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49 free Montreal Canadiens trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Montreal Canadiens trivia quiz covers the oldest continuously operating hockey club in the world, from J. Ambrose O'Brien's francophone team of 1909 to the 2021 Final. It includes Howie Morenz's Forum funeral, the Punch Line, Maurice Richard's 50 in 50 and the Richard Riot, Toe Blake's eight Cups and the five straight from 1956 to 1960, Jacques Plante's mask, Jean Béliveau, the Scotty Bowman dynasty of the 1970s with Lafleur, Dryden and the 132-point season, Patrick Roy's Conn Smythes and his exit, Carey Price's four-trophy 2015 and the ownership shuffles from Molson to Gillett and back. The identity questions cover what the H in the logo really stands for, La Sainte-Flanelle, the torch and the In Flanders Fields motto, Youppi!'s league switch, the Forum's last game, the Bell Centre and the rivalries with Toronto, Boston and the Nordiques. Easy questions suit any Habs fan; the hard ones are for people who know Béliveau's Cup total as an executive. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup how many times, more than any other franchise?
24
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.
Q 02The Canadiens were founded in 1909 as a charter member of which league?
National Hockey Association
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.
Q 03The Canadiens were founded to be the team of which group in Montreal?
French speakers
The founders wanted francophone players and, as soon as possible, francophone ownership.
Q 04The Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup in which season?
1915-16
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.
Q 05The 'H' in the Canadiens' CH logo stands for what?
Hockey
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.
Q 06The Canadiens' sweater is known in the province by what reverent nickname?
La Sainte-Flanelle
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.
Q 07The Canadiens' dressing-room motto, 'To you from failing hands we throw the torch', is from which poem?
In Flanders Fields
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.
Q 08Which player was the first Canadien to have his number honoured, in 1937, after dying from a broken leg?
Howie Morenz
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.
Q 09Which Canadiens goaltender won the Vezina Trophy six times in seven seasons from 1944 to 1950?
Bill Durnan
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.
Q 10Maurice Richard was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in a season, in how many games in 1944-45?
50
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.
Q 11The 1955 Richard Riot at the Forum erupted after NHL president Clarence Campbell did what to the Rocket?
Suspended him for the season and playoffs
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.
Q 12The Canadiens won a record five consecutive Stanley Cups over which span?
1956-1960
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.
Q 13How many Stanley Cups did Toe Blake win as Canadiens coach between 1955 and 1968?
Q 21Ken Dryden won the 1971 Conn Smythe before he had even won which other honour?
Rookie of the year
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.
Q 22Ken Dryden played at which Ivy League school, winning the 1967 NCAA title in goal?
Cornell
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.
Q 23Patrick Roy became the youngest Conn Smythe winner ever, at 20, in which Cup-winning year?
1986
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.
8
He had already won three as a player and was the first coach to win 500 games with one team.
Q 14Jacques Plante first wore a mask in a regular-season game in 1959 after his nose was broken by whose shot?
Andy Bathgate
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.
Q 15'Le Gros Bill' won a record 17 Stanley Cups in total; how many came as a player?
10
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.
Q 16Which Canadiens captain won the very first Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1965?
Jean Béliveau
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.
Q 17The 1976-77 Canadiens set an 80-game record with how many points, a mark that stood until 2023?
132
The 1976-77 Canadiens posted 132 points on 60 wins in 80 games, a record that survived until the 2022-23 Bruins reached 135.
Q 18Which Canadiens forward won the first four Frank J. Selke Trophies, from 1978 to 1981?
Bob Gainey
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.
Q 19Which coach led the Canadiens to five 1970s Cups and later set the NHL record for coaching wins?
Scotty Bowman
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.
Q 20Guy Lafleur was the first NHL player to do what in six consecutive seasons?
Score 50 goals and 100 points
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.
Q 24Patrick Roy's bitter 1995 exit from Montreal followed a feud with which rookie coach and former roommate?
Mario Tremblay
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.
Q 25Through the 2024-25 season, the Canadiens' 1993 Stanley Cup was the last won by what?
A Canadian team
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.
Q 26The Canadiens played their final game at the Montreal Forum on March 11, 1996, beating which team 4-1?
Dallas Stars
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.
Q 27The Forum was originally built in 1924 for which team?
Montreal Maroons
The Canadiens moved in for 1926-27 and won 22 of their Cups while calling it home.
Q 28The Canadiens' arena that opened in 1996 was originally known by what name?
Molson Centre
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.
Q 29Which American businessman bought control of the Canadiens from Molson in 2001 for $275 million?
George Gillett Jr.
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.
Q 30Which former Expos mascot became the Canadiens' first costumed mascot in 2005?
Youppi!
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.