Maurice Richard's temper is as fiery as his nickname, and the Rocket is no stranger to the penalty box. The francophone star is frequently at odds with the man in charge of league discipline, NHL President Clarence Campbell, seen by many as a symbol of the anglophone elite. Richard has been given several fines and suspensions, but on March 13, 1955, he goes too far. During a scrap with the Boston Bruins, Richard deliberately injures an opponent and then punches a linesman.

Some call it a sideshow, a publicity stunt. But on Sept. 23, 1992, Manon Rheaume makes history by becoming the first woman to play professional hockey. She tends goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a NHL pre-season exhibition game against the St. Louis Blues. As reported in this TV footage, the 20-year-old Quebec native plays only one period, making seven saves and allowing two goals. But it is enough to thrust the "gorgeous goaltender" into the headlines.

Call them the Molson Canadiens. The storied Montreal hockey team has new owners – again – when Peter and Edward Bronfman sell the Canadiens to Molson breweries for $20 million. After seven profitable years, the Bronfmans said they had done all they could for the team. Molson wasn't the only beer company chasing the team, the CBC reports. The deal comes just two days after the public learned that the Canadiens had also been talking to rival brewers Labatt.

Since the 1942-43 season, the NHL had boasted only six teams in its roster. But in 1966, threats of a competing league on the west coast and a desire to broaden the NHL's appeal lead to expansion. Six new teams join the Original Six, drastically changing hockey's playing field. As this news item demonstrates, the decision to expand is regarded with much skepticism. Some are also upset that no Canadian team is chosen for the newly devised West Division. One thing's for sure: Canada's national sport will never be the same again.

After five months of very public labour negotiations, National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman announces the cancellation of the 2004-05 hockey season. In the days and hours leading up to the dreaded statement, many observers and fans held out hope that the season could be saved with a last minute deal. In this CBC clip, Bettman says he "had no choice" but to call off the season, but many Canadian hockey fans beg to differ.

For more than five decades Conn Smythe's name was synonymous with the kind of uncompromising, bare-knuckle hockey that he expected from his Toronto Maple Leafs. But he was also known as Hockey's Great Architect, thanks to his founding of the Leafs and his unwavering vision for Maple Leaf Gardens. His reign came to an end on Nov. 18, 1980, when Smythe died at the age of 85. This As It Happens clip remembers the man one newspaper eulogized as having both "glaring faults and sturdy virtues."

In 2002, the Canadian men's and women's hockey teams gloriously claimed gold, deftly defeating their American opponents. After the game, a relaxed Wayne Gretzky sits down to a news conference. Smiling, he raises his hand and reveals their secret weapon: a shiny gold loonie. The loonie, Gretzky explains, had been buried at centre ice by the Canadian icemakers for good luck. In this CBC Radio interview, Edmonton icemaker Trent Evans explains how and why he hid Canada's most beloved and famous loonie.

Over six decades and some 40 books Scott Young was a fixture of the Canadian literary landscape. Boasting a journalistic style that was both hard-nosed and self-deprecating, Young rose fame in the 1950s as a hockey commentator for CBC Television where he honed his laconic personality and wit. In this CBC Radio clip, Peter Gzowski chats with Young about how the budding bicycle thief transformed himself into the dean of Canadian sports writing.

It's been called "Canada's game," but many Canadians think we're no longer tops in hockey. Enter "Open Ice," a three-day conference on the future of Canadian hockey. Big names Wayne Gretzky and Ken Dryden, as well as minor players and their parents, are discussing how to develop better hockey players. In this CBC news clip, Gretzky says it may be time for a simpler approach: to "grab a puck and try to get it in the net."

You know a hockey melee is serious when even the goalies are fighting. In the final game of the 1987 World Junior Hockey Championships, punches are thrown between a Canadian and a Soviet player. Suddenly it's a free-for-all as both teams bolt from the bench to enter the fray, launching a 20-minute tussle that continues even when desperate arena officials turn out the lights. "You just don't see this in international hockey," says an astonished CBC commentator.