Chapter 3: Nearer Death
Bruins at Canadiens, March 28, 1931
The Canadiens’ players were quiet as they rode their private rail car from Boston to Montreal on Friday, numb with the knowledge that they had clawed their way past a determined Bruins team, and a rabid crowd of fans, to a shut out win on Boston Garden ice. As each of them slept, or stared out at the late winter landscapes of New England, there was none of the cheeky ukulele playing that accompanied the team’s regular season travel.
They were numbed by their appreciation of the physical cost of the first two games. Just getting themselves back to even terms with the Bruins had seemed to require every part of their being. They might be faster than the Bruins, but even on the larger Forum ice, more collisions would be inevitable. It was easy to believe that this had been part of the Bruin game plan all along. As La patrie, 30 mars 1931, p.12, c.1, explained:
. . . le mot d’ordre etait de fatigue, de blesser le Canadien dans les premieres parties du detail afin de le mieux batter a Montreal dans les autres joutes.
Georges Mantha, Sylvio Mantha, and Albert Leduc had each suffered head injuries during the first game. Georges Mantha and Albert Leduc had continued to suffer headaches during the second. And then Howie Morenz had been knocked unconscious.
They snoozed, tried to remain as immobile as possible; jostled occasionally by the surprise prompting of a squealing steel wheel, or shuddered when their car rocked over a loose switch. It was then, when they might have caught a reflection of themselves in the glass, that they wondered if they could physically manage another period, another game, let alone another series. Could the desire to win the Cup, by itself, be enough to overcome the physical beating that they had endured in the first two games? Even if they had that desire, would their bodies be capable?
Joe Cattarinich had tried to boost their spirits by spreading around $1400 in rewards; $100 cash to each player who had provided the Canadiens with their first playoff win of 1931: The Montreal Herald, March 27, 1931, p.10, c.5.
It was a lot of money for a night’s work. Those Cattarinich incentives were to become predictable through the entire playoffs of 1931, as they had at Christmas: Part II, Chapters 13, 30; and in previous years: e.g., Lalancette, Mikael; Georges Vezina: L’Habitant Silencieux, Les Editions de l’Homme (Montreal: 2021), at p.268. They would remain commonplace for wealthy owners in the future: e.g., McFarlane, Brian; Stanley Cup Fever: 100 Years of Hockey Greatness, Stoddart Publishing Co. Limited (Toronto:1992), at pp.97 (Detroit’s $7500 bonus offer of 1943); a p.132 (Detroit’s unsigned $3,350 bonus cheques of 1959); and p.135 (Toronto’s rather paltry stack of $1250 on the dressing room floor in 1960). The New York Rangers were also promised a cheque of $1000 before Game 7 against the Detroit Red Wings in 1950: Pagnucco, Frank; Heroes: Stars of Hockey’s Golden Era, Prentice-Hall Canada Inc. (Scarborough, Ont.:1985), at p.258. See also: Gzowski, Peter; The Game of Our Lives, Heritage House Publishing Ltd. (Surrey, BC: 2004), at pp.132 – 133; and Hrudey, Kelly, and McLellan Day, Kirstie; Calling the Shots, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. (Toronto:2017), p.201.
But was the money comfort enough when any quick turn of Howie’s head would provoke a throbbing that made him wince, and force him to close his eyes against the sunlight flooding into the car?
Art Ross believed that the Bruins could reduce the Canadiens to physical incapacity. He believed that his Bruins could push the Canadiens to the point where they would simply be unable to play any longer. At the same time Cec Hart knew that every player riding back to Montreal from Boston was absolutely willing to resume the battle with the Bruins at the Forum on Saturday night.
But Hart was also nagged by the thought that something extraordinary would have to happen that would draw his players beyond themselves – beyond their near exhaustion. There would have to be something that grasped their attention so thoroughly that they might ignore what was happening with their bodies – at least during the games.
On Saturday night the Forum was full, and those who were unable to even get standing room tickets remained at the doors of the Forum, waiting for updates on the game as first rain, and then snow, fell on them.
