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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1918-19 The Cup That Almost Was

The NHL began its second season with the three franchises who survived the hard times of the 1917-18 campaign: The Montreal Canadiens, the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Arenas.

The new season would become another turbulent trial for the Canadiens and the NHL, and this one would end like quite no other. Three separate tragedies would befall the Canadiens in this season, and the first bad omen came just a month after the end of 1918 playoffs.













Defenseman Jack Laviolette, an automobile racer in the offseason, lost his right foot in a car accident on May 1. Though he was not racing at the time, Laviolette lost control of the vehicle he was driving and hit a steel post, jamming his foot between the brake pedal and a section of steel frame. Several times during the season the Canadiens held fundraisers for their former star, and they kept him in their employ for a short time thereafter.



















Montreal returned a large core of its team from the previous year as only Evariste Payer did not make it back. The new additions were Odie Cleghorn and Fred Doherty. Amos Arbour returned after a brief time in the service during which he suited up with the 228th Battalion. Arbour had played a key role in the Canadiens 1916 Stanley Cup. Doherty had been a part time player with the Wanderers and Bulldogs and returned from the war to play but a single game in this season with Montreal.


























Cleghorn, a former goal per game forward with the Wanderers for six seasons, was the big addition to the Canadiens. The younger brother of the Senators Sprague Cleghorn, Odie would spent seven seasons in a Canadiens uniform and was joined in Montreal by his sibling in 1921. He would match Newsy Lalonde goal for goal in this campaign and finish second behind him in points.

Lalonde regained his status as the team's top player when leading goal scorer Joe Malone announced to the Canadiens organization that he'd found employment in Quebec City and would become available only on weekend home dates for the team. Lalonde liked to have the onus placed upon him, as well as the icetime that came with it, and Malone's decision opened room for him to reassume his status while continuing on as the team's coach as well. A happy Newsy usually meant a more productive player for the Canadiens. Malone informed Montreal that he would suit up for all playoff games, but was later unable to fullfill that committment. He would be missed when he would have been counted on most come that time.


























The season was again split into two ten games halves and the all too familiar scenario played out once more for the Canadiens. They would post a 7-3 record, assuring them of a playoff round against the second half's winner should they not take that title as well. The Ottawa Senators, as per their norm, came on strong at season's end and clinched the second half early as the Canadiens ended with a 3-5 record.

The final two games of the season were trimmed from the schedule when the Toronto franchise faltered. The Arenas, who had won the Stanley Cup the previous season, were in dire straights on many fronts. With the team playing badly, attendance sagging, and players breaking training, team owner Hubert Vearncombe alerted the league that he was ceasing activities for the time being. The NHL president Frank Calder asked the team to play its eighteenth game to even the schedule out.

With the NHL down to two teams - not coincidently its two halves winners - a best of seven series was set to decide the league champion for 1919. The Canadiens, without Malone, would defeat the Senators four games to one. Ottawa, deprived of leading scorer Frank Nighbor for a family bereavement, were no match for Montreal.



























Newsy Lalonde was a one man wrecking crew on a mission. He tallied 11 times in the five games against Ottawa, and the Canadiens confidently headed west to face the Seattle Metropolitans in a rematch from two seasons prior.




















A long trip and a stayover in Victoria would prove to have disastrous consequences for the Canadiens Stanley Cup hopes.

The Canadiens got off on the wrong foot in game one, suffering a humiliating 7-0 defeat to the PCHA champions. Three days later, on March 22, Lalonde took care of things in a record setting way by scoring all four of his teams goals in a 4-2 win that knotted the series.


























The Metropolitans bounced back on the 24th, pounding Montreal again by a 7-2 score. The contest of March 26 was a hard fought battle that produced no winner. A scoreless tie, undecided after a full additional period of overtime, was a showcase for goaltenders Harry Holmes and Georges Vezina - perhaps the two best goalies of this era.

Game 5 also produced overtime on March 30, with Jack McDonald of the Canadiens notching the winner at 15:57 of the extra period. The series stood deadlocked at 2-2-1, and it would remain that way.

The Spanish influenza virus that was ravaging the world tragically had hit the west coast. Several of the Victoria Cougars players had fallen seriously ill when the Canadiens had stopped over in that city prior to moving on to Seattle, and it has long been assumed that that is where the Montreal players came in contact with the deadly virus.


























