Don't Bet Against The Habs!

I guess I can't win for losing!

Over the last year and a half I've bet on Canadiens games four times and lost every time. Three times in the past two seasons, I've propped down a few bills hoping the Habs would come out on top, to no avail.

Last weekend, my friend Wayne - a die hard Red Wings fan - tells me that Montreal will win Wednesday's game because the Wings suck coming home after long road trips.

"Not the way Montreal's playing these days", I told him.

"Guaranteed Detroit losses", Wayne says, "I'd put five bucks on it!"

"Five bucks, that's pretty harmless. I'll take that bet!"

"You're on!", says Wayne.

Now before anyone fires me off a traitor e-mail, understand that I was not going to sit in front of the TV cheering on the Red Wings for a measely fiver. I would be pulling for the Habs all the way as always. It was just that with recent performances, I doubted the Canadiens could topple the Cup champs, no matter what Wayne's expertise told him.

And since I can't win betting on them, why not try placing some bucks on the Cup champs?

Wayne is a cook at the Fifth Wheel Truck Stop - my daily coffee haunt since forever. He often kids me when the Habs are down, bragging about the Red Wings every chance he gets.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to make him swallow a bit of his bull. On top of that, the five I'd win would buy me a burger, and he'd have to cook it! I couldn't pass up the chance for such a good shit and giggle at his expense.

As it stands now, all I've won is the right to pay for a change to nag him over the game.

I can say that he had no faith in his team. He can say the same to me.

I can't win for losing!

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Habs Match Up Well Against Blueprint Wings

It's no mystery that the Canadiens template for success is the Detroit Red Wings.

It is also no accidental coincidence that the Canadiens are playing the Winged Wheel for a second time in this exhibition schedule.

You could even go so far as to assume that both clubs were wishing to measure themselves against each other before the season is underway.

My guess would even go so far as to suggest these two strong and skilled opponants will also end the season playing each other.

There are an abundance of similarities between the teams and how their organizations are run.

Both clubs are owned by men with a vested interest in how the teams do. Mike Illitch and George Gillett both care tremendously about their teams and each desperately want to win. They entrusted the run of their clubs to similar men, who each are not afraid to assume the helm and guide it by surrounding themselves with the most knowledgable hockey people available.

Bob Gainey and Ken Holland are especially respected within their organazions for how things are set up and run. While each have a final say in all matters, a valuable committee of hockey brains are consulted on every decision.

The Wings and Habs front offices are filled by men with of varied backgrounds whose experiences in professional hockey span every crevice of the game.

It is one thing to suggest that persons within their ranks are respected, it's a whole deal when an organization proves it annually.

Each club has built it's on ice product from the ground up with intelligent drafting and astute signings of players without contracts, both inside the NHL scheme and from college and junior ranks.

Montreal and Detroit not only have drafted well, but they draft often. Their picks are not given away on whims. The talents of their scouts are utilized to the maximum, and therefore the better scouts seek to work for a team that will not only employ them, but make good use of their thinking. This in turns strenghthens the club from top to bottom.















The coaching philosophies of each organization are also operated similarily. On their farm clubs, the teachings of the game in regards to the systems employed keep everyone on the same page. In Grand Rapids, the Griffins do things as the Wings do.

In Montreal, a common line of thinking is shared by Habs assistant Doug Jarvis, who has previous worked alongside Hamilton's Don Lever, the Bulldogs current bench boss. The Dogs GM is Gainey's right hand man in Montreal, Julien Brisebois. There are no crossed wires of communication within these organizations.

For their on ice product, both teams look for players of a certain character, and they go beyond their skill in looking for intangibles that will help determine their mental capabilities as NHL'ers.

One example in Montreal, was when the Canadiens were scouting winger Andrei Kostitsyn. There were concerns from many organizations regarding a series of epileptic seizures Kostitsyn had suffered while appearing with Belarus during the World Junior Championships. The condition (known as Frontal Lobe Epilepsy - Grey's Anatomy anyone?) had not been properly diagnosed, and was easily remedied by finding the proper medication.

The Canadiens were dilligent in their assessment of Kostitsyn. During pre draft screening tests and interviews, Kostitsyn boarded the bike for cardio and leg strength tests. The drill involves peddling like a getaway thief for ten minutes, and soon after beginning Kostitsyn suffered what appeared to be the start of an attack. He removed himself from the bike and settled himself down.

