Clearing Up The Question Of The Canadiens Origin And Age

It's about the idea, folks!

Lately on the internet, in blogs and on boards, I've read all kinds of insanity stating that the Canadiens will not be in fact 100 years old in 2009. It's a lot of drivel in most cases, and your guess is as accurate as mine would be in rendering what city most of it transpires from.

The reasons given for most of this nonsense stems from questions arising over the team and franchise's year and date of origin, the fact that the Canadiens original franchise was transferred to become the Toronto Tecumsehs in 1912, and that one season of NHL hockey that went unplayed.

The bottom line is that all of this right or wrong, is quite besides the point.

What remains unshakable is that the Canadiens were created on December 2, 1909, in a room at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal. The 2008-09 season will be their 100th in existence. They may not have played in 2004-05, but they were in business, making transactions and drafting players.

If it counts for anything, the Stanley Cup engraving as an official testament, does not skip over the unplayed season, just as when in 1919, influenza wiped out game 7 of the Cup final. For the 2004-05 season, the Cup reads "Season Not Played".

The centennial that the Montreal Canadiens are essentially celebrating, is not so much one of a 100 year old franchise, but that of an idea that was born in that Windsor Hotel room.

Mired in all the nonsesical crap I've waded through on the net, was an unusually excellent questioning of the Canadiens origins at a Bleacher Report article by Daniel Bigras. Entitled "Are the Canadiens really born on December 4, 1909?", the piece examined what is admittedly a very confusing birth by the franchise one hundred years ago.

Bigras' piece is exploratory in nature, as he seeks out the finite truth inside the confused ownership transfer between the Ambrose O'Brien originated club from the Windsor in 1909 that existed for but one season, and the Canadiens team that was owned immediately afterwards by the Club Athlétique Canadien, operated by George Kendall Kennedy.

As Bigras was kind enough to quote from an earlier article here at this site, I sent him off a comment clarifying what my own sources were for the information I had posted in it. From his piece, he says, "I have an appointment with the Quebec National Library in order to read the 'Trail of the Stanley Cup' by Charles Coleman, and also another, from Andy O’Brien, "The Story of the Montreal Canadiens'."

I am curious to hear what he comes back with. I have read both Jack Fella's "Quest For The Cup", and Andrew Podniek's "Lord Stanley's Cup", and I found that neither HHOF researched publication shed much light on the Habs questions. I usually prefer Montreal Canadiens specific researchers over anything the Hall slaps together.

After my explanations at Bigras' posting, I thought readers here might want to be further informed as to this as well, as my reply might be a more in depth clarification of the Canadiens cloudy beginnings. So here is how I stated it in my comment"

"I just wanted to add that my sources for information on these dates and facts were culled from the book "La Glorieuse Histoire Des Canadiens" by Pierre Bruneau and Léandre Normand, published in 2002.

What the authors of this tome endeavored to accomplish was clarify many of the points first brought out in Claude Mouton's fine book from two decades prior. In looking to purchase either of these two books for referencing at my site, I held both in my hands and read through them thouroughly, before deducing that the latter 2002 work was the more detailed and accurate of the two.

In Bruneau and Normand's 743 page essay, they expand greatly on many of Mouton's facts, and I firmly believe that their book is the most complete reference guide available on the history of the Canadiens that has been published up to this point.

As for clarifying the questions brought up in your article, the present day Habs are in fact the one time Haileybury Comets.

It seems that for all intents and purpsoses, the franchise transactions that took place after the initial 1909-10 season, existed for the most part, on paper more than on the ice.

My take is that the original Canadiens franchise owned by Amrose O'Brien and hence suspended by the NHA after one season was promised to Toronto interests.

My calculated guess, and this is strictly IMO, is that it was the first of the dormant franchises transferred, as it had incurred the most debt of the disbanded teams. George Kendall Kennedy, because he owned the copyright on the "Canadiens" name, would have been handed the franchise that had incurred the least debt, and Hailybury's roster in 1909-10 was surely less expensive than Canadiens.