Canadiens manager George Kendall Kennedy was aware of the virus, and had taken out insurance on his players before setting off for the west. When many of the team's elements fell ill, the series was cancelled.


























On April 1, the scheduled date of the sixth game, a definite and final announcement as to the fate of the series was made by the Seattle arena management at 2:30 p.m. that there will be no more games played. At noon that day, workmen started tearing up the arena ice floor, preparatory to converting the building into a roller skating rink.



























The fact that the ice was being taken up settled all arguments as to whether or not the series would be continued if the visitors were able later to put enough men on the ice.

A newspaper writeup at the time had this to say:










Lalonde, Berlinguette, Couture and Kennedy are reported only slightly ill. Last night the remaining four men came down, leaving only Pitre, Cleghorn and Vezina, who are not afflicted. It is believed here the Canadiens contracted the disease in Victoria, where the players of that team are just recovering from influenza, seven of them having been in bed at one time.

Not in the history of the Stanley Cup series has the worlds hockey championship been so beset with hard luck as has this one. Of the 19 players engaged in it, hardly one of them has gone through without some bad luck. The Seattle team has been badly battered, Rowe, Foyston, Wilson, Murray and Walker all having had injuries. Corbeau, the great Canadien defenseman, was hurt in the very first game and has not been able to do more than substitute since.









The great overtime games of the series have taxed the vitality of the players to such an extent that they are in poor shape indeed to fight off such a disease as influenza. However, the Canadiens are being given the very best of care, nurses and physicians being in attendance at all times on them and every other attention is being shown the stricken players.

The Canadiens Odie Cleghorn was the only player who was not afflicted. Joe Hall, known as the baddest and oldest player of the time died in Seattle's Columbus sanatorium on April 5, four days after authorities had called off the series.






















The Montreal players headed home after the sixth game was cancelled with the exception of Couture, Berlinguette and longtime Hall rival Lalonde, who travelled to Brandon, Manitoba to act as pallbearers for their fallen comrade.

Some might find it odd that Lalonde would be along for his hated rival's last moments, but the two had long settled their differences, had become good friends, and were even roomates during road games.

Manager Kennedy also fell gravely ill, and passed away two years later from the effects of the virus.























Once back in Montreal, the Canadiens players were just regaining their health when the Jubilee Arena burned to the ground.

It would be a difficult season to forget.



























The tragedies suffered were only part of the tale. The Canadiens had been build into a solid squad and had appeared in three of the last four Stanley Cup finals. With some better fortune, they may have won a second Cup. The Canadiens were by far the most popular hockey team in Montreal, and things could only get better.

On the league front, several changes brought in at the start of the season had enhanced the quality of the spectacle. Two blue lines were added to the ice, painted twenty feet each from center, creating three playing zones. Forward passing and kicking the puck were permitted in the middle neutral zone. Penalties now had to be served in full. For minor fouls, substitutes were not allowed until the penalized player had served three minutes. For major fouls, no substitutes were allowed for five minutes. For match fouls, no substitutes were allowed for the remainder of the game. Both new wrinkles added up to a very freewheeling game.

With the war reaching an end and the Quebec Bulldogs ready to make a return, things were looking up for the NHL. The issue of a solid Toronto franchise would soon be settled as well.















Some notes on the photos in this post: You will have noticed that several of the shots of Canadiens players feature the same background. There has long been confusion over which year the pictures were taken - 1917 or 1919? The source of the confusion lies in that these pictures were taken in Seattle, where the Canadiens competed for the Stanley in both those seasons. There are also photos of the Seattle Metropolitans players taken in this same area, which leads one to believe they may have been taken outside an arena door prior to a match. The photos are most definitely from 1919, as Canadiens Joe Hall, Odie Cleghorn, and Jack McDonald were not with the club in 1917. Oddly, a long circulated poster of the 1917 Metropolitans Stanley Cup team features the shots taken in 1919.

Several of the 1919 photos are incorrectly attributed as being the wrong player. The photo of Billy Coutu is often erroneously listed as Louis Berlinguette. They can be told apart by Coutu's thinner hair, and Berliguette's particular from, when compared to other photos. In these pictures, Berlinguette is leaning on his stick. Photos of Joe Hall and Newsy Lalonde are often mixed up as well - likely because their hair is parted in the same manner. Hall is the player with the outstretched stick.

