Montreal Maroons

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Montreal Maroons
Montreal Maroons logo
founding November 1, 1924
resolution 1938
history Montreal Maroons
1924 - 1938
Stadion Montréal Forum
Location Montreal
Team colors wine red, white
Stanley Cups 1925/26 , 1934/35
Conference title 1925/26 , 1927/28 , 1934/35
Division title no

The Montreal Maroons were a professional ice hockey team from Montreal . They played in the National Hockey League from 1924 to 1938 . In 1926 and 1935 they won the Stanley Cup .

history

Foundation and stadium construction

After the Montreal Wanderers stopped playing in 1918 , the city's English-speaking ice hockey fans joined the Canadiens de Montréal , although this had been the club of the French-speaking society until then. When the Canadiens brought the Stanley Cup to Montreal again after eight years in 1924 , the city celebrated the title together, but behind the scenes the officials, who praised the community in their speeches, were already planning the formation of a new team for the English-speaking population .

Along with the planning of the new team, there was also the plan to build a new ice rink in Montreal. People looked with envy to Ottawa , where they were already playing on artificial ice. The initiator of the project was William Northey , who was formerly president of the former Stanley Cup winner Montreal AAA . He was able to win over the idea from the influential Donat Raymond , who had the connections necessary to fund the project. As early as March 1922, the two spoke to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). The president of the CP Edward Beatty was won over to the project and within a year managed to involve two more financially strong supporters with Herbert Molson from the Molson brewery and his cousin William Molson , the founder of Molson Bank . In spring 1923 the plans of the Montreal architect John Smith Archibald were discussed for the first time . With Léo Dandurand a representative of the Canadiens was involved, which was withheld from the public for tactical reasons. The Canadiens had just signed a six-year deal with the Mount Royal Arena , but they too knew it wasn't a permanent solution. The engagement of Cecil Hart , a close friend of Dandurand, as manager of the new team indicated that the Canadiens were also involved in the sporting planning.

In June 1924 they had raised $ 400,000 for the construction of the Montréal Forum and so the implementation could begin. The sporting direction had been entrusted to James Strachan , who had already held a similar role with the Montreal AAA and the Wanderers. Officially, a franchise has been applied for with the NHL . At that time, the league was also thinking of expanding towards the United States . The demand came from Ottawa that the new teams had to pay an admission fee, and the Canadiens were publicly negative. The new stadium operators found an agreement in which they paid the Canadiens $ 15,000 for the division of the territory rights. An amount that could hardly be refused. At the beginning of October, they received the confirmation together with the Boston Bruins .

The first season

As the first player, the new team signed Dunc Munro , an 18-year-old defender who had become an Olympic champion before the season . Ottawa was offered $ 20,000 for Frank Nighbor , King Clancy and Hooley Smith , but the Senators refused. With the goalkeeper Clint Benedict and the former top scorer of the league, Punch Broadbent , two other players came from Ottawa. From the Toronto St. Patricks you could win the defensive Reg Noble for the new team. These players formed the framework of the team that was officially called the Montreal Professional Hockey Club . The team would have liked to be called Wanderers again, but the naming rights could not be acquired. Due to the color of the jersey, the team soon had the nickname Maroons and over the course of the season it became the official name.

The Maroons started the first season with a lot of optimism, and as expected, large parts of the English-speaking citizens of Montreal no longer sympathized with the Canadiens, but now with the new team. Already in February there had been disagreements between the club leadership and Cecil Hart about the competencies, Hart returned to the Canadiens and Eddie Gerard took over the job behind the gang. Their defensive style of play made life difficult for their opponents, but the low number of goals only brought nine wins in 30 games. The Canadiens were met six times. These games, especially in the forum, were attended by over 11,000 spectators and were the sporting highlight in Montreal at that time. The Maroons only got two draws, but no victory.

