Georges Vézina

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Flag of Canada (1921–1957) .svg  Georges Vézina Ice hockey player
Hockey Hall of Fame , 1945
Georges Vézina
Date of birth January 21, 1887
place of birth Chicoutimi , Quebec , Canada
date of death March 27, 1926
Place of death Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada
Nickname The Chicoutimi Cucumber
size 168 cm
Weight 84 kg
position goalkeeper
Catch hand Left
Career stations
1909-1910 Chicoutimi saguenéens
1910-1925 Montréal Canadiens

Georges Joseph Gonzague Vézina ([ ʒɔʁʒ vɛzɨnə ]; born January 21, 1887 in Chicoutimi , Québec ; † March 27, 1926 ibid) was a Canadian ice hockey goalkeeper . He played from 1910 to 1925 for the Montréal Canadiens in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the National Hockey League (NHL). With the Canadiens, Vézina won the Stanley Cup in 1916 and 1925. Vézina played 367 consecutive games for Montréal and was the only goalkeeper to appear for the Canadiens for 15 years. On November 28, 1925, he collapsed during an NHL game against the Pittsburgh Pirates . The next day he was diagnosed with tuberculosis , from which he died just four months later. Since 1927, the National Hockey League has been awarding the Vezina Trophy in memory of Vézina , which is awarded annually to the best goalkeeper in the NHL. Georges Vézina was one of the first twelve ice hockey personalities to be inducted into the newly established Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945 .

Career

Origin, youth and beginnings in Québec (1887–1910)

Georges Vézina was born on January 21, 1887, the youngest of eight children in Chicoutimi in the Canadian province of Québec . His father Jacques Vézina was a baker and emigrated to Canada from the French city of La Rochelle before Georges was born . At the age of 14, Georges left the private school Petit Séminaire de Chicoutimi to work for his father in the bakery in Chicoutimi. Vézina started playing street hockey when he was a child but did not begin ice hockey until he was 16 , when he received his first ice skates and joined the local men's team. The team, the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, did not belong to any professional league and only played friendly matches against other teams from Québec.

Vézina in the jersey of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens (photo before 1911).

On February 17, 1910, the Saguenéens surprisingly won a test match against the Montréal Canadiens (nickname: Habs ) from the National Hockey Association (NHA). Vézina's performance in this game prompted the Habs goalkeeper, Joseph Cattarinich , to convince his team of the commitment of Georges Vézina; especially since Cattarinich was toying himself with the end of his career as a player in order to pursue another position with the Canadiens. Vézina initially rejected the offer of Montreal, whereupon the Habs also offered his brother Pierre Vézina, who was active in the position of striker for the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, a trial contract. Both brothers were finally convinced of the Canadiens offer. On December 22, they arrived at the Canadiens training camp in preparation for the 1910-11 NHA season . While Pierre could not recommend himself for a position in the squad of the Habs, Georges was signed as a goalkeeper in Montréals for 800 Canadian dollars per season.

National Hockey Association (1910-1917)

Vézina made her debut on December 31, 1910 against the Ottawa Senators for the Montréal Canadiens in the NHA. He played all 16 games of the 1910/11 season and had a balanced statistics of eight wins and as many defeats. In the following season, as in the previous year, he allowed the fewest goals against in the league. In the 1912/13 season he succeeded on January 18, 1913 in a 6-0 victory for the Habs against Ottawa, his first of a total of 20 shutouts . The Montréal Canadiens finished first in the NHA at the end of the NHA season 1913/14 after 13 wins from 20 games together with the Toronto Blueshirts . Since, according to the regulations, only the best team in the NHA qualified for the final of the Stanley Cup , Montréal and Toronto played two elimination games. The Blueshirts lost the first leg 2-0, but qualified with a 6-0 home win for the Stanley Cup final against the Victoria Aristocrats from the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA).

After the Canadiens had lost 14 of 20 games in the following season and finished last in the National Hockey Association, they qualified as first-placed team for the final of the Stanley Cup in 1915/16 . There they met the Portland Rosebuds from the PCHA. The Montréal Canadiens won the best-of-five final round after five games with 3-2 games and consequently their first Stanley Cup.

In the last NHA season before their dissolution, Vézina allowed the fewest goals against in the league for the fourth time in seven years. The Habs qualified again for the Stanley Cup final, but were defeated there by the Seattle Metropolitans with 1: 3 games.

National Hockey League (1917–1925)

Georges Vézina in the dress of the Montréal Canadiens (photo between 1922 and 1924).

The Canadiens' success in recent years also continued in the National Hockey League (NHL), which was founded in November 1917 . The Habs reached the NHL final in the opening season 1917/18 , where they were subject to the Toronto Arenas . Vézina succeeded during the regular season as the first goalkeeper of the new NHL a shutout. In the following season he was the first goalkeeper in NHL history to make an assist . At the end of the season, the Montréal Canadiens prevailed in the NHL final against Ottawa and met Seattle in the Stanley Cup final. In the fifth game of the Best of Seven series, Montréals Joe Hall developed symptoms of the Spanish flu and was hospitalized during the game, where he succumbed to the illness a few days later. After other players from both teams also fell ill before the sixth game, the remaining games were canceled and the cup was not awarded for the first time since 1893. At this point in time, both teams had won two games in the final round.

