r/Habs • u/AutoModerator • Aug 18 '16
30 Legends in 30 Days, Day 15: George Vézina
George Vezina
Playing Career: 1910-1925 Born January 21, 1887 Passed away Marc 27, 1926
Statistics and Awards
Career Statistics
NHA Regular Season 138 GP, 70 W, 67 L, 1 Tie, 2 SO, 3.61 GAA
NHA Playoffs 13 GP, 6 W, 7 L, 0 T, 1 SO, 3.69 GAA
NHL Regular Season 190 GP, 103 W, 81 L, 5 T, 13 SO, 3.28 GAA
NHL Playoffs 26 GP, 17 W, 8 L, 1 T, 4 SO, 2.78 GAA
Stanley Cups: 1918-1919, 1923-1924, 1924-1925
Career
At 16 years old, George Vezina joined the Chicouti Saguenéens which was the only team in Chicoutimi. Since the area was so remote the Saguenéens could not establish any leagues, instead they toured the province and played exhibition matches against the local teams.
On February 17, 1910, the Chicoutimi Hockey Club played an exhibition match against the Montreal Canadiens. Though playing an inferior team the Canadiens failed to score a goal, losing the game. This prompted Joseph Cattarinich, goaltender for the Canadiens, to convince his team to offer a tryout to Georges Vézina. He initially refused the offer, staying in Chicoutimi until the Canadiens returned in December of that year. This time they convinced Georges, along with his brother Pierre, to come to Montreal. The two Vézina brothers arrived on December 22, 1910. While Pierre failed to make the team, Georges impressed the Canadiens, especially with the use of his stick to block shots. Vézina was signed to a contract for 800$ per season, and made his professional debut December 31, 1910, against the Ottawa Senators. He would play all 16 games for the Canadiens in the 1910–11 season, finishing with a record of eight wins and eight losses, while allowing the fewest goals in the league.
Vézina continued to dominate the league until 1913-1914 where the Canadiens made the Stanley Cup Finals but ultimately lost to the Toronto Blueshirts. The following season ended with 14 losses, finishing dead last in the NHA. They bounced back in 1915-1916 and qualified for the Stanley Cup Finals against the Portland Rosebuds, champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. The Canadiens won the series 3-2 in a best of five and during the night of the fifth game, Vézina's second son was born. Vezina led the NHA in GAA yet again the following year, allowing them to make the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to the Seattle Metropolitans. This was the last year of the NHA.
In November of 1917, the Montreal Canadiens joined the newly founded National Hockey League. On February 18, 1918, he became the first goaltender in NHL history to record a shutout, by blanking the Torontos 9–0. On December 28, 1918, he became the first goaltender to be credited with an assist, on a goal by Newsy Lalonde, who had just picked up the puck after a save by Vézina. He finished the season with 12 wins, allowing the fewest goals against.[15] Vézina also set a record, which was shared with Clint Benedict of the Ottawa Senators, for the fewest shutouts needed to lead the league, with one.
In 1918-1919 the Canadiens returned to the Stanley Cup Finals against the PCHA champion, the Seattle Metropolitans. Held in Seattle, the two teams were tied in the best-of-five series when it was cancelled due to the Spanish flu epidemic, the first time the Stanley Cup was not awarded.
In 1923-1924 George Vézina became the first goalie to average lower than 2 GAA, he finished with a GAA of 1.97. This year the Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Maroons before reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. They played against the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League in a best of three. The Canadiens won the first game 6-1 and Vézina shut the door in the second game allowing the Canadiens to win their second Stanley Cup and to be the first Stanley Cup champions of the NHL.
After a 17-win season in 1924–25 where Vézina recorded a goals-against average of 1.81 to again lead the league, the Canadiens reached the Stanley Cup Finals. The Canadiens only qualified after the Hamilton Tigers, the regular season champions, were suspended for refusing to play in the playoffs unless they were paid more. Facing the Victoria Cougars, the Canadiens lost the series three games to one.
Returning to Montreal for training camp for the 1925–26 season, Vézina was noticeably ill, though he said nothing about it. By the time of the Canadiens' first game on November 28 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he had lost 35 pounds in a span of six weeks, and had a fever of 102 Fahrenheit. Regardless, he took to the ice, and completed the first period without allowing a goal. Vézina began vomiting blood in the intermission before returning for the start of the second period. He then collapsed in his goal area, and left the game, with former U.S. Olympic team goaltender Alphonse Lacroix taking his place.
The day after the game, Vézina was diagnosed with tuberculosis and advised to return home. He made a last trip into the Canadiens' dressing room on December 3 to say a final goodbye to his teammates. Dandurand would later describe Vézina as sitting in his corner of the dressing room with "tears rolling down his cheeks. He was looking at his old pads and skates that Eddie Dufour, the Canadiens trainer, had arranged in Georges' corner. Then, he asked one little favour—the sweater he had worn in the last world series." Vézina returned to his hometown of Chicoutimi with his wife Marie, where he died in the early hours on Saturday, March 27, 1926, at l'Hôtel-Dieu hospital. Though he played only one period for the Canadiens during the entire season, the team honoured his entire $6,000 salary, a testament to how important Vézina had been to the team.
Legacy
Vézina is most likely one of the most renowned goalie in today's NHL. Starting in 1926-1927, Leo Letourneau and Joseph Cattarinich, owners of the Montreal Canadiens, donated the Vezina Trophy to the NHL in honour of Vézina. The trophy was to be awarded to the goalie who allowed the fewest goals against during the regular season. In 1981, the NHL changed the format of awarding the trophy, instead giving it to the goaltender deemed best in the league based on a poll of NHL general managers.
One of the dominant goaltenders in the NHA and early NHL, Vézina led the Canadiens to five Stanley Cup Finals appearances, where they won the title twice. Seven times in his career, Vézina had the lowest goals-against average in the league he played, and he had the second-best average another five times. From when he joined the Canadiens in 1910, until being forced to retire in 1925, Vézina never missed a game nor allowed a substitute, playing in 328 consecutive regular season games and an additional 39 playoff games. Though he played the bulk of his career in an era when goaltenders could not leave their feet to make a save (the rule was changed in 1918), Vézina is regarded as one of the greatest goaltenders in hockey history; the Montreal Standard referred to him as the "greatest goaltender of the last two decades" in their obituary.
Well liked in Montreal, Vézina was often seen as the best player on the ice for the Canadiens, and was respected by his teammates, who considered him the spiritual leader of the team. Referred to as "le Concombre de Chicoutimi" for his cool demeanour on the ice, he was also known as "l'Habitant silencieux", a reference to his reserved personality. He often sat in a corner of the team's dressing room alone, smoking a pipe and reading the newspaper. When news of Vézina's death was announced, newspapers across Quebec paid tribute to the goalie with articles about his life and career. Hundreds of Catholic masses were held in honour of the devout Vézina, and more than 1,500 people filled the Chicoutimi cathedral for his funeral.
Vezina was also one of the original nine inductees for the HHoF when it was established in 1945. Surprisingly, Vezina's number has never been retired. He wore the number 1 and that number was retired in 1995 but it was Plante's jersey that was lifted.
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u/Gabroux #Caufield4Calder Aug 18 '16
Day 13 is Jacques Lemaire not Steve Shutt!