Shortly after the opening face-off, Eddie Shore caught Johnny Gagnon with an elbow that was hard enough to take the Canadien off his feet. Referee Mickey Ion stopped play so that Gagnon’s teammates could help the right winger off the ice, but called no penalty. Although Gagnon returned later, “his effectiveness somewhat impaired”: The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.2. Gus Rivers moved up to the first line with Morenz and Joliat.
As soon as play resumed Sylvio Mantha led a rush from his own end. He endeavoured to skip around Shore’s left side. Perhaps emboldened by the lack of a penalty for the Gagnon hit, Shore launched himself against Mantha with extra vigour, crushing the Canadiens’ captain against the boards. While Shore’s hit on Mantha was not any harder than the check that had felled Gagnon, this time Ion penalized the Bruin for charging: The Montreal Herald, March 30, 1931, p.8, c.2; Boston Post, March 29, 1931, p.19, c.1
Mantha shrugged off the collision, and remained on the ice for the power play. He collected a cleared puck behind his own goal and headed back towards the Bruins’ end. Dashing first through the Bruin forwards, Mantha crossed the Boston blue line, goading the Bruins’ defence to challenge him, or to keep dropping back, deeper and deeper on top of Tiny Thompson. The Bruins dropped back:
With Owen at right defence, Sylvio Mantha came down on one of his weaving rushes. He swung sharply past Owen in left center and then cutting in sharply, lifted a beautiful backhander past Thompson from 10 feet out.
Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.2
Cette fois, Sylvio ne devait pas etre decu. Thompson fut comme hypnotise par ses deux yeux, fixes sur lui comme de regards de feu, et il ne put parer le lancer habile que lui telegraphia son adversaire.
La patrie, 30 mars 1931, p.12, c.2
Sylvio Mantha fait un grande course et tire dans le filet du Boston. La lumiere rouge s’allume et une immense acclamation ebranle le Forum. Temps, 2.30.
La presse, 30 mars 1931, p.22, c.3.
Thompson did not move an inch . . . .
The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.2.
Mantha had “ripped’ the puck hard: The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.26, c.1; p.27, c.2. It was the Canadiens’ third powerplay goal of the series – and the third with Shore on the penalty bench.
Encouraged by their lead, the Canadiens crowded themselves into the Bruins’ end of the ice. The Canadiens seemed to be carrying the game to the Bruins, getting 3 or 4 chances to every one by the Bruins, but the Bruin defence was actually controlling the puck after each initial save by Thompson.
That steadiness and exercise of control seemed strongest on Lionel Hitchman’s side of the ice. He was never tempted to rush the puck, or to join an attack as a trailer. His game consisted entirely of rapid puck retrieval, obstinate puck control, and in deadening puck motion. As the period progressed, the Canadiens started to avoid his side of the ice. Their speed was more effective against George Owen and Shore – defencemen who could be distracted into body contact instead of puck management.: The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.27, c.2
Howie Morenz managed a couple of close in chances, and Shore snuck the puck away from him on a third opportunity – just as Howie was in mid-deke in front of Thompson. Joliat and Gagnon also made shots that gave Thompson trouble, but their attempts did not provide any rebound opportunities either.
When the Bruins tried to move the game into the offensive end of the ice, the Canadiens’ defence disrupted them with offsides. The deft competence of Mantha and Burke limited the Boston chances by Darragh, Beattie, and Lyons to single shots and no accessible rebounds: Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.2. Yet, as the clock ran down the last half minute of the opening period:
Gainor carried from his own blue line up the middle of the ice. At this point, he passed to his right. Clapper took the pass in stride, foxed Burke out of position and then outsmarted Hainsworth at the goal mouth. Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.2.
It was one of Clapper’s “stone crushers”: Boston Post, March 29, 1931, p.19, c.1. As suddenly as that, and with 10 seconds left in the period, the teams were back on even terms.
The Bruins jumped into the second period with a good chance by Red Beattie from a Marty Barry pass that was swatted away with a flourish by Hainsworth. Harry Oliver recovered the rebound and was about to launch his own shot but Gus Rivers poked the puck away from him. As the puck was lost in a scramble by the boards, a sudden cheer rose from the crowd. Aurel Joliat had driven himself into Shore and knocked the Bruin onto his rear end.
