November 29, 1924: The Montreal Forum Opens

November 29, 1924: The Montreal Forum opens. The Montreal Canadiens, holders of the Stanley Cup, defeat the Toronto St. Patricks, 7-1. Billy Boucher scored the arena's 1st goal. And its 2nd. And its 3rd. In addition to this hat trick, Aurèle Joliat scored 2, and Sylvio Mantha and Howie Morenz each scored 1.

The only Toronto goal against the Canadiens' Georges Vézina was scored by Jack Adams, later to be the longtime head coach and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings. The St. Patricks wore green, but in 1927, they would be renamed the Toronto Maple Leafs, and switch to blue. They and the Canadiens have been the NHL's greatest rivalry ever since.

Originally, the Forum wasn't meant to be the Canadiens' home. It was meant to be the home of the Montreal Maroons, a newly-founded team, while the Canadiens continued to play home games at the Mount-Royal Arena. The Maroons' 1st game at the Forum came on December 3, but they lost to the Hamilton Tigers, 2-0.

The Maroons won the Stanley Cup in 1926. For the next season, the Canadiens moved in, and the Forum was busier than ever: Its 9,300 seats played host to the Canadiens or the Maroons every Thursday and Saturday, the Quebec Senior Hockey League on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the Quebec Junior Hockey League on Mondays, the Bank League on Tuesdays, and the Railways and Telephone League on Fridays.

The Canadiens' famed "CH" logo has confused people for over a century. It is short for the team's official name, le Club de hockey Canadien. Madison Square Garden president George "Tex" Rickard, boxing promoter and founder of the New York Rangers, probably without knowing the truth, told a reporter that the "H" stood for "Habitant," a term used to describe farmers in early Quebec. Ever since, the Canadiens have been known as Les Habitants, or the Habs for short. The chant became, "Go, Habs, go!"

The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1916 and 1924, before the Forum opened. They won it in 1930 and 1931, led by Morenz, the man eventually known as "the Babe Ruth of Hockey." In 1937, Morenz broke his leg during a game, was hospitalized, and died of a heart attack in the hospital. A benefit game was played at the Forum, between a combined team of Canadiens and Maroons against a team made up of players from the rest of the League. A few months later, at the end of the 1937-38 season, the Maroons went out of business due to the Great Depression.

In 1942, Maurice Richard arrived on the Canadiens' roster. "The Rocket" led them to 8 Stanley Cups. In 1953, along came Jean Béliveau, and he led them to 10. Richard's last 5 and Béliveau's 1st 5, from 1956 to 1960, were the only instance ever of 5 straight Cup wins.

They followed the 1955 season, in which an incident in Boston led to Richard's suspension for the Playoffs, which led to a riot inside the Forum that spilled out into the streets. French-Canadians, for whom the Canadiens, and Richard in particular, were a point of pride were angry at Clarence Campbell, the NHL's Anglophone President, suspending him, thinking he was trying to fix the Cup for an Anglophone team. Richard went on radio and told the fans to stop, that he would take his punishment, support the team to win the Cup this time, and play to win it in the future.

They lost the Finals to the Detroit Red Wings, but with Richard joined by his brother Henri, Béliveau, defenseman Doug Harvey and goalie Jacques Plante, won those next 5 Cups. Henri actually topped his brother, and Béliveau, by being a member of 11 Cup-winning teams. In all of North American sports, only Bill Russell of the NBA's Boston Celtics matched Henri Richard's 11 World Championships.

In 1968, the Forum was seriously renovated, and expanded, to a seating capacity of 16,259, plus 1,700 in standing room, for a total of 17,959. The support poles were removed. One thing that was retained: Whereas most arenas used a horn to signal the end of a period, the Forum used a high-pitched siren, which was kept after the move to the Bell Centre.

In 1972, the Forum hosted the 1st game of the 8-game "Summit Series" between Canada and the Soviet Union, which the Soviets won in a 7-3 shocker. Canada would win the series with dramatic wins in Moscow in Games 6, 7 and 8.

