Birthday greetings to Pierre Turgeon

 Pierre Turgeon was born on this day in 1969.

A star with the Granby Bisons (QMJHL), Turgeon was the first overall  selection, by the Buffalo Sabres, in the 1987 Entry Draft. His offensive play  dazzled the Buffalo faithful,  with many thinking they had their next Gilbert Perreault.

He would be traded, early in the 1991-92 season, to the New York Islanders in a multi-player deal that saw Islanders star Pat Lafontaine go the other way.

The trade had no bearing on Turgeon’s offensive performance, when the reached a career high in points (132) with the Islanders the following season. The Islanders would go on to upset the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Patrick Division Final, before falling the the eventual Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens.

Turgeon then achieved a childhood dream, after the Islanders decided to clean house, when he was traded to Montreal  with Vladimir Malakhov for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider and Craig Darby on April 5, 1995.

He scored 20 points in 15 games for the Canadiens, but the team failed to make the playoffs in that strike-shortened season.

In his only full season in Montreal (1995-96), he scored a team high 96 points in 80 games.

He was also named team captain, after predecessor Mike Keane was dealt to Colorado as part of the Patrick Roy trade, and would be the last to wear the “C” for the Canadiens in the Montreal Forum.

Turgeon would win the Molson Cup as the Canadiens’ player of the year.

Despite a decent personal season, the Canadiens squeaked into the playoffs and were eliminated in the first round in six games.

Though he managed six points in those half dozen post-season games, being the captain took on the weight of discontent and the criticism of media and fans alike.

Some fans and media felt Turgeon had underachieved in the playoffs and that he did not act like a captain.

Allegations even came out that Canadiens president Ronald Corey only gave Turgeon the captaincy due to his francophone heritage to lead the Canadiens from the Forum to the Molson Centre.

By the start of the 1996-97 season, Turgeon found himself the third –line centre in training camp. Unhappy, he requested a trade before the start of the season.

In his last game with the Canadiens (Oct 29, 1996), a 5-4 loss to Phoenix, Turgeon was playing left wing (he was a centre) on the first line. He assisted on all four Canadiens goals.

Later that night, the childhood dream ended when Turgeon was traded to the St. Louis Blues, along with Rory Fitzpatrick and Craig Conroy, in exchange for Murray Baron and Shayne Corson.

Journalist Réjean Tremblay assessed the trade this way;

“Players like Pierre Turgeon are part of an infinitely small minority. There are only so many who can collect a hundred points as season year after year.

When you get such a player, you make him happy and let him produce.

You don’t put him on the third line with pluggers who can’t score.”

In his 104 games with Montreal, Turgeon scored 50 goals and added 77 assists for 127 points.

He would continue playing for the Blues, Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche before retiring in 2007 . In his 19-year career, Turgeon racked up 515 goals and 812 assists in 1294 games. He scored 97 points in 109 playoff games.

March 11, 1937: Morenz Mourned by Fans and NHL alike

Fans, family and teammates fill the Montreal Forum to attend the funeral for Howie Morenz 3/11/1937 – HHOF photo

On March 8, 1937 the hockey world lost Howie Morenz.

Deemed “The Babe Ruth of hockey”, the Montreal Canadiens star suffered a broken leg after a collision with Earl Seibert on January 28. Confined to a hospital room, “The Stratford Streak” would never recover from the devastating blow.

Having numerous complications from the injury, Morenz had his up and down days. One day would find the 34-year-old optimistic that he would return, and then thinking his career was over the next. It was diagnosed that suffered a nervous breakdown at St. Luke’s Hospital on March 5.

Despite a successful examination just hours earlier, a coronary embolism, caused by blood clots in his leg, finally caught up with him that Monday morning in March. Longtime line mate and friend Aurel Joliat said he died of a broken heart, and was probably right.

The hockey world was stunned by his loss as word made way across Canada and into the United States. Tributes poured in from former opponents and officials from the NHL.

“He had a heart that was unsurpassed in athletic history and no one ever came close to him in the colour department. After you watched Howie you wanted to see him often, and as much as I liked to play hockey, I often thought I would have counted it a full evening had I been able to sit in the stands and watch the Morenz maneuvers. Such an inclination never occurred to me about other stars.”