Joliat and Shore had jousted with their sticks in the opening period without a resolution, and the Canadien was very interested in continuing the challenge. The Montreal Herald explained:
The midget went weaving and circling about until he got close to the Bruin nets, and on the right of them. Here he dodged like a cat around Owen and seemed to have a clear track for the nets when the ever present Shore came tearing across. The big fellow hit Joliat with a perfect body check, catching the midget Habitant wide-open, and Joliat went down like a poled steer. He hit the ice with the broad of his back, his famous black cap flew off, and he seemed to be completely knocked out.
But in the impact, he had made one last move. He had slid the puck straight in front of him, and passing between Shore’s feet, it had slid across to the front of the Boston nets. Almost before Joliat’s back had crashed the ice, Gus Rivers had flashed in, batted the rubber and driven it home.
The Montreal Herald, March 30, 1931, p.8, c.2 – 3
Art Ross and the Bruins immediately protested that the puck had been kicked in. The Montreal Daily Star noted that Rivers “took the pass with his skate and knocked it in with his stick,”: The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.26, c.2, while La Presse, and La patrie, like the Boston papers: Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.3; Boston Post, March 29, 1931, p.19, c.1, saw an actual shot:
L’Atom, en tombant, eut la presence d’esprit de lancer la rondelle, qu’il na’avait pas perdue, et Rivers, toujours a l’affut, dans une partie importante, la recut juste devant le filet des Bruins, et, d’un lancer vitriolique, la place derriere Thompson.
La patrie, 30 mars 1931, p.12, c.3 – 4
Eddie Shore etend violemment Joliat sur la glace. Ce dernier a cependant eu le temps de passer a Rivers qui tire et loge le disque dans le filet de Thompson. Score 2 a 1. Temps 2.25.
La presse, 30 mars 1931, p.22, c.4.
Referee Mickey Ion was not interested in the Boston complaints, and the goal stood. Joliat puffed out his chest and stood a little taller, glaring defiantly in Shore’s direction as the puck was faced-off. He chased after Bruin forward Dit Clapper, harassing him with his elbows, shoulders, and swats of his stick blade. Clapper tried to disentangle himself from this pesky behaviour and jumped forward as Cooney Weiland floated a pass towards his side of the ice. Joliat lunged forward as if reaching to intercept the pass, but instead hooked his blade around the tongue laces of Clapper’s skate. Referee Ion saw Joliat’s subterfuge for what it was, and penalized Joliat for tripping: Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.3; or for tripping Gainor, according to La presse, 30 mars 1931, p.22, c.4.
Cec Hart chose Pit Lepine and Howie Morenz as his penalty killers. Over the next two minutes of play, the Bruins were only able to manage a solitary shot on goal, which Hainsworth calmly turned away: Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.3. Howie was back checking at the same dizzying pace he normally pursued on offence: The Montreal Herald, March 30, 1931, p.8, c.3.
Both teams seemed constricted by a sense of caution – an apprehension that the next goal would somehow represent a decisive statement about the game, and the series. There was hope among the Canadiens and anxiety among the Bruins when Pit Lepine chased but then lost a race against Thompson to grab a rebound off the backboards: Boston Post, March 29, 1931, p.19, c.1. There was hope among the Bruins and fear among the Canadiens when Chapman found himself alone with the puck in front of Hainsworth – until he shot wide: Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.3.
Johnny Gagnon was set up twice, first by Albert Leduc, and then by Joliat – but missed both times. Cooney Weiland was put in the clear with a Dit Clapper pass, 4 feet in front of Hainsworth, but as he made sure of his shot, Nick Wasnie lifted his stick and the Canadiens defence carried the puck safely away.
Eddie Shore attempted an open-ice collision with Howie Morenz, which Morenz dodged nimbly as Shore’s own momentum plunged the Bruin 10 full feet out of the play. Morenz might have heard the crowd chortle but Percy Galbraith shuddered Howie to his knees with a check soon after, which put him back on the bench.
Those who looked closely might have wondered if there was a problem with the lighting at the Forum. Howie didn’t look like healthy, and in fact appeared unwell:
The pounding he took in the previous games told, and he was constantly harried by hard body checks. The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.27, c.2
Howie Morenz and Albert Leduc both stepped on the ice with parts of the faces in plaster. They gave their best but it was noticeable that Morenz looked pale and drawn and was not his old self. The Montreal Herald, March 30, 1931, p.8, c.5.
