1924-25 The Forum And Two New Rivalries

When the defending Stanley Cup champion Canadiens took to the ice for the 1924-25 season, both the NHL and the Montreal hockey landscape had a very different look.

To suggest the business of hockey was booming would be an understatement, and the changes in the NHL perfectly reflected the growth of the game.

Since the NHL began eight seasons earlier in 1917-18, it had existed as a four team league that had struggled financially to get through the first World War unscathed. With strong teams in four cities now existing on financially solid ground, the NHL decided it was time to spread itself out.












There would be two new NHL franchises added this season, including a renewed Montreal rivalry, a new building, a longer schedule, and a long standing league doormat - the Hamilton Tigers - rejuvenated into a first place team.

THE FORUM OPENS

A new arena was contructed in Montreal, the Forum, and it was built to house the new Montreal team, and instant Canadiens rivals, the Maroons. In an odd and foreshadowing twist of fate, it would the Canadiens who played first in the Forum.

Sir Edward Beattie, president of the Canadian Pacific railway is cited as first having the idea to build the Forum in 1923, long before the Maroons were envisioned as possible tenants. A need for a new arena in the city of Montreal was created in the absence of the Jubilee and Westmount Arena fires in recent years.

William Northy, owner of the 4,300 seat Westmount that burned to the ground in 1918, and a builder with the Canadian Arena Company, was himself looking to build a new arena in the city. After the CAC successfully built the Arena Gardens in Toronto, Northey and Liberal Senator Donat Raymond began to develop plans for 12,500 seat capacity rink for the city of Montreal.
















Plans were scaled back due to financing questions during the Depression and a 9,300 seater was designed. After more money trouble, a backer by the name of H.L. Timmins financed the final project.

The historically significant site at the northeast corner of Atwater and St. Catherine St. West was chosen as the location as it had been home to an outdoor rink earlier in the 1900's, where future hockey legends Frank and Lester Patrick, and Art Ross learned their craft.

















At the time contruction began, the building on site was a roller skating rink named the Forum. Northey decided to keep the name.

At a cost of $1.5 million, contruction of the Forum began in the summer of 1924, and was finished in an incredible 159 days. The building would see two major upgrades in it's lifetime, one in the early 1950's and a second in 1968.

The Forum hosted it's first hockey game on November 29, 1924, and surprisingly, the Maroons were not the home team. Against the wails of both Forum and Maroons management, the Canadiens season opening contest against the Toronto St. Patricks was moved to the new building by the NHL - once again because the Mount Royal Arena couldn't produce ice on a natural surface so early in the season.

The Canadiens went on to beat the St. Patricks 7–1 in the opener, with Billy Boucher scoring a hat trick.

BRUINS BECOME FIRST U.S. BASED NHL TEAM

The NHL's other new franchise, the Boston Bruins, was the first granted outside of Canada.

In 1923, First National Stores grocery tycoon Charles Adams fell in love with the game of hockey, after wirnessing the Stanley Cup playoffs. He persisted in convincing NHL governors to grant him the first U.S. based franchise and the league decided it was time to explore American hockey markets.














Adams sought out the Ottawa Senators Art Ross as his manager, and Ross proceded to put his imprint on the club. Ross, on Adams advice, was directed to choose a nickname that portrayed an untamed animal displaying speed, agility, and cunning. The Bruins moniker he choose fit perfectly in line with colours of Adams chain of stores. Ross would remain on the Bruins front near 30 years, in every capacity from player to manager to four separate coaching stints.

More American franchises would in the Bruins wake, but few would have the rivalry with the Canadiens that the Bruins would enjoy, or regret, in years to come.

In this eighth season of NHL hockey, the league decided it would begin it's schedule earlier and expand it from 24 to 30 games. The additional games were gravy for the owners, but not all the players were as enthused.

TIGERS FINALLY SPROUT CLAWS

The improvement of the Hamilton Tigers can be traced to the previous season when owner Percy Thompson signed the Green brothers, Red and Shorty, from the Sudbury Wolves of the NOHA in November 1923. The brothers were placed on a line with emerging star Billy Burch.

Two other Wolves players, Alex McKinnon and Charlie Langlois were also added, and the players acquired from the Canadiens in the Joe Malone trade, Bert Corbeau and Edmond Bouchard, helped sturdy the team considerably. The final piece was the hiring of former Montreal Wanderers guru Jimmy Gardner as coach. The former NHA and NHL star transformed the once hapless Tigers into winners almost immediately.

CANADIENS SET TO DEFEND THEIR TITLE

Still recognizable within all this, were a very strong Canadiens squad that would have it's best regular season ever.