Within minutes, Kostitsyn was composed, and he climbed back and nailed some impressive results. The kid was no quitter, and the Canadiens were privileged to witness a test of character they didn't foresee in their testing. When other teams shied away from choosing the player ranked fifth in the draft, the Canadiens happily selected him. As a reward, familiarity with their pick, likely led to the Habs drafting his younger brother, who was burried under 29 other clubs radars.

The Red Wings and Canadiens have been ahead of the curve for a few seasons in regards to choosing players. It is evidenced in the fact that both clubs have become knows for making strong choices in the latter rounds. The Entry Draft will always be a form of crapshoot, but by scouting what a player eats for breakfast, how often he attends church, and what the ex-girlfriend thinks of him, a better gauge of a person's convictions comes forth.

Of course, other clubs do these things well also, but perhaps the Habs and Red Wings are more thourough because they have been understanding certain things longer.

On the ice, the team's final product mirrors each others in several ways. Both clubs employ speed as their biggest asset. While Detroit uses it's speed and passing skills to deploy a puck possession oriented offense, the Canadiens, slightly larger in size, use speed more in terms of puck pursuit.

























The Detroit game is a more refined version of what the Canadiens might one day attempt to achieve. For now Montreal's speed comes into play mainly in puck and positional battles, drawing opponants into penalties that translate into power play goals.

Another strong facet of the Detroit style, is that Red Wings players are constantly placing the puck in zones where harm is least expected. They do this almost instinctively and as a team whose members have played together for a long period of time, they seem to always have the proper reaction to every puck battle. The Red Wings never stand still, and it benefits their possession style of feeding the puck into open ice and getting to it first. A flat footed opponants is a meal for the Wings.

The Canadiens battle similarly, but are in a younger phase of developing the same strategies. The Habs aren't yet as adept as the Wings in placing the puck carefully in their own end, but they are quite savvy at moving it out of the zone upon possession. With speed to burn, the Canadiens transition is often their strongest asset next to their power play. The Habs puck possession in transition in an element that time and familiarity will enhance.

Part of Detroit's defensive success lies in an ability to slow a game down by controlling the puck and keeping it from opponants for long stretches at a time. No opponant can build up speed playing without the puck, and their tempo is affected by the Wings control. Their knack for putting teams to sleep with this, and the shifting gears at a moments notice, has made them a tough team to size up on any given night. Detroit rarely alters their style to suit a different game flow, they simply control it by speeding up and slowing the tempo of the team they are facing. This is most evident when they take the lead in games.

The Canadiens are not yet dominant enough, or experienced enough to force one main system of play onto an equally strong opponant. The Habs methods of operation are a hybrid of different game facets that work against varying opponants. Depending on the game situation, or a particular line matchup, Montreal will deploy 2-1-2 or 1-2-2 schemes based almost on a feel for the tempo of the game. Traps and locks will be attempted against stronger lines to suit the need, just as dumps and chases will be deployed against tired or weaker opponants.

The Canadiens dumping is akin to the Wings slowing the tempo down. The goals are similar in that it forces the opposite team into a style they wish not to play, at a time they wish not to play it.




















If there were a baseball analogy in all this, it would be found in a picher's bag of tricks.

Detroit has mastered the fastball and knuckleball, and keeps opponants off pace with it. The fastball is so good, it is practically unhittable. Should a hitter seem to be adjusting, a knuckler will then follow, if for no other reason than to make an opponants step back.

On the Canadiens, more pitches are used. The fastball is the first pitch of choice, but it can change and be mixed at a moments notice. By employing different schemes, the Habs are in essense throwing curves to keep a team off balance. A club without strong identity ingrained in their style of play is quickly chewed up in the guessing game.

What is extremely interesting in the analysis of both clubs, is that their effectives are similar, but their deployments are opposed and designed to counter each other.

Perhaps the measure of the Canadiens success in progressing with these methods is best exemplified in games against the Pittsburgh Penguins over the last two seasons.























The Penguins game sits somewhere between that of Detroit and Montreal in that there are many similar elements again. In Pittsburgh, to suit their needs on a particular night, they will shut down almost completely offensively, and focus on causing mistakes their speed and power play can pounce on. Once a lead is in hand, they will shift right back to a shut down game.

In last year's final, the Red Wings, at two or three junctures, seemed to have their hands full with this. After the first two games of the series, it became evident that Pittsburgh would not beat Detroit at it's own game. With Detroit sensing the Cup, they opened up and made mistakes. The Penguins sat back in groups of three and four and took advantage of small errors to get back in the series.

