A new book by a Halifax, N.S., author is highlighting the life and tragic death of hockey’s first legend. Donald Murray grew up a fan of the Montreal Canadiens and had a special interest in Hockey Hall of Famer Howie Morenz. “I remember when I was growing up in Montreal, he was always kind of a mythic figure. People would talk about him, but there was never any biography you could read, there were very few clips that we could access at that period of time,” said Murray. “I had the idea that I should try to dig down and find the real stories behind what I am being told about Howie Morenz.” It took Murray several years to put together the book “Howie Morenz: The Greatest Season in the Life of Hockey’s First Legend.” He looked back at newspapers from the 1920s and 30s when Morenz was growing in popularity amongst fans. “All NHL players are skilled and back then that was true. There were very few who were unique and he was unique in the fact that he could do things that other people hadn’t imagined a hockey player doing,” he said. Murray said Morenz changed the game because skilled players had to find ways to react to the way he played. “There are not many players over the course of the National Hockey League’s history who have done that. He was perhaps among the first three or four giants of the game.” Morenz was the first and only Montreal Canadien to win the Hart Memorial Trophy three times. “There was no trophy at the time for having the most points in the season. There was no Conn Smythe Trophy for best performance in the playoffs, he would have won, in different seasons, each of those awards,” he said. Morenz died in 1937, at the age of 34, about six weeks after he sustained multiple fractures in his left leg during a game against the Chicago Black Hawks at the Montreal Forum. “A lot of people focus on his death because it was tragic,” said Murray. “He knew that he couldn’t come back. He went into a deep depression. He was just arising from that when he had a heart attack and died overnight at the hospital.” Morenz’s funeral was the biggest in Canadian history at that time, filling the Montreal Forum. “The whole nation was traumatized because he was still a young hockey player and the game had claimed him, it had resulted in his death,” said Murray. “There is a lot of stories about where our game came from and where it is today and I can’t endorse enough people getting excited about the history that we had, studying it, reading about it and understanding the game today better because of where it came from.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
