Montreal Celebrates 100 - PART 3 (1920-1929)

The 1920's were hard times yet not unimportant to the CANADIENS hockey club. The club won the Stanley Cup in the 1923-24 season. It would be the last time the trophy was competed for by three different leagues. (pictured are 4 cards from the 1923 V145 Patterson card series)

The Pacific Coast was represented by the PCHA Champions - Vancouver Maroons, while the Calgary Tigers of Western Canada won the WCHL. Montreal had to play them both in a series to win the Cup.

Captained by Sylvio Mantha, and backstopped by the league's top goalie - Vezina, the scoring was handled by Billy Boucher (2nd in NHL) and Aurel Joliat (3rd in NHL).

A rookie by the name of Howie Morenz placed 8th in the league scoring charts and led all scorers in the play-offs.

Unfortunately, George Vezina would die in 1926. His legacy is kept in the trophy named after him which the club donated the following season. However, his legacy did not stop there.

Dr. Brian Price would purchase Vezina's goalie pads for his company - In The Game (ITG). He would make the controversial decision to cut up the artifact to include pieces of it in his 2000-2001 Be A Player Memorabilia series of hockey cards.

He sold the packs for an unheard of $99 each - and sold out all his stock. These were also the very first card products to be sold encased in protective plastic. The hobby has since changed as never before as more and more companies follow this formula of numbering and limiting special edition trading cards with memorabilia.

George Vezina stick memorabilia card.

Montreal Celebrates 100 - PART 2 (1909-1919)

The Montreal Candiens were one of the original clubs to start the National Hockey Association (NHA) - the fore-runner of the NHL. The Renfrew Creamery Kings - a.k.a. the "Millionaires" were a bust after two seasons and from their ashes Didier Pitre (pictured on this C56 from 1910) was the very first player to be signed by the Montreal Canadiens.
It took about half of a decade but the Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup in 1915-16 season.

In addition to Pitre, the club boasted 3 other future Hall of Famers - Jack Laviolette and Newsy Lelonde - who alternated as Captains, and the immortalized goalie - George Vezina. The team's only goalie from 1910 to 1926 - Vezina died prematurely from tuberculosis. The club donated the now heralded trophy the following year to goalies who are the best each season.

While the Stanley Cup was only won once by the Canadiens during this period, the club could have added a second if not for the influenza epidemic of 1919 which claimed the life of more than a few players. They did finish with the best record in the NHL on several occasions with their stars topping the scoring charts regularly.

Contesting the Les Canadiens in the new league's inaugural season were - Cobalt Silver Kings, Haileybery Comets, Montreal Shamrocks, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs and Renfrew Creamery Kings. (pictured are the players from the C55 Imperial Tobacco set from 1911-12)

NHA ceased to exist and the NHL began play in 1917. League stability and World War I (1914-1918) were great factors that pressured survival of this franchise in its first decade. But the best was yet to come.