While the Canadiens altered the look of their red, white, and blue sweaters with a globe logo befitting their World Champion status, the men who wore them were for the most part an unchanged core group.

Back were Georges Vezina, the Cleghorn brothers, Sprague and Odie, their three young offensive stars - Morenz, Joliat, and Boucher, solid defenseman Sylvio Mantha and Billy Coutu, as well as coach Leo Dandurand. Not returning this season were Bill Cameron, who would be back in the NHL in two seasons time, and Bobby Boucher, who went on toplay with the Vancouver Maroons. Billy Bell and Joe Malone both retired from hockey.





















Despite having shared in the success in Montreal, only 61 days after his arrival, Boucher was traded to the WCHL Maroons on the very day the Habs were celebrating their Stanley Cup win. Team owner Leo Dandurand felt Bobby was too small a player, and traded him for prospect Charlie Cotch, who never appeared with the team.

The new faces on the Canadiens were mainly spares, part timers, and late season aquisitions and they included John Matz, a 33 year old center who had last played with the Saskatoon Crescents, and Fern Headley, a 23 year old defenseman who was on loan from the Bruins 13 games into the season. Dave Ritchie, who was previously acquired from Hamilton during the 1920-21 season, appeared in five games with the Canadiens after being signed as a free agent on January 28.

THE OTTAWA THREE COME AND GO

On November 17, three Ottawa area players from the OCHL were signed as free agents to brief tryout contracts, and they were Roland Lafleur and goaltender Eugene Decosse of the Ottawa Royal Canadians, and René Joliat, Aurel's brother, from the Ottawa New Edinburghs.

It is unclear exactly why Decosse and the relatively average fellow Ottawa players René Joliat and Roland Lafleur all got a chance with the Habs at the same time. The "Ottawa Three", as they were known at the time, all dressed for the team to open the season against the St. Patricks on November 29. Only Decosse did not play, as Vezina was in fine form, and backstopped the Habs to an easy 7-1 victory.

The very next day, the french language Ottawa newspaper Le Droit painted Decosse's return to Ottawa as a good thing, claiming the conditions offered by the Canadiens contract were not worth throwing ones future away. The paper did not elaborate on what those expectations were, but they were presumably equally unacceptable to René Joliat and René Lafleur, who also returned to the Ottawa area following their lone games in the NHL.

DANDURAND SEES DOLLAR SIGNS

Canadiens owner and manager Leo Dandurand, knew a thing or ten about how to make a cash register ring. As a horse racing afficianado and promoter extraorinaire, Dandurand had firm ideas upon his purchase of the Canadiens hockey club three seasons prior, on what endeavors could maximize his investment.

With Montreal being a hotbed of hockey madness, and recalling the interest and dollar generating fury of the Canadiens - Wanderers rivalry of years gone by, Dandurand put up no qualms when it came to sharing the city's territorial rights with a second NHL franchise. In fact, his asking price was so low, the demand almost seemed foolish.

Dandurand charged a mere $15,000 to allow a rival team to set up shop within the city limits, knowing full well that his bank account would benefit. He would later claim that it was no generous offer on his part to allow a second city team into the picture.

Once assured by the NHL governors that a second Montreal club would only be allowed to dress english speaking players, the offer took on the form as an investment into what would become a bitterly fought cash generating rivalry.

At the time, many followers of the game where surprised when Dandurand stepped forth to second the motion by Ottawa manager T.P. Gorman that a second NHL franchise be admitted for the city of Montreal.
















The Maroons $15,000 fee later became the source of controversy when several NHL factions claimed that the money was destined for league pockets, as was the Bruins fee. Dandurand sternly disagreed, claiming successfully that it had previously been agreed to that the fee was payment for allowing the Maroons onto the Canadiens turf. From this point on, Dandurand made certain the minutes of NHL meetings were written down and signed by all parties.

CECIL HART GETS MAROONED

The Canadiens man for all purposes, Cecil Hart, who had made the winning bid for Dandurand, Cattarinich and Letourneau when they purchased the team from the Kennedy family, and who had signed Howie Morenz one season prior, was tabbed as the man to be in charge of the Maroons. Hart's loyalties are divided when it comes to parting ways with the Canadiens, but he remains on good terms with the Canadiens team.

The Maroons owners however, fail to relinquish the desired complete control of the team's players to Hart, and disagreements ensue to the point where he is let go by the organization on February 9. Not long after, he is rehired by the Canadiens as a scout once more, and along with Morenz, he would scour the Ontario side of the border for hockey talent.

