The 1931 Stanley Cup Finals was played between 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 ...

and the

Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, making their first

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

Finals appearance. The defending champions Canadiens, won the series to become the second NHL team to win back-to-back championships. Former player and now coach, Chicago's

Dick Irvin James Dickinson "Dick" Irvin Jr. (or II) (July 19, 1892 – May 16, 1957) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. He played for professional teams in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, the Western Canada Hockey League, and th ...

, made his Finals coaching debut against the team he would later coach to three Stanley Cup titles.

Game summaries

Over 18,000 fans packed Chicago Stadium for game two to set a record for the largest attendance in hockey history to that time. The triple-overtime game three of the series was (at the time) the longest game in Stanley Cup Finals history, and today remains the fourth-longest game in Stanley Cup Finals history at 113:50.

Game five

For game five,

Foster Hewitt Foster William Hewitt, (November 21, 1902 – April 21, 1985) was a Canadian radio broadcaster most famous for his play-by-play calls for ''Hockey Night in Canada''. He was the son of W. A. Hewitt, and the father of Bill Hewitt. Biography ...

came to Montreal to make the radio broadcast play-by-play and transmission lines carried his broadcast to radio stations across Canada Interest was so high that Montrealers in the thousands lined up for end zone and standing room tickets.

Johnny Gagnon Jean Joseph "Black Cat" Gagnon (June 3, 1905 in Chicoutimi, Quebec – March 21, 1984) was a Canadian ice hockey forward. Johnny played in the National Hockey League from 1930 to 1940. During this time, he played for the New York Americans, ...

opened the scoring in the second period and

Howie Morenz Howard William Morenz (September 21, 1902 – March 8, 1937) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Beginning in 1923, he played centre for three National Hockey League (NHL) teams: the Montreal Canadiens (in two stints), the Chicago Blac ...

scored an insurance goal in the third period. It ended a nine-game goalless streak for Morenz.Jenish (2008), p. 76.

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1931 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Sylvio Mantha by NHL President

Frank Calder Frank Sellick Calder (November 17, 1877 – February 4, 1943) was a British-born Canadian ice hockey executive, journalist, and athlete. Calder was the first president of the National Hockey League (NHL), from 1917 until his death in 1943. He ...

following the Canadiens 2–0 win over the Black Hawks in game five. The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup 1930–31 Montreal Canadiens

Notes

References

* * * Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). ''Lord Stanley's Cup''. Bolton, Ont.: Fenn Pub. pp 12, 50. {{Montreal Canadiens

Stanley Cup Finals Chicago Blackhawks games Montreal Canadiens games April 1931 sports events Sports competitions in Chicago Sports competitions in Montreal Stan 1931 in Quebec 1930s in Chicago 1930s in Montreal

Game summaries

Game five

Stanley Cup engraving

See also

Notes

References