The Crown Jewel Of Canadiens Collectibles

What you see here are nine Montreal Canadiens cards from 1911-12. In mint condition, judging by recent sales and auctions, the set might be worth a million!

Only the second ever set of hockey cards issued, the C55 1911-12 Imperial Tobacco series of 45 cards is a most sought after set.

The set contains many rookie cards and features 22 future Hall Of Famers, including four from the Montreal Canadiens.

The C55 set is the most common of the three cards sets produced by Imperial Tobacco, who also issued the 1910-11 C56 series and the 1912-13 C57 set.

The cards each feature colour drawing of photos taken from the day, and have brief player information on the reverse. The cards measure 1 1/2" by 2 1/2", and are an extremly rare find, especially in mint shape.

Players in the 1911-12 set were members of the NHA's Quebec Bulldogs, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Wanderers, Renfrew Millionaires and Canadiens. The series, considered the Holy Grail of hockey card sets, is highly prized by collectors. Though it is the easiest of the three early Imperial sets to find, it is the most difficult to complete due to it's size.

The highest priced card is #38 Georges Vezina which often sells at $1,650.00. The cards of Edouard "Newsy" Lalonde and Art Ross go for $800.00. Common cards, or non Hall Of Famers in the series, are rated at $100.00 each. The pricing are general for cards in the good to very good condition.

Other cards in the set include the Cleghorn brothers, Ogilvie and Sprague, Joe Hall, Jack Darragh, Cyclone Taylor, Riley Hern, Joe Malone, Didier Pitre, Jack Laviolette, Percy Lesueur and Tommy Dunderdale.

I'm not sure when it began, but professional grading of cards has helped send issues in perfect condition into stratospheric sales prices. The grading includes ratings on the colour and tinge of the card, the quality and smoothness of the surface, the sharpness of it's four corners, and the squared alignment of it's borders.

Cards are then graded from 1 to 10, docked a point for each imperfection. I am told that a card with more than more four imperfections does not receive a certifiable professional grading. It would then be considered to be in very good condition and perhaps quality due to it's rarety for the prices listed above.

In August of 2006, a 1979 #18 Wayne Gretzky O-Pee-Chee rookie card sold for $80,000, making it the most valuable hockey card in existence at the time.























Several months later the April 2007 issue of Beckett Hockey magazine published an article titled "The Greatest Card Ever Sold" focusing on the recent record setting $100,000 sale of a mint graded 1911-12 Georges Vezina hockey rookie card. The Honus Wagner baseball card is the most valuable sports card in history but legendary goalie George Vezina's rookie card is easily the most valuable hockey card to date.






















Finding a mint hockey card from the C55 set is not always easy but even the lower grades of 2 or 3, which are more commonly found, command prices up to hundreds of dollars. The Georges Vezina rookie card would be the crown jewel of any hockey card collector's collection. In the years to come it will be interesting to see what the mint graded Vezina rookie will sell for if it ever goes to auction again.

The Beckett Hockey Collector magazine reported in the September 2007 issue that a rare 1910-11 C56 Newsy Lalonde hockey card had tied the record, selling for $100K as well. The Newsy Lalonde hockey card was graded a 3 out of 10 by SCG, a sports card grading service.

There is no record of anyone having the entire 1911-12 set in top graded shape.

That would have to be worth a million?

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1914-15 A Hard Fall To Last Place

The Canadiens sixth season is marred by contract squabbles and the ongoing tug of war over players with the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.

The one year delay in Newsy Lalonde's promise to the Vancouver Millionaires to head west and play for them in the 1914-15 season gave him just enough time for him to change his mind.

Just before the beginning of the season, the teams are informed of Lalonde's decision in November, and the Canadiens suggest that Vancouver keep Didier Pitre for another season. Of course, Pitre won't have any of this, as he feels the pull of Montreal hockey fans who desperately want him back. Vancouver is left with no other choice but to trade Pitre back to the Canadiens for a sum of money, which suits the Canadiens just fine.

Lalonde's contract is another problem as Newsy holds out for more money, wanting a better renumeration than Pitre, George Vezina, Jack Laviolette and Don Smith. Manager George Kennedy refuses to barter, and suspends Lalonde, fining him $100, and a subsequent $100 for each week of the season that he misses. Jimmy Gardner remains on as team captain.