The new Forum was also of a concern to the Canadiens, as the home of the Maroons held close to 10,000 seats. The building had owners of the Mount Royal Arena worried about losing the Canadiens as tenants, and they offered Dandurand and company $50,000 to purchase the club. The offer was refused.

The first Canadiens and Maroons contest took place at the Mount Royal on Wednesday, December 10, and was won 5-0 by the Canadiens in front of 5,000 fans. The teams met again 17 days later and played to a 1-1 draw at the Forum before 11,000 spectators. The tie ended a Canadiens six games winning streak and left them with a 7-1-1 record to start the season.

SPRAGUE BEING SPRAGUE

Sprague Cleghorn continued to be a sideshow, much to the detriment of Dandurand. On January 24, Cleghorn kept up his one man war against the Ottawa Senators by getting involved in a fiery battle with the George Boucher. After the Ottawa player levelled a Montreal player into the boards, Cleghorn was helping him up when he was clocked by a Boucher roundhouse. Cleghorn retaliated and pled innocent, but was still suspended along with Boucher for the incidents that followed.

Late in the season, on February 28, the Canadiens were in Ottawa for a game against the Senators, when both players and fans felt what was explained away as an explosion at the time. In Montreal, as the Maroons hosted Hamilton, a similar sensation was felt. What occured, was an earthquake centered in Charlevoix, Quebec near the Saguenay River. It shook all the way to Ottawa, scattering fans temporarily in both buildings. While Billy Boucher and the Senators Ed Gorman were exchanging fists in the penalty box area, scribes in the press box above were gripping their typewriters so that they would not drop onto spectator's heads down below. The quake did not shake the Canadiens, who lost the game 1-0.

BRUTE CLEGHORN INSPIRES THE LADY BYNG

The NHL introduced another new award in 1924-25, the Lady Byng trophy, named in honour of Marie Evelyn Moreton, the wife of the Viscount Byng of Vimy, a Vimy Ridge war hero who was the Governor General of Canada from 1921 to 1926. Lady Byng, who was an avid hockey fan, decided to donate the trophy to the NHL in 1925.

The Governor General's wife was said to quite appauled by players the likes of Sprague Cleghorn and sought to reward cleaner play with her donation to the game.

Lady Byng decided the trophy's first winner would be the Ottawa Senator's Frank Nighbor. Late in the season she invited Nighbor to Rideau Hall, showed him the trophy, and asked him if the NHL would accept it as an award for its most gentlemanly player. When Nighbor said he thought it would, Lady Byng, much to Nighbor's surprise, awarded him the trophy.

CANADIENS SET TEAM RECORDS

The Canadiens finished the season with a record of 17-11-2 and their 36 points placed them third in the NHL. Hamilton led with 39, followed closely by Toronto with 38.



























Joliat, Morenz, and Boucher finished third, fourth, and seventh, respectively in the scoring race. Morenz's 30 goals were bested only by Toronto's Babe Dye with 38.

The Canadiens as a team scored 93 goals, the most in this season, while also allowing the least, with 56 in 30 games. The 38 year old Georges Vezina was again the best goaltender in the league, with a miniscule 1.81 goals against average and 5 shutouts.
























In the six contests with the cross town rival Maroons, the Canadiens held a 4-0-2 edge. The NHL's two newest teams, the Maroons and Bruins, finished fifth and sixth in their initial NHL campaings.

With a 3-2-1 record against the Toronto, the Canadiens were all set for the two game total goals series against the St. Patricks. Implemented under the NHL's new playoff format, the second and third place teams would battle for the right to take on the first place squad for the O'Brien Cup. The winner of that series would then move on to challenge the WCHL champions for the Stanley Cup.

TIGERS PLAYERS REVOLT

The Canadiens were about to begin the series when it was learned that the first place Tigers players were revolting against the terms of their contracts. The players demanded to their owner, Percy Thompson, that they would not participate in the NHL finals unless they received an additional $200 each for the extra six games played that year. Under their contracts the Tigers players were to receive the same amount of money no matter how many games they played from December 1, 1924 to March 31, 1925.

Upset at having to play an additional 6 games in the schedule for no extra pay, the Hamilton players went on strike figuring they had NHL President Frank Calder over a barrel.

Calder was furious, stating that the Tigers players would be fined or suspended if they did not play in the final series, but the players stated that they would rather retire than be taken advantage of.

The Canadiens meanwhile, had won the first playoff game on March 11 in Montreal by a score of 3-2. They travelled to Toronto for the second game and learned that a tie game would be all that was needed to achieve the Stanley Cup finals.