In all these photos, it is not hard to tell that the Canadiens were wearing white hockey pants!

The photo of Billy Bell may have been taken anytime between 1919 and 1923, when the Canadiens ceased wearing the white pants.

The photos of the children in Canadiens sweaters was taken about this time - somewhere between 1918 and 1922. It is featured in this post primarily because it is from the era, but there is also an additional reason for its inclusion. According to the book "Kings Of The Ice" from which the photo was taken, the short player posing directly to the right of the kid holding the "Joliette" sign is Jack Adams. "Jolly" Jack, a man who would later develope an unbridled hatred of the Canadiens while running the Detroit Red Wings, is the only man to have his name on the Stanley Cup as player, general manager, and coach. It is highly doubtful that the photo is actually Adams, as he was a member of the 1918 Toronto Arena Cup champions.

There is no featured photo of Joe Malone, as he did not accompany the Canadiens out west this season. Most known photos of Malone in a Canadiens sweater are from the early 1920's, when his start had greatly faded.

The cartoon of the man behind the wheel of an automobile from the time is actually Jack Laviolette.

Years after his retirement from hockey, Odie Cleghorn would be found dead in his bed just hours before his brother Sprague's funeral on July 13, 1956. 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 his heart failure.

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1920-21 Aging Canadiens Fall Short

As the 1920-21 NHL season was on the horizon, there was much wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes for the Canadiens and the league's three other clubs. The Flying Frenchman had missed going all the way to the Stanley Cup final in 1920, and with a steady lineup filled with experienced players, there wasn't much tinkering that needed to be done to the roster to enable it to remain competitive.















For the NHL as a whole, what it was looking for coming out of World War I's hard times, was to solidify the financial strength of its teams in order to grow the game geographically. The understanding at this particular time, was that the NHL and its clubs were susceptible to an ambush by rival leagues setting up shop in areas in which the NHL wished to expand. The threat of a new league posed by the exiled Eddie Livingstone was taken seriously, and steps were undertaken to roadblock his every move.

BULLDOGS BECOME TIGERS

With that threat in mind, and the Quebec Bulldogs on wobbly legs, the NHL helped its owner Mike Quinn engineer a sale of the team to Hamilton interests. Old foe Livingstone was in fact making inroads for a rival league and the city of Hamilton was a known starting point. To thwart this, NHL president Frank Calder convinced the NHL club owners to fast track a Hamilton franchise by allowing the Quinn sale to go through.

The team would become known as the Tigers, and the league set upon making the team quickly viable by shoring up their lineup with player loans and trades. Montreal and Toronto pitched in to help even out the balance of power and make the Tigers more competitive.

The Canadiens, Tigers and the St. Patricks swung a three team trade on November 17, and Montreal reaquired last season's holdout Goldie Prodgers and Joe Matte from Toronto for Harry Cameron.

The Canadiens then sent Prodgers and Matte to Hamilton with Jack Coughlin and loaned Billy Coutu for a season in return for Harry Mummery, Jack McDonald and former Seattle defenseman Dave Ritchie from Hamilton. Toronto also loaned forward Babe Dye to the Tigers, but he was rerturned after one game when St. Pats star Corb Denneny was injured. Mickey Roach was then substituted in the transaction.

It appeared to be a good deal for all three clubs initially, as it looked as though Bulldogs star Joe Malone would have nothing to do with the Tigers. Malone did not sign with the team until 4 games into the season, but still managed 28 goals in 20 games upon his return.

MUMMERY QUITE A CARD

Mummery, who had suited up for the Canadiens during the 1916-17 campaign, would pitch in with 15 goals, and was a fairly strong and regular contributor to the Canadiens cause. Prodgers and Cameron did ever better than Mummery, with 18 goals apiece. McDonald and Ritchie would manage only a goal between the two of them as they appeared in only six games each.

A hefty defenseman for his day, Mummery often moonlight as a fireman, and had the habit of showing up for games just as the club was preparing to head out onto the ice. When he did arrive well ahead of time, he had the most unique of pre-game rituals, taking five pound steaks in a shovel and cooking them up in a pot bellied stove right in the dressing room. He'd follow that treat up with some apple pie, and wash the whole thing down with a pint of cream.

