50 Fun Facts About Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup how many times, more than any other franchise?

Twenty-three came in the NHL era, and 22 since 1927, when NHL teams became the only clubs competing for the Cup.

The Canadiens were founded in 1909 as a charter member of which league?

That makes them the only existing NHL club to predate the league itself, which they helped form in 1917.

The Canadiens were founded to be the team of which group in Montreal?

The founders wanted francophone players and, as soon as possible, francophone ownership.

The Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup in which season?

Their first NHL-era Cup came in 1923-24, led by the Stratford Streak.

The 'H' in the Canadiens' CH logo stands for what?

It comes from the club's 1917-18 official name; the 'Habitants' story traces to Madison Square Garden owner Tex Rickard in 1924.

The Canadiens' sweater is known in the province by what reverent nickname?

'The holy flannel' has kept essentially the same design since 1914.

The Canadiens' dressing-room motto, 'To you from failing hands we throw the torch', is from which poem?

John McCrae wrote it in 1915, the year before the club's first Cup; the line is also stitched inside the collars of the jerseys.

Which player was the first Canadien to have his number honoured, in 1937, after dying from a broken leg?

50,000 people filed past his casket at centre ice of the Forum; the 'Stratford Streak' wore No. 7.

The Canadiens' 1940s 'Punch Line' featured Maurice Richard, Elmer Lach and whom?

He later coached the club to eight Stanley Cups between 1955 and 1968.

Maurice Richard was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in a season, in how many games in 1944-45?

He was also the first to 500 career goals and retired in 1960 as the all-time leader with 544.

The 1955 Richard Riot at the Forum erupted after NHL president Clarence Campbell did what to the Rocket?

The Rocket had struck a linesman four days earlier; Campbell then dared to attend the next game at the Forum.

The Canadiens won a record five consecutive Stanley Cups over which span?

Béliveau, Doug Harvey, Boom Boom Geoffrion and Jacques Plante starred; the 1970s team managed four straight.

How many Stanley Cups did Toe Blake win as Canadiens coach between 1955 and 1968?

He had already won three as a player and was the first coach to win 500 games with one team.

Jacques Plante first wore a mask in a regular-season game in 1959 after his nose was broken by whose shot?

Coach Toe Blake had banned the mask in games since 1956, fearing it hurt Plante's vision.

'Le Gros Bill' won a record 17 Stanley Cups in total; how many came as a player?

The other seven came as an executive; 'Le Gros Bill' also declined an offer to become Governor General.

Which Canadiens captain won the very first Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1965?

He also won two Harts and the 1956 Art Ross.

The 1976-77 Canadiens set an 80-game record with how many points, a mark that stood until 2023?

They lost only eight games all season and went 34 games unbeaten at home; the 2022-23 Bruins finally passed the total.

How many games did the 1976-77 Canadiens lose in 80 games, still an NHL record?

Their +216 goal differential is also still the best ever.

Which coach led the Canadiens to five 1970s Cups and later set the NHL record for coaching wins?

He finished with nine Cups as a coach and 1,244 regular-season wins.

Guy Lafleur was the first NHL player to do what in six consecutive seasons?

'The Flower' from Thurso, Quebec, won five Cups and was known to French fans as le Démon Blond.

Ken Dryden won the 1971 Conn Smythe before he had even won which other honour?

He played only six games that regular season; he later won six Cups, five Vezinas, and served as a Liberal cabinet minister.

Ken Dryden played at which Ivy League school, winning the 1967 NCAA title in goal?

He won 76 of 81 varsity starts and later earned a law degree.

Patrick Roy became the youngest Conn Smythe winner ever, at 20, in which Cup-winning year?

He is the only player to win it three times, in three decades, for two teams.

Patrick Roy's bitter 1995 exit from Montreal followed a feud with which rookie coach and former roommate?

Left in for nine goals against Detroit, Roy told the club president he had played his last game for the team.

Through the 2024-25 season, the Canadiens' 1993 Stanley Cup was the last won by what?

It also kept alive a streak of at least one Cup in every decade from the 1910s to the 1990s, which ended in the 2000s.