- Eddie Shore

“It is a terrible loss to the game, and a terrible loss to the Canadiens themselves. I certainly sorry for his family, for Howie thought a lot of his young boy, who will sorely miss him.”

- Conn Smythe

“He was one of the all-time greats of the game and it was only for the good of the game that the Rangers let him return to the Canadiens he loved so well.”

-Lester Patrick

The funeral would be held at the Montreal Forum on March 11 at 2:30 p.m. Morenz’s casket would arrive hours earlier and was placed on a bier adorned with wreaths, flowers and crosses.

Friends, fans and family made their way past the bier to pay respects to the fallen hero. Young, old, rich or poor, the number was estimated as high as 50,000 people.

Longtime teammate Aurel Joliat looks at Morenz’s vacant stall – HHOF photo

The assortment of flower arrangements was extensive, 150 in total. There were several No. 7 floral arrangements, but the one that stuck out the most was made of of lilies and roses with a card that read, “To Howie from Aurel.”

One of two hockey stick shaped floral arrangements came from “The boys in the balcony at the Boston Garden”, fans who jeered him yet cheered for him on the inside.

His No. 7 jersey, skates and his last stick he played, covered in a wreath, were laid alongside the casket.

Clasped in Morenz’s hands was a bunch of roses, placed there by his widow Mary Morenz, with a note from this three children, “To Our Daddy”.

The pier was placed at center ice, where one Forum usher stated, “Right under the coffin, there’s the blue circle where Howie faced the puck. He’s back again in his old position.”

Honour guards consisting of his Canadiens teammates and friends would rotate every half hour leading up to the service.

The first true superstar of the NHL, Morenz always filled the stands in Montreal and anywhere else he played. Even in death he could do the same, as well as filling rows of chairs on the wood covered Forum ice while close to 15,000 people waited outside.

The Morenz family filled the first rows of seats and were followed by not just the players and staff of the Montreal Canadiens, but also the Montreal Maroons and Toronto Maple Leafs.

The NHL came in full representation, led by president Frank Calder. Owners and GMs from all teams and numerous referees were all in attendance. Former Canadiens owner Leo Dandurand made the trek from Louisiana.

The funeral was broadcast on Montreal radio station CFCF and had a simple format consistin of a prayer and hymn. Presbyterian minister Rev. Dr. Malcolm Campbell presided over the ceremony, delivering a brief eulogy.

“He was a hero in the true sense of the word. He never knew what is was to quit. Howie Morenz was not only the idol of thousands upon thousands of fans who went to see him weekly play hockey, but he was above all the hero of his teammates. It was his spirit that appealed to every player to do his best.

He chose hockey as a profession and he made an unqualified success of it. He was the fastest skater, I am told, in the business, a star, a superstar, a star on the ice and a star off the ice. He came into the dressing room whistling and singing, the cheering spirit of all his teammates. Everyone loved him, opponents as well as supporters. It is commonplace to say that no single player ever won such publicity as did Howie Morenz and yet it left him the same gentle, unassuming, plain man.”

- Reverend Dr. Malcom Campbell

Six of Morenz’s teammates (Babe Seibert, George Brown, Armand Mondou, Georges Mantha, Paul Haynes and Pit Lepine) would be pallbearers and carry the coffin out of the Forum, where thousands waited to catch a final glimpse before the motorcade made it’s way to Mount Royal Cemetery for burial.

 Howie Morenz’s grave marker in Mount Royal Cemetery – findagrave.com photo

In a time before television, there is little video footage of the funeral, but the CBC archives has this brief clip.

November 29, 1924: The Forum Opens It’s Doors

The Montreal Forum under construction in 1924 photo: The McCord Museum

It’s hard to believe that 85 years ago, the most storied building in hockey history was built, and it wasn’t even intended for the Montreal Canadiens.

The Montreal Forum was actually built for the new Montreal Maroons franchise, owned by the Canadian Arena Company.

The creation of the Maroons was granted by Canadiens manager Leo Dandurand, who saw the potential of a rivalry between the two clubs.

For $15,000, Maroons president Jimmy Strachan was able to share the Canadiens territorial rights in Montreal. The Canadiens had the French followers, and the Maroons would have the English.

“I assumed that an English team competing against the mostly French-Canadiens would turn into the biggest rivalry in the NHL,” Dandurand said. “And it did.”