Hart had let Morenz play his regular turn, as well as on the penalty kill: The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.2. Howie focused primarily on defensive efforts, and his offensive tries had no success:
. . . on Saturday night the great centre star played a heady defensive game. He broke away twice in the second period, only to have Thompson make two remarkable saves. The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.1 – 2
Aurel Joliat brought the Forum crowd to its feet by once again knocking Eddie Shore to the ice. A moment later Johnny Gagnon stole the puck from Boston centre Art Chapman and turned towards the Boston end. The next moment Gagnon was face down on the ice, on his chin, but Chapman was going to the penalty bench for tripping.
Eddie Shore shouldered the responsibility for the penalty kill:
Shore moved up from his defense position to put on a ragging exhibition which earned him the hearty applause of even his severest critics. For fully a minute, while Hitchman was back on the defense alone, Shore kept the puck away from Lepine, George Mantha and the rest of the Canucks. Ultimately however, Shore’s gesture, like many a gesture, proved to be a boomerang. Lepine finally knocked the puck off Shore’s stick.
Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.3.
This happened next:
George Mantha who scored the only goal of the second game, picked it up like a flash at the left sideboards and coasted in on Thompson through the place where Shore would ordinarily have been playing. Tiny dove, but George, withheld his shot and then looped one over Thompson’s body.
Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.3. See also: Boston Post, March 29, 1931, p.19, c.1
It may even have been Georges Mantha himself who relieved Shore of the puck:
Eddie Shore s’empare alors de la rondelle et fait du patinage de fantaisie, evitant ses adversaires et essayant de tuer le temps pendant que Chapman est a la cloture. Georges Mantha lui enleve toutefois le disque, fait un elan et arrive devant Thompson qui n’est pas protégé, il tire et loge la rondelle dans le filet. La presse, 30 mars 1931, p.22, c.4
The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.27, c.3 agreed:
[Shore’s] work was sensational for a minute till Geo Mantha frisked the puck from him, and headed like a cyclone for Bruins defence. Hitchman was a split second late in realizing the danger, and George flew by him and duped Thompson cleverly to score.
The Canadiens took their two goal “insurance” breathing-room into the second intermission.
When the third period began, it was evident that:
The vicious body checks dealt out to Morenz, Joliat and Gagnon were taking effect and the heavy Boston game began to move forward to the attack.: The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.1
The Canadiens’ advantage began to evaporate in the first minute:
Owen carried the puck up the middle with Weiland on his left and Clapper on his right and Gainor trailing. Owen passed to Weiland at the points and Cooney [Weiland], after coasting a couple of yards, let drive. Hainsworth made a brilliant save, but Cooney, Dutch and Clapper poured in for the rebound. The light flashed and the goal was officially credited to Weiland.
Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.4
Pendant que Joliat et Clapper se bousculent sur la cloture, Weiland qui flanait devant les buts, recoit le disque d’Owen et le lance dans le filet d’Hainsworth. Temps, 55 secondes. Joliat et Clapper prennent un repos force.
La presse, 30 mars 1931, p.22, c.5
While the referees were signaling the Boston goal, they were also fingering Joliat and Clapper for penalties for their jousting by the boards. Although most game summaries reported the penalties to Joliat and Clapper as “tripping” and “hooking,” the Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.4 reported the penalties as coincidental “high sticking” infractions – which would be consistent with the La presse report of the two “jostling along the boards” at the time of the Weiland goal. The Bruins had taken a tactic from the Canadiens, drawing the Canadiens into giving up a scoring chance – and a goal – by worrying about the man instead of worrying about the puck.
The game resumed with only 8 skaters on the ice. During the regular season, with a healthy and rested Morenz, this would have been a grand opportunity for Cec Hart to unleash his offence. Instead, Hart chose to play his Canadiens defensively, sending only one-man sallies forward, and holding the rest of the Canadiens’ skaters back, on the home side of the Bruins’ blueline: The Montreal Herald, March 30, 1931, p.8, c.3; Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.5. It was time to prioritize protecting to remaining one-goal lead.
