The Montreal Canadiens 100 Years of Glory

I just finished up reading another book. It was The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory by D'Arcy Jenish.

The book was written to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Canadiens in 2009. It was a good book. With 24 Stanley Cups in their history the Canadiens of course have had a lot of glory over the years. So there's plenty of good to write about. Still the author presents a balanced story of the good and the not so good.

The book is a good read and not hard to wade through. I'm neither really for nor against the Canadiens myself. I remember in the famous game 7 against Boston in the semi finals in 1979. I watched that game and I was hoping for the Bruins. But in 1993 when they had the incredible playoff run to win the Stanley Cup I was cheering for them against the Kings in the final.

One thing that I found interesting is I didn't realize the rivalry between Montreal and the Toronto Maple Leafs between the 1930s to the 60s. The Leafs had some very strong teams those years and quite often beat the Canadiens in the playoffs. I didn't realize how many good Leafs teams there were during that era. It was a great rivalry between the teams.

Today with Bob Gainey in charge the Canadiens fans are hoping he can duplicate the incredible success he had with the Dallas Stars. They have been more competitive since Gainey took over and are now more of a contender. The Montreal fans would sure be happy to celebrate the team centennial with the 25th Stanley Cup.