Against the Penguins, the Canadiens have fared decently well over the past 8 meetings. No team has been able to impose superiority on the other, but Pittsburgh at times looked defensively dominant in out-patienting the Canadiens thrusts. You may recall a pair of games between the two clubs being billed as offensive fireworks displays only to result in something that looked like the Devils playing the Devils.

Should the Canadiens and Red Wings fatefully meet in June as many predict, it will be interesting to watch how they go about handling each other.

For now, a pair exhibition games with partial rosters, decided in shootouts, have produced no clear master.

As the Canadiens continue to explore their own experience, and demand a stronger committment of themselves over the season's course, it will be curious to witness how these two clubs match at year's end.

Phil Carpenter photos courtesy Montreal Gazette and habsinsideout.com

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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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1909-10 A Team Is Born

Note for all readers and Canadiens Fans:

The Montreal Canadiens 100 Seasons has been all consuming project for me to undertake starting this past summer. I hope that you will enjoy reading it as much as I have had digging it up. I always thought that there should be one single place online, almost like a web book, where much of this could be found. Now, hopefully, I can make that a reality.

As of today, July 31, 2008, I have completed documenting roughly about half of the team's history. As I continue to write and research these posts, I will begin posting on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule, while bringing the Habs current goings on once training camp begins.

Thanks for tuning in.



The Montreal Canadiens were born on December 2, 1909 in room 129 of the Windsor Hotel.

J. Ambrose O'Brien, a businessman and sports entrepreneur from Ottawa, with financial backing from business partner T.C. Hare, submitted the one thousand dollar National Hockey Association league entry fee and made guarantees for player salaries in the amount of $5,000.

The Montreal Wanderers had been one of the stronger teams in Eastern Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1908-09 and the owners of the club were upset that the ECAHA's other 3 teams - the Ottawa Senators, the Montreal Shamrocks, and the Quebec Bulldogs - had left them behind to create a newly formed league called the Canadian Hockey Association.

The CHA had been on created November 13, 1909 and was formed of the Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec franchises, in addition to the Montreal National, and a team known as All - Montreal.



O'Brien meanwhile, had sports and arena interests in Renfrew, Haileybury and Cobalt and was sought out by Wanderers owners to form a new rival league to the CHA. Included in their ideas, was one for a Montreal based team comprised mainly of french speaking players, to counter the same idea of the CHA's Montreal National. It would be called the Montreal Canadiens, and their colours would be blue and white.

There was one small problem, these Montreal Canadiens had no arena to play in.

The issue was solved by the Wanderers, who wanted this new league to work out in such a bad way, that they would share their home rink, the Jubilee Arena, with the Canadiens.
















So the NHA was born, with the Canadiens joining forces with the Renfrew Creamery Kings, the Cobalt Silver Kings, the Haileybury Comets, and of course, the Wanderers. The Canadiens and the NHA, in its rivalry with the CHA, endured a difficult birth with several false starts.

After part of the initial schedule was remade and finally scrapped, the NHA accepted, or conspired to lure as the theory goes, two additional franchises from the CHA - the Senators and the Shamrocks - and began the season anew in January of 1910.

Jack Laviolette, a star player with the Montreal National of Federal Amateur Hockey League, the Michigan Soo Indians of the International Hockey League, and the Montreal Shamrocks of the Eastern Canadien Amateur Hockey Association, was regarded as one of the brighter hockey men the city of Montreal had in the early 1900's. He was brought in by owner O'Brien and teamed with secretary treasurer Eddy McCaffery in forming the group of players that would comprise the inaugural Montreal Canadiens team.




Laviolette, in addition to being manager, would also serve as the team's best defenseman and captain. He completed the task of getting players in place in less than one month.

Born Jean Baptiste "Jack" Laviolette in Belleville, Ontario on July 27, 1879, he moved with his family to Valleyfield, Quebec at age 12, where he developed a love of the game of hockey on his best friend Didier "Cannonball" Pitre's backyard rink.

Pitre, another defenseman, would become Laviolette's first signing to the Canadiens as he outbid the National for his services. It was quite a coup for the team, and the signing involved outracing the National's agent by train, who was also on the way to scoop up Pitre.