After four seasons without significant success, the Habs reached the final of the Stanley Cup again in the 1923/24 season , where they defeated the Calgary Tigers from the Western Canada Hockey League . In the following season , Vézina marked another league record with an average of 1.81 goals conceded per game. As the third best team in the preliminary round, the Habs missed the athletic play-off qualification. Since the Hamilton Tigers , the best team of the regular season, could not take part in the final round due to a player strike, Montréal moved to the play-off field that had become vacant. The Canadiens won the NHL final against the Toronto St. Patricks , but were defeated in the Stanley Cup final to the Victoria Cougars from the PCHA.

Last game and death

Vézina was visibly ill at the beginning of the training camp before the 1925/26 NHL season . The goalkeeper lost 16 kilos within six weeks before his last game on November 28, 1925, and had a temperature of 39 ° C on match day. Nevertheless, he ran against the Pittsburgh Pirates and remained clean in the first period of the game. During the third break he spat blood and collapsed, but was back on the ice at the beginning of the second third. After losing consciousness shortly afterwards, he was removed from the ice and replaced by Alphonse Lacroix .

The following day he was diagnosed with tuberculosis . On the recommendation of the doctors, Georges Vézina said goodbye to his teammates on December 3, 1925 and returned to his hometown Chicoutimi, where he died of the disease on March 27, 1926 at the age of 39.

Achievements and Awards

  • 1911 Fewest goals conceded by the NHA
  • 1912 Fewest goals conceded by the NHA
  • 1914 Fewest goals conceded by the NHA
  • 1916 Stanley Cup win with the Montréal Canadiens
  • 1917 Fewest goals conceded by the NHA
  • 1918 Best conceded goal in the NHL
  • 1924 Best conceded goal in the NHL
  • 1924 Stanley Cup win with the Montréal Canadiens
  • 1925 Best conceded goal in the NHL
  • 1945 Admission to the Hockey Hall of Fame (posthumous)

Career statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team league GP W. L. T MIN GA SO ATM GP W. L. T MIN GA SO ATM
1910-11 Montréal Canadiens NHA 16 8th 8th 0 980 62 0 3.80 - - - - - - - -
1911-12 Montréal Canadiens NHA 16 8th 10 0 1109 66 0 3.57 - - - - - - - -
1912-13 Montréal Canadiens NHA 20th 9 11 0 1217 81 1 3.99 - - - - - - - -
1913-14 Montréal Canadiens NHA 20th 13 7th 0 1222 64 1 3.14 2 1 1 0 120 6th 1 3.00
1914-15 Montréal Canadiens NHA 20th 6th 14th 0 1257 81 0 3.86 - - - - - - - -
1915-16 Montréal Canadiens NHA 24 16 7th 1 1482 76 0 3.08 5 3 2 0 300 13 0 2.60
1916-17 Montréal Canadiens NHA 20th 10 10 0 1217 80 0 3.94 6th 2 4th 0 360 29 0 4.83
1917-18 Montréal Canadiens NHL 21st 12 9 0 1282 84 1 3.93 2 1 1 0 120 10 0 5.00
1918-19 Montréal Canadiens NHL 18th 10 8th 0 1117 78 1 4.19 10 6th 3 1 636 37 1 3.49
1919-20 Montréal Canadiens NHL 24 13 11 0 1456 113 0 4.66 - - - - - - - -
1920-21 Montréal Canadiens NHL 24 13 11 0 1441 99 1 4.12 - - - - - - - -
1921-22 Montréal Canadiens NHL 24 12 11 1 1469 94 0 3.84 - - - - - - - -
1922-23 Montréal Canadiens NHL 24 13 9 2 1488 61 2 2.46 2 1 1 0 120 3 0 1.50
1923-24 Montréal Canadiens NHL 24 13 11 0 1459 48 3 1.97 6th 6th 0 0 360 6th 2 1.00
1924-25 Montréal Canadiens NHL 30th 17th 11 2 1860 56 5 1.81 6th 3 3 0 360 18th 1 3.00
1925-26 Montréal Canadiens NHL 1 0 0 0 20th 0 0 0.00 - - - - - - - -
NHA total 138 70 67 1 8484 510 2 3.61 13 6th 7th 0 780 48 1 3.69
NHL overall 190 103 81 5 11592 633 13 3.28 26th 17th 8th 1 1596 74 4th 2.78

( Legend for the goalkeeper statistics: GP or Sp = total games; W or S = wins; L or N = defeats; T or U or OT = draws or overtime or shootout defeats; min. = Minutes; SOG or SaT = shots on goal; GA or GT = goals conceded; SO = shutouts ; GAA or GTS = goals conceded ; Sv% or SVS% = catch quota ; EN = empty net goal ; 1  play-downs / relegation ; italics : statistics not complete)

legacy

Georges Vézina in typical Canadien playing attire (undated).