From 1976 to 1979, the Canadiens had a run of 4 straight Cups, led by a slew of Hall-of-Famers: Forwards Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, Steve Shutt and Jacques Lemaire; defensemen Larry Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe; and goaltender Ken Dryden.

Between them, Morenz, Maurice Richard, Béliveau and Lafleur were, effectively, the Mount Rushmore of hockey. They were a foursome that could only be matched in North American sports by the Yankees' Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. (The Celtics? Bill Russell and Larry Bird, but who are the other two? Bob Cousy and John Havlicek? Not the same. No football team can match it, either.)

From 1956 to 1979, the Canadiens won 15 of the 24 available Stanley Cups. Their 1979 Cup was their 22nd, matching the Yankees for the most World Championships in North American sports. They won a 23rd in 1986 and a 24th in 1993. The Yankees didn't win their 24th World Series until 1998, surpassing them with a 25th in 1999.

In the 1976 Olympics, the Forum hosted basketball, boxing, volleyball, handball, and gymnastics, including Nadia Comaneci registering the 1st perfect 10 in Olympic history -- 7 of them.

The Beatles played the Forum on September 8, 1964. Other notable concerts there included Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975, Bob Marley in 1978, and, all in separate shows in 1981, Rush, Queen, and the Jacksons.

But there was only so much that could be done with a 1924-built arena. So the Molson Centre, now the Bell Centre, was built a mile to the east, in Montreal's downtown (Centre-ville). On March 11, 1996, the Forum's final game was played, a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars. They were chosen as the opponent because their Captain was as former Canadiens' Captain, Guy Carbonneau. Maurice Richard, Béliveau and Lafleur participated in a ceremonial puck-drop with Carbonneau and Canadiens Captain Pierre Turgeon.

In the Canadiens' locker room, replicated at the new arena, the lockers were topped by the faces of the team's members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. On each side, one in English and one in French, are words from Canadian Army doctor John McCrae's World War I poem In Flanders Fields: "To you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high." After the game, a symbolic torch was passed from the earliest living Canadiens Captain, Butch Bouchard, to each succeeding Captain, including both Richards, Béliveau and Carbonneau, up to Turgeon.

Over the next 4 years, a construction company owned by 1950s Canadien Hall-of-Famer Dickie Moore converted the building into retail space, including a shopping mall and a movie theater. A small bleacher section, and a bench with a statue of Maurice Richard, are roughly where center ice was. 

UPDATE: The Canadiens do not have a team Hall of Fame, but they have more retired uniform numbers, 15, more players so honored, 19, and more players elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, 71, than any other NHL team. Of those 71, 55 can legitimately be claimed by the Canadiens, for having helped them win at least 1 of their record 24 Stanley Cups:

* From their founding era, 1909 until the 1917 founding of the NHL, including the 1916 Stanley Cup: Founding owner Ambrose O'Brien, defenseman Jean-Baptiste "Jack" Laviolette, center Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde, right wing Didier "Cannonball" Pitre, and goaltender Georges Vézina.

* From their 1924 Stanley Cup: Vézina; owners William Northey, Joseph Cattarinich and Léo Dandurand; center "Phantom" Joe Malone and Howie Morenz (Number 7 retired), left wing Aurèle Joliat, and defensemen Sprague Cleghorn and Sylvio Mantha.

* From their 1930 and 1931 Stanley Cups: Northey, Cattarinich, Dandurand, Morenz, Aurèle Joliat, Mantha and goaltender George Hainsworth.

* From their 1944 and 1946 Stanley Cups: Owner Donat Raymond, general manager Tommy Gorman, head coach Dick Irvin Sr.; right wing Maurice "the Rocket" Richard (Number 9 retired), left wing Hector "Toe" Blake, centers Elmer Lach (Number 16 retired) and Herbert "Buddy" O'Connor, defensemen Émile "Butch" Bouchard (Number 3 retired) and Kenny Reardon, and goaltender Bill Durnan.