First Stanley Cup win

For the 1925/26 season, the team had strengthened primarily in attack. With the 22-year-old Nels Stewart and the 21-year-old Babe Siebert , the club was able to win two strong young attackers for the team. Before the start of the season, Lester Patrick came to Montreal with his Victoria Cougars . The reigning Stanley Cup winner offered the Canadiens, who were defeated in the finals, a revenge. The Maroons also competed against the Cougars. The first half of the game was played according to the rules of the NHL, the second half was played according to the more offensive rules that were common on the west coast. This change caused problems for the Maroons and the team lost 3-1.

In the season things went better. The team was soon able to win against the Canadiens for the first time. The local rival was weakened by the tragic end of his career, his goalkeeper Georges Vézina , and throughout the season they were unable to stand up to the Maroons, where the two young newcomers struck furiously. Nels Stewart was the best scorer in the NHL with 34 goals and eight assists and led his team to second place after the regular season.

The play-offs were then played with a home and an away game. Then the goals of both games were added together to determine the winner. In the first round, the team faced the Pittsburgh Pirates , who were trained by Sprague Cleghorn . After a 3-1 win in Pittsburgh, a 3-3 draw in the second game was enough to advance to the next round. Here you played against the Ottawa Senators for the NHL championship and entry into the final series for the Stanley Cup. In the first game in Montreal, the Senators managed to equalize to 1-1 seconds before the end. In the second game, which was played in Ottawa, only Babe Siebert managed a hit that made the Maroons the NHL champions. They celebrated in Ottawa with around 600 fans who had traveled with them, and after their arrival in Montreal, the team was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd right at the station.

After the Stanley Cup final series had been held on the west coast last year, the Victoria Cougars had to travel to Montreal this time as representatives of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and defending champions. The journey lasted five days at the time. The first game that was played under the rules of the NHL, the Maroons won 3-0. In the second game, the more offensive rules from the west applied. The Cougars quarreled with the referee, who obviously had bigger problems with the rule change than the players. The Maroons also won this game 3-0. In the third game, Victoria not only managed the first goal. With a 3-2 win they brought themselves back into the series. In contrast to the previous games, in the fourth game the Maroons use the opportunities offered by the more offensive rules and thus surprised the Cougars. With two goals from Nels Stewart they won the fourth game and the Stanley Cup.

On the night of March 24th to March 25th 1936, the Maroons played the longest playoff game of all time against the Detroit Red Wings . It wasn't decided until the sixth third of extra time and lasted 176 minutes and 30 seconds.

Achievements and honors

Sporting successes

In 1926 and 1935 , the Montreal Maroons won the Stanley Cup , the hockey world's most coveted trophy. In 1928 they were unsuccessful in the final.

Franchise records

Selected player records of the franchise over the entire career as well as over individual seasons are listed below.

Career

Surname number
Most games Jimmy Ward 491
Most goals Nels Stewart 185
Most templates Hooley Smith 151
Most of the points Hooley Smith 281 (130 goals + 151 assists)
Most penalty minutes Nels Stewart 647
Most shutouts Clint Benedict 39

season

Surname number season
Most goals Nels Stewart 39 1929/30
Most templates Hooley Smith 33 1931/32
Most of the points Nels Stewart 55 (39 goals + 16 assists) 1929/30
Most shutouts Clint Benedict 13 1926/27
Most penalty minutes Red Dutton 139 1928/29

Individual awards

Calder Trophy : When Frank Calder honored the best rookie for the second time with the trophy he donated, Russ Blinco, a player from the Maroons, was the winner.

Hart Memorial Trophy : Old Poison Nels Stewart was named NHL Most Valuable Player twice during his time with the Maroons.

NHL top scorer : In his first year in the NHL, he was the top scorer in the league and helped win the Stanley Cup. From 1999 the Maurice Richard Trophy was awarded for this.

NHL top scorer : Most goals were also the cornerstone of the title of best scorer. From 1948 the Art Ross Trophy was awarded for this.

Members of the Hockey Hall of Fame

literature

  • William Brown: The Montreal Maroons - The Forgotten Stanley Cup Champions Vehicule Press, 1999. ISBN 1-55065-128-5 (English)

Web links

Commons : Montreal Maroons  - Collection of images, videos and audio files