Georges Vézina was considered one of the best goalkeepers of his time in the NHA and in the early years of the NHL. He won the Stanley Cup twice with the Montréal Canadiens and reached three other finals with his team. A total of seven times he had the best average against goals across all leagues and another five times the second best value in this category. In fifteen years he played every game of the Canadiens and from his first game in 1910 until his forced resignation in 1925 was the only goalkeeper ever to play for the Habs. In its obituary, the weekly Montreal Standard called Vézina “the best goalkeeper of the last two decades”.

In the days after his death, newspapers across Québec printed multi-page expressions of grief. More than a hundred funeral services were held and more than 1,500 people attended Vézina's funeral in Chicoutimi Cathedral.

After Vézina's death, the owners of the Canadiens Leo Dandurand , Leo Letourneau and Joseph Cattarinich donated the Vezina Trophy to the National Hockey League . This trophy was initially given to the goalkeeper who had the best goals against goal in the regular season. The first trophy winner was Vézina's successor in the Gate of the Habs, George Hainsworth , in 1927 . The Vezina Trophy has been awarded to the best goalkeeper in the NHL since 1981.

Georges Vézina was one of the first twelve ice hockey personalities to be inducted into the newly established Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945 . In a 1998 The Hockey News poll, the Canadian was voted the 75th best player of all time. In his hometown of Chicoutimi, the multifunctional arena Center Georges-Vézina is named after him. Among other things, it acts as the home ground of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens , a junior team with no connection to Vézina's youth team.

Family and personality

Georges Vézina was married to Marie-Adélaïde-Stella Morin, the marriage took place on June 3, 1908 in Chicoutimi. The couple had two sons: Jean-Jules was born in 1912, the second son was born on the evening of the Stanley Cup win of the Montréal Canadiens in 1916 and was christened Marcel Stanley on the basis of this success. Although Vézina only played one game in 1925/26, the Canadiens paid his widow the full salary of $ 6,000.

Vézina was considered a crowd favorite in Montréal and was referred to by his teammates as a "spiritual leader". His nicknames "The Chicoutimi Cucumber" ( le Concombre de Chicoutimi ) and "The Silent Habitant" ( l'Habitant silencieux ) allude to his calm and reserved personality. In the Canadiens' locker room he often sat apart, smoked a pipe and read the newspaper. Aside from ice hockey, he ran a leather tannery in his hometown of Chicoutimi.

Web links

Commons : Georges Vézina  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Morgan Hughes: Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Publications International, 2003, ISBN 0-7853-9624-1 .
  • D'Arcy Jenish: The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory. Doubleday Canada, 2008, ISBN 978-0-385-66324-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dan Diamond (Ed.): Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League. Andrews McMeel Publishing, Kansas City, 1998, p. 1717, ISBN 0-8362-7114-9
  2. ↑ Jack Falla: Open Ice: Reflections and Confessions of a Hockey Lifer. 2008, ISBN 978-0-470-15305-5 , p. 141.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Michel Vigneault: Georges Vézina Biography. Dictionary of Canadian Biography , 2005, accessed November 16, 2013 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Kevin Shea: One On One With Georges Vezina. Hockey Hall of Fame , November 7, 2008, accessed November 16, 2013 .
  5. ↑ a b Jenish: The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory. 2008, pp. 34-35.
  6. ↑ Season 1912-13. Montréal Canadiens , accessed November 16, 2013 .
  7. ↑ Season 1913-14. Montréal Canadiens , accessed November 16, 2013 .
  8. ↑ Season 1918-19. Montréal Canadiens , accessed November 16, 2013 .
  9. ^ Hughes: Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. 2003, p. 60.
  10. ^ Dan Diamond: National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2009. 2008, ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0 , p. 125.
  11. ^ A b Steve Dryden: The Top 100 NHL Players of All Time. 1997, ISBN 0-7710-4176-4 , p. 141.
  12. ↑ a b Jenish: The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory. 2008, p. 68.
  13. ↑ James Duplacey, Joseph Romain: Hockey Superstars. 1994, ISBN 0-88665-899-3 , p. 12.
  14. ^ Dan Diamond: National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2010. 2009, ISBN 978-1-894801-16-4 , p. 211.
  15. ↑ a b Jenish: The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory. 2008, p. 70.
  16. ^ Hughes: Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. 2003, p. 64.
  17. ↑ a b Georges Vezina Biography. Hockey Hall of Fame , accessed November 16, 2013 .
  18. ↑ Jack Falla: Open Ice: Reflections and Confessions of a Hockey Lifer. 2008, ISBN 978-0-470-15305-5 , pp. 131-132.
  19. ↑ Jenish: The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory. 2008, p. 42.
  20. ↑ Jeff Chapman, Glenn Weir, Travis Weir: Ultimate Hockey. 1999, ISBN 0-7737-6057-1 , p. 128.
  21. ↑ Jenish: The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory. 2008, p. 40.
  22. ↑ Jenish: The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory. 2008, p. 67.
personal data
SURNAME Vézina, Georges
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vezina, Georges; Vézina, Georges Joseph Gonzague (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH January 21, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicoutimi , Quebec, Canada
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1926
Place of death Chicoutimi , Quebec, Canada
This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on November 26, 2013 in this version .