The idea to build the Forum in 1923 is credited to Sir Edward Beattie, president of the Canadian Pacific railway.

At the suggestion of Senator Donat Raymond, William Northey  originally developed a plan for a 12,500 seat capacity rink, but the size was reduced for financial reasons.

Finding financing for a smaller sized Forum was still difficult to find until H. L. Timmins stepped in with $500,000 towards the project.

In the meantime, in the fall of 1924, the Canadiens, fresh off a Stanley Cup victory the season prior, were still under contract to play their games in the Mount Royal Arena.

 Interior construction of the Forum in 1924

Dandurand watched over the summer if 1924 in envy as the then state-of-the-art arena, designed by architect John Archibald, was being constructed and completed in just 159 days.

After all, the $1.5 million rink, that sat 9,300 people, had an artificial ice making plant as well.

The Canadiens were set to play their home opener of the 1924-25 season, against the Toronto St. Pats, on November 24.

The mild weather in Montreal however, had other plans. The Mount Royal Arena ice was nothing more than a puddle of slush, despite it’s ome new ice making equipment, and Dandurand needed to find a suitable location, or forfeit the game.

He was able to secure the Forum and it’s new technologies and move the game to the corner of Atwater and Ste. Catherine.

Mount Royal Arena officials fought the move to no avail, and over 8,000 people witnessed the Canadiens first ever game in the Forum, a 7-1 win over Toronto.

Billy Boucher scored the first goal ever in the Forum and also registered the first hat-trick.

The Canadiens played the Maroons, in the Forum, for the first time on December 27. Imagine, the Canadiens were the visiting team in the Forum!

Eleven thousand people packed the building, setting a new attendance record along the way.

The game ended in a 1-1 tie that included two 10-minute overtime periods.

The Canadiens would move into the Forum permanently in 1926, sharing the building with the Maroons. Their first game as permanent tenats was a 2-1 loss to Ottawa.

One could only imagine how heated and intense the rivalry of these two teams could have been, let alone sharing the same ice. It would have made the Nordiques-Canadiens rivalry look like a tea party.

Brian MacFarlane wrote it this way in his book “Brian McFarlane’s Original Six: The Habs”:

Today’s hockey fans have never seen anything like the rivalry that existed between the Canadiens and the Maroons.

Heated? It was explosive. When the English-backed Maroons met the French-supported Canadiens, the on-ice battles were often overshadowed by skirmishes in the stands.

Emotions became so feverish that a missed goal or and “undeserved” penalty would trigger a rash of pushes and punches, with police and ushers rushing in to keep English and French fans apart.

The damage was usually minimal: a torn jacket, a hat yanked off and thrown away, the occasional black eye, and enough ‘20’s-style “trash talk” (in two languages) to shock fans ten rows away.”

Despite two Stanley Cup championships (1926, 1935) the Maroons could not keep up with the financial stress of the Great Depression  to the point that the Forum was nearly sold to the city, with plans to became a streetcar barn. The Maroons withdrew from the NHL in 1938.

The Canadiens now had the Forum to themselves and would win 22 more Stanley Cups (12 on Forum ice) during their tenure.

The Montreal Forum circa 1960 photo: City of Montreal archives

The Montreal Forum after it’s second renovation in 1968.

After two renovations in 1949 and 1968, the Montreal Canadiens played their last game in the Forum on March 11, 1996.

It was then completely gutted and converted into a downtown entertainment centre called the Pepsi Forum, consisting of an AMC multiplex theater, shops and restaurants.

Centre ice has been recreated in the centre of the complex complete with a small section of the grandstand, along with a statue of a fan leaning forward in delight, while original seats are used as benches throughout the complex. A statue of Maurice Richard can be found next to the grandstand.

The Atwater Street entrance has a large bronze Montreal Canadiens logo surrounded by 24 bronze Stanley Cup banners cemented into the sidewalk. Inscribed in French are the words "forever proud".

Theres is also a Canadiens logo in brick tiles on the sidewalk on Atwater Street.

The entire building remains themed after the Forum's storied history with special emphasis on the Montreal Canadiens.

Just a Few Other Forum Facts and Figures

The Forum had two renovations. The first came in 1949 at the cost of $600,00. Upon taking over as GM of the Canadiens, Frank Selke cited, “Clean the toilets. Nettoyez les toilettes!” He spent over $100,00 alone upgrading the plumbing alone.

