1909-10 A Team Is Born

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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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 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. It would be the team's most important addition that year.

Kendall kept 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 NHL 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 Onario.

1911-12 Newsy Goes West

In 1911, hockey was the fastest growing sport in Canada, and its popularity had spread from coast to coast like wild fire. With demand for top quality hockey reaching a zenith in more regions than just the East, money was there to be made in spades for savvy entrepreneurs with dreams of a bigger and better hockey world.

As it always has been, to make money, one often has to put it forth first, and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association began a bidding war with the NHA for the services of its better players.

The PCHA was founded by the Patrick brothers, Frank and Lester, who had left the Renfrew hockey club after the 1910-11 season. After selling off their interests in a very profitable lumber company, they set their sights on making their mark in the business of hockey in the Vancouver area, where an appetite for the sport was widely evident.

It is impossible to account for all of what the Patricks did for the game of hockey in one paragraph. In short order, they created a new league that would compete against the NHA, built arenas with artificial ice, structured a league's rules and teams, managed, coached, operated, and played for the franchises they were financing. Along the way, they reinvented the game of hockey as it is known today - 22 rule changes brought in by the brothers are still in existance - and changed the face of the game forever.

The pioneer Patrick's zest affected the NHA immediatly. They lured 11 star players from the NHA to the PCHA and gave them more lucrative deals. The players they took in comprised almost half of the new leagues three teams.

The Patricks went after some of the best, and the Canadiens lost its star Newsy Lalonde and forward Georges Poulin. The Wanderers for their part went without Jimmy Gardner and Ottawa lost Cyclone Taylor.

The NHA was being watered down, and the Renfrew franchise did not survive. It would proceed as a four team league for 1911-12 with the Creamery Kings players being spread across the remaining clubs.

While Lalonde would go on to win the PCHA scoring race with 27 goals in 15 games, his absence hit the Canadiens hard, and despite the continued excellence of goalie George Vezina, they headed back down to a last place finish - just a pair of wins away from the first place, and Stanley Cup winning Quebec Bulldogs. With the schedule upped to 18 games from 16 the season before, the Habs goal total would drop from 66 to 59. Didier Pitre would account for almost half that sum himself.

Transition was again the name of the game for the Canadiens, as manager Jack Laviolette reappointed himself coach in Lalonde's leave. After coach Adolphe Lecours' demands for more money left him twisting in the wind, one of the team's co-owners, Napoleon Dorval, assumed duties behind the bench.

Six Canadiens players from 1910-11 remained after the departures of Lalonde and Poulin. Returning for duty with the Habs were Vezina, Pitre, and Laviolette, who composed the core of the team, as well as Eugène Payan, Évariste Payer, and Hector Dallaire. Replacing Art Bernier, Lorenzo Bertrand and James Power were Ernie Dubeau, Frank Glass, Edgar Leduc, Alphonse Jetté, Louis Berlinguette, and Pierre Vezina.

When it came to facing the Canadiens, Didier Pitre was now the man to stop. Since being converted from a defenseman to playing the rover position, his devastating shot began to terrorize opposition goaltenders. Percy Lesueur of the Senators, fearfull of the rising shots, asked permission of the NHA to begin wearing a mask to protect himself. Wanderers goalie Riley Hern, a four time Cup champion in the early 1900's, quit from fear of being dinged by one of Pitre's blasts. It was a common sight at games, when Pitre wound up, to see fans jumping behind seats to protect themselves.

It was at this time that the Montreal Canadiens were beginning to be referred to as "the Flying Frenchmen" in the other cities in which they played. Laviolette had a certain knack for finding and signing players, such as Lalonde and Pitre, that could termed electrifying for their time. Through word of mouth, an inherant curiosity developed from the mystique of the language and seeing them perform their fast paced style of hockey.

