Montreal Canadiens; Hockey Institution Part 2
Author: Jeff JustizPublished on: Jul 6, 1998
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.
They say Morenz was the first ghost of the forum. On March 11, 1937, is open coffin was rested at centre ice. The Forum was packed as much as could be. Thousands upon thousands showed up for the funeral. Flowers were lined everywhere in the arena. Many flowers were arranged to make 7s. A couple of sticks were made too, one by the man who made Howie's sticks, the other by a group of seven Boston fans known as the "boys in the balcony" after their seats in the Boston Garden. An incident in 1979 made people really think that the Forum was haunted. In a playoff game in which the Habs took the Bruins to game 7, the Bruins were leading 4-3 very late in the game, and Don Cherry made sure to keep Lafleur off the scoreboard. Cherry got called for too many men on the ice, and Lafleur scored on the power play. The Habs won 5-4 in overtime. Some people credit the ghost of Howie Morenz for the win. Hey, they credit Babe Ruth for causing Bill Buckner to miss the ball in the 1986 World Series. But Howie did it first. The sad thing was Earl Seibert never recovered either. And hockey players and fans alike helped. He was hated by Montreal fans after that. In 1990, when he died of cancer, not a single representative of the NHL, past or present, attended the funeral.
The Habs suffered two losses in the 1930's. Babe Siebert drowned in Lake Huron on August 25, 1939. His wife was an invalid, and the money he made was gone after medical expenses and food. He cooked and cleaned and cared when he was there, and on road trips, the neighbours would do it. With their provider and caregiver gone, the Sieberts were in trouble. NHLers helped out by playing a benefit all-star game where they raised $10,000 for the widow and her children.
After the tragedies of the 30's, things could only get better for the Habs. 1942 was Rocket Richard's rookie year. In 1943-1944, the Habs won all 25 games at home, finishing 38-5-7 in the standings and winning the Stanley Cup. The next year, they lost only 2 at home, finished 38-8-4, but the Leafs won the Cup. One of the greatest performances in NHL history occured on March 23, 1944. The Habs played the Leafs in the playoffs at home. Richard picked up a hattrick in the second period and added another 2 goals in the third. The first goal was kinda illegal. Bob Davidson of Toronto was supposed to check Richard. He had the Rocket pinned up against the boards. Then a fan reached over the glass and pulled the stick right out of his hand. While he tried to get it back, Richard pulled out and scored. Hall of fame writer, Elmer Ferguson, who has a trophy named after him in the hall, given to hall of fame hockey writers, was chosen to pick the 3 stars that night. The mood in the arena was anger when he announced Richard as the third star. It got unbelievably loud with cheers after he named Richard the other two stars. It was the only time ever 1 man was all three stars in a hockey game.
The next season was another great one for the Rocket. He became hockey's first ever 50 goal scorer when he got 50 goals in 50 games. He netted the 50th goal with 2:15 left in the third period and the season. Sadly, Alzheimer's has wiped his memory of the feat (while he fights for his life with intestinal cancer) but it would be one of the Canadiens' amazing seasons. The first team all stars at the end of the season had the "Punch Line," Richard at right, Toe Blake at left, Elmer Lach at centre, plus Emile Bouchard at defence, Bill Durnan in goal, and the great Dick Irvin Sr. coaching.
In 1948-49, an unbelievable record was set which still stands. On February 24, 1949, at the 16:15 mark of the second period, Roy Conacher of the Blackhawks scored on Bill Durnan. On the 26th, the Habs beat the Wings 1-0. March 2nd, they beat the Leafs 2-0 in the Gardens. The next weekend, they beat Boston 4-0 at home then 1-0 in the Garden. Finally, on March 9, in Chicago, Gaye Stewart slid one under his legs at 5:36 of the second. Durnan shut out the opposition 4 straight games, but it amounted to more than 5 if you take the last part of the first game and the first part of the second game. He shut out the opposition for 309 minutes, 21 seconds, or just over 5 hours. Not even Dominik Hasek has put up a number like that, and they say it could stand forever. The Vezina winner that year was, of course, Durnan. Who else?
I will conclude there. I had some really great stuff on the Montreal Riot of '55, but my computer glitched and lost 'em. And I can blame Bill Gates. Right now I'm mentally drained. Come back next week when I profile the riot and then some. Till then...