On March 13, the day of the final game of the semi final between Toronto and the Canadiens, the Tigers Red Green met with president Calder and attempted to iron out an agreement to no avail. There was little negotiating, as Green told that the players stood firm.

All Tigers players were then suspended by the NHL and fined $200 each, and their season and playoffs cancelled. Calder declared that the winner of the Canadiens / St. Patricks series would then advance to the Stanley Cup challenge.

That evening the Canadiens shut out the St. Patricks 2-0, and they were off to the Stanley Cup finals for a second season running.

WESTERN HOCKEY MERGED INTO ONE LEAGUE

Western league hockey had undergone its share of changes as well in 1924. Prior to the start of the season, the PCHA folded and two of its best teams, the Vancouver Maroons and the Victoria Cougars, joined the WCHL. This meant that after three seasons of having three leagues compete for the Stanley Cup, the final would once again have only two competing teams.
















The Cougars followed much the same path to the final as did Montreal. They were also a third place finisher, and they topled the Calgary Tigers and Newsy Lalonde's Saskatoon Crescents to earn their way into the final.

CANADIENS LEAVE STANLEY BEHIND

The Canadiens were perhaps a little overconfident as the left for Victoria, and purposely did not bring the Stanley Cup with them, assured it would still be theirs upon their return.

The games were played at the Victoria Arena in this best of five series were the first broadcast on radio, and it was Dr. Clem Davies who called the play by play.
The series began on March 21, and the Canadiens dropped game one by a 5-2 score. In a supersticious move prior to the start of the game, the Cougars players hurried to leave the pre-game warmup first for good luck. The trick worked well for them again in game two, as they put the Canadiens in a hole with a 3-1 win.

INNOVATIVE PATRICK DUPES CANADIENS

Montreal, as did most of the NHL teams, still used its six best players for the majority of the game, substituting them as they each tired. Cougars manager Lester Patrick, perhaps hockey's greatest visionary, employed two lines in constant rotation during games. His reasoning was that even fresh second tier players had more to give energy wise over the course of a game that the tired players the opposition would counter with.

For game three, the Canadiens thought they would pull the Cougars trick of leaving the warmup first. It likely had no bearing on the final score, but the stunt seemed to work, as they Canadiens went on to win 4-2.

The Canadiens backs were again against the wall on March 30, and Victoria handed them a firm 6-1 routing. There would be no Stanley Cup in Montreal this season.

Montreal scored eight goals in the series, with all of them coming from their top line of Morenz, Boucher and Joliat. Victoria countered with a more balanced attack with eight different skaters combining for 16 goals. There was something to be learned from Lester Patrick's method.




















The next day, on April 1, the mayor of Victoria hosted a banquet for the team without the Stanley Cup being present. It would be mailed by the Canadiens organization to the Cougars upon their return to Montreal.

With a host of changes still to come on the hockey horizon, this series would mark the closing of an era and the dawning of a new one. The Victoria Cougars would become the last non NHL team to win the Stanley Cup.

1925-26 All That Could Stop Georges Vezina

Changes on the Montreal hockey scene that were viewed as significant prior to the start of the 1924-25 NHL campaign, perhaps paled next what occured in the city in this season.

While the NHL continued to evolve at a rapid clip, the natural order of things had a dramatic effect on the Canadiens.

All matters taken all together, it would not be business as usual for the Montreal Canadiens in 1925-26.

Compared to other professional hockey franchises, the Canadiens had been quite successful in outlasting all NHA and NHL counterparts since they began in 1909. Along with the equally solid Ottawa Senators, the Canadiens and their star players were constants on the hockey scene.

BUILDING A TRADITION

Through the years, there were few elements that would remain with the team annually through good times and bad. Team owners came and went. Arena's perished and new one's were built. The league itself evolved and grew. Rules of the games were being altered.

Stars such as Newsy Lalonde and Didier Pitre, who had long tenures with the Canadiens were ably replaced by the younger legs of Aurel Joliat and Howie Morenz. There were two Stanley Cup championships to the team's credit, as well as three other appreances in the Cup final. First place finishes were followed by last place falls.

Through all these paradoxes, one constant on the team had remained in place, almost since the club's inception.

VEZINA WAS THE FRANCHISE BACKBONE

Georges Vezina may have meant more to the Canadiens than simply being one of the greatest goaltenders of his era. He was a solid as a rock team citizen, and in most seasons, even when the Canadiens formed lesser teams, Vezina's play helped the club remain competitive. When many of the Canadiens name players squabbled over contract details, the goalie known as the Chicoutimi Cucumber went about his business in a dignified manner. In 15 seasons with the Canadiens, Vezina never once missed a game.



























