Montreal Maroons

Montreal Maroons
List of Montreal Maroons seasons
Founded	1924
History	Montreal Maroons 1924–1938
Home arena	Montreal Forum
City	Montreal, Quebec
Colors	White and Maroon
Stanley Cups	1926 and 1935
Conference championships	1926, 1928, 1935

The Montreal Maroons (officially the Montreal Professional Hockey Club) was a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935. They were the last non-Original Six team to win the Stanley Cup until the expansion Philadelphia Flyers won in 1974, and the last NHL franchise to fold after having previously won a Stanley Cup championship. A highly competitive team, some of the greatest players of the era played for the Maroons, including Hall of Fame players Nels Stewart, Lionel Conacher, Clint Benedict, Babe Siebert, George Boucher, Hooley Smith, Punch Broadbent, Reg Noble and Toe Blake.^[1]

History

Formation

The Montreal Forum. Built in 1924, as the home rink of the Montreal Maroons and later became home to the Montreal Canadiens.^[2]

The Montreal Maroons hockey team was created to appeal to the anglophone neighbourhoods of Montreal. In 1918, the arena shared by the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers burnt down. The Canadiens, who drew primarily Montreal’s francophones, moved to the Mount Royal arena, which had natural ice and seating for only 3,250. The Wanderers, who were the team of Montreal’s anglophone community, folded. By 1922, work was begun to build a team to appeal to the anglophones and return to the NHL. In January 1924, construction began on a new arena, on the site of a roller-skating rink called The Forum,^[3] and by the fall, at a cost of $1.5 million, the Montreal Forum was complete.^[4] The Montreal Forum was the first large arena in the NHL.^[2] The Maroons joined the league in 1924 along with the Boston Bruins. The Canadiens objected to a second team in Montreal, but relented when they were compensated by expansion fees.^[5] The expansion fees for both teams were $15,000, with $11,000 of the Maroons' fee going to their cross-town rivals, the Canadiens.^[6][7] It would not be until the 1970s that the NHL would admit another Canadian team into the league.^[5]

Montreal Maroons dark logo

At the time of their founding, the Maroons had no nickname. The Maroons' president James Strachan had been the owner of the Wanderers in the 1900s and he attempted to secure the Wanderers name but negotiations failed.^[8] The nickname of Maroons was eventually picked up by the media after the colour of their jerseys. The club never officially changed the organizational name to incorporate the Maroons name. The Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association had changed their name to the Vancouver Maroons, but the club had folded before Montreal started.

Success at the gate and on the ice

For more details on this topic, see 1926 Stanley Cup Finals.

Centre Nels "Old Poison" Stewart

In the Maroons first season of operation they finished second last in the league. However, the new Forum was selling out and with the addition of players Nelson Stewart, Babe Siebert and Bill Phillips success came quickly. In a single year, the Maroons went from having the worst record in franchise history to their best.^[1] In only their second season of operation, Montreal won their first Stanley Cup. The win was especially sweet for Maroons' goaltender Clint Benedict and forward Punch Broadbent. The pair had been traded from the Ottawa Senators in 1924, Benedict after a dispute with the Senators management. The NHL playoffs that year were a two-game total goals format and Montreal won the opening series over the Pittsbugh Pirates 6-4, then upset the favored Ottawa Senators 2-1. In the NHL playoff final, Montreal defeated Ottawa to advance to the Stanley Cup final against the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League. Montreal won the best-of-five series three games to one.^[9] In the last Stanley Cup final involving two different leagues, Montreal defeated Victoria three games to one. Contributing to the victory was rookie, and future Hall of Fame member Nels Stewart, who scored six of the Maroons' ten goals in the series. Stewart won the Hart Trophy for most valuable player.^[9] Not a smooth skater, Stewart compensate with size, at six foot one and 195 pounds he was a giant compared to other players of that era; toughness, amassing 119 penalty minutes; and shooting, scoring 34 of Montreal's 91 goals during the season.^[10] Stewart's 34 goals remained an NHL record for rookies until the 1970–71 season.^[11] During this era, a team's best players often played the entire game with substitutions only made for injuries.^[12]

For the 1926–1927 season the NHL expanded to ten teams and was divided into an American and Canadian divisions. The Maroons finished 3rd in the Canadian division behind their rivals the Canadiens, with whom they now shared the Forum. The two teams met in the playoffs for a two-game total goals series. The forum was packed with 11,000 fans, in a building whose capacity was listed at 10,000, to watch the Canadiens defeat the defending Stanley Cup champions.^[7] . The Maroons also participated in another moment of hockey history, when on November 26, 1926 they were the competition for the New York Rangers in the Rangers' NHL debut game.^[13]