Soon after, Laviolette added Jos Cattarinich in goal and Newsy Lalonde in the rover position. The team's starters were rounded out by Ed Decary at center, with Arthur Bernier and Georges "Skinner" Poulin on the wings. Seven other players would suit up for Montreal in the restarted 12 game official season and they included Joseph Bougie, Ed Chapleau, Edgar Leduc, Edward Millaire, Patsy Séguin and goaltenders M. Larochelle and Teddy Groulx.

On a team photo handout of the day that featured the composition of the team, are two players named Rick Duckett and Noss Chartrand. There is little data pertaining to the standing of these players who were likely victims of the earlier season's false started schedule.



Laviolette, McCaffery, and O'Brien did much financial wheeling and dealing in aquiring several of their players, and certain transactions were contested with threats and lawsuits. After having stolen Pitre from under the National's nose, he targetted the services of Lalonde and Decary, and then moved on to All - Montreal for Poulin, all of whom where under contract.

With much of this contested in court, the Canadiens made headlines in local newpapers prior to having played their first NHA game.

Edouard Lalonde, was already known as Newsy by the time he arrived on the Canadiens scene. Born in Cornwall, Ontario, on October 31, 1887, the 22 year old Lalonde would quite rightfully become recognized as the Canadiens first true star player. Lalonde's on ice style made him the original "Flying Frenchman".

On January 5, 1910, the Canadiens beat the Cobalt squad 7-6 in overtime, with Lalonde scoring twice in what unofficially became their first ever game. Shortly after, the CHA was dissolved, and hence the Shamrocks and Senators, along with some of the league's better players, were absorbed into NHA.

It is not known how many games the Canadiens had played prior to the schedule being quickly revamped. The prior games played were shelved from the record and there exists little documentation today that details the false start.



The Canadiens restarted the season on January 19 and Lalonde recorded the team's first goal and hat trick in a loss to Renfrew. Both the Canadiens and Wanderers would play their local games at the Jubilee Arena, at the corner of Ste. Catherine and Malborough in the Westmount section of downtown Montreal. The Canadiens would lose the first four games in its history before beating Haileybury 9-5 on February 7, in front of a hometown crowd 3,000 strong. Pitre, the team's highest paid player at $1,700 per season, scored the winning goal.

Pitre would also score the winning goal in the Canadiens only other win of the 1910 season, registering a hat trick - a first for a Canadiens defenseman - on March 11 in a win over the crosstown Shamrocks. The game in itself was an oddity of sorts, as Canadiens starting goaltender M. Larochelle was tossed from the contest for vehemently arguing a goal with officials. Laviolette would take over in goal himself, thus becoming the first player coach to be credited with a win. Larochelle, who has no other Canadiens appearances to his credit, would not return. He has henceforth disappeared into mysterious Canadiens lore.

At the onset, the Canadiens were a bleak on ice, and off ice proposition. After three games, Laviolette passed the manager's hat to goalie Cattarinich so that he could concentrate his efforts on other duties involving the team while continuing to play.

Several events and strange occurances would mark the Canadiens initial campaign. Montreal would suffer its worst loss in history in this season on February 26, via a 15-3 pounding at the hands of the Haileybury Comets. In that game, Alex Currie and Nick Bawlf would become the first players to score 6 and 5 goals respectively against the sadsack Canadiens.




Finances were a problem for the Canadiens as well, and on March 9, prior to a game against the Wanderers, the Montreal players went on strike. Angered at not having been paid for their previous game, the players were convinced by Laviolette - who pointed to an arena full of possibly disappointed fans - that they would receive full renumeration for their services as soon as the gate receipts were counted.

The Canadiens would finish out the schedule in last place with a record of 2-10, scoring 59 goals and allowing an even 100. The following season, only Lalonde, Pitre, Laviolette, Bernier and Poulin would return.

In his first NHA season, Lalonde would score 38 goals in 11 games to win the league's first scoring title. He scored 16 of those in 6 games with the Canadiens before being "lent" to the Renfrew squad where he would add 22 more in the season's final five games. The move was done primarily to strengthen the O' Brien owned Creamery Kings in a Stanley Cup bid.

O' Brien was the big mover and shaker in the initial days of the NHA's first steps. In addition to the Canadiens and Renfrew, he also had ownership of the Haileybury and Cobalt franchises, and donated the league's first championship trophy - the O' Brien Cup.

Despite O' Brien's help, Renfrew would not manage its Cup goal, and the NHA championship and the Stanley Cup would become property of the Montreal Wanderers in 1910.