The game of hockey was a wide open offensive affair in Georges Vezina's time. In the first 12 seasons of his career, his goals against average never dipped below three goals per game.

Vezina seemed to improve with age. He excelled in an era in which rules were constantly implemented to increase scoring. While players scoring skills evolved and goaltenders were still not allowed to drop to make saves, Montreal's ironhorse kept posting better numbers as time passed.

As a 36 year old puckstopper, his average dropped from 3.84 to 2.46 in 1922-23. In the following years, when the Canadiens made the Stanley Cup finals, his average became a miniscule 1.97 and 1.81. He'd been named best goaltender six times in his 15 full seasons.

Known as quiet type who did not drink or smoke, his life away from the hockey rinks was turbulent, but disguised by his calm and cool demeanor. In the off season, he operated a tannery business in Chicoutimi while raising his large family. It couldn't have been easy. Tragically, because of the varying undiagnosed and incurable illnesses and deseases of the time - with infuenza being just one - only two of Vezina's 24 born children would live to see adulthood.

Not much was made of this by the private man who rarely complained. All he did was show up for work each day and stop pucks.

At 39 years of age, Vezina was highly regarded as the best goalie in professional hockey.

VEZINA DIAGNOSED WITH TUBERCULOSIS

For a few seasons running, the Canadiens had held their training camp as very welcome returning guests to Grimsby, Ontario. Situated just off the far west end of Lake Ontario, between Hamilton and Niagara Falls, the camp had it's perks for players, but in this season, Canadiens manager Dandurand decided to hold camp nearer to Montreal.

Vezina showed up for the Canadiens training camp in 1925 and seemed to be having a more difficult time than usual. After an exhibition game against the Victoria Cougars on November 18, in which Vezina felt ill, he decided he would see a doctor. Believing he had caught a viscious flu virus, the medic prescribes him several bed ridden days off to rest.

The Canadiens opened the 1925-26 season at home, and as usual Vezina was in goal this night. Through a very high fever and various aches and pains, Vezina shrugs it off during the first period. It was apparent that he was ill at ease in many ways. During the first intermission, Vezina has an arterial hemorrhage. Even though he had bled from the mouth and lost consciousness temporarily, he insists on starting the second period.

Starting the second frame, he slumps on the ice. He is carried off, unable to continue on.

Taken to hospital, he is diagnosed with a very advanced case of tuberculosis. Doctors inform the goaltender that his life is in danger due to the advanced nature of the condition, and that nothing short of a complete rest can help him. Vezina is hospitalized, but fights it off valiantly. He demands that he be taken to his home in Chicoutimi.

ONE LAST VISIT WITH MATES

In March of 1926, with his health and strength waning by the day, he calls for manager Leo Dandurand to bring him to visit his team mates, who are about to be eliminated from playoff contention. In the early evening, and at the usual time he always arrived in the team dressing room, Vezina meets with his comrades one final time. His equipement, his pads, his skates, are all laid out before him. He leaves with only the sweater he donned in the previous March's Stanley Cup final, and returns home.





















One week later, Georges Vezina passes away in his home on March 27, 1926.

Tributes, cards of sympathy and condolences pour in from fans and assorted hockey folk from everywhere. The team auctions off pieces of his equipment for the benefit of his wife and family.

In recalling the goaltending great years later, Frank Boucher said, "The first thing that pops into my mind is that Vezina always wore a toque, a small, knitted hat with no brim in Montreal colours - bleu, blanc et rouge. I also remember him as the coolest man I ever saw, absolutely imperturbable. He stood upright in the net and scarcely ever left his feet; he simply played all his shots in a standing position. Vezina was a pale, narrow featured fellow, almost frail looking, yet remarkably good with his stick. He'd pick off more shots with it than he did with his glove."

A TROPHY IN HIS NAME

Shortly after his passing, Canadiens owners Dandurand, Létourneau, and especially Cattarinich - the man who discovered and suggested he replace him back in 1910 - ask that the NHL create a trophy bearing Vezina's name, to be awarded in his honour for the season's best goaltender.






















The 1925 Montreal Canadiens, who have played in front of hockey's best puckstopper for 367 regaular season and playoff games running, are now tasked with moving forward and finding a replacement.

The team, most positively affected and distracted by his ailing, and eventual passing, will endure a miserable year without him.

NHL EXPANDS ONCE MORE

The NHL brought two more new cities into its rapidly expanding league by allowing the transfer of the Hamilton Tigers players to New York. The new team's creation was brought upon by the Tigers player's strike from the prior season. Hamilton team owners were caught in a bind, and felt that that following the player's actions, NHL hockey might be too big a gamble in Canada's steel town.

