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1963 Montreal Draft 
by Zach Bigalke

DRAFT: 1963

DATE: 5 June 1963

TEAM: Montreal Canadiens

PREVIOUS SEASON:

28-19-25, 3rd place, lost 4-1 to Toronto in playoffs 1st round

Leading Scorers: Henri Richard (C) 73 pts, Gilles Tremblay (LW) 25 goals

Goalies: Jacques Plante (22-14-19, 2.49 GAA), Cesare Mangiano (5-5-4, 3.07 GAA)

Montreal’s season was a roller-coaster ride. After taking the regular-season crown each of the past five years, it appeared at times that the Canadiens might miss the playoffs altogether for the first time since 1948. With players like Bernie Geoffrion and Gilles Tremblay missing significant time, it was left to the rest of the team to pick up the slack.

            Several incidents also plagued the team. Tremblay and Reg Fleming of Chicago engaged in a full-out stick-swinging brawl on 23 October 1962, with the Montreal winger taking a severe slash across the head. He was stitched up after being ejected from the game. Both players received three-game suspensions and $100 fines, part of the ten games Tremblay missed during the regular season.

            With goals coming so few and far between, second-year captain Jean Beliveau was mulling the possibility, at age 31, of retiring from his post as the team’s top pivot. He had scored his 300th NHL goal in a losing effort against the Rangers on 26 January 1963.

            Geoffrion received his own suspension after disputing referee Vern Buffey’s 5 March 1963 penalty to Jacques Plante for slashing. Geoffrion, after demonstrating his displeasure by tossing both stick and gloves at the referee, received a five-game suspension from Clarence Campbell.

            Four days later, a tragic slam into the boards left defenseman Lou Fontinato temporarily paralyzed with a fractured neck and crushed cervical vertebra. Going in to check Vic Hadfield, Fontinato was tossed instead headfirst into the boards. He would never take the ice again, retiring to his cattle ranch in Ontario after regaining movement in his limbs.

            The Canadiens managed to creep two points ahead of Detroit into third place, setting up a semifinal series with defending champion Toronto. The Maple Leafs eliminated the overmatched Montreal squad in five games en route to its second of three consecutive Stanley Cups.  

SELECTIONS:

1. Garry Monahan (LW) - St. Michael’s Juveniles

7. Rodney Presswood (D) - Georgetown Midgets

13. Roy Pugh (C) - Aurora Jr. C

18. Glen Shirton (D) - Port Colborne Midgets

With all of the aforementioned factors in mind, Montreal drafted based on its needs. With Jacques Laperriere moving up from Hull-Ottawa of the EPHL to fill the void left by Fontinato’s career-ending injury, Montreal attempted to draft a couple of defensemen to replenish the corresponding gap in their prospect chain. Pugh was drafted as insurance a future when Beliveau might eventually make good on his retirement threats.

            But the only player of the first four draft picks in Montreal’s history to suit up in the bleu, blanc et rouge was the top pick, Garry Monahan. The 6’0”, 199-pound left winger from Barrie, Ontario was called up for a total of fourteen games during the 1967-68 and 1968-69 seasons before being traded with Doug Piper to the Red Wings for Pete Mahovlich and Bart Crashley on 6 June 1969. Monahan would go on to play 734 more NHL games during a twelve-year career for Detroit, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver.

Submitted Jan 2009

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