Perhaps it was because the Canadiens played a wide open style of hockey, that word would spread in other cities that "the Flying Frenchmen" were in town. History has traced the term back to a journalist in Ottawa after a Habs win in January of 1911, but others credit an American scribe for coining the term at a later date. One thing is for sure, the Ottawa writers were quite impressed by the team that was literally "flying on the ice" that night, and the term has stuck with the team throughout the decades.






















Upon its formation in December of 1909, the Canadiens were created with the Wanderers rivalry in mind. In doing so, the NHA understood that in order to make the rivalry reach a boil, a french versus english approach would suit their needs best. They designated that the Canadiens would hold exclusive rights to all french speaking players in order to achieve the identity needed to meet this criteria.

Ambrose O' Brien, who knew a dollar when he saw one, was a firm believer that the method would lead to success and the other three team's owners went along with it when the league was formed in December of 1909. As the NHA changed with each passing season, so did perceptions, and with O'Brien now out of the NHA hockey ownership picture by 1911-12, a certain jealousy arose in Quebec City and Ottawa over the designation that kept players such as Lalonde, Pitre, Laviolette and Vezina in a Canadiens uniform.

It wasn't that these players had made the Canadiens more successful on the ice - it hadn't yet - what upset owners, and brought out their envy, were the gate receipts that the Canadiens drew. It could be argued that the other franchises also had their star attractions, and that each of the three franchises - the Wanderers, the Senators, and the Bulldogs - won successive Stanley Cups with their respective approaches. If anyone was being shortchanged by the ruling, it was more likely Montreal, who could not align players from a larger english speaking pool. The french clientele in Quebec and Ottawa, remained a little miffed.

Not without coincidence, it was the Canadiens who first broke and challenged the agreement by signing former Wanderers captain Frank "Pud" Glass, a veteran of four Stanley Cup battles. The Ottawa Senators were furious, and lodged a complaint with the NHA. In a meeting several days later, Glass was ordered to remain a Canadien, and the Senators representative, one Charles Sparks, was beside himself in disbelief. He could not understand why a team that fought so strongly to maintain its hold on aligning french speaking players could now argue for signing an english player.

An amendment to the ruling was later brought forth, with the Canadiens being allowed 2 english speaking players and the remaining three teams allowed 2 french speaking players each. Glass had little effect on the Canadiens fortunes for 1911-12, scoring but 7 goals in 16 games before retiring from the professional hockey scene.

Prior to the start of the season, the league met and continued to make refinements to the game. Their first order of business was to transfer its two dormant franchises to Toronto ownership. Ambrose O' Brien's Renfrew team would become the Toronto Blueshirts and the dormant Canadiens entry that was O' Brien's as well in 1910, was to become the Toronto Tecumsehs. Due to the fact that these transactions were made late in the year, the two new teams would not begin to operate until the 1912-13 season.

The league also made adjustments to the rules and the way that the game was played. The rule changes implemented in 1911 introduced a format of play that foreshadowed what is modern day hockey.

The first change was the elimination of the rover position. Hockey had up until then, been a 7 player team sport. Along with the goalie, the center and two wing positions we know today, there was a rover who played above or behind the center, a point player who positioned himself near to the goaltender, and a coverpoint player who ventured out further up ice. As the game evolved, the point and coverpoint positions had now become known as defenseman and were more likely to play alonside one another than in the prior setup.

The removal of the rover was brought on by two motivations. The first was said to be a willingness to open up the game, and the second was purely financial - there would be one less salary to pay!

A team's six starting players still played the majority of the game but were now allowed substitutions at any stoppage in play. The season before, 1910-11, the NHA switched to a three 20 minute period format from 2 half hours frames and allowed substitutions at the 20 minute mark. Subs had only been permitted at the halfway point prior to that. There was no limit to how often the subs could be employed and it was stipulated that if a player left a game due to injury, he could not return.


In 1911-12, the NHA brough about the distinction between minor and major fouls. These penalties in the most primitive form sought two ideals - the ejection of players and the accumulation of dollars.

