The Montreal Canadiens Trivia Book, 1909–2005

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

This book’s title is somewhat deceptive in that, while the volume does
contain a great deal of trivia about the Habs, the book actually tests
how much the reader already knows about one of Canada’s legendary
hockey teams. Essentially, Leonetti has organized 402 questions into
five thematic sections. In fact, the total number of questions is much
greater, as many of the questions have a number of parts.

In “Memorable Games,” readers are quizzed about significant games
from 1910 to 2004. “Records and Awards,” covering 1919 through 2004,
challenges readers with questions about team and individual records at
the NHL and team level. The third section, “Trades,” is likely the
toughest: only the most devoted Canadiens fans will recall who was
involved in various player trades from the 1920s forward to this
century. The questions in “Remember Him?” again cover the entire
span of the team’s history and focus on individual players. The
closing section, “Did You Know?,” contains 82 official questions and
is the only portion of the book in which the questions are not primarily
chronologically ordered.

The book is generously illustrated with captioned black-and-white
photographs, usually of the game-action variety, with at least one
picture appearing on virtually every page. The book’s major
shortcoming is the placement of the questions’ answers, which are
found at the conclusion of each section rather than immediately below
each question. Consequently, readers must constantly flip back and forth
while trying not to accidentally see the next answer. Because so many of
the questions deal with fringe facts about the team and its players, the
book will appeal most to truly devoted Canadiens fans.