The 2009 Montreal Centennial Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/24/2009
Fascinating little booklet is from the pre-NHL time frame and deals with, like the cover indicates, the "Constitution Laws of Hockey and Championship Rules" of the ECAHA, the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association, the top hockey league of the day, which actually dropped the "Amateur" for this season. The league consisted of the Ottawa Hockey Club, the Quebec Bulldogs and two Montreal teams; the Wanderers and Shamrocks. Ottawa, with Hall-of-Famers Cyclone Taylor, Marty Walsh, Bruce Stuart, Billy Gilmour and goaltender Percy Lesueur, captured the championship with a 10-2-0 record and thus took over possession of the Stanley Cup. That's all interesting but where this piece becomes ultra-intriguing is when the notes on its front cover are examined closely. Vintage handwritten fountain pen notes are dated December, 1909 and mention player Didier Pitre and executive Ed McCafferty. Now Pitre was the first player signed by Jack Laviolette when the latter was asked to form the Montreal Canadiens in December of 1909. We believe this booklet was used as reference at one or more historically important meetings held at Montreal's Windsor Hotel at which the National Hockey Association was formed! An addendum to "Rule Governing Contracts" is dated "25/11/09" and deals with "ringers" jumping to other teams which wanted to challenge for the Stanley Cup and prohibits teams in the Association to grant permission to players to suit up with teams outside of the Association. The NHA was formed after the new owners of the Wanderers wanted to move home games to the smaller Jubilee Rink, which meant less money for visiting teams. The ECHA teams balked and formed the Canadian Hockey Association, leaving the Wanderers without a league to play in. That's when Ambrose O'Brien enters the equation. O'Brien was the owner of the Renfrew Creamery Kings and had been refused entry into the ECAC and the CHA when it was formed. While in Montreal for the CHA meetings, O'Brien met up with the Wanderers' Jimmy Gardner and the two decided to form their own league, the NHA. To stir interest in Montreal, they had the idea to form a team of francophone players, to be called "Les Canadiens." Just who was responsible for the notes on the cover of this treasure is not known, but the possibility of this very booklet being there when the NHA and the Canadiens were in the planning is phenomenal. Possibly the earliest reference to hockey's most storied and successful franchise! It was formerly obtained from longtime Montreal Canadiens employee/announcer Claude Mouton which suggests lofty significance. Sixteen-page booklet measures approximately 3-3/4" by 5-3/4" and has survived in VG-EX condition with slight damage to the front cover. Oh, but those notes; do they ever get a historian's mind to contemplating pro hockey's formative years and the beginnings of Les Canadiens!
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