The dormant Canadiens franchise most definitely became the Toronto Tecumsehs in 1912, and that was the franchise eventually owned by Eddie Livingstone. After several name changes and false starts, Livingstone killed off the Tecumsehs/Ontarios/Shamrocks entry, and then purchased the Blueshirts.

Upon the creation of the NHL in 1917, the Blueshirst were no longer Livinsgtone's - he still only owned a dormant Shamrocks club. Of course, the Blueshirts first morphed into the NHL Toronto Arena's, then the St. Patricks, and finally, our beloved rival Maple Leafs.

One last small clarification of note - quite trivial.

The original Canadiens franchise by O'Brien was in truth created on December 2, 1909, in a room at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal. The December 4 date, comes from the day it was announced to the media.

Jimmy Gardner, the owner of the Montreal Wanderers at the time, felt spurned by the owners of the CHA, a league that had been created just prior to the NHA. Without a league to play in, the Wanderers schemed with other teams in the CHA to disband it, and join the NHA instead. Needing a french rival team for the english Wanderers, Gardiner and O'Brien met on December 2 to finalize the creation of the original "Canadiens".

So when all is said and tied together, several hazy points are clarified in my esteem. Here's why.

The Canadiens original franchise was mothballed and later reborn as the Tecumsehs in 1912. The Tecumsehs have nothing to do with the Maple Leafs.

The franchise - read business - that was transfered to George Kendall Kennedy, was Ambrose O' Brien's Haileybury Comets.

As no Haileybury or Canadiens players from the 1909-10 season were under contract for 1910-11, Kennedy was free to sign whomever he wished, as long as they fell within the "french speaking only" mandate that was primordial in their initial NHA creation. This stemmed from O'Brien and Gardner's meeting at the Windsor, and the NHA constitution concerning why the Canadiens were being created in the first place.

It wasn't as though Kennedy took back the entire 1909-10 Canadiens lineup, as only Jack Laviolette, Didier Pitre, Arthur Bernier, George Poulin and Newsy Lalonde, who finished out the season a Renfrew Creamery Kings member, were returned. Besides, all the Haileybury players were english speaking, they could not have been signed by Kennedy even if he had wanted them.

Since Kennedy had legal rights to the Canadiens name, it only made sense to return key elements from the team with that name that had already built some loyalty amongst french speaking fans in the city. The actual name of the hockey team upon Kennedy's acquisition legally came under "Club Athlétique Canadien", hence the "CA" logo they donned, until being purchased by the "Club De Hockey Canadien", after which the logo became a "CH".

Taking all of this into consideration, it becomes clearer as to just what centennial the Canadiens are celebrating in 2008-09.

It's partly the 100th year of the team, and kinda sorta the same for the franchise, as it is most definitely the one hundredth season playing under the name "Canadiens".

When Wanderers owner Jimmy Gardner, on December 2, 1909, asked Ambrose O' Brien, something along the lines of: "I need your help in creating a french speaking NHA club for the city of Montreal. I want to call them the 'Canadiens'. Do you wish to be a part of this?"

O 'Brien said, "Yes".

It's the 100th anniversary of that!

The idea!

























Bigras, in his post, also linked to Kendall Kennedy's "Dictionary Of Canadian Biographies" online profile. Here is what they had to say of interest on the Canadiens transaction.

"In 1908 Kendall had begun investing in boxing, a sport that had a bad press at the time. A Canadian law, passed in 1881, had banned professional fights and Montreal had adopted a similar regulation in 1887. Fights were held in public anyway, but the police were watchful. This situation prompted the CAC to encourage boxing fans to become members of the club, where bouts would be held in private under the guise of exhibition matches. Kendall counted on thereby acquiring the means to hire good American boxers, but the fire at the CAC delayed his plans.