While Joliat and Clapper were off, Marty Burke decided that he had room to make some forays into the Bruins’ end of the ice. Confident that his teammates would cover behind, he carried one rush right across the Bruin blue line, around the Bruin net, to emerge back in front and surprising Thompson by sliding a backhand shot around the goaler towards the far corner. It slid just wide. Then he did it again, making the next try a backhand chance, forcing Thompson to stab out a leg to kick the puck away: Boston Post, March 29, 1931, p.19, c.2.
Albert Leduc made a similar chance, and when Joliat returned, so did he from the right hand side. Bruin forward Marty Barry, too eager to be helpful, reached for the puck that had glanced off Thompson and knocked it dangerously close to the empty side of the Boston net, but ultimately wide again.Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.4 – 5; Boston Post, March 29, 1931, p.19, c.2. The Globe attributed the Barry near miscue to the Leduc shot, while the Post said it happened on the Joliat shot.
As soon as the penalties to Clapper and Joliat had expired, Art Ross had begun sending 4 Bruin skaters inside the Canadiens’ zone. Joliat took another Bruin to the penalty box when he and Hal Darragh were penalized together for a hook and a trip. That stalled the Bruin attack again. Shortly after they returned to the ice – with about 10 minutes gone and 10 to go – Johnny Gagnon and Eddie Shore were penalized together for roughing. The referees seemed to be wary, and careful not to create an advantage for which they themselves might be blamed. There was enough going on between the two teams that it didn’t take much to see both players in an encounter deserving of some penalty time.
The Canadiens’ defence was beleaguered but remained impenetrable while Shore and Gagnon perched beside each other in the penalty bench. Marty Burke interrupted a Bruin rush into the Canadiens’ end, and broke back the other way on his own for at least the third time in the period. He found himself on an inevitable course towards Lionel Hitchman. Burke shifted once, wishing for a moment that he could be Howie Morenz. Hitchman stood Burke up and stopped the rush cold.
Howie Morenz took a rare rest as the game moved into the final five minutes of the third period. The crowd signaled its appreciation of his play:
Morenz prend un de ces rares repos de la soiree et la foule l’acclame. Le petit journal, 29 mars 1931, p.25, c.3
The teams were at full strength. The atmosphere in the Forum was raucous:
The chant from the millionaires end was a swelling anthem in token of victory . . . The crowd, still jaunty, sang its songs, and roared acclaim to Canadiens, but the latter, spent by the force of conflict, tired from the pressure of heavy checking, reeling from the impact of successive brown waves, gave gradually as attack after attack went with machine-like precision deep into their defensive territory.
The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.26, c.1
As the players became anxious, a couple of fans attempted to interfere with flow of play by setting off alarm clocks, or by ringing cow bells. At one point a hard hat was kicked onto the ice, and thrown back into the crowd.
Johnny Gagnon may have been penalized again for high sticking as he and Shore returned to the ice. The only certainty, perhaps, is that Shore started a series of furious panics in the Canadiens’ end. He threw himself physically into the line of Canadiens strung across their blueline:
Then came a frenzied attack in the final five minutes with all the Bruins up but Thompson, and Canadiens holding doggedly, with Shore plunging down mid ice and fairly hurling himself into the carmine defence. The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.26, c.1
There was a chance, and then a Canadien managed to fling the puck the length of the ice. Shore brought the Bruins back:
Weiland slid one to Clapper down the right boards. Dit lined one at Hainsworth and Marty Barry nabbed the rebound, tried once and then again to jab it past Hainsworth, who failed on the second try as the tying goal went past him. Boston Post, March 29, 1931, p.19, c.2
There was a reaction of disbelief on the part of the Canadiens’ fans:
Soudain, l’equipe du Boston se lance a l’attaque et, a la stupefaction generale, le Boston egale le score. Barry compte sur une passé de Weiland et de Clapper. Temps, 16.10.
La presse, 30 Mars 1931, p.22, c.5
Car il ne fait aucun doute que la rondelle fut poussee par le patin de Barry dans le filet du Canadien, a la suite d’une combinaison entre ce joueur, Clapper et Weiland.
La patrie, 30 mars 1931, p.12, c.5
And even from Georges Hainsworth:
For the first time in his professional career, George Hainsworth, quiet Canadien backstop, registered a protest. “He kicked it in” shouted George, skating from his nets to the timer’s bench as the referees went there to register the goal. “No, no” said Mickey Ion. “Yes, yes” shouted George in return. “He kicked it, and nothing else.”
