He isn’t well-known today, but Sylvio Mantha was one of the most reliable players of his era. A star with the Montreal Canadiens, he helped lead the team to glory in his career.
Sylvio Mantha was born on April 14, 1902 in Montreal.
When he was 17, he started to play for Notre Dame de Grace Junior and then moved to play Verdun in the Intermediate Mount Royal Hockey League. He was also working for Imperial Tobacco and playing for the company’s hockey team.
After briefly playing for the Montreal Nationals in the Quebec League when he had four points in nine games. After one game, a man came up to him and talked to him and asked how he could play in his old and ratty equipment. That man turned out to be Lou Dandurand, the owner of the Montreal Canadiens.
Soon, Mantha graduated to play with the Montreal Canadiens in December 1923.
With the Canadiens, Mantha was part of a new youth movement for the team on the defence corps. With Billy Coutu and Sprague Cleghorn both aging, Mantha was meant to take their place when they retired.
At first, he didn’t play much but following an injury to Coutu, and with Cleghorn suspended, Mantha began to play more during the season. That season, he played 24 games, recording four points. The Montreal Canadiens finished second in the league that season.
The Montreal Gazette wrote of Mantha and another rookie on the team,
“The newcomers to professional hockey, “Howie” Morenz of Stratford and Mantha of Montreal, made good. Morenz fitted right into the Canadien machine, and the manager [Leo Dandurand] thinks so well of his ability that he started him at centre in place of Odie Cleghorn. Mantha was used for about thirty minutes on the defence, and his showing indicates that he will be a star in a short time.”
After winning in the NHL Finals over the Ottawa Senators, they moved on to the Stanley Cup semifinals, sweeping the Vancouver Maroons in two games. In the Stanley Cup Final, the team beat the Calgary Tigers two games to none to capture their first Stanley Cup. Mantha played in six games during the playoffs, recording no points due to being injured.
After the team won the Stanley Cup, Mantha and his teammates were on their way to a party with the trophy when their car broke down. They set the Cup on the curb while they waited for the car to be repaired. It was only later after Leo Dandurand’s wife asked where the Cup was that Mantha realized he had left it sitting on the curb.
Mantha was now an NHLer and was never going to return to the minors.
Over the next few seasons, while Mantha never lit up the NHL in points, he was a reliable defender for the team. In 1924-25, he recorded five points in 30 games. The Montreal Canadiens once again made it to the Stanley Cup Final but lost three-games-to-one against the Victoria Cougars. Mantha was so reliable at this point that the team traded Sprague Cleghorn. They would trade Billy Coutu one year later because of their trust in Mantha.
In 1925-26, he finished with three points in 34 games but recorded 66 penalty minutes.
The following season, Mantha began to increase his point total, recording 15 points in 43 games with 77 penalty minutes. That season, Mantha was named team captain. The Ottawa Journal stated,
“The appointment was believed to be the start of a re-organization program which it is hoped will make the club a dangerous factor in the coming campaign.”
In 1927-28, he once again recorded 15 points in 43 games.
Paired with Albert Leduc, Mantha continued to excel on the ice. On Nov. 20, 1928, he scored the first goal at the Boston Garden. During the 1928-29 season, he played with his brother Georges. By the end of the season, Mantha was paired with Marty Burke, his defensive partner for the next few years.
That season, he had 13 points in 44 games.
In 1929-30, Mantha had his best season with 24 points in 44 games, coupled with 108 penalty minutes. He set career-high total ins goals, assists, points and penalty minutes that season. He finished second in the league behind King Clancy in the league.
The next season, Mantha finished with 11 points in 44 games and was named to the NHL Second All-Star Team. The Montreal Canadiens won another Stanley Cup that season, with Mantha scoring two goals in the best-of-three series against the Boston Bruins.
Mantha continued to be an excellent for the Canadiens in 1931-32, both as a defenceman and a captain. In 1931-32, he helped the Montreal Canadiens win their second Stanley Cup in a row. That season, he had 10 points in 47 games.
In 1932-33, the captaincy of the team was briefly handed over to George Hainsworth but Mantha regained the captaincy the following season.
Despite advancing in age, Mantha continued to keep his point total steady, never finishing below 10 points in a season between 1926-27 and 1934-35.
In 1934, after Newsy Lalonde was suspended, Mantha served as coach for two games.
By this point through, his career was beginning to decline and he was not a starter in the 1934 playoffs.
In 1935-36, he became a player coach for the team. The Canadiens finished fourth in the Canadian Division with only 11 wins. For the first time in a decade, the team did not make the playoffs. He was fired as coach and released as a player with the Canadiens before the start of the 1936-1937 season.
The Ottawa Journal wrote,
“The release meant the first break in 12 years of service with the Habitant team that found Sylvio on three Stanley Cup squads, those of 1924, 1930 and 1931.”
His nine years as captain of the Canadiens is second only to Jean Beliveau and tied with Saku Koivu. If Georges Hainsworth didn’t assume the captaincy for that one season, Mantha would have tied Beliveau for first.
On Jan. 28, 1937, Eddie Shore suffered a severe back injury that ended his season. Needing someone on defence, the Boston Bruins signed him as a replacement.
“The 35-year-old veteran, released by Canadiens early this season, has been inactive since then but he told Manager Art Ross of the Bruins, that he would be in condition after a few hard workouts.”
Due to not playing for several months, it took Mantha time to get into game shape. He played four games that season for Boston, recording no points and two penalty minutes. Dealing with a cracked bone in his elbow, Mantha realized he could no longer play, and he would retire at the end of the 1936-37 season.
One Montreal writer said that fans would never soon forget the,
“weaving rushes of Sylvio Mantha, who skated with his legs wide apart and couldn’t be shoved off balance, or off the puck.”
During his NHL career, Mantha had 141 points in 542 regular season games. He also had 10 points in 47 playoff games.
After he retired, Mantha worked as a referee in the American Hockey League and the NHL. The constant travel was difficult and he was not in the best shape for skating on the ice constantly.
He chose to focus on coaching. From 1938 to 1951, he coached a series of Montreal and Quebec teams.
In 1951, he retired from organized hockey for good.
One of his biggest impacts as coach of the Montreal Concordias was getting future Hall of Famer Bernie Geoffrion to play for the team. He did this after seeing a 14-year-old Geoffrion score five goals in a game. By having him on the team, Geoffrion was under control of the Montreal Canadiens, with whom he played for from 1950 to 1964, winning two Art Ross and six Stanley Cups. When he won the Art Ross for the first time, it was Mantha who presented it to him.
In 1960, Mantha was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Mantha died in Montreal on Aug. 7, 1974.
An arena in Montreal is named for him.
