Montreal Canadiens Trivia
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48 free Montreal Canadiens trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
This Montreal Canadiens trivia quiz covers the oldest continuously operating hockey club in the world, from J. Ambrose O'Brien's francophone team of 1909 to the 2021 Final. It includes Howie Morenz's Forum funeral, the Punch Line, Maurice Richard's 50 in 50 and the Richard Riot, Toe Blake's eight Cups and the five straight from 1956 to 1960, Jacques Plante's mask, Jean Béliveau, the Scotty Bowman dynasty of the 1970s with Lafleur, Dryden and the 132-point season, Patrick Roy's Conn Smythes and his exit, Carey Price's four-trophy 2015 and the ownership shuffles from Molson to Gillett and back. The identity questions cover what the H in the logo really stands for, La Sainte-Flanelle, the torch and the In Flanders Fields motto, Youppi!'s league switch, the Forum's last game, the Bell Centre and the rivalries with Toronto, Boston and the Nordiques. Easy questions suit any Habs fan; the hard ones are for people who know Béliveau's Cup total as an executive. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Canadiens won their 24th Stanley Cup in 1993 by beating which team?
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings led the series and Game 2 until Montreal had Marty McSorley's stick measured; the illegal curve set up the tying goal, and Montreal won four straight.
Q 02The Canadiens were founded in 1909 as a charter member of which league?
National Hockey Association
The National Hockey Association's owners, fed up with Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone, suspended it in 1917 and formed the NHL without him.
Q 03The Canadiens were founded to be the team of which group in Montreal?
French speakers
French speakers were the target: the founders built a francophone club to rival the English Montreal Wanderers and draw francophone crowds.
Q 04The Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup in 1916 by beating which city's Rosebuds?
Portland
Portland's Rosebuds were the first US-based team to play for the Cup, and a year later Seattle beat Montreal to become the first American team to win it.
Q 05The Canadiens' nickname 'Habs' is short for which French word?
Habitants
Habitants, the settlers who farmed New France, gave the team its nickname, but the H in the CH crest stands for hockey, from the full name Club de hockey Canadien.
Q 06The Canadiens' sweater is known by what reverent French nickname?
La Sainte-Flanelle
La Sainte-Flanelle, 'the holy flannel', is so tied to the Canadiens that French-language media now use it as a name for the team itself.
Q 07The Canadiens' dressing-room motto, 'To you from failing hands we throw the torch', is from which poem?
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields gave the Canadiens their motto; John McCrae wrote the poem in 1915 after burying his friend Alexis Helmer, killed at Ypres.
Q 08Which Canadien died weeks after breaking his leg in a 1937 game and became the first to have his number retired?
Howie Morenz
Howie Morenz, the 'Stratford Streak', lay at centre ice of the Forum for his funeral, as some 50,000 mourners filed past his casket.
Q 09Which Canadiens goaltender won the Vezina Trophy six times in seven seasons from 1944 to 1950?
Bill Durnan
Bill Durnan, who could catch and block with either hand, quit abruptly during the 1950 playoffs, worn down by the stress of the job.
Q 10Maurice Richard's 50 goals in 50 games from 1944-45 went unmatched until which player did it in 1980-81?
Mike Bossy
Mike Bossy matched the feat 36 years later, scoring twice in the final five minutes of his 50th game to reach 50 goals.
Q 11The 1955 Richard Riot erupted after the NHL did what to the Rocket?
Suspended him for the season and playoffs
Suspended him for the season and playoffs, for hitting a linesman: Richard then lost the scoring title by one point to teammate Bernie Geoffrion.
Q 12Which defenceman won four Norris Trophies during Montreal's five straight Cups, 1956-60?
Doug Harvey
Doug Harvey clashed with management and was traded to the Rangers in 1961, then won the Norris again in New York as player-coach.
Q 13Jacques Plante first wore a mask in a regular-season game in 1959 after his nose was broken by whose shot?
Andy Bathgate
Q 21Ken Dryden played at which Ivy League school, winning the 1967 NCAA title in goal?
