, you'd call it a regular check. But Morenz's skate got caught in a crack in the boards. Morenz twisted his leg and a snap was heard throughout the arena. Morenz broke his leg, and there was no way he'd play again that season. Since it was a regular check, there was no penalty. Just the mental anguish Seibert went through for the rest of his life. He killed a man. Seibert went to the hall of fame, as did Morenz. Morenz spent 6 weeks in hospital where he died of pneumonia.

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