The New York franchise would be named the Americans, and the franchise was granted to an infamous bootlegger named Bill Dwyer, who then purchased the contracts of the Tigers players from the former owner for $75,000.

The league also accepted into it's fold a third U.S. franchise - the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hockey had long been popular in the state of Pennsylvania, where minor league roots had sewn a keen interest for years. The area was deemed as a good place for the NHL to set up shop, as old NHA rival Eddie Livingstone was in the midst of garnering interest there in pursuit of setting up a league of his own south of the border. The NHL granted the Pittsburgh franchise to the owners of the Yellow Jackets team that had won several titles in the area.

THE CLEGHORNS LEAVE THE SCENE

Prior to Vezina's illness and death, the Canadiens organization sought to bring changes upon the team and a big part of the makeover included bringing in younger players at the expense of older ones. Hence, the Cleghorn brothers, Sprague and Odie aged 34 and 33 respectively, were gone by the time training camp opened.

Odie, who had scored only 3 goals in 30 games for the Canadiens a season ago, was released by the Canadiens in September. He would sign on as a player and coach with the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates a month later. Sprague was traded to the Boston Bruins for $5,000 on November 8, 1925. The brothers time in Montreal had helped benchmark an era for the team, and a party was held in their honour at the Windsor Hotel following the announcement of Sprague's trading.

The captaincy of the team was thus passed on to Billy Coutu, who had spent 8 of his 9 pro seasons with the Canadiens.

The Cleghorn brothers would not play together ever again. Perhaps testament to their bond as siblings came shortly after Sprague's passing away in 1956 when Odie was found dead in his bed just hours before his brother's funeral on July 13. Odie and Sprague were very close, "like twins" according to Canadiens coach Leo Dandurand. It's often been said that the stress of the loss of Sprague may have been the main factor contributing to Odie's heart failure.

FRENCHY LACROIX IN WAITING

Probably lost to historical records are the reasons why the Canadiens sought to sign goalie Alphonse "Frenchy" Lacroix on the day of November 10, 1925. By most documented accounts, it was not yet known that Georges Vezina had taken ill, but perhaps Canadiens manager Leo Dandurand was simply exhibiting a similar cautious reflex in regards to Vezina's age as he had done in the previous year when Eugene Decosse of the Ottawa Royal Canadians was signed and almost immediately released just as the 1924-25 season was underway.

The 28 yr old Lacroix, born of french descent on October 21, 1897 in Newton, Massachusetts, had guided the U.S. Olympic team to a surprising silver medal in 1924. He'd spent five seasons with the Boston AA Unicorns of the USAHA. He may have been viewed by Dandurand as an insurance to Vezina's aging at the time.

Whatever the circumstance, Lacroix was on hand to relieve Vezina in the 1925-26 season's opening game after 20 minutes of play.

The contest in question, was the inaugural NHL game for the brand new Pittsburgh Pirates against the Canadiens in Montreal. Lacroix surrendered one goal in this game, but it was enough to give the Pirates a 1-0 win over a Canadiens team that might have had their minds distracted elsewhere.

Lacroix would win his only NHL game three nights later in Boston, as the Canadiens edged the Bruins 3-2.

SEE YOU LATER ALPHONSE

The team with the NHL's most potent offense from a season ago did not give much support to Lacroix over the next three contests. Consecutive losses to the Maroons (3-2), the New York Americans (6-2), and the St. Patricks (4-0) spelled the end of Lacroix's run in nets for the Canadiens.

On December 13, a day after the loss to Toronto, the Canadiens signed goaltender Herb Rheaume to a contract. Two nights later, he would travel with the team to New York and avenge the Canadiens earlier loss with a 3-1 win.

Rheaume was born in Mason, Quebec, and had spent three unspectacular seasons with the OHA Sr. Hamilton Tigers. He had enjoyed some Allen Cup experience while there, but had only played part time in the ECHA with the Trois-Rivieres Renards and the Quebec Sons of Ireland since.

RHEAUME DEBUTS AT MADISON SQUARE

Nevertheless, he looked to be a more viable solution at the time than Lacroix. In 31 games with the Canadiens, Rheaume would post a 10-20-1 record, with a 2.92 goals against average. He was far from being the reason why the Canadiens would have a disastrous season, as the team managed to score only 79 goals in his defense.

While Frenchy Lacroix remained contracted to the team for this season and another in which he only sat on the sidelines, Rheaume would ply his puckstopping trade in a myriad of minor pro leagues for another 11 seasons. The Canadiens solution as to Vezina's eventual replacement would have to come from another source.