The Montreal Herald, March 30, 1931, p.8, c.3. See also: Le petit journal, 29 mars 1931, p.25, c.3
The goal stood, and the game was tied with less than 4 minutes left in regulation time.
Howie Morenz was as dispirited as he was exhausted. The Canadiens appeared to be no closer to winning than they had been when the game began at 8:30:
Morenz is all fagged out.
Boston Post, March 30, 1931, p.12, c.2
Canadiens, led by Joliat and Lepine, played inspired hockey. They were dead tired, and they were sorely beat by injuries, but their unflinching spirit kept them going when tired nature rebelled, and a break down seemed inevitable. Morenz, not so conspicuous as usual, was still a threat, but he was so closely guarded he couldn’t get going with his accustomed speed.
The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.27, c.3
The Forum crowd was in a similar state:
La physionomie du Forum changea totalement. Les supporteurs du Canadien apprehendaient maintenant un sort defavorable, vu la fatigue, que semblaient resentir les champions . . . . La patrie, 30 mars 1931, p.12, c.5
Cec Hart still gave Howie a final turn on the ice, and he managed a chance from the left side, which someone described as “the only real tough shot Tiny had to handle” in the third period. Boston Post, March 29, 1931, p.19, c.2. It had not been quite enough, but at least the “Canadiens held to the bell.”: The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.26, c.1.
The flame on the Canadiens’ candle was flickering. During the intermission, many wondered how much longer the smaller, lighter men could endure:
If Canadiens made a mistake it was to try to play Bruins at their own game in the second and third periods. Joliat, Lepine, Gagnon, and even Morenz handed out terrific body checks. Boston led right back. The heavy bumping seemed to slow the Redshirted speedsters . . . . The Globe, March 30, 1931, p.10, c.1
During the intermission “before the death period” – a rare but prescient phrase used by the Boston Post, March 29, 1931, p.19, c.2 with respect to this game’s outcome – the Canadiens looked entirely incapable of playing any more hockey at all, as the Bruins had hoped all along. Cec Hart, Joe Cattarinich, and Leo Dandurand remained tight-lipped but the reasons for worry were obvious:
Joliat, his shoulder green from the imprint of butt ends; Lepine, with his nose bent where a Boston elbow had hit him; Morenz, his ribs purple from the drumfire of the Bruins’ heavy brigade; Leduc with his heavily bandaged head looking like a white burnoose, and little Johnny Gagnon showing purple passages around his chest, where he had gone under the fire of the off-Shore Boston guns, all attested to the gruelling struggle.
The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.26, c.1
Joliat’s cheek had also been marked by a running trickle of blood throughout the game: The Montreal Herald, March 30, 1931, p.8, c.3. He was now wavering on the edge of consciousness. [It was reported that after the game he required smelling salts to respond after collapsing: Boston Post, March 30, 1931, p.12, c.2].
There was only one strategy remaining for the overtime. “Skate them dizzy.”: The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.26, c.1. Run the Bruins out of the rink. Score as quickly as you can:
. . . the ice was cleared, and then the overtime began. Joliat, Morenz and Gagnon for Canadiens, and Weiland, Clapper and Barry for the Bruin, six of the greatest forwards in hockey, past or present, vied with each other in brilliant displays of hockey brains and speed for four minutes without result. The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.1
Morenz had a shot on goal that Thompson stopped, easily. Howie didn’t have much left:
Morenz ne semble plus avoir sa vigueur du debut et prete main forte a la defense en attendant une bonne ouverture. Le petit journal, 29 mars 1931, p.25, c.4
But then he had another chance:
Both teams played cautiously in the first few minutes of overtime, and then Canadiens sprang to life. Sylvio Mantha split the defense, but Thompson saved. Howie Morenz hurtled around Shore and flung a desperate drive at the net but Thompson sprawled and saved again. The Globe, March 30, 1931, p.10, c.1
Cec Hart replaced his starters with his younger subs. From that point on the Boston defence was “swamped.”: Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.2. The younger Canadiens roamed confidently and eagerly inside the Bruins’ zone, the home team outshooting the visitors 6 – 2. There was neither fear nor apprehension. There was only anticipation and opportunity:
Marty Burke . . . moved up the ice in characteristic weaving fashion, and as Owen met him with a crushing body check, he passed over to Larochelle on the right.