Major fouls included throwing a stick to prevent a goal, cross-checking, charging, deliberate tripping and hooking, and foul language. In each case, the player would be banished for the match and fined $5. If a player's fines reached $25, special discipline was warranted by the league president. In the event of a tossed player, teams could substitute.

Minor fouls identified as kicking an opponent, throwing, holding or batting a puck with the hand, use of the stick above the shoulder for anything other than shooting the puck, and being offside - which was termed "loafing".

For each minor fouls, a player drew one "caution" and when he reached a total of three fouls he was removed from the game.

Other details included the home team being given the choice of choosing which end they would play in and games would now go into overtime if tied after 60 minutes.

Of the Canadiens newcomers in 1911-12, left winger Berlinguette would have the longest tenure with the team. Berlinguette was a member of the 1909-10 Haileybury Comets before joining Galt of the OPHL for one season. In 1911-12, Belinguette started the season with Moncton of the MPHL, scoring 7 goals in 9 games. He was signed by the Canadiens on January 30, 1912 and appeared in 4 of the team's final 10 contests. He returned to the Moncton squad for a Stanley Cup challenge against the Bulldogs on March 12 and 13. Berlinguette, often mispelled as "Berlinquette", would participate in 6 NHA and 6 NHL seasons with the team.

Born in Papineau, Quebec in 1887, Berlinguette was at his best in the early 1920's when he registered 11 and 13 goal performances playing alongside Odie Cleghorn. He retired from professional hockey in 1927 and passed away in 1959 at the age of 72.

Pierre Vezina would become a footnote in Canadiens history. The brother of goalie Georges, the pair became the first siblings to suit up for the Habs, albeit for just one game. He was brought in as a substitute player for the season, and for personal reasons in regards to his brother. While he practiced with the Canadiens all season and remained on their roster, it was once said that he was taken on mainly to prevent his goalie brother from being lured to the PCHA. Pierre Vezina remained property of the Chicoutimi hockey club while associated with Montreal, who never officially signed him to a contract. He made his one game NHA appearance on Febuary 9, 1912.

Ernie Dubeau signed with the Canadiens on November 27, 1911 and would remain with the team through 4 season until he was traded to Toronto for Skene Ronan on January 17, 1916. He would score 16 goals in 76 career games with the Canadiens.

Edgar Leduc had two brief 3 game stints with the Canadiens, first appearing on loan from the National of the Montreal City hockey league in 1910. Borrowed by the Habs on March 3 of that year, Leduc scored 3 goals in as many games for the last place Canadiens. He returned to the National for one season before resigning with Montreal on December 21. 1911. His three apperances in 1911-122 produced no goals and he was not brought back the following season.

Alphonse Jetté was signed by the Canadiens on February 12 of this season, and appeared in the team's final 3 games. Used sparingly as a sub on wing and defense, Jetté would total but 19 games, a goal and an assist, in his four year association with the Canadiens.

Perhaps the most visionary of the changes the NHA addressed was the addition of number armbands on each player in order for them to be more readily identifiable by fans. The Canadiens employed 10 numbers during the 1911-12 season for the 12 players who suited up:

Georges Vezina (1), Ernie Dubeau (2), Jack Laviolette (3), Frank Glass (4), Didier Pitre (5), Edgar Leduc and Alphone Jetté (6), Eugène Payan (7), Louis Berlinguette and Pierre Vezina (8), Hector Dallaire (9), and Évariste Payer (10).

For the third successive season, the Canadiens on ice fashions were again altered. Gone were the red sweaters adorned with a "CA" stylized on a green maple leaf, and replacing them were a mostly white concoction, with diagonal bars of red and blue streaming from the right top shoulder down to the left hip. The double colour bars also ran the width of the sweater's base and sleeves. The scripted "CA" was then placed over the heart. Unfortunately for historians, there is nary a photo of these renderings to be found today. Hockey cards of the era, simply ran most of the previous season's photographs.

The 1912 Montreal Canadiens started the season off with high hopes despite the loss of Lalonde and Poulin to the PCHA. Things did not start out well however, and they were handed a 5-0 shutout courtesy of the Wanderers at the Westmount Arena, January 3, on opening night. The Canadiens bounced back quickly, defeated the Bulldogs in Quebec three days later.

Back in Montreal on January 10, they avenged the loss to the Wanderers, disposing them by a 6-1 score. Next up were a home and home pair against the Senators, with Ottawa winning the first 4-3, before the Habs travelled to edge the Senators 5-4. Montreal won their next contest on January 20, beating the Wanderers by a 6-3 score. It would be the last time until the end of the hockey calandar that the Canadiens would post two successive wins.

The Canadiens then began to follow a lose/win pattern over the next four games from January 24 to February 3. It started with 6-2 loss in Quebec before rebounding to beat the Bulldogs 5-3, three nights later. The Wanderers took the Habs 2-1 in a close one to close out a busy January, but then the Canadiens thumped Ottawa 9-3.

The Canadiens would not win another game for 25 days and took on the look of the hapless team from it's initial season.

The Senators brought the Habs back down to size with a 4-2 win on February 7 in Ottawa. Two nights later, in Quebec, Montreal lost 5-2. Their first successive losses on the season only brought more.

In Montreal on February 14, the Bulldogs edged Montreal 2-1. The team was at a low when it hit Ottawa four days later and was scalped 6-1.

Things soon hit rock bottom in a 9-1 defeat by the Wanderers in their home on February 21.

The Habs were in a tough spot, needing three wins to finish out the schedule combined with losses to Quebec, Ottawa, and the Wanderers in order to have a chance to tie for first place. Unfortunately, these teams could not lose to each other without someone winning.

Before games on February 25, the Bulldogs and Wanderers were tied with 16 points each. Ottawa was close with 14 and the Canadiens just behind with 12. The Habs and Bulldogs had 3 games remaining and Ottawa and the Wanderers had 4 due to the rescheduling of a January 24 game, a 10-6 Ottawa win that was in dispute. Chances were slim, and all the Canadiens could hope for at best was a four way tie - four teams all with 9-9 records.

On February 25, Quebec beat the Wanderers 2-1 while the Canadiens fought hard and lost 3-2 in overtime to Ottawa. For all intents, their season was over.

They finished out the schedule by beating the first place Bulldogs 6-3 in Montreal on the 28th and edging the Wanderers 2-1 on March 2.

With an 8-10 record, the Canadiens finished fourth, two wins behind the eventual Stanley Cup winning Bulldogs, who had a 10-8 mark. Ottawa and the Wanderers were 9-9. With such parity among the four clubs, it was easy to see where a gamebreaker the likes of Newsy Lalonde would have made a great difference.

Returning Lalonde would be the Canadiens first order of business for the 1912-13 campaign.

1912-13 Newsy Returns

Newsy Lalonde's one year exile with the Vancouver Millionaires ends when the Canadiens outbid the PCHA team for his services, but his return to Montreal's lineup causes some rumbling amongst other players. Now earning more money per season than any other player on the team, Lalonde's salary brought out anger and envy in Didier Pitre, a constant star with the team since day one.

The Canadiens also lured Donald Smith, who had finished third in scoring with 16 goals in as many games with Renfrew two years prior. Smith had played with the Victoria Aristocrats of the PCHL the year before, and was now permitted to suit up for Montreal due to the loosening of english player restraints initially set forth in 1909. The Canadiens could now dress two english speaking players per game and the other teams were each allowed two french speaking players.

The addition of these two players makes Pitre quite unhappy, and he gives serious thought to heading where there is better money for him out west in PCHL. He had been given a car by the Canadiens supporters, and promptly sold it with such intentions in mind.



























The battle between the NHA and the PCHA reaches new heights as players now have bargaining chips that they did not previously enjoy. George Kennedy, however, thwarts Pitre's plans of heading out west by trading him to New Westminster for the rights to Goldie Prodgers. A clause in the trade gives the Canadiens the rights to recall him at their whim, and Pitre never reports. Instead he signs a contract with the Quebec Bulldogs before NHA president Emmet Quinn steps in and annuls both deals and declares Pitre a Montreal Canadien for the season.