Four thousand more seats are added bringing capacity to 13,551.

The second upgrade took place in the off-season of 1968. The $10 million renovation project resulted in an air-conditioned 17,959 seat arena that included standing room for 1,600 people.

Longest game ever: At 8:24 p.m. on March 24, 1936, the puck was dropped to start a playoff game between Detroit and the Maroons.

It took until the sixth overtime period, making it the longest game in NHL history (176 minutes and 36 seconds), before Mud Bruneteau scored the game's only goal for a Detroit victory.

It was 2:25 a.m. and some fans in the Forum were reportedly reading newspaper accounts of the earlier action.

Habs first Cup in the Forum: Howie Morenz scores the game-winning goal on April 3, 1930 in a 4-3 win.

A farewell to The Stratford Streak:  On March 11, 1937,  a centre ice funeral is held for Morenz, who died from complications of a leg injury. An estimated 50,000 people pay their respects.

Prior to the start of the 1937-38 season on November 2, a benefit auction and all-star game in tribute of Morenz is held. NHL All-Stars defeat a team on Canadiens and Maroons 6-5 and help raise $20,000.

Maroons/Canadiens Rivalry ends: The Canadiens defeat the Maroons in the final game between the two teams on March 17, 1938 as the Maroons fold operations at the end of the season.

“Hello Canada”: The CBC broadcasts the first live television hockey game on October 11, 1952 as "Hockey Night in Canada" makes its debut as the Habs play host to Detroit. Canadiens win 2-1.

The first non-Montreal team to claim a Stanley Cup in the Forum: Many will say the Calgary Flames in 1989, but actually that claim belongs to the New York Rangers in 1928.

The circus kicked the Rangers out of Madison Square Garden so all five games were played in Montreal. The Rangers won the series 3-2 for their first Stanley Cup. They were also the first American NHL team to do so.

Origin of the name: The site of the Montreal Forum was on an old roller skating rink, also named the Forum. The CAC decided to keep the name when the new building was constructed. An early photo is shown below.

 

A great list of many more dates of importance, pertaining to the Montreal Forum, can be found on MontrealCanadiens.ca

Sources and references for this article:

Books:

Denault, Todd (2009): Jacques Plante: The Man Who Changed the Face of Hockey. McClelland and Stewart

Jenish, D’Arcy (2008): The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory. Doubleday Canada

McFarlane, Brian (2008): True Hockey Stories: The Habs. Prospero Books

Mouton, Claude (1987). The Montreal Canadiens. Key Porter Books

Blogs/WWW

HabsEyesOnThePrize.com (2008): The Forum and Two New Rivalries

Doucet, Paul  (2004) MontrealCanadiens.ca: The Montreal Forum

Happy Birthday to Le Gros Bill!

Birthday wishes to Canadiens legend Jean Béliveau, celebrating his 78th year today.

The Hall of Famer was born in Trois Rivières, QC and was the first of eight children.

He was wearing skates at age five. When it showed that the young Béliveau had a gift for hockey, his father built a small practice rink behind their house for him.

The rest, of course, is history.

Recently, I noted several of Mr. Beliveau’s accolades, both on and off the ice

I’ve added the Legends of Hockey series’ feature on the Canadiens legend where other Hall of Famers reminisce on their former teammate/opponent as well as comments from Beliveau himself.

Happy Birthday Mr. Beliveau!!

Aurele Joliat: A small forward with a huge heart to play.

Aurèle Joliat would be 108 years old today.

Fans of the Montreal Canadiens scratched their heads when they traded an aging star in Newsy Lalonde to Saskatoon for the rights to a 5’7” 136 lb winger in 1922.

They wouldn’t be scratching their heads long. In his rookie season (1922-23), the Ottawa-born Joliat scored 21 points in 24 games .

The following season, he was put on a line with Billy Boucher and a rookie centre named Howie Morenz. The The trio would lead the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup that season. It would be the first of three for Joliat in his sixteen year career with Montreal.

He led the NHL in scoring with 30 goals in 25 games in 1924-25 and in the 1933-34 season, Joliat would win the Hart Trophy as league MVP. He was a first-team all-star once, and a second-team all-star three times.

Joliat could score, check and his speed allowed him to avoid the big checks. But when he was hit, he could take them like a 200 pound man.

