The first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games. The first player to reach 500 career goals. The original league-wide leader in goals. One of the greatest hockey players of all time.
When it came to professional hockey of the 1940s and 1950s, there simply did not exist a more dominant team than the Montreal Canadiens. Winning the Stanley Cup eight times from 1943-1960, with five straight titles between 1955 and 1960, the Canadiens franchise flourished under the leadership of its star player: Maurice Richard. Nicknamed “the Rocket” for his incredibly fast and aggressive style of play, Richard set multiple scoring records, received dozens of honors, and has also left behind an incredible legacy for the francophone population of Quebec.
Born and raised in Montreal, Joseph Henri Maurice Richard was the eldest of 8 children in a francophone family. Richard’s father was a carpenter and took a job with the Canadian Pacific Railway shortly after Maurice was born in 1921. He received his first pair of skates in 1925 when he was 4. While the Richards struggled during the Great Depression, Maurice was always able to continue skating, whether on ponds and rivers that had frozen over, or the backyard ice rink his father constructed. He did not actually play organized hockey until he was 14-years-old and spent time practicing his skating and stick-handling skills with other neighborhood children.
Upon entering his first organized leagues, Richard had such a passion for hockey that he joined more than one team, using pseudonyms such as “Maurice Rochon” to get around the rule of limiting players to only one team. In one such league, he led his team to three consecutive championships and scored 133 out of his team’s total 144 goals throughout the 1938-39 season.
Richard was promoted to an affiliate team of the Montreal Canadiens in the Quebec Senior Hockey League (QSHL) in 1940, but broke his ankle in his first game and missed the rest of the season. He was also turned down for an application to join the military in 1941; the injury caused him to be deemed “unfit” for combat. Having recovered from his broken ankle in time for the 1941-42 season, Richard returned to the QSHL Canadiens. He enjoyed a mildly successful season until he suffered yet another injury – breaking his wrist after crashing into the net while entangled with a defenceman. However, Richard once again made it back to his team, this time for playoffs.
The skills that Richard demonstrated in the QSHL, as well as the NHL Canadien’s inability to draw more fans (from a poor record and lack of francophone players), led Richard to a tryout for the NHL Canadiens for the 1942-43 season. He was signed on for the year, and wearing jersey number 15, made his NHL debut. His year was once again cut short when after 16 games, Richard suffered a broken leg. The string of three injuries early in Richard’s career led many to wonder whether he was too “fragile” for major league hockey.
One thing that you should understand at this point in the story is that in the mid-1900s, hockey was an entirely different game. Players did not wear helmets, uniforms did not have nearly as much padding, and penalty calls were much rarer – mostly due to the level of violence that was tolerated without giving out a penalty. The sport was not just intense. It was also incredibly dangerous.
With that in mind, the concerns about Richard’s fragility were legitimate. No matter how good your player is at scoring, how is he going to be useful if he keeps getting hurt so often? Richard took a break from hockey to attempt, once again, to enlist in the military but was turned down yet again when tests revealed that his bones had not all healed properly. His ankle was permanently deformed, and it would force him to permanently alter his skating style.
But Richard would not quit. Rather than give up on his NHL career, he intensified his training and returned to the Montreal Canadiens for the 1943-44 season fully recovered and reinvigorated. During this time, Richard also had a daughter – Huguette – with his wife and childhood sweetheart, Lucille. Huguette’s birth weight of nine pounds prompted Richard to change his jersey number to 9. This time, Richard entered the season healthy and remained healthy throughout. He led his team in goals and put to bed the criticism about his ability to play in the league. Much of this success came from a change in attitude as well; Maurice became tougher. When the opposing team would directly target him, he was not afraid to fight back.
Maurice was given the position of right wing and placed on a forward line with his teammates Toe Blake and Elmer Lach. The trio, who became known as the “Punchline,” was one of the highest-scoring units of the league, and led the Canadiens to two Stanley Cup championships in the 1940s – the first of which was the franchise’s first in 13 years.
Throughout the seasons of the 1940s, Richard set an all-time record of “50 goals in 50 games.” The Canadiens rallied behind Richard for the 1950s; he was promoted to the team’s captain from 1956-1960 and brought home 5 straight Stanley Cup wins, truly establishing the “Dynasty” of the Montreal Canadiens. During this time Richard also personally reached the milestone of an all-time league scoring leader.
After retiring in 1960, The Hockey Hall of Fame waived its five-year eligibility period for Richard and inducted him in 1961, and in 1975 he was also inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. The Canadiens retired his number, 9, out of honor. In 1999, the Canadiens donated the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy to the NHL, which has since been awarded annually to the league’s regular season leading scorer.
But Richard has transcended the image of only a hockey player for the francophone population of Quebec. He became a cultural icon. While Richard was a fairly quiet, unassuming man, he did speak out for greater francophone representation not only in sports but all areas of culture and influence.
Always aggressive on the ice, Richard was involved in a violent incident during the 1954-55 season when he struck a linesman. He was suspended for the remainder of the season by the NHL President, which included the playoffs. This sparked the “Richard Riot,” where the francophone population of Quebec protested the punishment as too harsh, taking to the streets and causing over $100,000 in property damage. Eventually, Richard appeared on television to give the following statement:
Because I always try so hard to win and had my troubles in Boston, I was suspended. At playoff time it hurts not be in the game with the boys. However, I want to do what is good for the people of Montreal and the team. So that no further harm will be done, I would like to ask everyone to get behind the team and to help the boys win from the New York Rangers and Detroit. I will take my punishment and come back next year to help the club and the younger players to win the Cup.
Richard’s statement helped to ease tensions and return Montreal to normalcy, however, in the years since the incident the “Richard Riot” has taken a nearly mythical quality and is often viewed as a trigger for social change in Quebec leading up to and during the Quiet Revolution.
When Richard passed away in 2000, he became the first non-politician in the province of Quebec to be honored with a state funeral. His legacy is sure to be remembered for as long as hockey continues to be played. Maurice Richard was a truly iconic figure in Canadian history.
Research Sources:
NHL’s 100 Greatest Hockey Players – Maurice Richard
Hockey Hall of Fame – Maurice Richard
Image Sources: