My review of the book The Montreal Canadians (hockey)

The Montreal Canadians started their franchise in 1909. They won a total of 23 Stanley Cups and the last won was in 1993 anchored by Patrick Roy. It is also the last time a Canadian team won a Stanley Cup. This book relates the story of the Canadians. They started in a small market and eventually went to the NHL. They won Stanley Cups in the 1910's and 20's, but it wasn't until the 1940's that their majesty reigned supreme. In the Selke era they also had talent like Maurice Richard and eventually Jean Beliveau. It is during this time that they came to be known as a French-Canadian team. Before this time, their players were often Anglophones. The rise of this team is well documented as are many of the players that played during that era. After Selke came Pollock. The Montreal Canadians still dominated the ice rink. Eventually Scotty Bowman took the helms and with the help of Guy Lafleur won many cups. They only won 2 Stanley Cups since the 1970's but there have been many coaches.
The book goes into the detail of many key coaches, players and managers. There are moment to moment descriptions of famous goals. As well, the life of Maurice Richard is detailed with the turmoil of the 1960's. They also describe the move of the Canadians to their new arenas and their owners. The book also describes the rise of salaries and the eventual skyrocketing of the salaries. There are a lot of statistics in this book and key dates in the history of the Canadians. It is a well organized (by decade)description of the Montreal Canadians. Did you know that the 'H' in their jerseys means hockey and not habitant? Also, there are good points of view by journalists of the time. There is an introduction by Bob Gainey, who has since left and the later years with Kovalev and Koivu. This is an impressive look at one of the most storied franchises in sports history.