Over time he earned the respect of many of the toughest players in the league due to his resiliency in on-ice confrontations.

The small black cap Joliat wore during games, to cover a bald spot, reminded players of his willingness to retaliate.

Taunting him by knocking his hat to the ice always brought a swift reaction. Joliat would either score, or whack an opponent across the ankles. Suffice to say, the cap stayed didn’t get knocked off often.

“To knock off his black cap was to start a battle,” noted Hall-of-Fame sportswriter Elmer Ferguson.

“It drove Joliat into a hysterical frenzy, from which he lashed out blindly with fists or stick, and he didn’t pick his opponents.”

He had his share of injuries(six shoulder separations, three broken ribs, and five nose fractures), but it seldom kept him off the ice for long.

One of his greatest rivals on the ice was Bruins legend Eddie Shore, a player who Joliat deemed as the meanest and toughest player that he’d ever met.

In one game at the Forum, Shore clobbered the diminutive Joliat and separated his shoulder. After being led off the ice, he was quickly back on and caught his rival on a rush.

“I leaped over the boards and intercepted the big bugger. Hit him with a flyin' tackle,” he said. “Hit him so hard he was out cold on the ice. He had it comin' I'd say . . ."

After the tragic death of Morenz in March of 1937, Joliat was never the same, and it showed on the ice.

Aurele Joliat mourns the loss of teammate Howie Morenz

He would play his final game a year later, when a shoulder injury caused him to miss the balance of the regular season and the playoffs.

Joliat would retire after the season was over, although he later claimed the Canadiens let him go after the Montreal Maroons folded.

His 270 goals were a team record that only be surpassed by Maurice Richard.

He would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945.

In 1984, at age 83, he was honored by the Canadiens as an honorary member of their 75th Anniversary Dream Team.

I’ve included the footage from his appearance at the Forum. He’d have a few slips on the ice and carpet that Joliat would attest to an old rival.

“The ghost of Eddie Shore must have put that damn rug in front of me.”

Aurèle Joliat passed away on June 2, 1986. The man who played in the Canadiens first game in the Montreal Forum was gone.

Elmer Ferguson tried to answer how such a small player had outlasted every player that was in the NHL when he started.

“The source from which he gets his strength, and the virility to play robust games, to out-drive sturdier opponents at golf, to outwit them at hockey, to carry on the testing, wracking game over a span of years far beyond average-that’s a mystery. Try and Solve it, I gave up long ago.”

Other Facts and stories on Aurèle Joliat

Just how tough was he? Joliat apparently fell off a roof as a teenager, 35 feet to the ground, and landed on his back, narrowly escaping any serious injuries.

He was going to be a kicker with the Ottawa Rough Riders (CFL), but a broken leg kept him from playing. He then focused on hockey.

Habs Eyes on the Prize offers a must-read story on Joliat from his pre-Canadiens Days.

Dennis Kane dug up this poem on Joliat.

The Hockey News ranked Joliat #65 in their list of 100 Greatest Hockey Players

From the Canadiens history site. A story on his 250th goal.

Montreal Canadiens features from the National Film Board of Canada

Show of hands, how many of you remember those old National Film Board films that they showed in school?

How many of you dozed off only to be woke up by the sound of the film crunching through the projector?

Now, if the school teachers had shown the film selections I discovered on the NFB’s website, we might have paid attention more.

I’ve pulled three films for our Habs film fest. Get out your popcorn and enjoy.

First up is  one of the NFB’s most popular films.

 Sheldon Cohen’s “The Sweater”

This 1980 animated short is based on Roch Carrier’s book “The Hockey Sweater”

Carrier recounts the most mortifying moment of his childhood.

At a time when all his friends worshipped Maurice "Rocket" Richard and wore his number 9 Canadiens hockey jersey, he was mistakenly sent a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey from Eaton's.

Unable to convince his mother to send it back, he must face his friends wearing the colors of the opposing team.

 

 

 Leslie McFarlane’s 1953 short “Here’s Hockey”.

Featuring Jean Beliveau, this short film focuses on hockey from the inside out.

Known as Canada's national pastime, this film demonstrates why hockey is such an exciting spectator sport. From east to west, the connection between fans and players is evident in the excited cries of "we've won!"