The Maroons got revenge on the Canadiens in the 1927–28 season by eliminating them in the first round of the playoffs. The Maroons then met the New York Rangers for the Stanley Cup, but lost the series three games to two. Because of the circus at Madison Square Gardens all five games were played at the Forum.^[7]

Hooley Smith, rightwing on the "$ Line"

Babe Siebert, left-winger on the feared "$ Line"

The 1928–1929 season was a rare bad one for the Maroons as they finished last in the Canadian division, but they rebounded for the 1929–1930 season by finishing first.^[7] During these years, the Maroons were led by one of the most feared forward lines in the early NHL years, the "$ Line", consisting of Hooley Smith, Babe Siebert and Nels Stewart, which was also one of the most penalized.^[14]

In the 1929–1930 season, Dunc Munro was signed as player/coach of the team.^[7] It was this season that Clint Benedict of the Maroons became the first goaltender in NHL history to wear a mask when he donned one to protect a broken nose.^[15] Although the Maroons finished first in the Canadian Division, they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Bruins.^[16]

For the 1930-31 season, Stewart again led his team in goals and points, but the Maroons only finished third in the Canadian division and were eliminated easily in the first round of the playoffs by the New York Rangers. ^[17]

The Maroons made it into the playoffs of the 1931-32 season by finishing five points ahead of the New York Americans. Montreal defeated Detroit in the opening round, but lost the semi-final match against the Toronto Maple Leafs.^[18]

The Maroons finished the 1932-33 season in second place in the Canadian division and had even placed three of the top six players in league points.^[19] However, Montreal was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Detroit.^[20]

In the playoffs of the 1933-34 season, the Chicago Black Hawks eliminated both Montreal teams. First defeating the Canadiens then upsetting the Maroons in the semi-finals.^[21]

In 1935, Leo Dandurand, owner of the Montreal Canadiens sells the team to Canadian Arena Company, (Ernest Savard, Louis Gelinas and Maurice Forget) who also owned the Montreal Maroons for $165,000.^[4]

Great Depression

Financial strains from the Great Depression in Montreal hurt the attendances of both the Canadiens and Maroons. However, there were far more francophone supporters for the Canadiens than there were anglophone supporters for the Maroons.^[22] As a result, the Maroons finished with the worst attendance in the league for three seasons in a row. This, along with the fact that both teams were owned by the Canadian Arena Company by 1935 (Ernest Savard and Maurice Forget, who owned the Canadiens, were part of the Canadian Arena Company, as were Maroons owners James Strachan and Donat Raymond) made it obvious that only one team could represent Montreal. The Maroons' dire financial straits caused them to sell off several players, including star winger Hooley Smith.^[22] Despite the Maroons' financial troubles, they continued to play competitive hockey well into the 1930s.^[23]

Tommy Gorman, coached Maroons to their second Stanley Cup. By coaching Chicago to the Cup the previous year, Gorman is only coach in history to win the Stanley Cup back-to-back with different teams.

For the 1934-1935 season, the Maroons hired Tommy Gorman as coach, who had coached the Chicago Black Hawks to the Championship the previous year. The Maroons finished the season in second place behind Ottawa. In the playoffs, the Montreal Maroons defeated Chicago with defensive hockey, defeated the New York Rangers at wide-open (offensive) hockey, and then defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, who Gorman considered as one of the best hockey teams of all time, in three straight games.^[24] The Maroons won their second Stanley Cup and Gorman became the first, and as of 2011 the only, coach in history to win back-to-back Cups with two different teams.^[25] The Maroons team were the last team to win the cup without a loss in the playoffs for 17 years. Gorman called this Maroon team, "the greatest team that ever stepped on the ice."^[24]

The playoffs of the 1935-36 season are famous for the longest NHL playoff game of all time, when on March 24-25, the Maroons lost 1–0 to the Detroit Red Wings in 176:30 of play (16:30 of the sixth overtime period). The game was especially significant for Detroit goaltender Normie Smith who began his career with the Maroons, but they had lost belief in him. He then shut out the Maroons again in the second game, and allowed Detroit to complete a three-game sweep by allowing only one goal. Detroit continued on to win the first Stanley Cup in their history.^[26]

In December 1936, the Maroons captain Hooley Smith was traded to the Boston Bruins, a move which would mark the beginning of the end for the franchise. ^[27] The 1936-37 season saw a milestone moment when Nels Stewart broke Howie Morenz's record for career goals with 271. Stewart would hold the all-time career record for goals until it was broken by Maurice Richard in 1952.^[28]

By the start of the 1937-38 season, rumours were rampant that the Maroon franchise would be moved to another city. In September of 1937, president of the Maroons Donat Raymond said the team would be staying in Montreal.^[29] The team's bleak financial situation finally caught up with them as they finished 12–30–6, the club's worst season since winning only nine games in 1924–25.

