#45: Sylvio Mantha
With the exception of four games for the Boston Bruins at the end of his career, Sylvio Mantha spent his entire 13 career with the Montreal Canadiens.
Sylvio Mantha
Mantha was a leader on the ice, and was willing to do whatever it took to help better the team. He started off his career as a forward, but the Canadiens moved him to defence early in his career.
There, he helped lead the Habs to three Stanley Cups (in 1924, 1930 and 1931). He was captain of the team for the last two of those Cups.
While he wasn’t know for his scoring, he did manage to score 10 or more goals in a season on two different occasions.
An interesting bit of trivia: He scored the first ever goal in the history of the Boston Gardens, in a 1-0 Habs win over the Bruins.
In the 1935-36 season, Mantha was named player coach, but the team did so poorly, he was fired. He signed on with the Bruins, but retired after four games when he realized he couldn’t keep up anymore.
He went on to become an NHL referee, and also coached some minor league teams.
He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1960.
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2 Comments
March 2, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Any relation to Moe Mantha?
October 10, 2009 at 2:24 pm
In reading an article on Moe when he coached in Cincinnati it mentions that his father Moe Sr. was a minor leaguer while he had a pair of uncles – Georges and Sylvio – who played in the NHL. However, it would appear that this Sylvio might be a great uncle since his career was much earlier than Moe’s father – unless there was just a wide age gap in the two. Also possible.