The lore of the Montreal Canadiens is extensive and rich, as one would suspect from the oldest surviving professional hockey franchise in North America, and also its most decorated.
Although the team’s nascent years during the National Hockey Association days of 1909 to 1917 and the early National Hockey League years had a few standout names (George Vezina, Newsy Lalonde, Didier Pitre, Joe Malone, and Jack Laviolette come to mind), truly the first superstar player was Howie Morenz who joined the team in 1923. To this day, a century later, he is still regarded as one of the best Canadiens of all time and a bronze statue stands in his honour outside of the Bell Centre where he stands shoulder to shoulder with Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau, and Guy Lafleur.
Much is known about Morenz and his incredibly successful duo with fellow hall-of-famer Aurèle Joliat, with first Billy Boucher then Johnny Gagnon completed their trio. More famous is the story of Morenz’s tragic end in 1937 after dying of a blood clot in hospital following surgery to repair a broken leg suffered in a game. But there is scarce re-telling of the manner of his joining the team in the first place. As we are currently celebrating the 100th birthday of the day he first signed, the timing is fortuitous to retell the tale.
Howard “Howie” William Morenz was born in Mitchell, Ontario in 1902 to a family of German-Swiss descent. The family moved to nearby Stratford where Morenz made a name for himself, playing nearly every league in the area from junior to intermediate to senior, challenging for championships along the way.
In 1921, with the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) junior champion Stratford Midgets, Morenz went on a tear towards the Memorial Cup finals, including a 13-5 drubbing of Lower Canada College on March 22, where Morenz scored six times. In the championship final, a two-game set against the Winnipeg Junior Falcons, Morenz scored four goals total but Stratford lost the Memorial Cup by a cumulative score of 11-9.
During the 1921-22 season, Morenz simultaneously won the Northern Hockey League junior and senior championships in March of 1922, playing on both teams at 19 years of age, culminating in five games in five night on alternating schedules.
In his book Behind the Cheering, Frank Selke recalls being advised by his scouts in Kitchener to recommend Morenz to the Toronto St. Pats, and spoke to one of the co-owners Paul Ciceri. When Selke made his case, Ciceri snorted, “Humph, a pretty fair Intermediate player. Not interested,” in one of hockey history’s worst talent assessments.
Morenz worked as an apprentice machinist in Stratford’s Grand Trunk Railway shops, and played on the Stratford Apprentices team in the Canadian National Railway league as well as on the Stratford Intermediate OHA team.
On February 25, 1923, the Stratford Apprentices played against Motive Power at the Mount Royal Arena. In front of 1,200 people, the Apprentices won by a score of 3-2. Morenz scored all three goals for his side. Ernest Sauve, the referee in that particular game, called his friend Cecil Hart after the game, “I just saw this kid go against the Montreal CNR team,” said Sauve, “and he’s terrific. Scored so many goals they had to get him out of there.”
Hart took the scouting report to Canadiens co-owner Leo Dandurand who he knew from brokering the deal for Dandurand, Joe Cattarinich, and Louis Letourneau to purchase the Canadiens, and Dandurand made a note to look further into this recommendation. About a month later, while on a trip to Toronto, Dandurand met with sports writer Lou Marsh, who Dandurand asked to scout the Stratford star. On March 6, the Stratford Indians, now champions of the senior OHA division, played against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, champions of the senior Northern Ontario Hockey Association, to determine which team would advance in a sudden death Allan Cup qualifier — the top prize for amateur senior hockey in Canada and more prestigious than the Stanley Cup at that time. The game just happened to be refereed by Lou Marsh.
Although Morenz scored the first goal for the Indians to tie the game midway through the first period, the Greyhounds ultimately won 7-4, advancing in the tournament, but Marsh’s report on Morenz was so positive that it convinced Dandurand that he had to sign the youngster.
Dandurand sent Riley Hern, the famous retired goaltender from the Montreal Wanderers and a Stratford-native who was now a successful businessman in Montreal, with a cheque for $2,500 and ordered him to sign Morenz, hoping the hometown connection would be enough leverage.
At this point Morenz was starting to really build a name for himself, and various scouts had gone sprinting to their various teams to try and get them to sign him. The St. Pats changed their tune and began to court Morenz and tried to convince him to sign with them to finish off the 1922-23 season, but Morenz refused to leave his amateur teams while they were winning. Other teams such as the Saskatoon Sheiks of the Western Canada Hockey League were interested, despite having just acquired centreman Newsy Lalonde from the Canadiens for an unknown commodity in Aurèle Joliat. The Victoria Cougars of the Pacific Coast Hockey League were also chasing Morenz. Morenz considered the Canadiens offer, but seeing that they had Odie Cleghorn at centre, Morenz rejected the offer, believing that the competition was too hard for his preferred position.
Undeterred, Dandurand then turned to Cecil Hart, and sent him to Stratford next. Hart had the gift of persuasion, which is what made him a successful businessman and negotiator, but he also was savvy and knew which levers to pull. Word was that Morenz had several debts around town, and Dandurand planned to use this as leverage in negotiations. When Dandurand called Morenz to start making plans for Hart’s visit, Morenz reportedly replied, “Okay, I’ll sign with the Canadiens if you’ll pay the debt I owe my tailor.”
