MONTREAL CANADIENS VS VANCOUVER LIONS :
April 9, 1929 Scoresheet
This uniqued program (scoresheet) was discovered within the estate collection of Ken MacKenzie. The scoresheet has a notation in pencil of April 9, 1929. Also the score 4-1 for Montreal is noted on the scoresheet with goals for Montreal attributed to Howie Morenz (2), Pit Lepine (1) and Armand Monday (1). For Vancouver Bill Phillips (1).
The card has the phrasing " Canadian Professional Hockey Championship - Montreal Les Canadiens versus Vancouver Lions. Second game will be played Monday Night April 8th. If necessary, third game will be played Wednesday night April 10th. This information is interesting in reference to the pencil notation of the game being April 9th. But this information also indicates that there were more games scheduled and played between the two teams.
Also included in this collection was a newspaper clipping from the Vancouver Sun Newspaper that had some quotes from Howie Morenz regarding the play of Vancouver Lions goaltender Percy Jackson and that suggests there were more games played. " That youngster will be the sensation of the hockey world in a year or two, mark my words. That baby beat us, and he'll beat a lot of others". This indicates that the Lions may have beat the Canadiens in one of the games. The article was looking at the upcoming exhibition game between the NHL NY Americans and the PCHL Vancouver Lions and the goaltending showdown between Percy Jackson of the Lions and roy Worters of the Americans.
During this era, teams would often look to generate revenue before the regular season commenced and also upon it's conclusion. Some of these exhibition games would feature NHL teams playing against teams from other professional leagues. This particular game was played in the Vancouver Arena which was the second largest venue in North America after Madison Square Gardens in New York. The Vancouver Arena was destroyed by fire in 1936.
I have included photos of Howie Morenz, Montreal Canadiens 1923-34 and 1936-37 as well as a photo of Goaltender Clint Benedict who was in fact a member of the Montreal Maroons when he played in this game and never played a regular season game with the Montreal Canadiens. This could have been his only exhibition game with the team.