Francis Clarence McGEE, half-nephew of Thomas D’Arcy McGEE [see The Fenians], made significant contributions to the success of the Ottawa Hockey Club, and he and his team won the Stanley Cup three years in a row:
“McGee’s career in senior hockey began in January 1903 when he joined the Ottawa Hockey Club. In his first game he scored two goals to help the Ottawas, as they were called, defeat the Stanley Cup champions, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, 7–1. …
“A few weeks later McGee scored five goals against the Montreal Victorias in a 7–6 Ottawa victory. His accomplishment, then rarely seen at the highest level of hockey, heralded a new era. It was a period which he dominated, averaging better than three goals a game and leading the Ottawas to Stanley Cup championships in 1903, 1904, and 1905. McGee’s 63 goals in 22 cup games is a record for the period before 1918, the year after the National Hockey League was formed. Following the Ottawas’ 1903 championship they became known as the Silver Seven after they were given silver nuggets by team directors to commemorate their first title. …
“McGee’s most famous achievement occurred on 16 Jan. 1905, in a game against the Dawson City Nuggets, who had made a trek from the Yukon for a Stanley Cup series against Ottawa. The Silver Seven had easily won the first game 9–2, but afterwards a player from Dawson said that McGee, who had scored only one goal, had been unimpressive. The remark was reported to McGee, who in the second game set a record for Stanley Cup play that is unlikely to be equalled, scoring 14 goals in a 23–2 Ottawa win.”
Owner and general manager of the Montreal Canadiens, George Washington KENDALL, who adopted the name George Kennedy because his father disapproved of his career choice, was among the founders of the National Hockey League:
“As early as 1908 [Kendall] and [Joseph-Pierre] Gadbois had wanted to organize an exclusively French Canadian senior hockey team. The plan was, however, realized by John Ambrose O’Brien, who in December 1909 founded the Canadiens: the team was immediately accepted into the National Hockey Association of Canada. Nearly a year later Kendall protested on behalf of the [Club Athlétique Canadien], claiming that the name ‘Canadien’ was its property. On 12 Nov. 1910 he purchased the franchise for $7,500. Under his management the reorganized Canadiens showed a profit of $4,000 in their first season, more than was made by any other team in the association. Kendall succeeded in using French Canadian national sentiments to stimulate competition and increase the number of spectators, but the club’s main function, in his view, was to pay dividends to its shareholders. In November 1912 he sought and received permission from the association to hire English-speaking players to improve the team’s performance; some people accused him of ‘polluting’ the club’s distinctive character. A three-time winner of the association championship, the team won its first Stanley Cup in March 1916 [see Georges Vézina]. From 26 Nov. 1917 the team played in the National Hockey League, which replaced the National Hockey Association of Canada and which Kendall had helped organize.”
Howard William MORENZ, who electrified crowds and attracted attention from investors, was one of the first great stars of the National Hockey League and the Montreal Canadiens, for whom he played between 1923 and 1934 and between 1936 and 1937:
“Morenz’s playing style attracted crowds. He threw opponents off balance by changing direction at the last moment. Body-checks did not stop him, and simultaneous collisions with two defencemen did not slow down his rush to the net. He mastered the deke, anticipated the play, and without question was the fastest player on the ice. He aroused so much interest that he contributed to the [National Hockey League’s] expansion. Indeed, his prowess had convinced George Lewis (Tex) Rickard, a partner and friend of [Montreal Canadiens’ coach and co-owner Léo] Dandurand’s, to add an ice rink to the new Madison Square Garden building in New York and to buy the Hamilton Tigers, who became the New York Americans. Rickard insisted that the Canadiens, and especially Morenz, take part in the opening game on 15 Dec. 1925. Because he was one of the dominant players in the league, he was called ‘the Babe Ruth of hockey’ at that time.”
The records held by the illustrious Montreal Canadiens player (1942–60) Maurice (The Rocket) RICHARD when he retired from the game are proof of the magnitude of his great achievements:
“On 15 Sept. 1960 Richard officially announced his retirement. His heart was no longer in it and his body was tired. Nevertheless, the list of his [National Hockey League] records – nearly 20 – is impressive: the most career goals (544) and hat tricks (26); the most goals in one season (50); and the most goals (82), winning goals (18), and overtime goals (6) in playoff games. These exploits show what a dominant player the Rocket had been at critical moments, especially in the two series that then made up the Stanley Cup playoffs, which the Canadiens had won eight times during the years when Richard was on the team.”
The biographies listed below provide more information about the various protagonists in the world of hockey:
