1925–26 Montreal Canadiens season

1925–26 Montreal Canadiens
Prince of Wales Trophy Winners
1925–26 record	11-24-1
Goals for	79
Goals against	108
Team information
General Manager	Leo Dandurand
Coach	Cecil Hart
Captain	Billy Coutu
Arena	Montreal Forum, Mount Royal Arena
Team leaders
Goals	Howie Morenz (23)
Assists	Aurel Joliat (9)
Points	Howie Morenz (26) Aurel Joliat (26)
Wins	Herb Rheaume (10)
Goals against average	Herb Rheaume (2.92)
<1924–25	1926–27>

The 1925–26 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 17th season and ninth as a member of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Canadiens lost their star goalie Georges Vezina to tuberculosis and struggled as a team, not making the playoffs. The league added teams in Pittsburgh and New York, New York taking the players of the former Hamilton Tigers franchise.

The team had a large turnover of personnel, partly due to Vezina's leaving. Alphonse Lacroix, Herb Rheaume and Bill Taugher all appeared in the Canadien's net. New players included Bill Holmes, Wildor Larochelle, Albert Leduc, Alfred Lepine, Hector Lepine, Joe Matte and Roland Paulhus. Departures included the Cleghorn brothers, Odie and Sprague. Odie signed with Pittsburgh as playing-coach and Sprague was traded to the Boston Bruins for $5,000 on November 8, 1925. Cecil Hart took over as coach from Leo Dandurand, and Billy Coutu was named team captain.

Regular season

From 1911 Georges Vezina had been the Montreal Canadiens goaltender, and had led them to the Cup in 1924. In the first game of this season, he collapsed on the ice as the second period got underway. It was found that he had contracted tuberculosis and could no longer play. He went home to Chicoutimi, Quebec, where he died in March 1926. The team struggled with several goaltenders before Herb Rheaume won the job, but the team finished last.

In the second half of the season, the team had a twelve-game losing streak, from February 13, losing 0–3 to Pittsburgh, until March 16, winning 6–1 over Toronto.

Final standings

National Hockey League

Teams	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PIM	Pts
Ottawa Senators	36	24	8	4	77	42	341	52
Montreal Maroons	36	20	11	5	91	73	554	45
Pittsburgh Pirates	36	19	16	1	82	70	264	39
Boston Bruins	36	17	15	4	92	85	279	38
New York Americans	36	12	20	4	68	89	361	28
Toronto St. Patricks	36	12	21	3	92	114	325	27
Montreal Canadiens	36	11	24	1	79	108	458	23

^[1] Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Game log

Regular season results
No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	November 28, 1925	0–1	Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	0–1–0
2	W	December 1, 1925	3–2	@ Boston Bruins (1925–26)	1–1–0
3	L	December 3, 1925	2–3	Montreal Maroons (1925–26)	1–2–0
4	L	December 8, 1925	2–6	New York Americans (1925–26)	1–3–0
5	L	December 12, 1925	0–4	@ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	1–4–0
6	W	December 15, 1925	3–1	@ New York Americans (1925–26)	2–4–0
7	L	December 17, 1925	0–3	@ Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	2–5–0
8	W	December 19, 1925	6–5 OT	Boston Bruins (1925–26)	3–5–0
9	L	December 26, 1925	0–3	Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	3–6–0
10	W	December 30, 1925	7–4	@ Montreal Maroons (1925–26)	4–6–0
11	W	January 1, 1926	2–1	@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	5–6–0
12	W	January 5, 1926	5–4	Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	6–6–0
13	L	January 9, 1926	1–2	New York Americans (1925–26)	6–7–0
14	W	January 12, 1926	4–2	@ Boston Bruins (1925–26)	7–7–0
15	W	January 13, 1926	2–1	@ New York Americans (1925–26)	8–7–0
16	L	January 16, 1926	0–1	@ Montreal Maroons (1925–26)	8–8–0
17	L	January 19, 1926	1–2	Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	8–9–0
18	L	January 23, 1926	2–6	@ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	8–10–0
19	W	January 26, 1926	6–3	Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	9–10–0
20	L	January 28, 1926	2–4	@ Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	9–11–0
21	L	February 2, 1926	0–2	Montreal Maroons (1925–26)	9–12–0
22	T	February 6, 1926	3–3 OT	Boston Bruins (1925–26)	9–12–1
23	W	February 9, 1926	4–2	Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	10–12–1
24	L	February 13, 1926	0–3	@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	10–13–1
25	L	February 16, 1926	0–1	Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	10–14–1
26	L	February 18, 1926	2–4	@ Ottawa Senators (1925–26)	10–15–1
27	L	February 20, 1926	1–3	Boston Bruins (1925–26)	10–16–1
28	L	February 23, 1926	2–3	@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	10–17–1
29	L	February 24, 1926	1–6	@ New York Americans (1925–26)	10–18–1
30	L	February 27, 1926	0–1	New York Americans (1925–26)	10–19–1
31	L	March 2, 1926	1–4	@ Boston Bruins (1925–26)	10–20–1
32	L	March 6, 1926	3–4 OT	Montreal Maroons (1925–26)	10–21–1
33	L	March 9, 1926	3–4	Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)	10–22–1
34	L	March 11, 1926	3–5	@ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	10–23–1
35	L	March 13, 1926	2–4	@ Montreal Maroons (1925–26)	10–24–1
36	W	March 16, 1926	6–1	Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)	11–24–1

Playoffs

The Canadiens did not qualify for the playoffs.

Player stats

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	GP	G	A	Pts
Howie Morenz	31	23	3	26
Aurel Joliat	35	17	9	26
Pit Lepine	32	10	3	13
Billy Boucher	34	8	5	13
Albert Leduc	32	9	1	10

Leading goaltenders

GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = shutouts, GAA = Goals against average

Player	GP	GA	SO	GAA
Georges Vezina	1	0	0	0.0
Bill Taugher	1	3	0	3.0
Herb Rheaume	29	89	0	3.1
Alphonse Lacroix	5	16	0	3.43

Awards and records

• Prince of Wales Trophy - awarded for winning first game in Madison Square Garden, December 15, 1925.^[2][3]

Transactions

Roster

• Georges Vezina, Alphonse Lacroix, Herb Rheaume, Bill Taugher
• Billy Boucher, Billy Coutu, Bill Holmes, Aurel Joliat, Wildor Larochelle, Albert Leduc, Alfred Lepine, Hector Lepine, Sylvio Mantha, Joe Matte, Howie Morenz, Roland Paulhus, Dave Ritchie

Source:

• Mouton, Claude (1987). The Montreal Canadiens. Key Porter Books. pp. 155. 

References

• Coleman, Charles L. (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol.1 1893–1926 inc.. National Hockey League. pp. 465–485. 

See also

• 1925–26 NHL season

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