Howie Morenz Memorial Game

Lore & Background

Howie Morenz, a three-time Stanley Cup winner and three-time Hart Trophy recipient, was considered the 'Babe Ruth of hockey' for his offensive skill and end-to-end rushes. After being traded to Chicago in 1934, he was re-acquired by Montreal in 1936 when Cecil Hart insisted on his return as a condition of taking the coaching job. On January 28, 1937, Morenz suffered a severe leg break after being checked by Chicago's Earl Seibert. He fell into depression, suffered a nervous breakdown, and died on March 8 from a coronary embolism. Teammate Aurel Joliat said, 'I think Howie died of a broken heart.' His body lay in state at centre ice at the Forum, where 50,000 people paid respects.

Reader's Guide

The Howie Morenz Memorial Game, held on November 2, 1937, was a significant early all-star event in NHL history, organized to support the family of a beloved player. The game featured notable participants: King Clancy played his final game as a player, and Lionel Conacher returned from retirement. The NHL All-Stars won 6–5 before 8,683 spectators, raising $11,447 for Morenz's widow and three children. Additional donations brought the total to $20,000, and later to $26,595 placed in trust. The game's legacy includes a second benefit in Stratford, Ontario, and the retirement of Morenz's number 7 by the Canadiens, the first such honor by the team. The event demonstrated the league's capacity for collective action in times of tragedy.

Did You Know?

• King Clancy did not play in the Howie Morenz Memorial Game; his final NHL game was on March 19, 1937.
• Howie Morenz Jr. skated with both teams during warm-up, taking shots on both goaltenders.
• The crowd of 8,683 was considered a disappointment.
• Former Canadiens owner Joe Cattarinich paid $500 at auction for Morenz's uniform and gave it to Morenz Jr.

Roots on the Thames River

Howard William Morenz entered the world on September 21, 1902, in the small Ontario town of Mitchell, the son of William Frederick Morenz and Rosena Pauli. Growing up among three sisters and two brothers, young Howie first discovered hockey by playing shinny along the banks of the Thames River. His earliest organized experience was unglamorous: at just eight years old, he suited up as a goaltender and surrendered twenty-one goals in a single game. A coach quickly recognized that his natural gifts lay elsewhere and shifted him to rover. By the 1916–17 junior season, Morenz had firmly established himself as a forward, helping the Mitchell squad capture the Western Ontario junior title. When the family relocated to nearby Stratford in May 1917, a fifteen-year-old Morenz even attempted to enlist in the Canadian military, only to be turned away for being underage. At eighteen, he took an apprenticeship at the Canadian National Railways factory in Stratford, where he would spend his days working while his evenings and weekends belonged to the ice. Outside of hockey, he was known as an avid horse-race bettor and a ukulele player.

The Road to Montreal

Morenz's junior years with the Stratford Midgets produced extraordinary numbers. In the 1920–21 campaign he topped the Ontario Hockey Association in assists and points during the regular season, then led the league in goals, assists, and points through the playoffs. The Midgets captured the league title and advanced to the Memorial Cup, where they faced the Winnipeg Falcons. Morenz recorded a hat trick in the second game of that series, though the Midgets ultimately fell short in the total-goals format, losing 11–9. His tournament performance earned him a spot with the Stratford Indians senior team for 1921–22, and he continued to play at both levels simultaneously. The breakthrough moment for his professional future arrived in December 1922, when a Canadian National Railways tournament brought him to Montreal. There, Morenz scored nine goals in a single game for Stratford. A referee who was a friend of Canadiens owner Léo Dandurand relayed the performance, prompting Dandurand to travel to Stratford the following January and witness Morenz firsthand. By July 1923, after a tense negotiation involving a threatened signing with the Toronto St. Patricks, Morenz committed to the Canadiens on a three-year deal worth $3,500 annually plus a $1,000 signing bonus.

A Dominant Force in the League

Once Morenz stepped onto NHL ice, his impact was immediate and sustained. Over fourteen seasons he established himself as one of the league's earliest true superstars, a player whose speed earned him the colorful nicknames "Stratford Streak" and "Mitchell Meteor." His statistical dominance was remarkable by any era's standards: he finished in the top ten among all NHL scorers a full ten times, led the Canadiens in both goals and points for seven consecutive seasons, and topped the entire league in goals once and in points twice. His three Hart Trophy awards as the league's most valuable player underscored the breadth of his influence. After the NHL introduced All-Star selections in 1931, Morenz earned two first-team honours and one second-team nod. His loyalty to Montreal produced three Stanley Cup championships, all won with the Canadiens, though he also spent time with the Chicago Black Hawks and the New York Rangers during two separate stints with Montreal. Widely regarded as one of the first great names in professional hockey, Morenz set multiple scoring records that stood for years and helped define what it meant to be a star centre in the sport's formative decades.

A Tragic End and an Enduring Dynasty

Morenz's career was cut brutally short. He suffered a broken leg during a game, and complications from that injury ultimately claimed his life on March 8, 1937, at just thirty-four years old. The Montreal Canadiens responded by retiring his jersey number, a distinction no player had previously received from the franchise. When the Hockey Hall of Fame opened its doors in 1945, Morenz was among the original nine inductees, a testament to how foundational his contributions were to the sport. In 1950 the Canadian Press voted him the finest ice hockey player of the first fifty years of the twentieth century, and in 2017 the NHL placed him on its all-time list of the one hundred greatest players. His family legacy in hockey proved equally extraordinary. Morenz married Mary McKay in 1926, and their daughter Marlene went on to marry Bernie Geoffrion, a long-time member of both the Canadiens and the Rangers. Their son Dan played for Montreal in 1979–80, and his son Blake became the first fourth-generation NHL player, debuting with Nashville in 2011 before being traded to Montreal in 2012. All four generations thus found their way into the Canadiens organization.