The war changed attitudes, however, and boxing was now seen as an excellent way to prepare soldiers for combat. Kendall took advantage of this change and succeeded in attracting “boxers of note” to Montreal including Joe Jeannette of Martinique on 26 Feb. 1915. A few weeks later he obtained from Jack Curley the exclusive distribution rights in Quebec for the film of the fight for the world heavyweight championship between the black boxer John Arthur (Jack) Johnson and Jess Willard, the “white hope.” In June 1916, following a match between two professionals held in public in Montreal, the Canadian Vigilance Association lodged a complaint and he had to appear in municipal court. He won his case and, thanks to this victory, boxing was legalized. From 1916 to 1920 Kendall brought in excellent boxers under the auspices of the Canadian Hockey Club Incorporated. The appearance in Montreal on 15 May 1920 of Georges Carpentier of France, the famous European middleweight champion, was his last master stroke.

Of all his many accomplishments, Kendall was best known for his role as manager of the Canadiens hockey club. As early as 1908 he and Gadbois had wanted to organize an exclusively French Canadian senior hockey team. The plan was, however, realized by John Ambrose O’Brien, who in December 1909 founded the Canadiens: the team was immediately accepted into the National Hockey Association of Canada. Nearly a year later Kendall protested on behalf of the CAC, claiming that the name “Canadien” was its property. On 12 Nov. 1910 he purchased the franchise for $7,500.

Under his management the reorganized Canadiens showed a profit of $4,000 in their first season, more than was made by any other team in the association. Kendall succeeded in using French Canadian national sentiments to stimulate competition and increase the number of spectators, but the club’s main function, in his view, was to pay dividends to its shareholders. In November 1912 he sought and received permission from the association to hire English-speaking players to improve the team’s performance; some people accused him of “polluting” the club’s distinctive character. A three-time winner of the association championship, the team won its first Stanley Cup in March 1916 [see Georges Vézina].

From 26 Nov. 1917 the team played in the National Hockey League, which replaced the National Hockey Association of Canada and which Kendall had helped organize. Unfortunately, in March 1919, when the Canadiens were playing in Seattle against the Metropolitans for the Stanley Cup, the Spanish influenza took its toll of the players. Defenceman Joseph Henry (Joe) Hall died and Kendall contracted a severe case of the disease. He remained in precarious health, but he would continue to manage the Canadiens until his death in October 1921. On 4 November his widow sold the club’s franchise for $11,000 to a financial syndicate consisting of Léo Dandurand, Joseph Cattarinich, and Louis Létourneau."

Additionally, Montreal Canadiens.com, in news of the announcement on the creation of Builder's Row, had this to say on J. Ambrose O' Brien:

John Ambrose O'Brien

Owner of the Montreal Canadiens from 1909 to 1910

Growing up in a Renfrew family whose fortune had been made in natural resources, John Ambrose O'Brien was born on May 27, 1885 and played hockey through the senior level before enrolling at the University of Toronto.

On December 2, 1909, O'Brien and Jimmy Gardiner, the manager of the Wanderers, met in Montreal and founded the seven-team National Hockey Association. Aware of the need to have a French team in the city to create a rivalry with the predominantly English Shamrocks and Wanderers, O'Brien founded the Canadiens on December 4, 1909, in a room at the Windsor Hotel.

The club, whose name was suggested by Gardiner, would feature a large contingent of French Canadian players and be managed in its first season by Jos Cattarinich and Jack Laviolette.

At the close of the 1909-10 season, O'Brien sold the Canadiens to George "Kendall" Kennedy, who would proceed to re-christen the team the Club Aéthltique Canadien, a name it would retain until 1917. O'Brien was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962. He died on April 25, 1968.



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1910-11 Vezina Arrives

One season into their existence, the Montreal Canadiens franchise as it was known and owned, temporarily ceased to exist.

It is often cited that the Montreal Canadiens were created in 1909 by J. Ambrose O' Brien. While that is in fact true, the Canadiens team we know today, had it's origins as the Haileybury Comets. The 7 team NHA was going through initial growing pains and several of its franchises, 4 of which were operated by Canadiens owner O'Brien, were in financial straights.

