Montreal Maroons
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| Montreal Maroons | |
 |
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| Founded | 1924 |
| History | Montreal Maroons 1924–1938 (franchise canceled 1947) |
|---|---|
| Home Arena | Montreal Forum |
| City | Montreal, Quebec |
| Colors | White and Maroon |
| Stanley Cups | 1926 and 1935 |
| Conference Championships | 1926, 1928, 1935 |
The Montreal Maroons were a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935. They were the last non-Original Six team to win the Stanley Cup until the Philadelphia Flyers in 1974 and the last NHL franchise to fold that had previously won a Stanley Cup championship.
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[edit] History
The Maroons joined the league in 1924 along with the Boston Bruins, the first American team. The expansion fees for both teams were $15,000, with $11,000 of the Maroons fee going to their cross town rivals, the Canadiens. At that time, the Maroons were one of two Montreal teams in the league. While the Montreal Canadiens drew primarily francophone fans, the Maroons largely drew fans from the anglophone neighbourhoods of Montreal. The team was designed to appeal to the anglophone fans of the defunct Montreal Wanderers who folded just six games into the NHL's inaugural season.[1]
The Maroons participated in the longest NHL playoff game of all time, losing 1–0 to the Detroit Red Wings in 176:30 of play (16:30 of the sixth overtime period) on March 24–25, 1936.
Financial strains from the Great Depression led the NHL to realize that Montreal, despite its size, could not support two NHL teams. While both the Canadiens and Maroons had trouble drawing fans, there were far more francophone supporters for the Canadiens than there were anglophone supporters for the Maroons.[2] As a result, the Maroons finished with the worst attendance in the league for three seasons in a row. This, along with the fact that both teams were owned by the Canadian Arena Company by 1935 (Ernest Savard and Maurice Forget, who owned the Canadiens, were part of the Canadian Arena Company and so were the owners of the Maroons, James Strachan and Donat Raymond.) made it obvious only one team could represent Montreal. The financial strains of the Maroons caused them to sell off star winger Hooley Smith and others. [2]
Despite the Maroons' financial troubles, they continued to play competitive hockey well into the 1930s. [3] In fact, the Maroons team that won the Stanley Cup in 1935 were the last team to do so without a loss in the playoffs for 17 years. However, the team's bleak financial situation finally caught up with them in 1937–38, as they finished 12–30–6, the club's worst season since winning only nine games in 1924–25. The league allowed the Maroons to suspend operations for the 1938-39 season. [3] The Maroons' owners tried to sell to interests in St. Louis, Missouri. Earlier in the decade, St. Louis proved that it could support NHL hockey when the Ottawa Senators moved there to become the Eagles. However, while the Eagles had drawn very well, they only survived one season due to the high costs of traveling to Boston, Montreal and Toronto. The league was not about to give St. Louis another chance given the economic situation of the time. [2]
Len Peto, a director with the Montreal Canadiens, took control of the dormant Maroons and succeeded in getting the franchise transferred to Philadelphia. However, despite being larger than all but two NHL cities (New York and Chicago), Philadelphia didn't have an arena that could accommodate an NHL team. The largest arena in the city, the Palestra, didn't have an ice plant and would have seated only 9,000 people in any case. The second largest, Philadelphia Arena, seated only 6,000 people for hockey. The league gave Peto until the end of the 1946–47 season to rectify this. Unfortunately, Peto couldn't find a suitable venue, and the Maroons were gone for good in 1947.[3]
The last active Maroons player was Herb Cain, who remained in the NHL until 1946.
[edit] Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
| Season | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM | Finish | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1924–25 | 40 | 9 | 19 | 2 | 20 | 45 | 65 | 264 | 5th, NHL | Out of playoffs |
| 1925–26 | 40 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 45 | 91 | 73 | 554 | 2nd, NHL | Won Semifinals (Pittsburgh) Won Finals (Ottawa) Won Stanley Cup (Victoria) |
| 1926–27 | 40 | 20 | 20 | 4 | 44 | 71 | 68 | 716 | 3rd, Canadian | Lost Quarterfinals (Montreal) |
| 1927–28 | 40 | 24 | 14 | 6 | 54 | 96 | 77 | 549 | 2nd, Canadian | Won Quarterfinals (Ottawa) Won Semifinals (Montreal) Lost Finals (NY Rangers) |
| 1928–29 | 44 | 15 | 20 | 9 | 39 | 67 | 65 | 638 | 5th, Canadian | Out of playoffs |
| 1929–30 | 44 | 23 | 16 | 5 | 51 | 141 | 114 | 651 | 1st, Canadian | Lost Semifinals (Boston) |
| 1930–31 | 44 | 20 | 18 | 6 | 46 | 105 | 106 | 568 | 3rd, Canadian | Lost Quarterfinals (NY Rangers) |
| 1931–32 | 48 | 19 | 22 | 7 | 45 | 142 | 139 | 593 | 3rd, Canadian | Won Quarterfinals (Detroit) Lost Semifinals (Toronto) |
| 1932–33 | 48 | 22 | 20 | 6 | 50 | 135 | 119 | 442 | 2nd, Canadian | Lost Quarterfinals (Detroit) |
| 1933–34 | 48 | 19 | 18 | 11 | 49 | 117 | 122 | 414 | 3rd, Canadian | Won Quarterfinals (NY Rangers) Lost Semifinals (Chicago) |
| 1934–35 | 48 | 24 | 19 | 5 | 53 | 123 | 92 | 380 | 2nd, Canadian | Won Quarterfinals (Chicago) Won Semifinals (NY Rangers) Won Stanley Cup (Toronto) |
| 1935–36 | 48 | 22 | 16 | 10 | 54 | 114 | 106 | 504 | 1st, Canadian | Lost Semifinals (Detroit) |
| 1936–37 | 48 | 22 | 17 | 9 | 53 | 126 | 110 | 379 | 2nd, Canadian | Lost Quarterfinals (Boston) |
| 1937–38 | 48 | 12 | 30 | 6 | 30 | 101 | 149 | 470 | 4th, Canadian | Out of playoffs |
| Totals | 622 | 271 | 260 | 91 | 633 | 1474 | 1405 | 7122 |
[edit] Team Captains
- Punch Broadbent 1924–25
- Dunc Munro 1925–28
- Nels Stewart 1928–32
- Hooley Smith 1932–36
- Lionel Conacher 1936–37
- Stewart Evans 1937–38
[edit] Hockey Hall of Famers
- Clint Benedict
- Toe Blake
- Buck Boucher
- Punch Broadbent
- King Clancy
- Lionel Conacher
- Alex Connell
- Red Dutton
- Reg Noble
- Babe Siebert
- Hooley Smith
- Nels Stewart
[edit] Awards
- Russ Blinco — Calder Trophy (Top Rookie) 1934
- Nels Stewart — Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) 1926, 1930
[edit] Arenas
- Montreal Forum — built specifically for the Maroons, the Forum, in an ironic twist, would become the most famous arena in hockey largely because of the Canadiens, who shared the arena with the Maroons from 1926 to 1938.
[edit] See also
- List of Montreal Maroons players
- Head Coaches of the Montreal Maroons
- List of Stanley Cup champions
- Montreal Wanderers
- Montreal Canadiens
- List of defunct NHL teams
- List of NHL seasons