Pitre was not content with the solution, and walked out on the Canadiens with 3 games remaining in the season. Montreal then subtracts $450 from Pitre's $3,000 a year deal.

Smith was signed as a free agent by the Canadiens on November 26, 1912. Born in Cornwall, Ontario, he went on to play Senior hockey in his hometown for three years before making stops in Portage La Prairie, and later turning pro in the Ontario Professional Hockey League in 1908. Smith switched teams in each of the next three years with stints with the Montreal Shamrocks, the Renfrew Creamery Kings and the Victoria Aristocrats before settling in Montreal for good in 1912.

Smith would be halfway through his third season with the Canadiens when the club would sell his rights to the cross town rival Wanderers during the 1914-15 season. After playing one full season with the Wanderers. Smith's career was put on hold as he served his country in World War I for three years. He would return to hockey in 1919 when he was resigned by Canadiens.

During the season, Lalonde, Pitre, and Smith respond with 25, 24, and 19 goals respectively, but the Canadiens finish fifth in a 6 team NHA that now includes the Toronto Blueshirts and Toronto Tecumsehs.

More changes for the Canadiens this season include new barber pole coloured sweaters, striped red white and blue and featuring a maple leaf with a centered "CAC" as a logo. Complaints by the Senators, who wear a similar barber pole scheme of red white and black causes Montreal to adopt an alternate red sweater for games against Ottawa, In the first meeting between the teams in the nation's capital, fans actually became confused and cheered Montreal on at certain points. The sweaters last one season and were abandonned thereafter for another new design in 1913-14.

Other than Smith, the Canadiens add Fred Povey, Clayton Fréchette and Hyacinthe Guevremont as players and the the club's payroll reaches $8,000, well over the mandated cap of $5,000 per team.

In the team photo, there are three players in the back row listed as being Pete Degrowy, Cy Denneny, and Shorty Coderre. None of the three are known for ever having played an official game with the Canadiens in the NHA.


As the Canadiens 1912 training camp was underway, players as usual, were invited to try out. Cy Denneny, 21 years old at the time, was a future Hall Of Famer, who had yet to join the NHA, and had most recently played with the Cornwall Internationals of the Lower Ottawa Valley Hockey League in 1911-12. In 1917-18, he would join the NHL's Ottawa Senators and go on to play 11 seasons, retiring as the NHL's all time leading goal scorer, with 248, in 1929.

The Canadiens had signed Denneny to a contract on November 29, 1912, but like the other two players in the photo, he was released when training camp ended. There are varying stories as to why Denneny was let go, and one in particular has it that Canadiens management were unable to convince league authorities that Denneny was in fact french speaking, a ruling that they still were required to adhere to. The Canadiens were able to align a pair of english speaking players, and that season the roles were filled by Donald Smith and Fred Povey.

There is no accounting of where Denneny played hockey during the 1912-13 season, and his name did not resurface in NHA circles for another two seasons when he signed a contract with the Toronto Shamrocks.

The dog in the photo is a reference to the Stanley Cup champion Quebec Bulldogs, whose previous season's team photo included a Bulldog mascot. Superstitions being what they are, the Canadiens tried their luck to less successful results.

Public opinion is divided over the new 6 man game versus the former 7 man lineup. Canadiens owner Kennedy convinces the league to play the second half of the schedule in the old format, while letting the fans decide by voting in newpapers, such as la Presse and others. The 6 man game wins out easily.

The first local goal judges apeared in 1912 due to complaints from fans as well. Called umpires at the time, they stood behind the net and waved white flags to signify a goal rather than the officials doing so. Leo Dandurand served in this capacity for games in Montreal. Fans also found it unfair that there were no french canadian officials for games, and Dandurand became the first to serve there also in experimetal form on March 5, 1913.





