O' Brien's Cobalt team entry ceased activities, and the Haileybury franchise was put into mothballs for the time being. The Renfrew Creamery Kings for their part remained alive and well. The Montreal Shamrocks also went into temporariry hibernation, to be revived later under another name.

O'Brien had another dilema on his hands, in dealing with the Canadiens name and players.

In Montreal, there had been and still is today, a sports enterprise known as "Le Club Athletique Canadien". In 1909, upon the formation of the Canadiens hockey club, permission to use the name "Canadiens" was permitted to O'Brien, with the stipulation that if the CAC would ever spread it's activities into the area of the hockey business, they would hence reinherit their copywritten legal name.



























When the Canadien Athletic Club decided in 1910 to branch out from it's boxing, fighting, and lacrosse interests into hockey, they first attempted to purchase the more financially sound and reputable Montreal Wanderers club. When this plan did not work out, they set their sights on gaining an expansion franchise.



When O' Brien had brought in his three ECAHA teams into the NHA one year earlier, he assumed control of the Canadiens franchise, with the intention of one day turning it over to french Canadian interests. With his finances spread thin, a threat of a lawsuit for copyright infringement, and depts accumulated by the team, the NHA suspended the Canadiens activities until issues could be sorted. The name lawsuit was a mere formality, brought upon by the CAC that made it clear that while O'Brien could sell the team if he wishes, only the name itself could not go along with it.

O'Brien, at first, refused to sell the CAC the nameless Canadiens squad, as he wished to retain his contracted players for the 1910-11 season to employ in Renfrew or elsewhere. It was then that the CAC owners, led by boxer George ( Kennedy ) Kendall, approached the NHA about granting them an expansion franchise. With so much of the NHA teams in a financial rough spot, the league saw no sense in bringing in a new franchise, and declared the Canadiens dormant for 1910-11.

To O'Brien's dismay, the NHA governers met on December 12, and decided to transfer his dormant Haileybury franchise to the CAC, which they would then rename "Canadiens", as was their legal right.

The Cobalt squad became the Quebec Bulldogs, and the NHA was down to 5 teams from a 7 team league one year before.

O'Brien was renumereted for the Haileybury transfer, but was left with only his Renfrew Creamery Kings franchise. The former Canadiens franchise, presently dormant, was later sold to Toronto interests and became known as the Tecumsehs.



It wasn't to be the end of O' Brien's troubles. With the better former Canadiens players all on one year contracts, O'Brien held no legal right to them. The CAC only had eyes on the players without contract, who were essentially the Canadiens team core. The players remaining were of no interest to O'Brien as they would not have made his team a better one. He fought hard to retain Newsy Lalonde but the NHA ruled that Lalonde was free as a bird, and could play wherever he chose. Lalonde elected to remain a Montreal Canadien.

For the 1910-11 season, the makeup of the NHA would consist of the Canadiens, the Montreal Wanderers, the Ottawa Senators, the Renfrew Creamery Kings, and the Quebec Bulldogs. The season schedule was upped from 12 to 16 games. The NHA also changed the game's format from 2 half hour periods to three 20 minute frames, and enabled the teams to substitute for spares at an earlier point in the game.

The CAC's George Kendall was said to be a flamboyant personality. Better known at the time as George Kennedy, his boxing alias, Kendall assumed the positions of general manager and secretary treasurer with the team. He quickly undertook wholesale changes.

The ownership of this newly created second Canadiens franchise consisted of several well known Montrealers including the current mayor and his predecessor, James John Guérin and Louis Payette, the director of the "La Patrie" weekly, Jos Tarte, the manager of "Le Devoir", P. Delongchamps, and Senator Laurent - Olivier David.