Rheaume's first NHL game was also the first NHL game at Madison Square Garden in New York city for the new Americans team. The local media had made a big deal out of the game, and several papers were sent to cover the event. The owner of the Gardens, Tex Rickard, was perhaps one of the finer knows promoters in the U.S. People paid attention when he spoke.

HOCKEY BIG IN N.Y.C.

Rickard played up to the opening game for the Americans team and soon all of New York's elite came to attend the event. Here's how the New York Times saw it, in a report the following day:

"A team of bowlegged French-Canadian skaters from Montreal cut the ice in the rink of Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, into a fine powder. This way and that they swayed and slithered, passing the puck with flawless teamwork. A huge crowd of sportsmen, society dames, politicians, actors, editors, financiers, diplomats, discovered - as perhaps they had discovered before - that hockey is a pretty but not always a gentle game."

"The men on the ice, like the notables in the boxes, were celebrating the formal opening of Madison Square Garden. There have been preliminary events in the new Garden - a six day bicycle race, some amateur bouts, a championship fight - but the hockey was the fashionable start of promoter Tex Rickard's entertainment centre. Therefore, the notables in the boxes, like the men on the ice, had been led to display an interest in professional hockey, in "Les Canadiens," in the Prince of Wales Cup, which will go to the team which wins the league championship. John Ringling, Rosamond Pinchot, Frank Crowninshield, Mayor Hylan, Charles Sabin, Mayor-Elect Walker, Paul D. Cravath, Clarence Mackay, Mr. and Mrs. James N. Hill, Paul Manship, Sarah Schuyler Butler and innumerable others with printable names saw the Canadians in their scarlet shirts drub the New York team, 3 to 1."

While Rickard did not own the Americans team, he did manage to get a team for himself the following season based on the successes of the first Manhatten franchise.

TEXAS PROMOTER BAPTISES THE CLUB AS "HABS"

Popular myth has it that around this time, Rickard, of all people, was quizzed on the meaning of the "H" in the Canadiens "CH" logo. Misunderstanding the origins of the Canadiens club ownership, Rickard unassumingly tied it to the word "Habitants". The loud and brash born Texan, who had been all over every corner of North America in his promotional travels, had encountered the word whilst in the Province of Quebec at one time. Knowing that it was derived from a reference meaning something along the lines of rural farm boys as he understood it, Rickard, figuring this was where most of the Canadiens players where from, began using the term "Habitants", later shortened to simply "Habs".



















Rickard could not have known that the "H" in the club's logo was simply an initial for the word "hockey in the name "Club de Hockey Canadiens", as the team had been incorporated long before he came onto the NHL scene.

MORENZ AND JOLIAT LEAD THE WAY

Beyond the Canadiens intial troubles finding a replacement in goal for the ailing Vezina, they had to contend with a busier and longer schedule than before, and how they would go about using players within an evolving game.

Eighteen players would dress for the Canadiens this season, the most ever in one year up until this season.

The Canadiens better offensive talents, Morenz and Joliat, would contribute respectable seasons given the changing and difficult circumstances. They would finish slightly behind last season's pace in scoring, in sixth and eighth place respectively. Morenz accounted for 23 goals and 3 assists while Joliat notched 17 goals and 9 assists. Together the pair counted for just over half the team's tallies in this year.

Billy Boucher saw his goal standard drop from 17 to 8, as he was outscored in the team's ranking by a rookie defenseman named Albert Leduc, who contributed 10 markers.

THE ARRIVAL OF LEDUC, LEPINE AND LAROCHELLE

Leduc, nicknamed "Battleship" for his relentless combativity, was a 23 year old Valleyfield, Quebec prospect, and one of nine new players who would don the Canadiens colours for this season.

Among the other eight first year players, were a pair of keepers that would play large roles for the Canadiens over the next decade.

Alfred "Pit" Lepine was signed as a free agent by Montreal, November 13, 1925. A product of the local Montreal Nationale club, Pit was a goal scorer and a strong player in the rink's corners. At 24, he would be key in helping build a solid line to back up the Morenz line for years to come.

Wildor Larochelle was a stocky right winger of 19 years would be groomed to play alongside Lepine. The Sorel, Quebec born player were merely a prospect at this time, and contributed 2 goals and an assist for the Canadiens. Signed as a free agent by Montreal, November 23, 1925., his role would grow into a more pivotal one as they years went on.

Hec Lepine was Pit's 28 year old brother who was signed as a free agent by Montreal, December 29, 1925. He would only appear this one season with the Canadiens and add 5 goals.