The league allowed the Maroons to suspend operations for the 1938–39 season.^[23] The Maroons' owners tried to sell to interests in St. Louis, Missouri. Earlier in the decade, St. Louis proved that it could support NHL hockey when the Ottawa Senators moved there to become the Eagles. However, while the Eagles had drawn very well, they survived only one season, due to the high costs of traveling to Boston, Montreal, and Toronto (the Eagles had assumed the Senators' place in the Canadian Division in defiance of all geographic reality). The league was not about to give St. Louis another chance given the economic situation of the time.^[22]

Len Peto, a director of the Montreal Canadiens, took control of the dormant Maroons and succeeded in getting the franchise transferred to Philadelphia. However, despite being larger than all but two NHL cities (New York and Chicago), Philadelphia did not have an arena that could accommodate an NHL team. The largest arena in the city, the Palestra, did not have an ice plant. The second largest, Philadelphia Arena, was ruled out because its sight lines were deemed inadequate even for temporary use. The league gave Peto until the end of the 1946–47 season to find a suitable arena. Unfortunately, Peto failed to do so, and the Maroons were gone for good in 1947.^[23]

The last active Maroons player was Herb Cain, who remained in the NHL until 1946.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
1924–25	30	9	19	2	20	45	65	264	fifth, NHL	Out of playoffs
1925–26	40	20	11	5	45	91	73	554	second, NHL	Won Semifinals (Pittsburgh) Won Finals (Ottawa) Won Stanley Cup (Victoria)
1926–27	40	20	20	4	44	71	68	716	third, Canadian	Lost Quarterfinals (Montreal)
1927–28	40	24	14	6	54	96	77	549	second, Canadian	Won Quarterfinals (Ottawa) Won Semifinals (Montreal) Lost Finals (NY Rangers)
1928–29	44	15	20	9	39	67	65	638	fifth, Canadian	Out of playoffs
1929–30	44	23	16	5	51	141	114	651	first, Canadian	Lost Semifinals (Boston)
1930–31	44	20	18	6	46	105	106	568	third, Canadian	Lost Quarterfinals (NY Rangers)
1931–32	48	19	22	7	45	142	139	593	third, Canadian	Won Quarterfinals (Detroit) Lost Semifinals (Toronto)
1932–33	48	22	20	6	50	135	119	442	second, Canadian	Lost Quarterfinals (Detroit)
1933–34	48	19	18	11	49	117	122	414	third, Canadian	Won Quarterfinals (NY Rangers) Lost Semifinals (Chicago)
1934–35	48	24	19	5	53	123	92	380	second, Canadian	Won Quarterfinals (Chicago) Won Semifinals (NY Rangers) Won Stanley Cup (Toronto)
1935–36	48	22	16	10	54	114	106	504	first, Canadian	Lost Semifinals (Detroit)
1936–37	48	22	17	9	53	126	110	379	second, Canadian	Lost Quarterfinals (Boston)
1937–38	48	12	30	6	30	101	149	470	fourth, Canadian	Out of playoffs
Totals	622	271	260	91	633	1474	1405	7122

Team Captains

• Punch Broadbent 1924–25
• Dunc Munro 1925–28
• Nels Stewart 1928–32
• Hooley Smith 1932–36
• Lionel Conacher 1936–37
• Stewart Evans 1937–38

Hockey Hall of Famers

Clint Benedict, Hall of Fame goaltender, was first to wear a face mask.

• Clint Benedict
• Toe Blake
• Buck Boucher
• Punch Broadbent
• King Clancy
• Lionel Conacher
• Alex Connell
• Red Dutton
• Reg Noble
• Babe Siebert
• Hooley Smith
• Nels Stewart

Awards

• Russ Blinco — Calder Trophy (Top Rookie) 1934
• Nels Stewart — Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) 1926, 1930

Arenas

• Montreal Forum — built specifically for the Maroons, the Forum, in an ironic twist, would become the most famous arena in hockey largely because of the Canadiens, who shared the arena with the Maroons from 1926 to 1938.

See also

• List of Montreal Maroons players
• List of Montreal Maroons head coaches
• List of Stanley Cup champions
• Montreal Wanderers
• Montreal Canadiens
• List of defunct NHL teams
• List of NHL seasons

References

• Brown, William (1999). The Montreal Maroons : the forgotten Stanley Cup champions. Montreal, Quebec: Vehicule Press. ISBN 1550651285. 

• Holzman, Morey; Nieforth, Joseph (2002). Deceptions and doublecross: how the NHL conquered hockey. Toronto, Ontario: Dundurn Press. ISBN 155002413322. 

1. ^ ^{a b} Jozsa, Frank (2006). Big sports, big business: a century of league expansion, mergers and reorganizations. Praeger Publishers. p. 16. ISBN 0-275-99134-2. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Wright p. 104
3. ^ Gravenor, Kristian; Gravenor, John David (2002). Montreal: The Unknown City. Arsenal Pulp Press. p. 91. ISBN 1-55152-1199. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Quirk, James P.; Fort, Rodney D. (1997). Pay dirt: the business of professional team sports. Princeton University Press. p. 468. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Wong, John (2005). Lords of the rinks: the emergence of the National Hockey League, 1875–1936. University of Toronto Press Incorporated. p. 90. ISBN 0-8020-3725-9. 
6. ^ Coleman, Charles L. (1964). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol I. Kendall/Hunt. 
7. ^ ^{a b c d e} Diamond, Dan; Zweig, Eric (1998). Total Hockey. National Hockey League. p. 207. ISBN 0-8362-7114-9. 
8. ^ Holzman, p. 267
9. ^ ^{a b} Wright, Marshall D. (2010). The National Hockey League, 1917-1967: A Year-by-Year Statistical History. MacFarland & Company. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-4444-7864-1. 
10. ^ Weekes, Don (2005). The big book of hockey trivia. Greystone Books. p. 223. ISBN 13-978-1-55365-119-2. 
11. ^ Dryden, Steve (2000). Century of Hockey. The Hockey News. p. 28. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9. 
12. ^ Duplacey, James; Diamond, Dan, The official rules of hockey, The Lyons Press, p. 32, ISBN 1-58574-52-7 
13. ^ Kreiser, John; Friedman, Lou (1996). The New York Rangers:Broadway's Longest-Running Hit. New York Rangers. p. 3. ISBN 1-57167-041-6. 
14. ^ Leonetti, Mike. Canadiens legends: 95 years of Montreal's hockey heroes. Raincoast Books. p. 36. ISBN 1-55192-731-4. 
15. ^ "The Legends: Clint Benedict". Hockey Hall of Fame. http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=p196502&type=Player&page=bio&list=#photo. Retrieved Feb. 18, 2011. 
16. ^ "1929-30 Montreal Maroons Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/MTM/1930_games.html. Retrieved May 28,1930. 
17. ^ Wright p. 96
18. ^ Wright p.105
19. ^ wright p.115
20. ^ Wright p.114
21. ^ Skog, Jason. The Story of the Chicago Blackhawks. Creative Education. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-58341-615-0. 
22. ^ ^{a b c} McFarlane, Brian (1969). 50 Years of Hockey. Greywood Publishing Ltd. 
23. ^ ^{a b c} Coleman, Charles L. (1969). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol II. Progressive Publications. 
24. ^ ^{a b} McNeil, Marc T. (April 10, 1935). "Maroons Thrill To First Stanley Cup Win In Nine Years". Montreal Gazette CLXIV (86): p. 14. 
25. ^ Holtzman, Morey; Nieforth, Joseph (2002). Deceptions and double-cross: how the NHL conquered hockey. Dunburn Press. p. 340. ISBN 1-55002-413-2. 
26. ^ Goodman, Michael E. (2009). The Story of the Detroit Red Wings. Creative Publications. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-58341-617-4. 
27. ^ "Hooley Smith biography". Hockey Hall of Fame. http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=p197205&type=Player&page=bio&list=#photo. Retrieved April 2, 2011. 
28. ^ Diamond, Dan; Zweig, Eric (2001). Ice Q and As: a century of hockey intelligence. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 10:0740719025. 
29. ^ Canadian Press (September 10, 1937). "Maroons to continue with Franchise in city of Montreal". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix: p. 14. 

External links

• Montreal Maroons jersey images
• Maroons