The owners decided to use their newsprint to sell public shares in the team to help sturdy it financially and placed ads in dailies such as La Presse and their own papers. La Presse got right behind the promotion of the team, often offering players dollar amount bonuses and merchandise prizes for games won, and going so far as to petition for officials that could work the games in the Canadiens players mother tongue. Sponsors such as Bonin & Fils offered players hats when they beat the rival Wanderers.



The team moved its home games from the Jubilee Arena to the more spacious Westmount Arena which not only ended a split agreement with the Wanderers, it also doubled the amount of fans able to see them in the 6,000 seater. It also made the clubs more distinct in that they each now had a home arena. The Canadiens would finish the season in the black to the tune of $4,000 - which was unheard of at the time.

The initial Canadiens rivalry with the Wanderers was a more subdued version of what would later evolve with the Maroons. The two clubs were extremely popular in the city and in the Quebec region. Telegraph lines joining areas as far away as Hull and Chicoutimi could now allow the Habs great many followers to take in games from the wire.

On the club, Kendall replaced the overburdened Laviolette as coach and brought in Adolphe Lecours, who had previously coached Le National. He then resigned the most vital team elements from the 1910 season and sought out others.

His first move was to bring in goaltender Georges Vezina on the enthusiastic recommendation of Jos Cattarinich.



The Canadiens first encountered Vezina during an exhibition game in Chicoutimi on February 20 of the previous winter. Few people gathered that day to witness the game gave the local Chicoutimi players a fighting chance against the professional Canadiens players. Stopping the blasts of Laviolette, Didier Pitre and company, the 23 year old Vezina with the red toque literally stole the show as the Canadiens were defeated 11-5.

After the contest, Laviolette told the local newspaper, "Le Progrès du Saguenay" that with the help of some coaching by Pitre and himself, the Chicoutimi club would beat any NHA squad.

The Canadiens signed Vezina on December 26, 1910 in preparation for the upcoming schedule. Not only would Vezina be the team's most important addition that season, he would become the backbone of the Canadiens success for close to two decades.

Kendall managed to hold onto every player that was signed to a one year deal prior to the folding of the franchise, which meant Lalonde, Pitre, Laviolette, Poulin and Bernier were the only returnees. To that lineup were added Lorenzo Bertrand, Hector Dallaire, Eugene Payan, James "Rocket" Power, and of course, Vezina.

Payan's story testifies to the popularity of the team just one season into its existance. The son of the mayor of Ste. Hyancinthe wanted to play for the Canadiens so badly, he offered his services to the team free of charge. Teams of the day had a $5,000 salary cap, but Payan made it clear that his motivation was a love for the team and sport well before money. When he made the team at training camp, the Canadiens did in fact give him a salary, and he contributed 12 goals in 16 games.

Players on the Canadiens weren't happy with the cap arrangement. Laviolette refused to play for anything less than $1,500 and Lalonde demanded $1,600. The players threatened with thoughts of forming a union, creating their own teams, and going on strike, but the rebellion was short lived when they realized that the team owners mostly owned the arenas as well and that there would be nowhere for them to ply their trade. Of course, with time, the players would learn to refine their strike tactics.



Laviolette not only surrendered his player / coach status, he also lost the captaincy for the season to Lalonde. Lalonde and Pitre led the team in goals with 19, with Pitre having smartly been moved from defense to wing. Pitre registered the team's first 5 goal game in a 9-2 thrashing of the Wanderers on February 7.

The Canadiens game in Ottawa on February 9 had to be rescheduled because the players showed up without equipement. It was believed that upon leaving Renfrew, some wiseguy unhooked the section of the train carrying the Habs equipement, leaving it in Renfrew. The Canadiens had to pay the Senators a fine for the missed game.

The many changes brought on by new ownership and management had a positive effect on the ice as the Canadiens played for a .500 record of 8 wins and 8 losses, good for second place behind the Senators. After having giving up 100 goals in 12 games the previous winter, the addition of Vezina cut it to 62 goals against in 16 games - a marked improvement.

