The Montreal Canadiens centennial was celebrated 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 ...

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 ...

team during its 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons, commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the

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 ...

's most successful club. The

2009 NHL All-Star Game The 2009 National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, home of the Montreal Canadiens, in conjunction with the Montreal Canadiens centennial celebrations on Sunday evening, January 25, 2009. The game was held betwe ...

was played at

Bell Centre Bell Centre (), formerly known as Molson Centre (), is a multi-purpose arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened on March 16, 1996, it is the home arena of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL), replacing the Montr ...

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 Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

as part of the celebrations, and the

2009 NHL Entry Draft The 2009 NHL Entry Draft was the 47th Entry Draft. It was held on June 26–27, 2009, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. The Draft was part of the Montreal Canadiens' centennial celebrations. National Hockey League teams took turns select ...

was held there in late June. On April 5, 2008, the logo for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game was unveiled in Montreal.

Retiring of uniform numbers

As part of its centennial anniversary celebrations, the Canadiens organization retired the following uniform numbers: * 2005–06: Dickie Moore,

Yvan Cournoyer Yvan Serge Cournoyer (born November 22, 1943) is a Canadian former professional hockey right winger who played in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens from 1963 to 1979. In 1972, Cournoyer scored the tying goal in the deciding g ...

(number 12); Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion (number 5) * 2006–07:

Serge Savard Serge Aubrey Savard, OC, CQ (born January 22, 1946) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman, most famously with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is the Senior Vice President, Hockey Operations with t ...

(number 18);

Ken Dryden Kenneth Wayne Dryden (born August 8, 1947) is a Canadian politician, lawyer, businessman, author, and former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was a Liber ...

(number 29) * 2007–08:

Larry Robinson Larry Clark Robinson (born June 2, 1951) is a Canadian former ice hockey coach, executive and player. His coaching career includes head coaching positions with the New Jersey Devils (which he held on two occasions), as well as the Los Angeles Ki ...

(number 19);

Bob Gainey Robert Michael Gainey (born December 13, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1973 until 1989. After retiring from active play, he became a hockey coach and later an executive with ...

(number 23) * 2008–09:

Patrick Roy Patrick Jacques Roy (; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey goaltender and executive, who serves as the head coach for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). In 2017, Roy was named o ...

(number 33) * 2009–10:

Elmer Lach Elmer James Lach (, January 22, 1918 – April 4, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 14 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL). A centre, he was a member of the Punch line, along with Ma ...

(number 16); Emile Bouchard (number 3)

Centennial events and initiatives

On September 24, 2008, the Canadiens held a press conference to announce all the events the team is holding: * A set of commemorative dollar coins to be minted by the

Royal Canadian Mint }) is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under the ''Royal Canadian Mint Act''. The shares of the Mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada. The Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufactures ...

. * A set of commemorative stamps to be issued by

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

. * A set of 200

Upper Deck The Upper Deck Company, LLC (colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated, Ltd. in the UK), founded in 1988, is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United State ...

anniversary cards. * Canadiens

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

* Centennial jersey nights when the team will wear historic jerseys of the past during NHL games. * Builder's night honoring past coaches. * Opening of the 'Centennial Plaza' outside of the Bell Centre. *

Original Six The Original Six () are the teams that comprised the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1942 and 1967. The six teams are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs ...

salutes — when "original six" teams visit the Canadiens. * Opening of a community outdoor rink. * A concert by the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (french: Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, or OSM) is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. It is the only orche ...

, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary. * A movie, ''

Pour toujours, les Canadiens! ''The Canadiens, Forever'' (french: Pour toujours, les Canadiens!) is a 2009 Quebec long-feature film, about the Montreal Canadiens centennial celebrations written by Jacques Savoie and directed by Sylvain Archambault. The film was launched in t ...

'' *

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

' '' NHL 09'' video game including the 'Centennial Montreal Canadiens', a special team of the top players ever part of the Canadiens franchise On opening night, the Canadiens organization unveiled the Ring of Honour in the Bell Centre. It consists of an exhibit of all players and builders of the Montreal Canadiens currently in 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 ...

, placed at the back walls of the arena's upper deck. On December 4, 2009, the Montreal Canadiens played a "centennial game" on the 100th anniversary of their induction as a professional hockey organization. They played the Boston Bruins and won by a score of 5-1. Michael Cammalleri scored his second hat-trick of the season that night for the Canadiens.

Notes

References

* {{2009–10 NHL season by team Centennial Year 2009–10 NHL season

Retiring of uniform numbers

Centennial events and initiatives

See also

Notes

References