DANDURAND FILLS OUT LINEUP

The remaining rookies and part time players were spares and injury replacements, signed up on a game by game basis by Dandurand based upon requirement at the time.
They were Bill Holmes, Roger Cormier, Rollie Paulhus, John McKinnon and Joe Matte.






















Paulhus was free agent signing by Montreal, November 16, 1925 and was in training camp to start the season. He would appear in 33 of the team's 36 games without adding a point.

McKinnon was signed in training camp as a free agent by Montreal, November 23, 1925. The Canadiens retained his rights despite him anly playing 2 games, and he was traded to Pittsburgh for cash early the following season.

Holmes was signed as a free agent after being released by NY Americans, December 25, 1925. He would take part in 9 Canadiens games.

Cormier signed as a free agent on January 15, 1926, the same day the Canadiens added Matte on waivers from Boston on January 15, 1926. Cormier would play but one game while Matte would see action in six.

Dave Ritchie was signed as a free agent, and returned to Montreal for another short two game stint beginning January 13, 1926.

INJURIES SINK HABS

A rash of mid season injuries and desperate player signings had much to do with the Canadiens free fall that took place at this time. The Canadiens brought their season record to 8-6 with a 2-1 win over the New York Americans on January 13. They would go 2-5-1 over the next month, as injuries mounted. From February 13, up until a March 13 game at the Forum versus the Maroons, the Canadiens lost a team record 12 straight games. They revived some on March 16, to beat the St. Patricks 6-1 at home to finish out a disastrous season.

WILD MID 20'S HOCKEY

There was no era in the game quite like the mid 1920's, when hockey spread like wildfire. Great stars were emerging from everywhere it seemed and the popularity of the sport took it into incharted waters. The daring times, where a buck was made fast, or just as quickly lost, was captivating for the risk takers and big money gamblers of the day.

The fate of teams in this time could change quickly. The story of the Hamilton Tigers is just one example. The Montreal Maronns were another.

The second to last place Maroons 1925, catapulted to one of the NHL's best teams in one year. Rookie Nels Stewart came seemingly out of nowhere to propel his team into the league's upper echelons, winning the scoring title, the Hart Trophy, and potting 34 goals in 36 games to boost his team. Maroons GM Eddie Girard also signed defensemen Babe Siebert and Dunc Munro, a former Olympian to contracts. The Maroons were on their way to glory.

In Ottawa, T.P. Gorman and Ted Day sold the team to Franklin Ahearn, who hired a host of good hockey people to jumpstart the Seantors. Ne coach Alex Curry was quite successful, as he took a team that had gone from fourth overall to first with an impressive record of 24–8–4.

The Pirates, with a cast that included stars Lionel Conacher and goalie Roy Worters, finished a strong third.

The second place Maroons took out the Pirates 6-4 in a two game total goals series and then went on to undo the top seeded Senators 2 goals to 1 over two games. The Maroons were awarded the Prince of Wales Trophy and won the right to play the Victoria Cougars for the Stanley Cup.

FINAL NHL TRIP WEST BRINGS ANOTHER STANLEY TO CITY OF MONTREAL

This would be the last season that saw challengers from outside of the NHL compete for the Stanley Cup, and once again, the Victoria Cougars would emerge as Western Hockey League champions. After the 1926 playoffs, the WHL, formerly the WCHL, would fold leaving the Cup entirely to the NHL, never again to be challenged for by a non NHL team.
















In the final Cup showdown, Nels Stewart was again the star, scoring six goals in the Cup final as the Maroons downed the Cougars 3 games to 1.

The Stanley Cup was returning to Montreal in 1926, only the Canadiens would have to watch their cross town rivals be toasted only two seasons into their existance.

NEWSY DOES THE HABS A FAVOR

With the collapse of western hockey league, a dozen quality players were available for the NHL's taking. Starting in the 1926-27 season, new players would be spread across the league, leading to further club expansion.

Former Canadiens great Newsy Lalonde gave the Habs some good advice, recommending team mate George Hainsworth as the solution to the team's goaltending woes. Smartly, Leo Dandurand took Lalonde up on his word, and signed the Saskatoon Crescents stopper in August. The signing turned out to be not a moment too soon, as Hainsworth was also sought out by the Toronto St. Patricks.

Soon it would be revealed that Hainsworth was in fact property of both the Canadiens and St. Pats, and a complicated decison on the matter awaited the NHL governors.

Hainsworth would help the Canadiens replace themselves among the league elite in short order, and would to be more than a worthy heir apparent to the legacy of Georges Vezina.