Glory Days A century ago many believed that Canada’s French-speaking hockey players lacked the skill to compete with English speaking players In 1909 a businessman named Ambrose O’Brien challenged this notion He formed a professional hockey club in Montreal and stocked it with French-Canadians including Newsy Lalonde Didier Pitre Skinner Poulin and Jack Laviolette who also coached the club Les Canadiens were also called Les Habitants a nickname for Canada’s French settlers or Habs for short The Canadiens were members of the National Hockey Association NHA a group of professional hockey teams that played in the eastern part of North America The National Hockey League NHL later formed from a group of NHA clubs in 1917 At the end of each season the NHA champion would meet the 6
champion of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association PCHA for the sport’s greatest trophy the Stanley Cup In the spring of 1916 the Canadiens defeated the Portland Rosebuds to win their first Stanley Cup The team’s greatest star in these early years was goalie Georges Vezina The Canadiens played for the Stanley Cup five times with Vezina in goal and won the championship twice During the 1920s Vezina was joined by Howie Morenz and Aurel Joliat Morenz was the NHL’s most exciting player He netted the winning goal in the Stanley Cup Finals twice After Vezina retired George Hainsworth took over in goal and helped the Canadiens win the championship in 1930 and 1931 But the club struggled in the years that followed The Canadiens were in danger of going out of business until they hired coach Dick Irvin in 1940 Over the next 15 years Montreal reached the Stanley Cup Finals eight times and won three championships LEFT This team photo shows the Canadiens in 1912 ABOVE Georges Vezina started a tradition of great goaltending for the Canadiens 7
The team leader during this era was Maurice Rocket Richard who played with a fire that inspired his teammates and frightened opponents Richard was a member of the Punch Line along with center Elmer Lach and left wing Toe Blake Goalie Bill Durnan and defensemen Ken Reardon and Butch Bouchard also starred for the team in the 1940s The 1950s brought an even greater group of stars to Montreal including Jean Beliveau Phil Goyette Henri Richard the Rocket’s younger brother Bernie Geoffrion Bert Olmstead Dickie Moore Doug Harvey and goalie Jacques Plante The Canadiens were the most successful team in sports during this period They played in the Stanley Cup Finals each spring from 1951 to 1960 and won the NHL crown six times In the 1960s the Canadiens captured four more Stanley Cups They put another group of winning players on the ice including Yvan Cournoyer Gilles Tremblay Ralph Backstrom Bobby Rousseau LEFT Maurice Richard led the Canadiens to eight Stanley Cups ABOVE Dickie Moore was the league’s top scorer twice in the 1950s but he was at his very best in the playoffs 9