CLEGHORN'S CARVE OUT A REPUTATION

Ottawa attempted to assist the Tigers by sending them Sprague Cleghorn and Harry "Punch" Broadbent, but both refused to report. When Broadbent let it be known that he would rather play with Montreal, which may or may not have been a ruse, his rights were traded to the Canadiens by Hamilton for cash on January 4, 1921. When Broadbent dashed that assignment as well, the Canadiens were left with little choice but to sell him back to the Senators on February 21.


















Cleghorn, for his part, was traded to Toronto by Hamilton for future considerations on January 25. The older brother of the Canadiens Odie, Sprague secured his own release from the St. Patricks on March 15, and signed as a free agent with Ottawa. Thus, somewhat unfairly, both Cleghorn and Broadbent were able to help Ottawa remain Stanley Cup champions in 1921. So much for propping up the Tigers!

Less than a month later, Cleghorn was again dealt to Hamilton on April 6, and for a second time, he would refuse to play there.

CULLY IGNITES FIRST LEAFS-CANADIENS DISPUTE

Another new face in with the Canadiens in 1920-21 was forward Cully Wilson, who was loaned to Montreal by the St. Patricks on January 21.

After scoring 6 goals in 11 games for Montreal, Wilson was recalled to Toronto but refused to report. He was suspended for the remainder of the year, and the Canadiens substituted Jack McDonald in return to the St. Pats. He would return to the Canadiens for another 3 games the following year.

Wilson, who came on loan from the St. Patricks after registering only 2 goals in eight games, became the cause of the first of many Montreal / Toronto disputes. While the loaning of Wilson had stipulated his recall could be at any chosen time, Toronto sought to bring hin back just as he was getting hot and helping the Canadiens catch Toronto in second half race for first place.

With little notice, and only four games left for Montreal on the schedule, the recall was made and Wilson refused the move. An appeal was called, and Toronto failed to attend after the Canadiens had loaned McDonald in his place. Wilson was left for the time being to twist in the wind, suspended and without a team to play for. Meanwhile, Toronto was able to edge out Montreal by two points in the second half standings.

The lone other new face in Montreal in this year was a 24 year old defenseman named Dave Campbell, who appreared in the only two games of his NHL career.

Perhaps the Canadiens lacked the influx of younger talent to the team. With the relative success of recent seasons, the team continued on with a familiar core of players, though some were getting up in years. In 1920, the youngest full time members of the club were 26 year olds Bert Corbeau and Amos Arbour. Goalie Georges Vezina was 34, Newsy Lalonde 32, and Didier Pitre 37.

Pitre contributed 16 goals in 24 contests, but was no longer the dominant force of a few seasons ago. Lalonde however, seemed to be stretching his prime. Now in his fourteenth professional season, he tallied 33 goals and 10 assists which were good enough for his fifth professional hockey scoring title.

NEWSY AS GNARLY AS EVER

All season long, Lalonde battled Toronto's Babe Dye and Ottawa's Cy Denneny for the goal scoring crown, and often all three seemed to become inspired after either of the others notched a big game performance. After a five goal game by Lalonde on February 16 against the Tigers, Denneny replied with a six goal game nights later in Hamilton.

Going into the season's final week, Lalonde and the Canadiens were shutout 1-0 by Clint Benedict and the Senators but Dye was also held scoreless. Newsy would finish a goal behind Denneny and two back of Dye, but would gain the NHL points title on the strength of his ten assists.

Lalonde, who again in this season, coached the Canadiens as well, continued his hellbent ways on the ice. At times it seemed no tactic would deviate him from his pursuit.

An on ice incident in the day, perfectly captures what Lalonde was capable of whn things got nasty. St.Patricks goalie Jake Forbes had it for Newsy in one particular game, after Lalonde, unprovoked, cuffed him a good one straight to the chops while the official was focused elsewhere. With blood gushing from his nose, he made a beeline for Lalonde, only to be halted by referee Copper Smeaton.

A vengeful Forbes later awaited Lalonde, and as he neared the net with the puck, the goalie wielded his paddle high like an axe, readying a two hander for Lalonde's head. Just as Forbes was about to let it swing however, the ever tricky Lalonde spat out a long squirt of tabacco juice at the goalie's face, much to his bewilderment. Lalonde laughing, circled the net and scored into the open side. And so on it went, in the lawless NHL.