The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.1
Burke’s pass reached Larochelle at the Bruins’ blueline. Taking the puck in the midst of “a mad rush”, the “Sorel Skyrocket” released a shot on Thompson that was “wicked,”: Boston Globe, March 29, 1931, p.37, c.2, but was met by Thompson:
Thompson batted [the puck] . . . behind the goal and Larochelle darted in behind the nets, came out to the right, and hammered another startling shot that Thompson cleared with his chest, and Mantha, coming in as gracefully as a figure skater, picked it up almost off his boot tops and sliced it back into the unprotected part of the net.
The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.26, c.1.
. . . he cut in fast from the left boards, snared Larochelle’s rebound and burned the puck under Thompson’s armpit to the near side of the net.
The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.1
The ice was immediately littered with hats, and other ephemera of celebration:
Balloons, streamers and torn paper, which burst shrapnel-like from the hands of the shrieking celebrants, all added glamor to the colorful setting of Canadiens’ victory. The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.5
Young George’s backslapping teammates pushed him towards the dressing room where Bert McCaffrey was waiting to congratulate them:
. . . but few noticed that Marty Burke, who had started the play was helped off in fainting condition from the smashing check he took from Owen when he passed to Larochelle. The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.1
Almost unnoticed, Marty Burke, who had given the original pass, leaned on his knees writhing in pain from a butt end delivered by Owen that may have, or almost stopped or interrupted his heart action, and was carried into Canadiens’ room. The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.26, c.1
Whether the butt end had been “over” or “just under” or “dans la region du coeur,” there was later some debate about whether or not the contact , and the injury, had been an accident: The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.7 – 8; The Gazette, March 31, 1931, p.20, c.3; La patrie, 30 mars 1931, p.13, c.2 – 3. A few of the out of town (Boston) reporters took it as an act, a theatrical pretence of no real harm at all.
Burke had already been:
. . . playing himself into exhaustion till the usually clean and careful Owen thumped him with a body wracking butt end.
The Montreal Daily Star, March 30, 1931, p.27, c.3
Marty Burke was the game’s most serious casualty. . . . Marty had to be assisted to the dressing-room. And though not unconscious, he could hardly speak, and was stretched on a rubbing table for an hour, while hot towels were applied to the injured part of his side.
The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.7 – 8.
The exhausted Canadiens were reminded that throughout the night, the Bruins’ checks had:
. . . generalement ils etaient accompagnes de l’elevation du baton dans la figure des joueurs locaux.
La patrie, 30 mars 1931, p.12, c.2
In the dressing room, Burke’s teammates listened to the worried huddle urgently working above and around Marty who remained motionless on the training table. Each of them wondered whether Marty Burke had died just as the Canadiens had scored to win the game; taken a last breath before their ultimate collapse? Was this as much as there would be? The team’s doctors and trainers continued to work on Burke, minute by minute.
The Forum emptied. The Bruins and the Bruin newspapermen drifted off to their hotel rooms, while Bruins management considered yet another protest: La patrie, 30 mars 1931, p.12, c.6 – 7. The Canadiens remained in their room, waiting for an answer about Burke.
Howie Morenz made a point of giving a tired nod of thanks to the substitutes who had pulled the game out for the Canadiens:
Howie Morenz was the first to give all credit to the youngsters. Howie has not scored a single goal this series as yet, although he has three assists, but he is high in his praise of the youngsters like George Mantha, Rivers and Larochelle, who have come through when the first line has failed to score.: The Gazette, March 30, 1931, p.18, c.6
Then he, like the rest of the team, returned to the vigil. Too exhausted to just hang around, they stayed instead because of an communal refusal to leave – a refusal to abandon their teammate while he was teetering on the edge of life itself.