* From their 1953 Stanley Cup: Raymond, Irvin, Richard, Lach, Bouchard, left wings Dickie Moore (Number 12 retired) and Bert Olmstead, right wing Bernie "Boom-Boom" Geoffrion (Number 5 retired), defensemen Doug Harvey (Number 2 retired) and Tom Johnson, and goaltender Jacques Plante (Number 1 retired).

* From their 5 straight Stanley Cups of 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960: Raymond, Maurice Richard, Bouchard (left after 1956), Moore, Olmstead (left after 1958), Geoffrion, Harvey, Tom Johnson, Plante; owner Hartland Molson, general manager Frank Selke, Toe Blake back as head coach, and centers Jean Béliveau (Number 4 retired) and Henri Richard (Maurice's brother, Number 16 retired).

* From their 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969 Stanley Cups: Molson, Blake, Béliveau (hung on until 1971), Henri Richard; general manager Sam Pollock, goaltender Lorne "Gump" Worsley, defenseman Jacques Laperriere, right wing Yvan Cournoyer (Number 12 retired), and left wing Dick Duff.

* From their 1971 and 1973 Stanley Cups: Pollock, Henri Richard, Laperriere, Cournoyer; head coach Scotty Bowman; goaltender Ken Dryden (Number 29 retired); defensemen Guy Lapointe (Number 5 retired), Serge Savard (Number 18 retired) and Larry Robinson (Number 19 retired); left wings Frank Mahovlich (the former Toronto Maple Leafs superstar) and Steve Shutt, center Jacques Lemaire, and right wing Guy Lafleur (Number 10 retired).

* From their 4 straight Stanley Cups of 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979: Pollock, Bowman, Cournoyer, Dryden, Lapointe, Savard, Robinson, Shutt, Lemaire, Lafleur; left wing Bob Gainey (Number 23 retired), and defenseman Rod Langway.

* From their 1986 Stanley Cup: Savard as general manager, Robinson, Gainey, goaltender Patrick Roy (Number 33 retired), defenseman Chris Chelios and center Guy Carbonneau.

* From their 1993 Stanley Cup: Savard, Roy, Cabronneau, and center Denis Savard (no relation to Serge, although, since Number 18 was not yet retired, he received it because of his surname).

Since their last Cup win, the Habs have had only 4 Hall-of-Famers: Center Pierre Turgeon for 1 year, 1995-96, but served as team Captain that season, as they moved from the Forum to what's now named the Bell Centre; right wing Mark Recchi, 4 years, 1995-99; center Doug Gilmour, 2 years, 2001-03; and defenseman Shea Weber, 5 years, 2016-21. The 1999-2000 season was the 1st season in Montreal Canadiens history that the team did not have at least one player on its roster who, through the 2025-26 season, has been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In addition, 7 Canadiens broadcasters have received the Hockey Hall of Fame's award for lifetime achievement in broadcasting, the Foster Hewitt award:

* In English: Doug Smith, 1937-1955; Danny Gallivan, 1952-1984; and Dick Irvin Jr., 1966-1997.

* In French: René Lecavalier, 1952-1985; Richard Garneau, 1957-1989; Gilles Trembaly, 1971-1997; and Pierre Houde, 1989-present.

*

November 29, 1924 was a Saturday. There was 1 other game in the NHL that night. The Hamilton Tigers beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-3 at the Barton Street Arena in Hamilton.

In the NFL, the Frankford Yellow Jackets beat the Buffalo Bisons, 45-7 at Frankford Stadium in Northeast Philadelphia. Sunday sports were banned in Pennsylvania until 1933.

Most college football teams had already finished their seasons. But the Army-Navy game was played at Municipal Stadium in Baltimore, and Army won, 12-0. Municipal Stadium was converted into Memorial Stadium, home of the Orioles and Colts, in 1954.

Notre Dame went to Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and beat Carnegie Tech, the school now known as Carnegie-Mellon University, 40-19. Baylor beat Rice, 17-9 at Rice Field in Houston. Locally, Fordham beat Georgetown, 9-6 at the Polo Grounds; and NYU, CCNY, Columbia, Rutgers and Princeton were not scheduled.

Also, Arsenal drew with Cardiff City, 1-1 at Ninian Park in Cardiff, Wales.