Lalonde might not have seen it coming, but his career would begin to wind down after this season. Back in 1906, Newsy's career almost ended suddenly before it began during a game with the Canadian Soo of the International Hockey League. After having injured his leg badly in one particular game, Lalonde reached for a swig of whiskey to numb the pain. Unbeknownst to him, the bottle contained amonia, and it severly burned his mouth and throat. There was quick concern for Lalonde's well being, but what would kill most mortals only seemed to make Newsy spring to life. Later in the same game, he'd tally a pair of goals.

CANADIENS SHOW UP FOR SECOND HALF AGAIN

It had been a strong second half for the Canadiens. After posting a dismal 4-6 record in opening half's ten games, they went 9-5 in the second half's 14 game slice. Scoring only 37 goals as a team to start the season, they doubled that total with 75 down the stretch.

Perhaps it was becoming obvious that there was something inherantly wrong with the split schedule idea. The Senators, defending Cup champions, seemed to appropriate Montreal's method of coming out like lions to win the first half season, before lying down as lambs in the second. The turn seemed for the best, as Ottawa went on the win a second consecutive Cup, despite a 6-8 record in the second half.

Cummulatively, the second half leading St. Patricks owned the best overall standing, with a record of 15-9. Ottawa stood at 14-10, and Montreal had a 13-11 showing. The reclamationn project Tigers, despite a 5-0 win over Montreal on opening night, never got it in gear, finishing 6-18.

Thankfully, 1920-21 would be the last season in which a split schedule would be employed.

One thing is for certain about the NHL in the early 1920's: there surely was no limitations or rules governing how players could manipulate their own destinies.

WEIRD GOINGS ON STILL HIGHLIGHT EARLY NHL

Strange things happened with the Canadiens during this season. While they surely were pleased to have an arena to call home after both the Jubilee and Westmount Arena perished to fire in recent years, such might not have been the case when a warm January 21st brought up the ground surface at the Mount Royal, causing the postponement of a St. Patricks / Canadiens game on that date. Artificial ice beckoned.

One of the owners of the Mount Royal Arena, Tom Duggan, with 6 games remaining in the season's second half, offered the Canadiens players a thousand dollars - meaning roughly a hundred bucks per player - should they overtake Toronto for honours in the second half. The owners of the Canadiens had already promised a $200 bonus per player for the same.

Ted Day, the owner of the Senators, and Tommy Gorman, the team's manager, became so enfuriated over a goal they felt was offside in a game against the Canadiens on January 26, that they pulled the Ottawa squad off the ice and left. The players were fined, and forced to contribute $500 to the Joe Hall fund. The game was forfeited to the Canadiens, who were leading at the time of the outburst.

At the season's end, the Canadiens second half thrust fell short of their post season hopes. It would be the St. Patricks who would meet up with the Senators in the NHL final. The two game, total goal series was anticlimactic however, as the Senators shut down Toronto in both cities, 5-0, and 2-0. They would square off with the Vancouver Millionaires for the Stanley Cup title.

SENATORS STAY ON TOP

Heading west, the Senators were greeted by a Vancouver throng 11,000 strong, as the Millionaires grabbed game one by a 2-1 margin, Ottawa evened the best of five series in the next game, and took the lead with a win in game three. Vancouver tied the series with a game four win, setting up a "winner take all" for game five.

The Senators Jack Darragh would prove to be the hero once again, netting both Ottawa goals in the Cup clinching 2-1 finale. The Senators reign continued, as they became the first consecutive Cup winners since the 1913 Quebec Bulldogs.


















Much of what occured in 1921 pointed to several changes being needed in the game, in the service of fairness. To say the rules needed some tinkering, would be putting it lightly.

Despite the efforts of the league to assist the Hamilton franchise to get off to a strong start, they were league doormats in both halves with 3-7 and 3-11 records. The project of grooming hockey in the Ontario steeltown would get another shot in 1922, but similar results would ensue.
























For the Canadiens, it was readily apparent that changes were needed as well. The NHL's oldest team on average - 31 years - needed an injection of a more youthful brand to stay pace with the frontrunners. Owner George Kendall Kennedy, still recovering from illnesses brought on by the influenza epidemic of 1919, had left it other hands to man the club. As his fate worsened in the summer of 1921, the Canadiens fortunes took a back seat. Because of his failing health, events on the Canadiens horizon would force a rebuilding stage to kick in sooner than expected.




