The Montreal Canadiens will retire #33 -- that worn by goaltender Patrick Roy -- on November 22nd. This will be the 14th number retired in the storied history of the Canadiens franchise, but it also marks a dangerous trend. The Canadiens retired their first number -- #7, worn by Howie Morenz -- on November 2, 1937. It would be almost 23 years before they would retire another -- #9, worn by Maurice Richard -- in October 1960.
The trend in retiring numbers worn by the bleu, blanc, et rouge has accelerated in the years since...
1971:
#4 (Jean Beliveau)
1975:
#1 (Jacques Plante)
#16 (Henri Richard)
1985:
#10 (Guy Lafleur)
#2 (Doug Harvey
2005:
#12 (Dickie Moore)
#12 (Yvan Cournoyer)
2006:
#5 (Bernard Geoffrion)
#18 (Serge Savard)
2007:
#29 (Ken Dryden)
#19 (Larry Robinson)
2008:
#23 (Bob Gainey)
#33 (Patrick Roy)
That's seven of the 14 retired numbers in a span of three years. At this rate, the Canadiens will run out of double digit numbers some time in early 2015. The last of them won't be #13.
1 comment:
I had always believed that the Yankees invented retiring numbers for players when they retired Lou Gerhig's #4. I guess the Yankees were just the first to do it in this country.
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