The Montreal Canadiens know all about pre-game ceremonies. They know how to honour their history, they know how to do it with pomp, and they do it a lot.
The majority of these ceremonies are there to honour players as a thank you for their service to the team. For example, Johnny Gagnon was warmly received at centre-ice of the Montreal Forum in 1940 after he was traded to the New York Americans in order to be presented with a glass bowl from Birks in recognition for his time on the Canadiens. More recently, Saku Koivu was honoured at the Bell Centre for his record-tying tenure as captain.
The ultimate honour the Canadiens bestow on a player is the jersey retirement, when they remove the player’s jersey number out of circulation.
The first such instance was the number 7 worn by Howie Morenz, who passed away tragically in March, 1937 following a coronary embolism while recovering in hospital from surgery to repair multiple breaks in his leg suffered during a game. The Canadiens were already set to stop using the jersey following his trade to the Chicago Blackhawks in 1934, as no other player had used it since, but when Morenz returned to the Canadiens to complete his career, the number was returned to him. His jersey ultimately was ‘reserved’ in November 1937 to honour his career and his tragic passing, and it was decided that only his son, should he join the Canadiens eventually, could wear the number. Ultimately a heart condition prevented Howie Morenz Jr. from finding success in professional hockey.
Then followed Maurice Richard, who retired ahead of the 1960-61 season when he determined he could no longer keep up with the younger players on the team after a few pre-season games. The Canadiens announced that they were ‘reserving’ Richard’s number 9 for one of his sons as well, but none of them were able to meet the impossible expectations that came with the family name. Ultimately number 7 and 9 would be classified as retired.
On October 9th, 1971, the Canadiens had their home opener for the 1971-72 season. As was the annual tradition, radio broadcaster René Lecavalier stood at centre ice as the master of ceremonies and introduced the players one by one. Afterward, with the Canadiens lined up on their blue line, Lecavalier proceeded to introduce Aurèle Joliat, and then the freshly retired Jean Béliveau. Lecavalier then announced to the Montreal Forum crowd that the number 4 was being permanently retired in honour of these two legendary Canadiens players. Not ‘reserved’ as was the case of Morenz and Richard, but full-on permanent removal from circulation.
Both men were presented with a replica jersey with the number 4 to close off the ceremony. Legendary head coach Toe Blake presented it to Béliveau, and Gérard Dandurant, the son of former Canadiens owner Léo Dandurand, to Joliat. The decision was made by general manager Sam Pollock to retire the number as soon as Guy Lafleur refused to inherit it upon joining the team, opting for number 10 instead. No regular player wore the number 4 jersey after Joliat until Béliveau joined the Canadiens for good for the 1953-54 season — a gap of 15 years – with the number closely guarded. Joliat wore the number for 16 seasons and Béliveau for 18. Between the two players the legacy of the number 4 is unquestionably one of the grandest on the team.
Certainly, to equate Béliveau and Joliat would be folly. Béliveau, a grand gentleman with 18 years tenure with the Canadiens, the majority as captain, was one of the greatest players of all time. Joliat, a diminutive speedster, was a league superstar for the Canadiens during the 1920s and 1930s. Both different, both stars of their era worthy of recognition, and doing so shouldn’t diminish the accomplishment of the other.
Béliveau’s career is a bit more well known, but Joliat’s is perhaps a mid more obscure given that it started a century ago. In 1922, Joliat was acquired in the team’s first major trade as Dandurand traded the Canadiens’ first superstar Newsy Lalonde, an 11-year veteran of the team and captain, to the Saskatchewan Crescents of the Western Canadian Hockey League for an unknown 5’7″ 135 pound youngster by the name of Aurèle Joliat. Montreal newspapers were shocked at the return, and the other teams were infuriated, protesting the trade, saying that if Lalonde was available that one of them should have acquired him. Dandurand purposely traded Lalonde out of the NHL in order to avoid the Canadiens having to play against him. The trade was eventually approved by the league and Joliat signed a contract to join the team for the 1922-23 season and took Lalonde’s number 4 sweater.
In that first season, Joliat scored 23 points in 24 games on a line with Billy Boucher and Odie Cleghorn. The following season, a newcomer from Stratford by the name of Howie Morenz joined the team and one of the most legendary duos was formed. Initially paired with Boucher on the top line, eventually Johnny Gagnon was added to the mix and the famed Flying Frenchmen line was formed, ruling the NHL. Joliat lead the Canadiens in scoring four times: 1924-25, 1925-26 (tied with Morenz), 1932-33, and 1933-34, a season in which he won the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP, and won the Stanley Cup three times: 1924, 1930, and 1931.
He was eventually forced into retirement in 1938 and was offered a coaching job with their senior affiliate Verdun Maple Leafs. By 1942 Joliat became a referee in the NHL, notably serving as linesman at the Montreal Forum for Richard’s first professional game with the Canadiens.
The Montreal Forum did not have jersey retirement banners, only Stanley Cup banners, but it was common knowledge in the newspapers over the next decade that on that night in 1971, the jersey was retired for both players. But by the late 80s only Béliveau’s name was in conversations and there was a brief piece in La Presse in 1987 finding it odd that Joliat’s name was no longer listed in the NHL media guide alongside other retired numbers despite a clear memory of it happening.
There is no confusion with what happened on that day in 1971 — the number 4 was retired in honour of both players. However, when jersey retirement banners were introduced at the Molson Centre, only Béliveau represented the number 4. The confusion centers around what happened with the recognition for Joliat. Was it forgotten over time or did the team revoke the honour for Joliat in order to solely recognize Béliveau?