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1921-22 Three Musketeers, Two Cleghorns, And One Bad News Newsy

George Kendall Kennedy, the man behind the Club Athlétique Canadien's purchase of the Montreal Canadiens franchise in 1910 passed away in his home on the morning of Wednesday, October 19, 1921. His death was attributed to the long illness brought on by the after effects of the influenza virus that he contacted in 1919 while Canadiens were out west in Seattle challenging for the Stanley Cup.

According to local papers, a long list of friends and sporting figures were present, and they included T. P. Gorman of Ottawa, Dider Pitre, Odie Cleghorn, Sam Lichtenhein, Nap Dorval, Lucien Riopel, Cecil M. Hart, Dr. J. P. Gadbois, Oscar Benoit, Emmett Quinn, Frank Calder, Cooper Smeaton and many others.

KENDALL KEPT CANADIENS AFLOAT

Though his real surname was Kendall, he began using the name Kennedy, his mother's maiden name, so that he could persue wrestling without his disapproving father being any wiser. Born of Scottish decent, he became one of the better known promoters in North America. After building a reputation in lacrosse and wresting, he set his sights on hockey and founded the Canadiens along with five other businessmen in 1910. Along with Frank Calder, Sam Lichtenhein, Mike Quinn and T.P. Gorman, he is one of five founding fathers of the NHL.

Oddly, Kendall is not a member of the Hockey Hall Of Fame, even though both the Canadiens and the NHL owe him a great debt for his efforts in keeping the team and the game growing through the first world war.

After his death, and within weeks of the 1921-22 season, someone had to assume control of the team, and the task was handed to Kendall's brother Frank. Offers came forth from groups wishing to purchase the Canadiens and the first was tendered by Mount Royal Arena owner Tom Duggan who made a $10,000 bid. Montreal businessmen Leo Dandurand, Louis Létourneau, and former player and manager Jos Cattarinich were also heavily interested, but were unable to be in Montreal due to committments at their Cleveland race track. The trio engaged Cecil Hart to make the offers in their name, and on November 4, 1921, the trio officially purchased the team from Kendall's widow for the sum of $11,000.

Dandurand would become the most public of the three figures soon to be known as the Three Musketeers. He would both manage and coach the Canadiens, while Cecil Hart would come on board as one of the team's directors. Following their first season, the three owners would recoup their initial investment, making a profit upwards of $20,000.

THE SPRAGUE CLEGHORN SIDESHOW BEGINS

The new manager and coach set about sturdying the Canadiens aging lineup and made an important aquisition that would impact the team for quite some time. A mere three weeks after taking charge, Dandurand sent Harry Mummery and Amos Arbour to Hamilton for defenseman Sprague Cleghorn, whose brother Odie had played wing for the Canadiens for three seasons running.

The elder Cleghorn, a much feared and despised competitior, had a large say in consecutive Stanley Cups with Ottawa in 1920 and 1921. He'd bring the same tenacity and mean spirit to Montreal after his rights were traded back to the same Tigers team he refused to report to previously.

Dandurand worked hard to gain Cleghorn, buying out his suspended contract following his refusal to go to Hamilton. One snag out of the way, Dandurand made his offer and Hamilton could not refuse.

Just prior to the Cleghorn trade, Montreal welcomed Billy Coutu back from a one year loaning to the Tigers. Together the pair teamed up to form one of the most vicious defensive duos hockey had known.

Not only would Sprague be a feared backline componant, but he also led the Canadiens in scoring with 17 goals and 9 assists. Brother Odie was right behind with 21 goals and 3 helpers.

During the 1921-22 season, Cleghorn seemed intent on settling a score with the Ottawa Senators and certain members of the team. Possibly upset at being released by the Cup champions on two occasions, he enacted his vengeance with his stick and fists in a game on February 1. Winning the game seemed the last thing on Sprague Cleghorn's mind as he injured no less than 3 Senator players in a single game. He badly sliced Eddie Girard and Cy Denneny with his stick and violently hit Frank Nighbor from behind. All three players would miss a pair of games and Cleghorn was fined $15 and arrested by Ottawa police.