The Wanderers, led by stars Ernie Russell, Harry Hyland and goalie Riley Hern defeated the Berlin (now Kitchener) Union Jacks 7-3 in a one game Stanley Cup challenge held March 12, 1910 at the Jubilee Arena.

Ownership of the Stanley Cup at this time in hockey history is very different than it is known as today. As it was created to be a challenge cup, rules governing who could compete for it and how were in constant evolution until the bowl become property of the NHL.

The 1909 Stanley Cup champions were the Senators, then of the ECAHA. Ottawa had been awarded the Cup as league champions, and it was too late in the season for them to accept an outside challenge from the Winnipeg Shamrocks. While Ottawa partook in its first NHA season the following calendar year, it twice successfully defended its title in a pair of total goals games in January of 1910 against the Edmonton Eskimos and a team from Galt.

Though the Senators had twice defended their title, the team's name is inscribed on the bowl just once. Wheras other squads multiple wins within a 12 month period are duly recorded, there seemed to be little operative practice of consistency for inscriptions on the bowl.

Hockey in 1909-10, grew in often conspicuous leaps and bounds, and the Canadiens inaugural season mirrored the game's fast changing times.





The team's owners were sometimes suspect, often perceived by the public at large as simply money men cashing in on the sport's rise in popularity. As many of them were involved in boxing, horseracing, and gambling rings, hockey often suffered from the perception of it being nothing more than a violent mug's rackett. And it truly was!

Owners bought and sold teams quickly. Player's rights were fought over considerably. Local rinks gate receipts were questioned. In short, every variety of legal standing regarding the game had its share of dubious moments. Owners took advantage of players naivity, and the sides barely trusted each other.

That the Canadiens survived all of this, team name and origin intact, is quite a feat. They would have more than their share of trials and tribulations in their early going, but on the backs on great visionairies and proud players, they would outlast city rival teams through a multitude of ups and downs over the coming decades.

In all the fuss and flux, it would be the constants that remained from year to year that would bring about allegiance in the locals.

Laviolette and Cattarinich were emotionally invested in the team. Players such as Lalonde, Pitre, - stubborn as they came - and other mainstays to come, helped reinforce the team's humble foundation and build the sport in Eastern Canada.




Newsy Lalonde would leave his mark on the NHA and NHL, as much for his scoring exploits as he would for his temperament. A controversial figure of sorts, who was known at the time to have been making more money as one of the nation's best lacrosse players, Lalonde never hesitated to refuse his services when he felt he was being taking advantage of financially.

After the 1910-11 season, he jumped to Pacific Coast Hockey League's Vancouver Millionaires for more money. He was back in a Canadiens jersey the following season. Two seasons later he was sold / traded back to the Millionaires, but refused to report, causing the Canadiens all kinds of headaches in player and money transfers.

Regardless of his stubborn nature and his principles, Lalonde would be regarded as one of the NHL's early greats. He won six scoring championships across four leagues in his day - 2 NHA, 2 NHL, 1 PCHA in 1912, and 1 OPHL in 1909 - and would remain associated with the Canadiens as a player until 1923 when he was dealt to the Saskatoon Shieks for $3,500 and Aurel Joliat after a contractual squabble with then manager Leo Dandurand.

During his 12 seasons as a Canadiens player, Lalonde had been captain for eight of those years and its coach for 6. He played his final NHL game as a member of the New York Americans in 1927 and retired in 1929 after a year with the Niagara Falls Cataracts.

By 1932, he had patched up differences with Dandurand and returned to coach the Canadiens once more for two and a half seasons during some lean years for the club.



Pitre, a giant of a man for an early hockey player, had the on ice temperment of a teddy bear. He would play 13 of his next 14 hockey seasons in a Canadiens uniform, outlasting his sometimes rival team mate Lalonde by one season. A fast skating strong man with a reknowned hard shot, Pitre was one of the early game's better offensive defenseman at a time when the position was much less defined than it is today.

Laviolette would suit up for the Canadiens until 1918, when a car accident would end his career.

Cattarinich would not play for the Canadiens beyond the 1910 season. He would later team with Dandurand and another local businessman named Louis Letourneau to purchase the Canadiens.

For the 1910-11 season, Cattarinich would find his replacement in goal, and his discovery had a profound effect on the future of the Montreal Canadiens franchise.

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