Montreal Canadiens: This Date in Habs History: Howie Morenz Career Comes to a Close

Montreal Canadiens legend Howie Morenz was one of the first players in the history of the NHL to dazzle fans with his amazing speed and skills on the ice.

He was affectionately known as the “Stratford Streak” thanks to his blazing speed, but he went down in history as the first true superstar of the National Hockey League.

His number 7 hangs in the rafters of the Bell Centre to this day, and he was among the very first players ever elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1943.

Morenz played his first season with the Canadiens in 1923-24. He would score 13 goals and 16 points in 24 games before upping that to 28 goals in just 30 games the following year. Morenz would help the Canadiens win three Stanley Cups and was named the winner of the Hart Trophy as league MVP three times.

In the long history of the Canadiens, no one else has even won three Hart Trophy’s. Only three players, Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Eddie Shore have won more than Morenz’s three MVP titles.

However, his terrific career came to a crashing halt on this day in 1937. Morenz got his skate stuck in the ice along the boards and was hit by a Chicago Black Hawks player who fell on top of him while his skate remain stuck between the ice and the boards.

Morenz leg was broken in four places and his NHL career, at the age of 34, was over. One of the greatest careers in the history of the Canadiens was finished.

Tragically, Morenz would die of a blood clot just over a month later on March 8, 1937.

On a much lighter note, also on this day, in 1918, Joe Malone scored a goal for the 11th straight game. This streak began with the inaugural game of the NHL, and Malone kept pouring pucks in the net. Amazingly, though it was just the 11th game of the season, it was Malone’s 25th goal.

Malone would finish the season with 44 goals in just 20 games.