The Montreal Canadiens 100 Years of Glory

by Jenish, D'Arcy

• ISBN13: 9780385663250
• ISBN10: 0385663250
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-10-20
• Publisher: Anchor Canada

Summary

The definitive history of the Montreal Canadiens to coincide with their Centenary in 2009. Before there were slapshots, Foster Hewitt, or even an NHL, there were the Canadiens. Founded on December 4, 1909, the team won its first Stanley Cup in 1916. Since then, the Canadiens have won 23 more championships, making them the most successful hockey team in the world. The team has survived two wars, the Great Depression, NHL expansion, and countless other upheavals, thanks largely to the loyalty of fans and an extraordinary cast of players, coaches, owners, and managers. The Montreal Canadienscaptures the full glory of this saga. It weaves the personalities, triumphs, heartaches, and hysteria into a compelling narrative with a surprise on every page. It sheds new light on old questions how the team colours were chosen, how the Canadiens came to be known as the Habitants and goes behind the scenes of tumultuous recent events still awaiting thorough examination: why Scotty Bowman was passed over as general manager after Sam Pollock resigned; why Pollock's successor, Irving Grunman, failed; why Serge Savard was dumped as GM so hastily despite his record. Colourful and controversial,The Montreal Canadiensis the history of a team that has been making news for 100 years and continues to do so with the return of legendary player Bob Gainey as general manager, determined to bring the Stanley Cup back to Montreal.

Author Biography

D’Arcy Jenish is the author of Epic Wanderer: David Thompson and the Mapping of the Canadian West, the award-winning Indian Fall: The Last Great Days of the Plains Cree and the Blackfoot Confederacy, and the bestselling The Stanley Cup: A Hundred Years of Hockey at its Best.


From the Hardcover edition.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Prologue: This Is Hockeytown

Preface: A Team Like No Other
1909—1910: A Haphazard Start
1910—1921: The Kendall/Kennedy Years
1921—1931: Les Canadiens Sont Là
1931—1946: Into a Bind and Out
1946—1955: Selke Builds an Empire
1955—1964: A Dynasty Comes and Goes
1964—1971: Sam Pollock Takes Charge
1971—1979: Scotty’s Team
1980—1993: The Last Hurrah
1993—2001: Win, Tabernac!
Comeback Time

Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Image Credits
Index

Excerpts

Introduction
By Bob Gainey

“You can’t go back, but you can go there again.” These are the words that pushed me from decision-making to decision on a beautiful spring day in May 2003. As I turned my car into the long driveway at our home on Stony Lake, forty kilometres northeast of Peterborough, I knew I would be the next general manager of the Club de Hockey Canadien.

A few days later, on June 3, 2003, a press conference was held at the Bell Centre, home of the Canadiens, to introduce me in my new role.

The questions from the herd of journalists came at ­slap-shot speed. Cameras clicked and flashed even faster. Many of the questions I didn’t have answers for . . . yet. Would coach Claude Julien be returning? What would I do with player contracts? Who were the prospects in the system? How did I explain the dismal season the Habs had just completed, missing the playoffs?

There was one answer I did have, to a question which came both subtly and directly: Why would I agree to take this position? The team was a disaster. The fans were enraged. The media were on the warpath. The future looked dismal. Why put myself in this unenviable position?

The answer was easy and, to me, crystal clear; In Montreal, the Canadiensmatter! In Quebec, the Canadiensmatter! In Canada, the Canadiensmatter!

All of that only made the general manager’s job more challenging, a point captured by Terry Mosher, also known as Aislin, celebrated editorial cartoonist of the MontrealGazette. In the next day’s paper, Mosher depicted me standing behind the podium at the press conference being asked, “Do think you can walk on water?” Answer:see page viii!

The Montreal Canadiens mattered to me. And I knew how important, how vital and how deeply rooted they were in the culture and history of Montrealers, Quebecers, Canadians and others.

I had learned these lessons early in my playing days. In September of 1973, I began what would be a sixteen-year career with the Habs. I recall a situation about a year later, while looking for a dentist office early one morning in the borough of Verdun. Hoping to ask for directions, I walked into a café filled with diners enjoying breakfast. The entire place went completely silent. Nobody moved. Every person there recognized me. And all of us were in shock – they because I was there, and I at the realization they knew me. I got my directions and left, relieved, as quickly as I could.

I was reminded of the importance of the Montreal Canadiens in many ways and many places, like the time I was in Helsinki, Finland, playing with Team Canada. Walking incognito (I believed) along a downtown street, I was approached from the opposite direction by a person who made eye contact and then asked in heavily-accented English: “What happened to the Canadiens in the playoffs?” There is no escape from Montreal fans!

Loyalty to the Canadiens tends to run deep and long, as I learned from my old friend Richard Halford of New York City. A year ago, he called to let me know it was the fiftieth anniversary, to the day, of the game he saw with his father at Madison Square Garden between the Canadiens and Rangers. He got Rocket Richard’s autograph after the game and has been a fervent Canadiens fan ever since.

From my rookie season thrity-five years ago, I have been in contact, directly or indirectly, with much of the Canadiens’ history. In that time, I met many former players and staff. I was curious about their careers and put a lot of questions to Blake, Richard, Bouchard, Curry, Pollock, Mahovlich, Laperrière, Bowman and others. They were generous with their replies. Their memories let me touch, hear and see the reality of their lives with the Habs back to the 1930s.

In this centennial history, D’Arcy Jenish gets it right. H

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Excerpted from The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory by D'Arcy Jenish
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.