Pitre and Lalonde finished tied for 6th place in NHA scoring, but they were as much rivals as they were team mates from this time on because of salary jealousy. Whereas the competition between the men would sometimes benefit the Canadiens on ice, the dislike they held for each other hampered the composition of the team for a few seasons.




Thanks to Vezina's abilities, the Canadiens were drastically improved for 1910-11. The goalie who would become known as the Chicoutimi Cuccumber posted a goals against average of 3.90 and was named the league's best goaltender in his first campaign. It wouldn't be the last time.

Montreal began the season with a 5-3 loss to Ottawa on December 31, 1910 at the Westmount Arena. One week later, they travelled to Quebec and defeated the Bulldogs 4-1. Seven days later, they hosted O' Brien's Creamery Kings and won 4-1. The short win streak ended four days later in Ottawa with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Senators.

Hosting Quebec on Jabuary 21, they pounded the Bulldogs 9-5. They would move on Renfrew on the 27th, and slipped away with a 6-5 win. February wasn't as kind to the Canadiens as they began the month by getting shellacked 8-3 by the Wanderers. They returned the favor on February 7, when Pitre scored 5 goals in a 9-2 win. In a home and home series with the Bulldogs, Quebec grabbed both ends winning 9-3 and 7-4.



The Canadiens settled down some, beating Renfrew 4-2 on the 21st and then the Wanderers 3-2 one week later to finish out the month and remain in contention for the league title.

Deadlocked with the Senators at this point, with three games left, the Habs dropped a crucial game to Renfrew by a 5-3 score. The final two meetings with Ottawa were then extremely crucial, but Montreal surrendered both by scores of 4-3 and 5-0.

The Canadiens were still well behind the class of the league, the Ottawa Senators, who were easy winners of the O' Brien Cup with a 13-3 record. The Senators finished out the NHA season with a ten game win streak and would accept two Cup challenges from Galt and the Port Arthur Seniors, winning handily each time.

While things appeared to be looking up for the Canadiens in 1910-11, several unforeseen events would make the following season almost as rocky as their first.



Some side notes concerning the 1910-11 Canadiens season:

The team would sport a different sweater in 1910-11, and the blue and white "C" adorned knits of 1909-10 were exchanged for a red turtleneck pullover with blue and white bars on the collar, sleeves and base. The logo became a green maple leaf highlighted by a stylized "CA", that was very remiscent of the later jerseys of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

There are few photos of the Canadiens from this year in circulation today other than the hockey cards of the era featured above. No team photo was taken in this season, although individual player photograph's seem to exist for certain players. From the look of the hockey cards, the "CA" logo is obviously superimposed onto the images in both the colour O-Pee-Chee cards and the black and white Sweet Caporal cigarette pack inserts that include many of the same photos.

Many fans today have questioned whether the green maple leaf of the logo of 1910-11 was in fact green and not blue, as some online renderings would lead one to believe. Yes, it does seem odd that the colour green would be included on a Canadiens sweater, but in 1910 there was no reference for it to become a blue maple leaf - the Toronto hockey franchise by that name was still a good 17 years away. Hockey fan's eyes have long been used to the blue and red maple leaf logo's of teams in the country, but in 1910, long before the Canadian flag of today existed, the only maple leaf to be found was the green variety that grew on trees.

Looking back on the period, could it be that the Canadiens 1910-11 logo later inspired the Toronto Maple Leafs logo?

How about the Canadian flag?

The 1910-11 edition of the Canadiens had several stars such as Vezina, Lalonde, Pitre, and Laviolette, as well as some lesser known players. While those mentioned are in the Hockey Hall Of Fame, two other Montreal players were honoured in fifferent ways. Eugene Payan has a street named after him Barjols, Quebec - his hometown, and Hector Dallaire's image in a 1910-11 Canadiens sweater is painted on the side of a Giant Tiger store in his hometown of Rockland Ontario. Evariste Payer also hailed from Rockland Ontario.