Cornell
Cornell's former star later sat out the 1973-74 season in a pay dispute to article at a law firm, and Montreal, without him, fell in the first round.
Q 22Ex-Canadien Patrick Roy won his third Conn Smythe in 2001 with which team?
Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche traded for Roy in December 1995, days after his Montreal blowup, and he led them to the Stanley Cup that same season.
Q 23Patrick Roy's bitter 1995 exit from Montreal followed a feud with which newly hired coach and former teammate?
Mario Tremblay
Andy Bathgate's shot broke Plante's nose, and with no backup goalie his coach had to let him return wearing the practice mask he had banned in games.
Q 14Which disease killed Canadiens goalie Georges Vézina months after he left a 1925 game ill?
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis ended the life of the 'Chicoutimi Cucumber' in 1926, and the Canadiens' owners then donated the Vezina Trophy to the NHL in his memory.
Q 15Which Canadiens captain won the very first Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1965?
Jean Béliveau
Jean Béliveau scored 14 seconds into Game 7 against Chicago, and Montreal went on to win 4-0 and take the Cup.
Q 16Which Canadiens defenceman was +120 in 1976-77, when the team set a record with 132 points?
Larry Robinson
Larry Robinson later took over the New Jersey Devils with eight games left in the 1999-2000 season and coached them to the Stanley Cup.
Q 17Which Canadiens forward won the first four Frank J. Selke Trophies, from 1978 to 1981?
Bob Gainey
Bob Gainey's first NHL team as coach, the 1990-91 Minnesota North Stars, had a losing record yet reached the Stanley Cup Final.
Q 18Which coach led the Canadiens to five Stanley Cups in the 1970s?
Scotty Bowman
Scotty Bowman quit Montreal in 1979 after the club passed him over for general manager, and he left to run the Buffalo Sabres as coach and GM.
Q 19Guy Lafleur was the first NHL player to do what in six consecutive seasons?
Score 50 goals and 100 points
Guy Lafleur was the first to score 50 goals and 100 points six years running, retired in 1984, then returned after his 1988 Hall of Fame induction.
Q 20After winning the 1971 Conn Smythe, which award did Ken Dryden win the following season?
Rookie of the year
Rookie of the year was still open to Dryden in 1972 because he had played only six regular-season games before his 1971 playoff run.
Mario Tremblay left Roy in net for nine goals in an 11-1 loss to Detroit on December 2, 1995, and Roy told team president Ronald Corey it was his last game in Montreal.
Q 24Through the 2025-26 season, the Canadiens' 1993 Stanley Cup was the last won by what?
A Canadian team
No Canadian team has won since, though Edmonton trailed Florida 3-0 in the 2024 Final and forced a Game 7 before losing it.
Q 25Which former Tampa Bay Lightning star took over as the Canadiens' head coach in February 2022?
Martin St. Louis
Martin St. Louis went undrafted and was bought out by Calgary, then won the 2004 Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay on his way to the Hall of Fame.
Q 26The Forum, the Canadiens' home from 1926, was built in 1924 for which club?
Montreal Maroons
The Montreal Maroons played their last season in 1937-38, and the Canadiens have been Montreal's only NHL team ever since.
Q 27The Canadiens' arena that opened in 1996 was originally known by what name?
Molson Centre
Molson Centre became the Bell Centre in 2002 after Molson, having sold control of the team, gave up the naming rights and Bell Canada paid US$100 million for them.
Q 28Which American businessman bought 80.1 percent of the Canadiens and all of their arena in 2001?
George Gillett Jr.
George Gillett Jr. got the club because no Canadian buyer came forward, at a time when a low Canadian dollar had the country's NHL teams struggling financially.
Q 29Which former Expos mascot became the Canadiens' first costumed mascot in 2005?
Youppi
Youppi was the first mascot ejected from an MLB game, tossed in 1989 for banging on the Dodgers' dugout roof in the 11th inning.
Q 30Who captained the Canadiens in 2008-09, when they became the first team with 3,000 regular-season wins?
Saku Koivu
Saku Koivu missed most of 2001-02 with cancer; when he returned that April, Montreal fans stood and cheered for eight minutes before the opening faceoff.