The Canadiens played their final game at the Montreal Forum on March 11, 1996, beating which team 4-1?

Every living captain passed a torch until it reached Pierre Turgeon, who carried it into the new building.

The Forum was originally built in 1924 for which team?

The Canadiens moved in for 1926-27 and won 22 of their Cups while calling it home.

The Canadiens' arena that opened in 1996 was originally known by what name?

Renamed the Bell Centre in 2002, it is the largest indoor arena in Canada and seats 20,962 for the Habs.

Which American businessman bought control of the Canadiens from Molson in 2001 for $275 million?

He sold the club back to a Molson-led consortium in 2009 for $575 million.

Which mascot, inherited from the Expos, became the Canadiens' first costumed one in 2004-05?

He was the first mascot to switch leagues, and the first ever ejected from a game, back in his baseball days.

The Canadiens became the first NHL team to reach how many wins, on December 29, 2008?

The milestone came during the club's centennial season, when it also hosted the All-Star Game and the draft.

In 2015 Carey Price won the Hart, Vezina, Jennings and which fourth trophy in one season?

He retired as the franchise leader in wins with 361, and grew up in remote Anahim Lake, British Columbia.

The Canadiens reached the 2021 Stanley Cup Final after overcoming a 3-1 first-round deficit against which team?

They then swept Winnipeg and beat Vegas before losing the Final to Tampa Bay in five.

The Canadiens' 2021 Stanley Cup Final appearance was their first in how many years?

No club from north of the border had reached the Final since Vancouver in 2011.

In 2021-22 the Canadiens finished last in the NHL for the first time since which season?

They set club records for regulation losses, goals against and fewest wins, prompting the first modern rebuild.

The Canadiens have retired 15 numbers honouring how many players, the most in the NHL?

Every honouree was born in Canada and won at least two Cups with the club.

The Canadiens' home sweater is the only NHL uniform to carry which detail on its collar?

The white road sweater uses the English NHL shield.

A passage from which Roch Carrier story about a boy's Canadiens jersey appeared on the 2002 five-dollar bill?

It was adapted as the animated short 'The Sweater', narrated by Carrier himself.

The Canadiens' provincial rivalry with the Nordiques from 1979 to 1995 was nicknamed what?

The Nordiques left for Colorado in 1995 and won the Cup as the Avalanche a year later.

Which team have the Canadiens played more than any other, in regular season and playoffs combined?

The two have met in 34 playoff series, seven of them in the Final.

From 1938 to 1970, the Canadiens and which club were the only two Canadian teams in the NHL?

The two have met 16 times in the playoffs, including five Stanley Cup Finals.

Which cross-town rival folded after the 1937-38 season, sending several players to the Canadiens?

During the Depression the Canadiens' owners had even considered selling to interests in Cleveland.

The Canadiens' 28-game unbeaten streak in 1977-78 ranks where in NHL history?

Only Philadelphia's 35-game run in 1979-80 is longer.

The Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy, donated by the Canadiens in 1999, is awarded annually to whom?

Richard's No. 9 was retired in 1960; he received a state funeral in 2000, the first non-politician so honoured by Quebec.

Which owner, from the family that has long held the club, authorised the Canadiens' 2022 rebuild?

The Molson-led group had bought the team back from Gillett in 2009.

The Canadiens' 2020-21 season was played in an all-Canadian group called the what?

Pandemic border rules kept the seven Canadian clubs playing only each other.

Who founded the Canadiens on December 4, 1909?

The first season was a flop, with the club finishing last, before ownership passed to George Kennedy and results improved.

In which season did the C and H first appear together on the Canadiens' logo?

That was when the club renamed itself Club de Hockey Canadien; from 1913 to 1916 the C had held an A for 'Athlétique'.

Which captain was the first to wear the C at the Molson Centre after receiving the torch from past captains in 1996?

Every living former captain passed the torch down the line after the final game at the Forum, home to 22 Stanley Cups over 70 seasons.

Which defenceman, a Canadien from 2016 to 2021, entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2024?

Howie Morenz and Georges Vezina were the first Canadiens honoured, in 1945; 37 inductees come from the club's three great dynasties.