In February, the Canadiens trade Smith to the Wanderers for cash shortly after Lalonde returns, having worked out a deal secretly with Kennedy. Newsy is not back for long, as the team suspends him once again, this time for lacklustre play. In all, Lalonde plays but seven games for the Canadiens in 1915, scoring four goals and three assists.

The personel squabbles make for a difficult start to the season for Montreal, and they drop their first four contests and never recover. Despite high hopes with 9 returning players in addition to Pitre, it would be a miserable season for the Canadiens. They would finish with a 6-14 record and they would surrender almost an additional goal per game. Vezina, who was named the league's best goaltender in three of his first four seasons, finishes third in goals against.

Five new players joined the Canadiens ranks in 1914-15 and they included Albert Corbeau, Jack Fournier, Nick Bawlf, Ed Lowrey and Marcel Béliveau. Corbeau, a right shooting defenseman, who signed with the team on December 23, would spend 8 seasons in total with the Canadiens.

The off ice commotion left many scars on the team throughout the season. Gardner, as coach and captain, asked for a pay raise in light of his cummulative duties following the season. His stand was rebuffed, and he retires to officiating.

George Vezina's temper emerged in a few matches. On one occasion against Quebec, he is penalized and tossed from the game for hitting Lalonde's rival Joe Hall - even though it is Vezina who goes flying and takes the goal net with him. With the Bulldogs behind 3-2, Laviolette replaces him in goal, and Quebec ties the game. As was then permitted, Vezina returns in extra play, only to surrender the fifth Quebec goal in a game that went on record as the longest overtime to that point. Fifty minutes and 28 seconds of additional play for needed to settle the contest.

The Canadiens finally won in their ninth game, a 7-2 win over the Wanderers on January 23. The game was marked by a 5 goal performance by Didier Pitre, who was one of the few Canadiens having a good season. Pitre would finish second in the NHA in goals this season with 30, and along the way becomes the first Canadiens player in history to net 100 career goals. On January 30, Pitre would notch a pair against Percy Lesueur of the Toronto Ontarios to achieve the feat in only 74 games.

Strangely enough, the Canadiens dressed six english speaking players in 1915, in contravention of the two player ruling. Other than Gardner and Pitre, Harry Scott, Bert Hunt, Nick Bawlf and Ed Lowrey were english speaking. The Canadiens tried to sign and dress a seventh, the legendary Art Ross, but the league governors stepped up to stop it.

Ross, who incidently had no connection to the Canadiens whatsoever beyond this boardroom battle, had his case argued for heavily by Montreal manager Kennedy. A rugged defenseman in his day, who never shied away from conflicts with authority, Ross had been banned from the NHA in this season for attempting to launch his own league. He had been organizing it quietly on the sidelines, and had signed on close to a dozen players when he was sniffed out by the league. Had Ross named the players he had signed, his suspension would have been lifted, but he refused to do so and it took Kennedy's effort to get him reinstated. Once that was accomplished however, he was not allowed to join the Canadiens. Upon his January 7 reinstatement, Ross signed with the Ottawa Senators.

Art Ross would go on to play and coach with the Wanderers, Hamilton, and later in Boston. He became a highly respected league governor, despite punch ups with NHL presisent Red Dutton and Detroit owner James Norris. It is curious in hindsight to note that although today's NHL leading scorer trophy is named after him, Ross only ever scored one goal in the National Hockey League. The reason for that oddity is that when Ross donated the trophy in his name in the late 1930's, it was to be given to the player judged as the league's most spectacular. Being that it was difficult to agree on how to judge such, the trophy went unawarded until 1948, whereupon it was given to the league's leading point scorer.















There was a little more controversy after the season had ended when it was revealed by players on the Bulldogs and Canadiens that they had been approached by gamblers offering wine bottles to them to help fix games. The ringers were not punished in light of a brief investigation that found no scores had been tampered with.

Towards the end of the year, the directors of the Westmount Arena announced that starting in 1915-16, there would be artificial ice at the arena. Other changes incurring in the NHA during 1915 included the Ontarios changing their name to the Shamrocks. The former Tecumsehs, now on their third name change, would not survive the year.


New rulings in the game included pucks played after rebounding from goalkeepers no longer being ruled offside, players standing a minimum of five feet away in distance from players facing off, and match fouls were now penalized by 10 minutes off and $15 fine. Charging a player into the boards is added as a major foul.

Even without Newsy Lalonde, the Vancouver Millionaires became a powerhouse. In the first year of PCHA champs meeting the NHA winners, Vancouver won the Stanley Cup over the Ottawa Senators three games to none.
























Some photo notes: What you see directly above is an "Official Score Card" from a Wednesday, January 13th, 1915 game at the Quebec Arena between the Bulldogs and the visiting Montreal Canadiens. The flimsy and tattered paper piece has multiple creases and was plasticized at some point to prevent further deterioration and allow for handling. And what a treat to handle! The Canadiens’ lineup featured Hall-of-Famers Georges Vezina, Newsy Lalonde, Didier Pitre and Jack Laviolette, the latter relieving Vezina in goal during overtime play when Vezina was assessed a penalty for clipping Joe Hall! Joining Hall for Quebec was goalie Paddy Moran, while Joe Malone is listed in the lineup but did not play because of an ankle injury. Newspaper accounts relate that Quebec City had never witnessed a more hotly contested or sensational game than this one which ended after 50 minutes of overtime when Jack McDonald’s second goal of the game gave Quebec a 4-3 victory. Don Smith, twice, and Pitre had scored for Montreal, with Harry Mummery and Rusty Crawford getting Quebec’s other goals. Remarkable pre-NHL relic measures 10-3/4" by 8-1/4" and is museum worthy.

The photo of skates are those belonging to the Georges Vezina in this era.

Another photo note: The picture of Newsy Lalonde in the "CA" logo is a composite, photoshopped by someone with a creative side. Considering that Lalonde spent more time away from the Canadiens team than he spent time playing in 1914-15, there are precious few photos of him in a "CA" from this era. The head of Newsy is from an entirely different photo, and the "CA" logo was either drawn onto this sweater erroneously. The backdrop is actually a Seattle photo shoot from 1919.




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Kenora Thistles - 1907 Stanley Cup Champions

The Kenora Thistles won the Stanley Cup in 1907, the smallest town (population 4,000) to have ever laid claim on the mug in history.

The town was originally known as Rat Portage, Ontario. In the early 1890's, an amateur Senior hockey club was formed and a contest to name the team was held. The winning entry came from a Scottish carpenter named Bill Dunsmore, who submitted the nickname along with a drawing of a thistle for the team logo.

By January of 1896, several youngsters in the Rat Portage area between the ages of 11 and 14 formed a junior team. They became so good that they eventually beat the senior boys team.

Among this group were future Hockey Hall Of Famers Tommy Phillips, Tom Hooper, Billy McGimsie, and Si Griffis.

Over the next five years, these young players joined the senior team earned themselves a reputation as one of the premier amateur clubs in the western Canadian provinces.

In 1903 they challenged the Ottawa Silver Seven for the Stanley Cup and lost the two game total score series 6-2, and 4-2. HHOF records have them named as the Rat Potage Thistles at this point and that was how their name was engraved on the Cup as opponants to Ottawa. In notes from the series of 1903, are claims that the ice was so bad due to mild March weather, the younger and speedier Thistles were disadvantaged against the tougher and more physical Ottawa team. In victory, members of the Silver Seven were each given a box of La Fortuna cigars.












1905-06 Thistles - from left: Billy McGimsie, Matt Brown, Roxy Beaudro, Tommy Phillips, Eddie Giroux, Tom Hooper, Silas Griffis


In March of 1905, the Thistles again challanged Ottawa for the Cup, faring somewhat better by taking the first game by a 9-3 score. Ottawa then came back to win the next two by scores of 4-2, and 5-4.

The challenges to the Silver Seven in 1905 are quite legendary. In the first, in January, the Dawson City Yukoners travelled 6,400 miles to Dey's Arena in the capital only to get pounded by 9-2, and 23-2 scores. The series had been set for five games, but after the second, the Yukoners literally quit and went home. Frank McGee tallied an amazing 14 goals on the night of January 16, 1905 - a record that will likely never be broken.

Two weeks after the series against Rat Portage, the Silver Seven held a banquet at the Russel Hotel to celebrate their Cup wins. Team captain Harvey Pulford, was among the many team members who had gotten drunk that night as the party spread outside the Hotel walls. Sometime in the late evening, he drop kicked the bowl onto the frozen Rideau Canal, where it was later recovered. Pulford was the heavyweight boxing champ of eastern Canada from 1898 to 1908.

During the summer of 1905, Rat Portage changed its name to Kenora.

After the Montreal Wanderers had defeated the Ottawa Senators at the end of the 1906 season and had captured the Stanley Cup, it was too late in the season to face the western champions. Thus it was decided by the Cup Trustees that Montreal would face the Thistles in a two-game, total-goal series midway through the ECAHA season.

The Thistles were up to challlenge, winning the series against the Wanderers by scores of 4-2, and 8-6. The games were played at the Westmount arena in Montreal on January 17 and 21.

Game two was a physical affair with the Wanderers attempting to slow down their speedy opponents. Drawing 55 minutes in penalties, compared to the Thistles' 30, Montreal couldn't quite come back .

Prior to the series start, the Thistles had added two more future Hall of Famers to their roster, Art Ross and Joe Hall. The previous season, the Thistles had made great advances in the fundamentals of the game by lining their defensemen alongside each other, rather than placing one forward and one back as had always been the norm.

The members of the Stanley Cup winning Thistles were Eddie Giroux, Ross, Hall, Griffis, Hooper, McGimsie, Tom Phillips, R. Phillips, Roxy Beaudro, and manager Fred Hudson.





















Seated: Si Griffis, Eddie Giroux, Art Ross
Seated second row: Roxy Beaudro, Tom Hooper, Tommy Phillips, Billy McGimsie, Joe Hall
Standing: Russel Phillips, Unknown, trainer A.J.Link, Unknown

The Kenora Thistles reign as Stanley Cup champions would be a short one - a mere 63 days in fact.

In March of 1907, the Wanderers challenged the Thistles with a rematch, this time closer to Kenora turf, at the Winnipeg arena. Minus Ross, the Thistles didn't measure as well. Having added Fred Whitcroft, and Alf Smith and Harry Westwick from Ottawa under Wanderers protests, Kenora still lost by a total score of 12-8.

Having lost the first match 7-2, the Thistles needed to outscore the Wanderers by six in the second game and fell short winning by a 6-5 margin.

After losing the challenge, the remaining core of the Thistles disbanded in 1908, some signing elsewhere as free agents, with others choosing retirement.
















Harry Westwick was added in time for the rematch against the Wanderers.

















Fred Whitcroft became a Thistle in March 1907.

















Roxy Beaudro was a late replacement for Theo Bellefeuille. His late goal in game 2, broke the 6-6 tie and was the eventually Cup winner.



















Art Ross had been a member of the Brandon Kings, and was paid a $1,000 by Kenora to play for them in this one challenge. His great rushes from the point were key to the Kenora win. Ross later played for Ottawa and ran a very successful sporting goods store in the city.
















Tom Phillips, thought of as the best left winger of his era, scored all 4 goals in game 1 and a hat trick in game 2. Aside from playing in the '05 and '07 challenges, Phiilips also did the same in '04 with the Toronto Marlboroughs.
















Billy McGimsie had been badly cut and bruised in the first series against the Silver Seven two years prior. He was known at the time for his skating and "dribbling", an early term for stickhandling.

















Joe Hall, while a member of the team, was not used in the series.
















Tom Hooper was called the "vice captain" of the team, he scored five powerplay goals - 2 in the first half and 3 in the second - in the Thistles 8-6 win.
















Si Griffis retired after the series, for 5 seasons before returning to the PCHL in 1912. He was born in Kansas in 1883 and moved to rat Portage as a youngster. He would go on to win another Cup win the Vancouver Millionaires in 1915.
















Alf Smith joined after the January Cup win.

















Eddie Giroux the teams goaltender, was the unheraled MVP of the two game showdown, performing brilliantly in the second game to upset the favored Wanderers.

For more information on the Kenora Thistles visit their homepage here and check out this site dedicated to the 1907 Cup Championship.

Many other players performed as Kenora Thistles and you can look them up at this link.