Canadiens Captains: Nine Great Montreal Canadiens

Raymond B. Blake is director of the Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount
Allison University, the author of Canadians at Last: Canada Integrates
Newfoundland as a Province, and co-editor of Social Welfare Policy in
Canada: Historical Readings.

This book examines nine of the 22 hockey players who have captained the
Montreal team. All but two—Toe Blake and Doug Harvey—participated in
the spectacular closing ceremony at the famed Montreal Forum in March
1996.

Although the book is filled with fascinating accounts of the personal
achievements of its nine subjects, it fails to break new ground. We are
reminded of Toe Blake’s coaching ability, of the circumstances leading
to the Richard Riot in Montreal, of Jean Béliveau’s grace and
sportsmanship, and of Bob Gainey’s personal tragedy. The author could
have used the topic of team captains as a springboard for examining how
the institution has changed over time. He hints that some captains
(e.g., Turgeon) were selected by management while others (e.g.,
Beliveau) were elected by the players, but we are not told when and why
this process emerged and changed. Nor does Ulmer give the reader any
sense of the relative success (or failure) of each captain.

Like so many other hockey books, Canadiens Captains fails to move
beyond the descriptive, leaving the hockey enthusiast with little to
really think about.