Maurice Richard

For the 1943-44 season, Richard began wearing the number-nine jersey in honor of his first child, daughter Huguette, who had been born to his wife, Lucille, weighing in at nine pounds. The couple eventually had seven children and remained married up to the time of Lucille Richard's death in 1994. In addition to picking up a new number for the 1943-44 season, Richard also earned a new nickname, "The Rocket," bestowed upon him by teammate Ray Getliffe. The moniker was a testament to the left-handed, right wing's speed and power on the ice, as well as for his explosive temperament that often resulted in fights with his opponents. Although his size was modest—at just five feet, ten inches tall and weighing between 170 and 180 pounds—Richard had the ability to intimidate his opponents just by staring them down. "What I remember most about the Rocket were his eyes," said goalie Glenn Hall in a remark later reprinted in Richard's Associated Press obituary, "When he came flying toward you with the puck on his stick, his eyes were all lit up, flashing and gleaming like a pinball machine. It was terrifying."

Richard's thirty-two regular season goals helped the Canadiens finish the 1943-44 season in first place. In the team's first game of the Stanley Cup finals, Richard scored five goals to give the Canadiens the win. The team subsequently swept the series to claim their first NHL victory since the league assumed sponsorship of the Stanley Cup in 1926. Although the Canadiens did not make it to the finals the following season, Richard topped the NHL for goals scored in the 1944-45 season, with fifty goals in fifty games. It was the first time any player had reached that number; the record was not surpassed until 1966. Richard went on to lead the league in goal scoring in four more seasons: 1946-47; 1949-50; 1953-54; and 1954-55, when he shared the honor with Montreal's Bernie Geoffrion. Richard also won the Hart Trophy as Most Valuable Player in the NHL at the conclusion of the 1946-47 season; it was the only Hart Trophy he received in his career, much to the disappointment of his fans.

With his own weekly newspaper column, which he often used to criticize NHL officials and administrators, Richard became Quebec's best-known athlete by the early 1950s. Although he was often criticized himself for his rough tactics on the ice, Richard's rivalry with Detroit Red Wings star Gordie Howe delighted fans of both teams. Montreal emerged as the NHL champion at the end of the 1952-53 season, but the Red Wings held the edge in the first half of the 1950s, when the team won the Stanley Cup four times.