The official on the game, Lou Marsh, described Sprague as a disgrace to the sport in a post game report to the league, and offered that he should be banned from the NHL. Canadiens owned Dandurand was also displeased by the shenanigans and felt it tainted the game. Montreal and Ottawa could not find common ground in regards to a precise suspension, and Cleghorn returned soon after. It wouldn't be his final run in with Ottawa in the coming years.

The Cleghorn brothers set a very unique NHL record in January of 1922, in a game against Hamilton, by becoming the only two brothers to score 4 goals each in the same game.

NEWSY'S ANTICS A DISTRACTION

As successful as Dandurand was in rejuvenating the team, ongoing troubles with star Newsy Lalonde further soured the club atmosphere. Not content with Lalonde's play, nor his results as the team's coach, Dandurand openly criticized his captain and Lalonde bolted the team on January 10.

After Lalonde had missed four games, NHL president Frank Calder was brought in to mediate and settle the peace, returning Newsy to the team. Things were so tense at one point, that rumours of Lalonde throwing punches with the Cleghorn brothers in the dressing room even made the rounds. Upon his return to the team, Newsy was roundly booed to the point where, Dandurand, now acting as coach, would only use him as a sub for the remainder of the season. The 33 year old Lalonde's production dropped to 9 goals and 5 assists after scoring 60 goals in the previous two seasons in Montreal.

Three of those nine goals were scored on February 8, after his return.

Despite rough times, contract squabbles, and disputes, Lalonde became the first professional player to hit the 200 goal total. He accomplised the feat, mostly with the Canadiens, in a mere 184 games.

Three new players joined the team in 1921-22. Defensemen Edmund Bouchard and Phil Stevens appeared in 18 and 4 games respectively, but neither would go on to a career as Canadiens players.

Dandurand had strange measures for trying to instill discline on the team, and he brought in several team rules, one of which was a ban on motor vehicles for the players. Only a small portion of the public owned cars in the early 1920's, and perhaps even a lesser amount saw them as bad things. This did not stop Dandurand from banning players from owning cars in a contract stipulation.. After the incident in which Jack Laviolette lost a foot due to a car crash, Dandurand went all out to assure the same fate would not strike one of his players a second time.

ONE BOUCHER OR TWO

Dandurand, whose Canadiens still held first rights to french Canadians, implied to the league that it should give Montreal the Senators Frank Boucher, but Ottawa manager T.P. Gorman countered that Boucher was a unillingual anglophone of Irish descent and the NHL sided with him.

Frank's brother, Billy Boucher, nonetheless, was the Canadiens best new addition, and he helped make up for the drop in production by Lalonde, finishing third on the team in scoring in his rookie campaign with 17 goals and five assists. Signed as a free agent by Montreal, December 13, 1921, he would go on to become a vital piece in the Canadiens attack over the next six seasons.

Gone from the 1921 season were Jack McDonald, Dave Ritchie, Harry Mummery, Cully Wilson, Amos Arbour, and Dave Campbell.

STANDINGS STATUS QUO

For all the changes made by the Canadiens, from ownership to management, to the on ice makeup of the team, the final standing was much similar to one year ago. Montreal finished the season with a 12-11-1 record, one point behind last year's pace. They finished in third place, two points behind the St. Patricks and three behind the Senators.

The season record for Montreal is quite deceiving upon recognizing that 7 of the teams 12 wins came at the hands of the lowly Tigers. The team did however make a late season push to catch the St. Patricks, going 7-1-1 in their final nine games.

The Canadiens, whose record mirrored its standing of 1921, were clearly in a period of transition, and there would evidently be more changes on the horizon. The team could console themselves in knowing that despite all the inner turmoil on the team, they were but two points off from the Cup's eventual winner.

Ottawa's Punch Broadbent was clearly the star of this NHL season. With a 16 game consecutive goal scoring streak en route to a 32 goal campaign, Broadbent led the league in scoring and helped the Senators to a first place finish.
















The NHL was also moving ahead and they abandonned the split schedule format for a complete 24 game season in which the first place and second place teams would challenge for the league title and the right to compete for the Stanley Cup. The victor of the two game, total goals series was Toronto, and they went on to defeat the Vancouver Millionaires 3 games to 2 to claim the franchises first Stanley Cup.




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