49 Fun Facts About Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup how many times, more than any other franchise?

The Canadiens own 24 Stanley Cups, the most of any franchise; one came before the NHL existed and 23 in the NHL era, the last of them in 1993.

The Canadiens were founded in 1909 as a charter member of which league?

The Canadiens were a charter member of the National Hockey Association, formed in December 1909, and are the only current NHL club older than the league they helped form in 1917.

The Canadiens were founded to be the team of which group in Montreal?

The founders wanted francophone players and, as soon as possible, francophone ownership.

The Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup in which season?

The Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup in 1915-16, beating the PCHA's Portland Rosebuds in a five-game final in March 1916; their first NHL-era Cup followed in 1923-24.

The 'H' in the Canadiens' CH logo stands for what?

The H stands for Hockey, from the official name Club de Hockey Canadien adopted when the team was renamed; the 'Habitants' story traces to Madison Square Garden's Tex Rickard in 1924.

The Canadiens' sweater is known in the province by what reverent nickname?

La Sainte-Flanelle, 'the holy flannel', is Quebec's reverent name for the Canadiens' sweater and by extension the club; the red sweater with its blue band has changed little in a century.

The Canadiens' dressing-room motto, 'To you from failing hands we throw the torch', is from which poem?

The words are from In Flanders Fields, the 1915 war poem by Canadian doctor John McCrae; they hang in the Canadiens' dressing room in English and French.

Which player was the first Canadien to have his number honoured, in 1937, after dying from a broken leg?

Howie Morenz, the 'Stratford Streak', died in March 1937 weeks after breaking his leg in a game; his funeral was held at centre ice of the Forum and his No. 7 was retired that year.

Which Canadiens goaltender won the Vezina Trophy six times in seven seasons from 1944 to 1950?

Bill Durnan, an ambidextrous goaltender who switched his stick hand during play, won the Vezina Trophy in six of his seven NHL seasons, 1944 to 1950, all with Montreal.

Maurice Richard was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in a season, in how many games in 1944-45?

Richard scored his 50th goal in the 50th and final game of the 1944-45 season; he was also the first to 500 career goals and retired in 1960 with 544.

The 1955 Richard Riot at the Forum erupted after NHL president Clarence Campbell did what to the Rocket?

Campbell suspended him for the season and playoffs on March 16, 1955, three days after the Rocket punched linesman Cliff Thompson in Boston; Campbell then attended the next Forum game and the riot erupted.

The Canadiens won a record five consecutive Stanley Cups over which span?

The Canadiens won five straight Cups, 1956-1960, behind Doug Harvey, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Jacques Plante and the Richard brothers; the 1970s dynasty managed four in a row.

How many Stanley Cups did Toe Blake win as Canadiens coach between 1955 and 1968?

He had already won three as a player and was the first coach to win 500 games with one team.

Jacques Plante first wore a mask in a regular-season game in 1959 after his nose was broken by whose shot?

Andy Bathgate of the Rangers hit Plante in the face with a backhand at Madison Square Garden on November 1, 1959; Plante returned wearing the mask Blake had allowed only in practice.

'Le Gros Bill' won a record 17 Stanley Cups in total; how many came as a player?

He won 10 as a player between 1953 and 1971 and seven more as a club executive; 'Le Gros Bill' also declined an offer to become Governor General in 1994.

Which Canadiens captain won the very first Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1965?

Jean Béliveau, captain from 1961 to 1971, took the inaugural Conn Smythe in 1965 after scoring 14 seconds into Game 7 against Chicago; he also won two Harts and the 1956 Art Ross.

The 1976-77 Canadiens set an 80-game record with how many points, a mark that stood until 2023?

The 1976-77 Canadiens posted 132 points on 60 wins in 80 games, a record that survived until the 2022-23 Bruins reached 135.

Which Canadiens forward won the first four Frank J. Selke Trophies, from 1978 to 1981?

Bob Gainey, the Canadiens' checking left wing, won the Selke Trophy for best defensive forward in each of its first four seasons, 1978 through 1981, and later captained the club.

Which coach led the Canadiens to five 1970s Cups and later set the NHL record for coaching wins?

Scotty Bowman coached Montreal from 1971 to 1979, winning five Cups, and retired in 2002 with nine Cups as a coach and 1,244 regular-season wins, the NHL record.

Guy Lafleur was the first NHL player to do what in six consecutive seasons?

Lafleur was the first NHL player to score 50 goals and 100 points in six straight seasons, 1974-75 through 1979-80; 'The Flower' from Thurso, Quebec, won five Cups with Montreal.

Ken Dryden won the 1971 Conn Smythe before he had even won which other honour?

Dryden took the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1972, a year after the Conn Smythe, having played only six regular-season games in 1970-71; he won six Cups and five Vezinas.

Ken Dryden played at which Ivy League school, winning the 1967 NCAA title in goal?

Dryden backstopped Cornell to the 1967 NCAA championship and went 76-4-1 in 81 varsity games; he later earned a law degree from McGill.

Patrick Roy became the youngest Conn Smythe winner ever, at 20, in which Cup-winning year?

Roy won the 1986 Conn Smythe at 20 as a rookie, going 15-5 in the playoffs; later wins in 1993 and 2001 with two teams made him the only three-time winner.

Patrick Roy's bitter 1995 exit from Montreal followed a feud with which rookie coach and former roommate?

Mario Tremblay, a rookie coach and Roy's former roommate, left him in for nine goals in an 11-1 loss to Detroit on December 2, 1995; Roy told president Ronald Corey he was done.

Through the 2024-25 season, the Canadiens' 1993 Stanley Cup was the last won by what?

Montreal's 1993 title was the last Stanley Cup won by a Canadian team through 2025; Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton and Montreal all lost Finals during the drought.

