1902: Howie Morenz, the most electrifying NHL player of his era, is born in Mitchell, Ontario.
Morenz, a speedy forward, becomes known as “the Stratford Streak” while playing junior and senior hockey in Stratford, Ontario. He signs with the Montreal Canadiens for the 1923-24 season and soon becomes the most spectacular player in hockey. Morenz scores 28 goals in 30 games in his second NHL season and gets 40 in 44 games in 1929-30. He becomes known as “The Babe Ruth of Hockey.”
Forward passing is not allowed for most of his career, so end-to-end rushes are the norm. With his blazing speed and ability to control the puck, Morenz brings fans out of their seats like no one before him.
After Morenz’s production tails off in the 1933-34 season, the Canadiens trade him to the Chicago Blackhawks; in turn, the Blackhawks send him to the New York Rangers midway through the 1935-36 season. He returns to the Canadiens in 1936-37 for what he says will be his final season and shows flashes of brilliance at age 34. But on Jan. 28, 1937, he breaks four bones in his left leg and ankle when Chicago defenseman Earl Seibert falls over him while his skate is lodged in the boards. He dies of a blood clot on March 8, 1937.
Morenz lays in state at the Forum, with thousands of his fans filing past him to pay their respects. He is among the initial group of 12 honorees when the Hockey Hall of Fame is founded, and a national press poll votes him as the outstanding hockey player for the first half of the 20th century.
1967: Goaltender Jacques Plante, who’s been retired since the end of the 1964-65 season, plays for the California Seals in a preseason exhibition game against the Los Angeles Kings at Port Huron, Michigan. The game ends in a 3-3 tie. Plante never plays a regular-season game for the Seals, but he returns to the League with the St. Louis Blues for the 1968-69 season. Plante and Glenn Hall combine to win the Vezina Trophy, then given to the goaltenders on the team that allows the fewest goals, and get the Blues to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season. Plante plays one more season with St. Louis and three with the Toronto Maple Leafs before finishing his NHL career with the Boston Bruins in 1972-73.
He is elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978 and is named to the 100 Greatest NHL Players presented by Molson Canadian in 2017.
1992: Four players — Marcel Dionne, Lanny McDonald, Bob Gainey and Woody Dumart — are inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Longtime Philadelphia Flyers executive Keith Allen is inducted as a builder.
