Maurice Joseph Malone (February 28, 1890 – May 15, 1969) was a Canadian professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
* Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...
. He played in the
National Hockey Association
The National Hockey Association (NHA), officially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey Lea ...
(NHA) and
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL) for the
Quebec Bulldogs,
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...
, and
Hamilton Tigers
The Hamilton Tigers were a professional ice hockey team based in Hamilton, Ontario. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1920 to 1925. The Tigers were formed by the sale of the Quebec Bulldogs NHL franchise to Hamilton intere ...
from 1910 to 1924. Known for his scoring feats and clean play, Malone led the NHL in goals and points in 1918 and 1920. He is the only player in the history of the NHL to score seven goals in a single game, accomplishing the feat in 1920. He was elected to the
Hockey Hall of Fame
, logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg
, logo_upright = 0.5
, image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg
, caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992
, map_type =
, former_name =
, established = 1943
, location = 30 Y ...
in 1950.
Personal life
Malone, the second of eleven children, was born in
Sillery, a town outside of
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
, on February 28, 1890. His father, Maurice Joseph Malone, was of Irish descent and also related to the Gignac family, of
Quebecois origin. His mother was Marie-Louise Rochon, who was Quebecois herself. Maurice Joseph worked in the lumber industry, as did his father and grandfather.
Malone played hockey from an early age: he was noted in local newspapers as early as 1904 for his exploits, with one report calling him "a rising star".
Playing career
1908–1917
As a junior Malone played with the Quebec Crescents and in
1909, at the age of 19, he joined the
Quebec Bulldogs of the
Eastern Canada Hockey Association, making his senior debut on January 2, 1909. He finished tied for first on the team in scoring with 8 goals in 12 games.
The next season, in
1910, a new league, the
National Hockey Association
The National Hockey Association (NHA), officially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey Lea ...
(NHA) was formed, but did not allow Quebec to join.
Malone and several other Quebec players instead signed with the
Waterloo Colts in the
Ontario Professional Hockey League
The Ontario Professional Hockey League (OPHL), sometimes referred to as the Trolley League, and also known as the Canadian Hockey League in its time, was a professional ice hockey league in Canada. It was a fully professional league and consisted ...
. With Waterloo Malone played eleven games and scored nine goals. The Quebec club was reformed in 1911 and joined the NHA, so Malone returned to the team, where he scored 9 goals in 13 games. He
centred linemates such as
Eddie Oatman and
Jack Marks, he scored 21 goals in 18 games in the
1911–12 season as Quebec finished first in the league, and consequently won the Stanley Cup. Quebec again won the Cup in
1913 as Malone recorded 43 goals in 20 games – including a career-best nine goals in a Cup match against Sydney. His brother
Jeff Malone
Jeffrey Nigel Malone (born June 28, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Mississippi State Bulldogs basketball, Mississippi State, and is mostly known for his time with the Washington Bullet ...
also played for Quebec in 1913 when they won the Stanley Cup. Malone finished fourth in the NHA during the
1913–14 season, with 24 goals in 17 games. He missed some games in the
1914–15 season due to spraining an ankle during a game in January 1915, which kept him out until mid-February; in the 12 games he played he had 16 goals. Malone returned to form for
1915–16 when he finished second in goal scoring with 26 goals in 24 games.
In
1916–17, Malone scored 41 goals in 19 games in the NHA, finishing tied for the scoring lead with
Frank Nighbor
Julius Francis Joseph "Pembroke Peach" Nighbor (January 26, 1893 – April 13, 1966) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played primarily for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and National Hockey Leag ...
of the
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...
. Malone was in the scoring lead until the final game of the season, when he played Nighbor and the Senators. Ottawa had two players cover Malone the entire game, while Nighbor was able to score 5 goals and finish tied.
1917–1924
When the NHL was founded in
1917, Quebec did not operate a team its first season, and the team's players were sold to the other teams for
$700 each; Malone was claimed by the
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...
. Playing on what was one of the most powerful forward lines of all time with
Newsy Lalonde
Édouard Cyrille "Newsy" Lalonde (October 31, 1887 – November 21, 1970) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward in the National Hockey League (NHL) and a professional lacrosse player. Lalonde is regarded as one of hockey's and lacrosse's ...
and
Didier Pitre
Joseph George Didier "Cannonball" Pitre (September 1, 1883 – July 29, 1934) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Nicknamed "Cannonball," he was renown for having one of the hardest shots during his playing career. One of the first playe ...
, Malone shifted to
left wing to accommodate Lalonde. Malone scored one of the first goals in NHL history, on the league's opening night of December 19, 1917; he finished the game with
five goals. He had two other games with five goals during the season, and finished with 44 goals in 20 games, leading the league. Malone established a league record for goals in a season that lasted until
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
Januar ...
; his goals-per-game average has not been surpassed. Malone scored at least one goal (and a total of 35 goals) in his first 14 NHL games to set the record for the longest goal-scoring streak to begin an NHL career.
The following season Malone suffered an injured arm and missed most of the regular season, although he scored five goals in five games in the league final series against the Ottawa Senators; the lingering injury held him out of the ill-fated Cup finals against the
Seattle Metropolitans
The Seattle Metropolitans were a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle, Washington, which played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) from 1915 to 1924. During their nine seasons, the Metropolitans were the PCHA's most successful ...
which was cancelled after five games due to the
Spanish flu
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
pandemic.
Quebec revived its franchise in
1919
Events
January
* January 1
** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia.
** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...
and Malone rejoined the club, once more leading the league in scoring with 39 goals, and setting a single game goal-scoring mark which still stands of seven against
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
on January 31, 1920. He score six goals in a second game that season on March 10, 1920 against the Senators.