Howie was reminded of a story from Stratford, where Judge John Augustus Barron, former Liberal member of Parliament, had presided in the County Court for Perth County since 1897: Fitsell, J. W.; Hockey’s Captains, Colonels & Kings, The Boston Mills Press (Erin, Ontario:1987), at p.78. Judge Barron had been a keen hockey player in his own youth, and had served as an organizational force for the Ontario Hockey Association: Young, Scott; 100 Years of Dropping the Puck: A History of the OHA, McClelland & Stewart, Inc. (Toronto:1989), at pp.10 – 12, 14 – 15. See also: Per Kingsley W. O’Beirne on the the occasion of the Golden Anniversary edition of The Stratford Herald.
But Judge Barron had drifted away from the game, at first because he felt it had a tendency to get too rough, but particularly after his son died playing the game in Winnipeg – when he had been hit in the solar plexus with a puck. That had happened on February 1, 1901, and the death had been blamed on Fritz’s pre-existing “weak heart.” Whether Judge Barron ever believed the “weak heart” diagnosis, this blow to Marty Burke’s chest gave new reason to worry that the game could kill.
Burke had the team breathing in with every gasp he made, grimacing with each phlegmatic cough that wracked his body, and facing whatever darkness they had to endure together. They stayed because of the sacrifice the game had forced on him, and because of his commitment to the team. They needed to keep breathing together to get to whatever ending was in store for them all.
It was near midnight on Palm Sunday morning when Marty Burke stabilized and began to breathe more consistently on his own, when a patina of colour seeped back into his skin, and an appearance of relief, instead of a fixed stare of panic, softened his eyes. An hour’s work by the team doctors and trainers had managed to revive and secure consistency to his heartbeat.
The teammates had felt able to disperse then. Their own aches and hurts seemed utterly insignificant compared with Marty Burke’s unexpected journey to the edge of life itself. They departed the Forum quietly, comforting themselves with the thought that this had just been a scare, nothing serious, and nothing that would interfere with their ability to eliminate the Bruins on Monday night.
Although not described as such at the time, it appears that Marty Burke suffered “commotio cordis”, sometimes described as a “concussion of the heart”. The condition has been recognized and documented since the mid-nineteenth century: McRory, P.; “Commotio Cordis”, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2002; 36, issue 4, pp.236 – 237. Blows to the chest, whether by a hockey puck or baseball or hockey stick, can interrupt the rhythm of a player’s heart – either stopping it entirely or causing the heart to skip a beat. The condition is potentially fatal unless the arrhythmia or stoppage is treated competently and immediately. When effectively treated, the player will be able to resume professional level athletics within days. Chris Pronger suffered such an incident in a May 11, 1998 playoff game between the Detroit Red Wings and St Louis Blues. A shot by Dmitri Mironov struck Pronger in the chest. Pronger collapsed, and was unconscious for about 20 seconds. His heartbeat was restored to a normal rhythm and he was playing playoff hockey again 4 days later. It remained a topic of interest among Montrealers for years after: e.g., The Gazette, February 20, 1935, p.12, c.7. La patrie, 31 mars 1931, p.13, c.4 – 5, described the problem a few days later as “un coeur qui palpate de facon anormale.”
Canadiens starters: Hainsworth, S. Mantha, Burke, Morenz, Gagnon, Joliat
Canadiens subs: Mondou, Wasnie, Leduc, Lepine, Larochelle, Lesieur, G. Mantha, Rivers
Boston starters: Thompson, Shore, Hitchman, Weiland, Clapper, Galbraith
Boston subs: Owen, Barry, Gainor, Oliver, Darragh, Pratt. Lyons, Chapman
First period
1. Canadiens S. Mantha 2:30
2. Boston Clapper (Gainor) 19:50
Penalties: Shore (charging)
Second period
3. Canadiens Rivers (Joliat) 2:25
4. Canadiens G. Mantha 17:37
Penalties: Joliat (trip), Chapman (trip)
Third period
5. Boston Weiland (Owen) 0:55
6. Boston Barry (Weiland, Clapper) 16:10
Penalties: Clapper (trip), Joliat 2 (hooking), Darragh (trip), Shore (charging), Gagnon (trip)
Overtime period
7. Canadiens G. Mantha (Larochelle) 5:10
Penalties: None
Referees: Ion and Hewitson
Shots on goal
By Canadiens 9 4 6 6 25
By Bruins 8 4 8 2 22