Montreal Le National

In 1910 during the first season of the National Hockey Association (the forerunner to the National Hockey League), they were offered a chance to replace the brand new Montreal Canadiens being as they were the established French Canadian club, but would refuse and return to their amateur roots playing in various amateur senior leagues.

They then entered the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL) in 1904 when Le National and the Montreal Montagnards fielded a joint team for that season.

[3] The following season, the agreement with Le Montagnard fell apart after Didier Pitre and Jack Laviolette left to play professional hockey in Michigan with the American Soo,[4] so the Nationals joined the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) in 1905.

After flirting with these organized leagues (the Nationals more often than not preferred to play challenge games as an independent), they joined the brand new Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) in 1909–10 as a professional entity.

[5] After the CHA essentially merged with the National Hockey Association, the Nationals were offered a chance to join the NHA replacing the newly established Montreal Canadiens as the French-Canadian entity in that league, but opted not to.

The team was shut down again in 1952 but reactivated one final time in 1956 in the Metropolitan Montreal Junior Hockey League.

The team still used the Nationals name for the next few seasons, but after coach Jean Rougeau left the club they were renamed the Laval Voisins.

Montreal Nationals player Ernie Dubeau in 1909–10
A 1910 Imperial Tobacco trading card featuring Newsy Lalonde playing for the Montreal Nationals lacrosse team. When an organization had both lacrosse and hockey teams, it was common for players to play for both teams.