However, the team was very weak on the ice, and finished the season with 4 wins and 20 losses, last in the league.
The team was relocated to
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
for the
1921 season. Malone did not initially join the team, instead staying in Quebec to attend to his business interests. He joined the team in January 1921, having missed the first four games of the season. He finished finished fourth in league scoring with 28 goals. He finished fourth in scoring the following season, as well. For
1921–22 he served as a
player-coach
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
and manager for the Tigers.
Malone decided to not return to Hamilton for the
1922–23 season. He was traded back to the Canadiens on January 3, 1923, in exchange for
Edmond Bouchard. He scored only a single goal that season while generally playing as a substitute. He played nine games without scoring the next season, playing his last game on January 23 against his former team in Hamilton, before retiring. The Canadiens did not include his name on the Cup in 1924, because he did not play in the playoffs. However, he is credited by the NHL as winning his third Stanley Cup that season.
Playing style
Malone spent the majority of his playing career as a
centre forward, and he had a particular penchant for finding open space on the ice for his goal scoring. Malone earned his famous nickname, "Phantom Joe", both for his dark eyes, and from his ability to find openings offensively and weave his way to the net in an almost invisible fashion. In an era known for its violence and physicality, Malone was regarded more as a finesse player, with another nickname of his being "Gentleman Joe". Contrary to many other players of his era, such as his Quebec teammate
Joe Hall Joseph Hall may refer to:
Sports
* Joe Hall (American football) (born 1979), American football player
* Joe Hall (baseball) (born 1966), American baseball player
* Joe Hall (ice hockey) (1881–1919), Canadian ice hockey player
* Joe B. Hall (192 ...
(with the nickname "Bad Joe") and his Montreal teammate Newsy Lalonde, Malone also did not have a reputation as a particularly rough player, but rather as one of the cleanest players in the game. He was also considered a great stickhandler. During his time with the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL Malone was also successful in holding down the left wing position, playing alongside centre forward Newsy Lalonde.
Malone was not considered to be one of the fastest players in the game, but rather a smooth player who knew exactly how to position himself around the opposing goal cage. The December 30, 1919 issue of the
Ottawa Journal reproduced a conversation between three hockey fans, where a veteran spectator of 25 years, who had seen all the great players in the game, gave echo to this sentiment and compared Malone's abilities to those of
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
second baseman Eddie Collins, an opinion the newspaper itself agreed with.
Legacy
Malone finished his career with 343 goals and 32 assists over 15 professional seasons. His 179 goals in the NHA were the most in the league's history.
The 44 goals he scored in the 1917–18 season were an NHL record until
Maurice Richard
Joseph Henri Maurice "Rocket" Richard (; ; August 4, 1921 – May 27, 2000) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens. He was the first player in NHL hist ...
broke it in
1944–45, while Malone's 49 points in 1919–20 was the most until
Howie Morenz
Howard William Morenz (September 21, 1902 – March 8, 1937) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Beginning in 1923, he played centre for three National Hockey League (NHL) teams: the Montreal Canadiens (in two stints), the Chicago Blac ...
had 59 in
1927–28. He is also the only player in NHL history to score 6 goals in a game more than once.
He was elected to the
Hockey Hall of Fame
, logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg
, logo_upright = 0.5
, image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg
, caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992
, map_type =
, former_name =
, established = 1943
, location = 30 Y ...
in 1950, and is also a member of
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...
. In 1998, he was ranked number 39 on ''
The Hockey News
''The Hockey News'' (''THN'') is a Canadian-based ice hockey magazine. ''The Hockey News'' was founded in 1947 by Ken McKenzie and Will Cote and has since become the most recognized hockey publication in North America. The magazine has a readers ...
list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. The list was announced 74 years after his last game and 91 years after his professional debut, making him the earliest player on the list.
He was a second cousin of
Sarsfield and
Foster Malone
Joseph Foster Malone (December 30, 1887 – February 14, 1926) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played with the Toronto Blueshirts and the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey Association.
He was a brother of Sarsfield Malo ...
, who played briefly in the
NHA. His nephew,
Cliff Malone
Clifford Swindell Malone (September 4, 1925 — October 8, 2008) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward (ice hockey), forward who played 3 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1951–52 NHL season ...
, briefly played in the NHL, as well.
Malone died of a heart attack on May 15, 1969, in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec.
A statue by artist Frédéric Laforge of Malone with a
bulldog
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.[Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...]
. The statue pays homage to Malone's nickname, "Phantom Joe."
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
*Source: ''Total Hockey''
NHL records
* Most goals in one game (7), January 31, 1920 at Quebec.
* Most games played with 5 goals or more: 5
* Highest goals-per-game average, one season: 2.20 with Montreal, 1917–18 season (44 goals in 20 games)
* Fastest player in NHL history to score 100 goals: 62 games
* Most consecutive three-or-more goal games: 3 (1917–18 and again later in that season), tied with
Mike Bossy (1980–81)
* Longest consecutive goal-scoring streak from start of NHL career: 14 games (1917–18)
See also
*
List of past NHL scoring leaders
*
List of players with five or more goals in an NHL game
This is a list of players who have scored five or more goals in a National Hockey League (NHL) game. Scoring five or more goals in a single game is considered a great feat, as it has only been accomplished 63 times, by 47 players, in the hist ...
References
Notes
Citations
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Joe
1890 births
1969 deaths
Anglophone Quebec people
Canadian ice hockey centres
Hamilton Tigers (ice hockey) players
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Ice hockey people from Quebec City
Montreal Canadiens players
National Hockey League scoring leaders (prior to 1947–48)
People from Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge
Quebec Bulldogs (NHA) players
Quebec Bulldogs players
Quebec people of Irish descent
Stanley Cup champions