From Pee-Wee to Bantam, from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to the big league pros, Here's Hockey! shows what it takes to make a great hockey player.

 

 

And now, our feature presentation.

Jacques Payette’s 1998 film “The Rocket”

This 42 minute documentary features rare footage along with interviews from journalists, photographers, former NHL President Clarence Campbell, Canadiens GM Frank Selke, referee Red Storey, Emile “Butch” Bouchard, and Maurice Richard himself.

Happy Birthday to a Canadiens Legend

A Happy Birthday to Canadiens Hall of Fame Goaltender Ken Dryden.

I’ll be brutally honest. This man is the reason I became a Montreal Canadiens fan.

At the age of 5, I one day flipped the channel from CBC-Toronto to CBC-Peterborough, which carried Canadiens games in the day, and saw the coolest goalie mask ever.

Ken Dryden playing for Cornell University

I drew that bullseye mask as a kid thousands of times. I also realized that his team won far more than they lost, and would see them take four straight Stanley Cups from 1976 to 1979.

Dryden had already won two Cups, by the time I was three, after making his debut on March 13, 1971.

To think that if I hadn’t turned that dial, or even another goalie was in net that night, I may still have been subjected to the Toronto Maple Leafs and suffered oh so much.

 Ken Dryden and Russian legend Vladislav Tretiak, Dec 31 1975

Dryden retired, after the 1979 season, with six Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe Trophy, Calder Trophy, five Vezina Trophies (three shared), five First Team and one Second Team all-star selections, 258 wins and a career 2.24 goals against average.

All that came amidst a year off, over a contract dispute, to complete his law degree. Oh and of course he was the also part of Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series.

As a kid, hockey news in the summer wasn’t as readily available as it is 30 years later. It wasn’t until I opened a pack of hockey cards that I saw the “Now retired” lettering printed on his card and realized he wasn’t coming back.

Dryden would go on to author what is considered the best hockey book ever written, “The Game”, in 1983 and be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame the same year.

His #29 jersey would be retired by the Montreal Canadiens on January 29, 2007.

His post career resume is by far is one of the most impressive ever for a former NHL player.

An author of five books, a commentator for three Winter Olympics (including the 1980 Team USA Miracle on Ice), lawyer, business man, active politician, one-time president of the Toronto Maple Leafs for two years…… OK so he’s not perfect.

Happy Birthday Mr. Dryden and many more!

Another great birthday tribute comes from my HabsEyesOnthePrize colleague Francis Bouchard.

Habs Blogger Digest : July 29 2009

Thought I’d post another look at the latest Canadiens posts/blogs around the web.

YourHabs.com asks what Bob Gainey may have left to do before the start of the season.

HFBoards has the same question in the form of a poll.

Yves On Habs does a great statistical analysis of the “Old Habs” and the “New Habs”

Eric Engels sees a tough battle this season in the Northeast division.

Lions in Winter does a great job looking at GM’s that are ahead of the curve.

The Flying Frenchmen looks at the signing of Travis Moen as well as the team’s next captain and dealing with the French media.

As always, Habs Eyes on the Prize with a couple gems. First up, Robert looks at Andrei Markov as the Canadiens’ next captain.

Robert then digs up a great read on a truly colorful Canadiens’ prospect from the 1930’s.

TSN looks back at the closing ceremony of the Montreal Forum and someplace else.

Canadiens.com has an August 2009 Calendar featuring new Hab Hal Gill available for download. Check out the Fan Artwork while you’re there too!

Which reminds me, 3-10 game pack ticket sales for the 2009-10 season go on sale September 5th at noon, as do pre-season tickets.

Regular season single-game ticket sales will go on sale September 12 at noon.

The Canadiens ticket link will have further purchasing details to come and tickets for the December 4 Centennial game will be made available for purchase later. Ticket prices are available here.

And finally….Dennis Kane looks at an…ahem…. lesser known member of the Canadiens ‘70s dynasty.

The Hockey Hall of Fame, Part One: A must visit for Canadiens Fans!

I recently had some time in Toronto to play tourist and explore the Hockey Hall of Fame.

For the record, the last time I paid a visit to the Hall was nearly 20 years ago in it’s old diminutive home at the Exhibition grounds.

Now situated in the old Bank of Montreal Building on the northwest corner of Front and Yonge, the Hall has a massive 57,000 square foot facility to display hockey’s history.

