Often over-looked when it comes to naming the greatest
hockey players to ever play the game, Joe Malone is a name ever hockey fan
should know. Because he played in the game’s infancy when there was a 24 game
schedule, before the days of television broadcasts and in an age of whacky
rules that would seem foreign to today’s fans and players, Joe Malone goes
relatively unnoticed in the history of the National Hockey League.
The following four questions will test and expand the
knowledge of the serious hockey fan and may even shock and amaze.
Q. Joe
Malone still holds the NHL record for the highest goals per game average in
one season after nearly a century has passed. With which team did Malone
accomplish this feat?
A. Joe Malone, as
a member of the Montreal Canadiens during the 1917-18 season, scored 44 goals
in 20 games for an average of 2.2 goals per game. To put this into perspective,
in today’s 82 game NHL schedule, that would equate to a 180 goal season. That
was the first season of the NHL after the league transformed from the National
Hockey Association. Therefore, Malone was the first ever scoring leader.
The 44 goals scored by Joe would remain a single season
National Hockey League record until 1944-45. Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard scored 50
goals that year, but it took him 50 games to do it.
Q. In 1920, Malone set the record for most goals in a NHL game with
seven, a record that still stands today. What team did he score his seven goals
against?
A. On January 31,
1920, Joe Malone scored seven goals for the Quebec Bulldogs against the Toronto
St. Patricks (predecessor to the Toronto Maple Leafs) in a 10-6 win. He also
had a six goal game the same year.
To date, just six other players have scored six goals in a
single game. Newsy Lalonde accomplished the feat in that 1919-20 season. Corb
Denneny of Toronto St. Pats and Cy Denneny of the Ottawa Senators scored six
each in games the following season. Syd Howe
of the Detroit Red Wings had six in a game during the 1943-44 season. Red
Berenson of the St. Louis Blues had six in a 1968-69 game. The last player to
accomplish the feat was Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs, nearly 40
years ago, during the 1975-76 season.
Q. What Ontario, Canada based NHL team did Joe Malone play two seasons
for?
A. Not the
Toronto Maple Leafs or Ottawa Senators. Joe Malone played two years for the
Hamilton Tigers, 1920-21 and 1921-22. The Tigers were the result of the Quebec
Bulldogs relocating. Malone moved on to the Montreal Canadiens for 1922-23 but
his magic was lost. Joe scored just one goal while playing just 29 games over
the next two years, his last in the NHL.
The Tigers lasted until the end of the 1924-25 season. For
the most part, the Hamilton franchise became the New York Americans for
1925-26. A hard luck story, the Tigers did not qualify for the post season in
the first four of their five years of existence. In 1924-25, the team finished
first overall in the six team NHL. However, the Hamilton players went on strike
and the NHL suspended the team before they could play a single game in the
Stanley Cup playoffs.
Q. In what year was Joe Malone inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame?
A. Malone entered
the Hall in 1950, five years after its creation and over 25 years after his
playing career came to an end. Joe was part of a group of eight inducted that
year. Included among the other seven was Malone’s teammate with the Canadiens
in the first two years of the NHL, Newsy
Lalonde.