On July 7, 1923, Hart traveled to Stratford to present Morenz with a contract offer and also a rolled up wad of cash reported to be $850 with which to convince Morenz. Hart put the money down in front of a wide-eyed Morenz, who accepted $300 in cash from Hart as a cash advance to go towards debtors, and signed a contract with the Montreal Canadiens for $1,500 a year for two years in the presence of his father.
But the story did not end there. In fact, this is the point where it took an unexpected turn. The local organizers were extremely unhappy at losing their star player. They began pressuring Morenz and his father to renege on the deal. It was also rumoured that the St. Pats were trying to influence matters into their favour.
Not long after signing, Morenz wavered and changed his mind about the contract. He sent a letter to Dandurand requesting that the contract be annulled.
Dear Sir,
I am enclosing cheque and contract to play with your club owing to several reasons of which family and work are the most to consider. I find it impossible to leave Stratford. I am sorry if I have caused you expense and inconvenience and trust you will accept the returned contract in a sportsmanlike way.
Yours very truly, Howard Morenz
Dandurand believed that the combined pressure of the heckling Morenz was receiving from the Stratford Hockey Club and the suddenly interested St. Pats were forcing Morenz to back off from his deal. Dandurand rejected the request, stating that a signed contract is a signed contract, and requested that Morenz join him in Montreal to discuss the matter in Dandurand’s office. Morenz was once again requesting his release, stating that he made a big mistake. Dandurand suggested that they go out to lunch, where players from the Canadiens reportedly showed up to speak with Morenz, which began to change Morenz’s mind. Morenz left Montreal with Dandurand satisfied that the problem was resolved.
However, on September 26, Morenz reportedly signed a contract with his Stratford amateur club, contrary to his valid professional contract which he once again tried to back out of, which sent Dandurand immediately packing for a trip to Toronto where he had arranged a meeting with OHA secretary Billy Hewitt, in company of NHL president Frank Calder. Dandurand demanded that the OHA step in to enforce the Canadiens contract in order to protect the interests of both professional and amateur teams. Dadurand presented the signed copy of the contract and a receipt for the cash exchanged.
However Hewitt refused to step in, saying that this was a matter for the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada (AAUofC) and to take it up with them. The AAUofC of course positioned themselves to protect amateurism and claimed that Morenz was signed as a minor, therefore ineligible to sign a professional contract despite the signature being witnessed by the father. With the money returned in full, they judged the matter closed.
Dandurand got increasingly incensed and was threatening litigation on the OHA, saying that if they do not declare Morenz a professional he will take the matter to the courts. Dandurand sent a letter to various journals on October 3:
“Howie Morenz signed a two-year contract with us, and his father also affixed his signature to the contract. The boy was given $300 on account. I had arranged for a very good position here in Montreal for him when he finished his engineering apprenticeship, and the job is still open for him. I am not worrying in the least about him, to tell you very frankly, because I fail to see how he could do a thing like that. Besides, it will give me a good line on how things are conducted in the OHA should he fail to live up to his agreement.
“Morenz knows that I secured his signature after spending a lot of time and money and a hard time to get Hamilton and Toronto clubs to permit me to dicker with him, as he was in their territory. His salary is a large one. I promised Morenz a fair deal, and that he would get every chance possible to make good.
“I am sure Boucher, Joliat, and Bouchard all found out that the older players on my club were always made to help the younger fellow along, and those that wouldn’t do that had to quit the club. They were sent away.
“Most youngsters who have been great in amateur ranks sometimes find the reception from their fellow players on a professional team cold and uninteresting. I fear Morenz has been discouraged if the reports are true. When the time comes I will protect him myself.”
Ultimately on October 9, in a sudden turn of events, the OHA declared that the fight was over. Morenz had received a second payment from Dandurand, a cheque, which this time he did cash, nullifying his amateur status and ending any claims that the Stratford Hockey Club had for Morenz. Morenz had stopped coming to work at C.N.R. for about a week prior, effectively quitting his apprenticeship, and turned in his C.N.R. uniform prior to the city final game a few days earlier. He had made up his mind to turn professional.
On November 21, the Canadiens officially said that Morenz would report to training camp. It was also reported that Billy Boucher, star player of the Canadiens who also did some scouting for the team, was leaving on an expedition to the Stratford area to scout a potential target for the Canadiens, but perhaps it was simply to ensure that there were no further shenanigans prior to training camp.
On December 4, Morenz arrived by train to Grimsby Ontario where the Canadiens were holding their training camp. He immediately began to impress, being called outstanding by several publications, and once the season rolled around, it was Morenz at centre with Cleghorn as a substitute.
As a rookie, Morenz scored 13 goals for 16 points in 24 games. Over the span of his career he won the Art Ross Trophy twice for leading the league in points, and the Hart Trophy on three occasions as Most Valuable Player. In 14 seasons of play, Morenz put up 476 points in 550 games, and he was undergoing a career resurrection in 1936-37 when he returned to the Canadiens for his final fateful season.