Upon entering the foyer to the Hall through the lower level of the building, one finds a large goalie mask display known as the Mask Columns.

Encased in the columns are Ken Dryden’s pretzel mask and two masks that he used later in his career. It also shows how one of these fiberglass mask was made.

Behind the columns is a wall showcasing 1300 pucks acquired at different arenas and tournaments around the world.

After paying my $15 admission, that was worth every penny, one of the first things you see are nine foot statues of Dryden and Fred “Cyclone”Taylor.

I admired the massive statue of my childhood hero then glanced into the feature exhibit area that the statues guard.

A tremendous Montreal Canadiens Centennial exhibit is currently on display with memorabilia, photos, and equipment from the storied team.

A series of cabinets feature many of the team’s most honored players.

I made several passes through this exhibit during my visit, spotting something else each time.

From Jacques Plante’s personal Hart Trophy or a copy of the program from the 1975 New Year’s Eve game against Central Red Army to Jose Theodore’s toque from the Heritage Game and Joe Hall’s 1918 contract from 1918 for $700, many a unique Canadiens relic is to be found in this exhibit.

The note issued by Campbell and Selke, forfeiting the game against Detroit during the Richard Riots 

At the far end, a large video screen runs episodes of The Heroes of Hockey series, featuring Habs Hall of Famers.

If there was a chair, I would have sat there for them all!

A variety of exhibits surround the centerpiece including a tribute area of the famed Stanley Cup dynasties.

The Canadiens own three of these displays – The four Cup run from the ‘70s, the “Forgotten Dynasty” four in five from 1965 to 1969 and the unequalled five straight from 1956-1960.

 

The 70’s display shown above encases Ken Dryden’s set of gloves that he used throughout his final season (1978-79).

As I glanced through these fantastic displays, I couldn’t help but wonder, “If that stick, jersey, glove could only talk, what stories it could tell.”

My attention then turned to one of the most popular exhibits in the hall, the to-scale replica Montreal Canadiens dressing room from the Montreal Forum.

With locker stalls for several of the Canadiens Hall of Fame players, it’s interesting to look at the equipment used in the various eras.

Looking at knee pads similar to the ones Guy Lafleur once used, I thought about the massive, yet equally if not lighter, ones I have in my bag at home.

I sat down on the bench of Patrick Roy’s stall and took the massive goal pads up to my leg. As I did I looked at the smaller brown leather pads that Ken Dryden and Jacques Plante once used.

More history is played on video monitors above the room while you tour around.

On a quiet June Sunday morning, I was able to take a high detailed video of the room.

Making my way to the Upper Deck Collector’s Corner I found a treasure trove of Canadiens memorabilia.

Rookie cards of Dryden, Roy and Lafleur adorn one of the card displays while a complete Shiriff/Salada Coin set (in it’s display) was mounted on another.

I even came across a cardboard stand-up of Doug Risebrough from the 1970’s. I still have this one and several other of these at home still intact in their packaged form!

A media pass from the 1993 All-Star Game was found in a huge cabinet of passes and tickets.

I worked my way to the Great Hall, which houses the Stanley Cup, the awards trophies and the Hall of Fame plaques of all the inductees, including 44 players and builders from the Canadiens.

The wall of inductees is rather tall so you may need to look waaaaay up to find your favorite player.

  In Lord Stanley’s vault, I discovered some of the “retired” rings removed from the Stanley Cup. A few acknowledged previous Canadiens teams, so alas not all 24 Cup engravings are on the cup together.

Another find was one of the first personal miniature cups issued out to winning Stanley Cup players and management in 1957-58.

I clearly can spend another day in detail of this fantastic facility and was also interested to know that a huge resource centre is also available for public use by appointment only.

On your way out, you’ll find a pile of Canadiens collectibles to add to your collection at the Spirit of Hockey store.

I budgeted this time and just grabbed a 100th Anniversary game puck for this trip. I have a list in case you are going and would like to get me something. :)

I found it interesting that some Saku Koivu t-shirts were on at clearance prices. My trip was 10 days before the free-agent deadline.

Did the Hall know something ahead of time?

In the meantime, I offer my complete collection of Canadiens exhibit photos taken during my visit here.

I will be adding a second part on International hockey as well as another installment on the rest of the Hall  of Fame to my site in the coming weeks.