The Canadiens would open the season with a three game winning streak and their record at midseason is 7–3. The Quebec Bulldogs came on strong with an 11 game win streak to win the league championship and Montreal finished third behind Quebec and the Wanderers.

The season began on December 25, 1912 for the Canadiens, and they welcomed the Toronto Blueshirts to the NHA with a 9-5 win. Smith, in his first game for Montreal, scored four goals against Harry "Hap" Holmes. Three days later, the Canadiens doused the Blueshirts once more, this time in Toronto by an 8-5 score. They stretched their win streak to three games, edging the Tecumsehs 4-3 on New Years Day, 1913.

Montreal's first loss of the season came at the hands of the Ottawa Senators by a 7-3 mark on January 4, but they returned to winning form four days later, defeating the Wanderers 4-3. The Canadiens and Bulldogs played a home and away series on the 11th and 15th with Quebec winning 4-3 at home and Montreal doing the same four nights later by a 5-4 score.











Montreal hit a season peak on January 18, shutting down the Senators by a 6-0 mark. It would be the first shutout in Canadiens history, thanks to Georges Vezina, but the wins would be few and far between from this point on. The Canadiens lost their next contest to the Wanderers 4-3 on January 22 and rebounded to win 5-4 in overtime three nights later against the Tecumsehs.

The second half of the season would see the Canadiens plummet ro fifth place with only 2 wins in the final 10 games. What might not have helped was an NHA decision to revert to a seven man game once more, an idea which was abandoned for good shortly thereafter. In this format, the Canadiens lost three straight games to the Senators, the Tecumsehs and the Blueshirts before beating the Wanderers 6-4 on January 12.

A longer losing streak awaited them with four losses in a row to Ottawa, the red hot Bulldogs twice, and the Wanderers all one or two goal defeats. The first of March saw them come out superior to the equally feable Tecemsehs 3-1, before closing the books with 6-2 pounding by the Blueshirts.














Despite the talent and high salaries on the Canadiens, they could not escape another season ending drought. Quebec, who ended the season on an 11 game win streak, would claim the Stanley Cup for a second straight year. The Canadiens would finish the season with a 9-11 record, scoring 83 goals and allowing 81 - the NHA's second lowest total.

The distractions on and off the ice for the Canadiens were of no help. Captain Lalonde, despite a good scoring year, took out his frustrations regularly in fiery fashion. Fines for on ice indiscipline were a problem all season for the Canadiens, who had three of the four highest docked players in the NHA in Pitre ($75), Smith ($54), and Lalonde ($51).










Newsy got the shenanigans rolling in a December 21 exhibition game against the Wanderers when he threw a questionable hit on Odie Cleghorn in the heat of action. Odie's brother Sprague retaliated with a stick to Lalonde's face, injuring his jaw and forehead. Lalonde was tossed from the contest, but the trouble didn't end there. With news that Lalonde was off to the hospital to receive a dozen stiches, fans sympathetic to the Canadiens cause took on the Wanderers players on their return to the dressing room. A general brawl erupted and the police had to be called in. Sprague Cleghorn was arrested and fined $50 by both the police and the NHA.

Two months later, Lalonde got into it again with his old rival Joe Hall of the Bulldogs. The two had a mutual hatred stemming from previous incidents and on February 22 things reached a fever pitch. After Newsy hacked away at Hall with liberties and a wooden shaft, Hall replied with a viscious crosscheck when Lalonde was not in possesion of the puck. In the second period, when Lalonde was about to get even once more, Hall swung a two hander for Lalonde's head, knocking him cold and earning a suspension from the game.

It was all part of what was becoming business as usual in the NHA, especially in the city of Montreal where the Canadiens Wanderers rivarly had taken hold. Team owners offered players on both sides bonuses for the winning side. Rich businessmen would dangle up to $250 for wins and first place finishes. Scalpers outside the arenas knew a quick buck was to be made and they started buying up chunks of $3 seats that would be resold for up to $5 by gametime.

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