The Canadiens played their final game at the Montreal Forum on March 11, 1996, beating which team 4-1?

Montreal beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 in the Forum's farewell on March 11, 1996; afterwards former captains passed a torch around the ice before it was carried to the new arena.

The Forum was originally built in 1924 for which team?

The Canadiens moved in for 1926-27 and won 22 of their Cups while calling it home.

The Canadiens' arena that opened in 1996 was originally known by what name?

The Molson Centre opened on March 16, 1996, and became the Bell Centre in 2002 under a naming deal with Bell Canada; it replaced the Forum as the Canadiens' home.

Which American businessman bought control of the Canadiens from Molson in 2001 for $275 million?

George Gillett Jr., a Colorado-based businessman, paid about $275 million for 80.1 percent of the Canadiens and their arena in 2001 and sold to a Molson-led group in 2009 for $575 million.

Which former Expos mascot became the Canadiens' first costumed mascot in 2005?

Youppi!, the Expos' orange mascot since 1979, joined the Canadiens in September 2005 after the baseball team moved to Washington; he had been ejected from a 1989 Expos game by an umpire.

The Canadiens became the first NHL team to reach how many wins, on December 29, 2008?

Win 3,000 came in a 5-2 victory over Florida on December 29, 2008, during the club's centennial season, when Montreal also hosted the All-Star Game and the entry draft.

In 2015 Carey Price won the Hart, Vezina, Jennings and which fourth trophy in one season?

Price added the Ted Lindsay Award, the players' own MVP pick, to the Hart, Vezina and Jennings in 2014-15 after a 44-win season; he grew up in remote Anahim Lake, British Columbia.

The Canadiens reached the 2021 Stanley Cup Final after overcoming a 3-1 first-round deficit against which team?

They then swept Winnipeg and beat Vegas before losing the Final to Tampa Bay in five.

The Canadiens' 2021 Stanley Cup Final appearance was their first in how many years?

The 2021 Final was Montreal's first in 28 years, since the 1993 championship; no Canadian club had reached the Final since Vancouver in 2011.

In 2021-22 the Canadiens finished last in the NHL for the first time since which season?

The 2021-22 Canadiens went 22-49-11 for 55 points, worst in the 32-team league and their first last-place finish since 1939-40, when they won only 10 of 48 games.

The Canadiens have retired 15 numbers honouring how many players, the most in the NHL?

Fifteen retired numbers honour 18 players because 5, 12 and 16 each honour two men; every one of the 18 was born in Canada and won at least two Cups with the club.

The Canadiens' home sweater is the only NHL uniform to carry which detail on its collar?

The red home sweater's collar carries the French-language LNH shield, for Ligue nationale de hockey, while the white road sweater wears the standard NHL shield.

A passage from which Roch Carrier story about a boy's Canadiens jersey appeared on the 2002 five-dollar bill?

The Hockey Sweater, Carrier's 1979 story of a boy mistakenly sent a rival team's jersey by mail order, was quoted on the bill and adapted as the 1980 NFB short 'The Sweater', narrated by Carrier.

The Canadiens' provincial rivalry with the Nordiques from 1979 to 1995 was nicknamed what?

The Battle of Quebec pitted Montreal against the Quebec Nordiques from the 1979 NHL merger until the Nordiques moved to Colorado in 1995 and won the Cup as the Avalanche a year later.

Which team have the Canadiens played more than any other, in regular season and playoffs combined?

The Boston Bruins are Montreal's most frequent opponent: the clubs have met in 34 playoff series, seven of them in the Final, more than any other NHL pairing, on top of a century of regular-season games.

Which Canadiens winger, nicknamed 'The Roadrunner', won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1973?

Yvan Cournoyer, the speedy winger called 'The Roadrunner', won the 1973 Conn Smythe with 15 playoff goals; he captained Montreal from 1975 until retiring in 1979.

The Canadiens' 28-game unbeaten streak in 1977-78 ranks where in NHL history?

Montreal's 28-game run in 1977-78 is the second-longest unbeaten streak in NHL history; only Philadelphia's 35 games without a loss in 1979-80 exceeds it.

The Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy, donated by the Canadiens in 1999, is awarded annually to whom?

The Rocket Richard Trophy goes to the regular-season leading goal scorer, first won by Teemu Selanne in 1999; Richard's No. 9 was retired in 1960 and he received a Quebec state funeral in 2000.

Which general manager ran the Canadiens from 1964 to 1978, winning nine Stanley Cups?

Sam Pollock, Canadiens general manager from 1964 to 1978, won nine Stanley Cups; he famously acquired the 1971 first-round pick from California that became Guy Lafleur.

The Canadiens' 2020-21 season was played in an all-Canadian group called the what?

Pandemic border rules kept the seven Canadian clubs playing only each other.

Who founded the Canadiens on December 4, 1909?

J. Ambrose O'Brien, heir to a Renfrew, Ontario mining fortune, founded the Canadiens as a charter club of his new league; the first season was a flop and ownership passed to George Kennedy in 1910.

In which season did the C and H first appear together on the Canadiens' logo?

The CH debuted in 1917-18 alongside the club's new official name; from 1913 the C had enclosed an A for Club Athlétique Canadien.

Which captain carried the torch from the Forum's 1996 farewell into the Canadiens' new arena?

Pierre Turgeon, captain in 1995-96, received the torch from former captains after the Forum's last game on March 11, 1996, and carried it into the new building five days later.

Which defenceman, a Canadien from 2016 to 2021, entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2024?

Shea Weber, acquired from Nashville for P. K. Subban in June 2016, captained Montreal from 2018 to 2021, including the 2021 run to the Final, and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in November 2024.