Book launch - Donald Murray: Howie Morenz: The Greatest Season in the Life of Hockey's First Legend

Join us for the launch of Howie Morenz: The Greatest Season in the Life of Hockey’s First Legend by Donald Murray, presented by Library and Archives Canada.

Howie Morenz: The Greatest Season in the Life of Hockey’s First Legend is a biography and cultural assessment of Howie Morenz’s hockey career, told through a game-by-game examination of his 1930–1931 season in the National Hockey League. The narrative carries him from his birth in Mitchell, Ontario, through his efforts to secure a second consecutive Stanley Cup Championship for himself, his teammates and his fans. The reader will have the opportunity to learn about the unique physical skills that he brought to competitive hockey as well as to understand the physical and psychological burdens that his approach to the game imposed upon him.

By rigorously testing anecdotal accounts against actual game reports and reliable collateral sources, Murray has reconstructed a reliable account of the season when Howie Morenz definitively established his own contribution to the enduring character and mystique of the Canadiens hockey club. In doing so, Murray has been able to both fill gaps in the historical record of Morenz’s athletic achievements as well as identify new understandings of how Morenz proposed the professional game could be played.

About the author

Donald Murray grew up in Lachine on the island of Montréal, Quebec, during the Richard, Beliveau and Lafleur eras of hockey’s Les Canadiens. He acquired a cultural research background and factual analytical discipline over the course of his career as a barrister.

Event details

Date

Thursday, December 4, 2025

Time

7:00 p.m.

Admission

Free admission; registration is required

Location

Library and Archives Canada

Event address

395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario

Registration

Seating is limited, so please register:

Register

Have a question? Please email evenements-events@bac-lac.gc.ca.