Joseph Georges Gonzague Vézina - Born January 21, 1887 in Chicoutimi, Quebec – Died March 27, 1926 in Chicoutimi, Quebec was a Canadian Ice Hockey goaltender.

At the age of 16, Vézina was taken on as goaltender by the Club de Hockey de Chicoutimi. He was familiar with the game, having played street Hockey with his friends, but he had never worn skates. Vézina learned quickly.

During the 1904–5 season, at an exhibition game between the Montreal Nationals of the Canadian Amateur Hockey League and the Chicoutimi club – a game Vézina’s team won – the Nationals’ goaltender, Joseph Cattarinich, was impressed by the 18-year-old in the opposing goal. At the end of the 1909–10 season, since he was giving up his position as goaltender for the Canadiens to take on other duties with the team, he suggested that Vézina be contacted. To ensure that he would agree to come to Montreal, one of his brothers, who played forward, was also asked to come and practise with the Canadiens for the 1910–11 season. Georges stayed on; his brother went back to Chicoutimi. Georges Vézina was signed in December 1910, at a salary of $800 per season.

Vézina made his professional debut December 31, 1910, against the Ottawa Senators, losing 5-3. He would play all 16 games for the Canadiens in the 1910–11 season, finishing with a record of eight wins and eight losses, while allowing the fewest goals in the league.

The following season Vézina again led the league in goals against, as well as winning eight games, along with 10 losses. Vézina recorded his first career shutout during the 1912–13 season, defeating Ottawa 6–0 on January 18, 1913, for one of his nine wins in the season.

The Canadiens finished first in the NHA for the first time in 1913–14, in a tie with the Toronto Hockey Club. Once again, Vézina led the league with the fewest goals against, while posting 13 victories and seven losses. Under the NHA rules, the first place team would play in the Stanley Cup Finals, but due to the tie for first, the Canadiens had to play a two-game, total-goals series against Toronto. Vézina shut out the Toronto H.C. in the first game, a 2–0 win for Montreal at their home rink, the Montreal Arena on March 7, but let in six goals in the second game loss (6-0) at Arena Gardens, allowing Toronto to play for the 1914 Stanley Cup, which they won.

After losing 14 games and finishing last in the NHA in 1914–15, Vézina and the Canadiens won 16 games during the 1915–16 season, placing the team first in the league and winning the 1916 O'Brien Trophy as league champions. The Canadiens earned the right to play in the 1916 Stanley Cup Finals, where they faced off against the Portland Rosebuds, champions of the rival Pacific Coast Hockey Association / PCHA. The Canadiens defeated the Rosebuds three games to two in the best-of-five-games series, winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in team history on March 30. Vézina's second son was born the night of the fifth game, and he was named Marcel-Stanley in honour of the victory. Coupled with a bonus of $238 each member of the Canadiens received for the championship, It led to him considering the series as the pinnacle of his career.

The following season Vézina again led the NHA with the fewest goals against, the fourth time in seven years he did so, helping the Canadiens win the 1917 O'Brien Trophy as NHA champions, and again reach the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Seattle Metropolitans. In 1917, Vézina even competed against the Canadiens in a friendly match to raise money for the war effort; he played on a soldiers’ team in order to make the competition more even.

The National Hockey League / NHL started in November 1917, with Vézina and the Canadiens joining the new league. On February 18, 1918, Georges Vézina became the first goaltender in NHL history to record a shutout, by blanking the Arena Hockey Club (Toronto) 9–0. On December 28, 1918, he became the first goaltender to be credited with an assist, on a goal by Newsy Lalonde, who had just picked up the puck after a save by Vézina. He finished the season with 12 wins, allowing the fewest goals against. Vézina also set a record, which was shared with Clint Benedict of the Ottawa Senators, for the fewest shutouts needed to lead the league, with one.

In the 1918–19 season, Vézina won 10 games and helped the Canadiens defeat the Ottawa Senators in the NHL playoffs for the right to play for the 1919 Stanley Cup against the PCHA champions, the Seattle Metropolitans. Held in Seattle, the two teams were tied in the best-of-five series when it was cancelled due to the Spanish flu epidemic, the first time the Stanley Cup was not awarded. In the 10 playoff games prior to the cancellation, Vézina had won six games, lost three and tied one, with one shutout.

Vézina recorded nearly identical records the next two seasons, with 13 wins, 11 losses and a goals against average above four in both 1919–20 and 1920–21 seasons. He won 12 games the following season, as the Canadiens again failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup.

After winning 13 games in 1922–23, Vézina led the Canadiens into the NHL playoffs, where they lost the two-game, total-goal series to the Senators, who would go on to win the Stanley Cup.

The following season saw Vézina return to leading the NHL in fewest goals against, ending a five-year dominance by the great Clint Benedict. His average of 1.97 goals per game was the first time a goaltender had averaged fewer than two goals against per game. With another 13-win season in 1923–24 season, the Canadiens reached the NHL playoffs, where they again faced the Ottawa Senators. This time the Canadiens won the series and the 1924 O'Brien Trophy as NHL playoff champions. Montreal then defeated the Vancouver Maroons of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association / PCHA before reaching the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in five years. Playing the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League / WCHL, Vézina and the Canadiens won the best-of-three series two games to none, as Vézina recorded a shutout in the second game. The 1924 Stanley Cup championship was the Canadiens first as a member of the NHL and second title as a club.

After a 17-win season in 1924–25 where Vézina recorded a goals-against average of 1.81 to again lead the league, the Canadiens reached the Stanley Cup Finals. The Canadiens only qualified after the Hamilton Tigers, the regular season champions, were suspended for refusing to play in the playoffs unless they were paid more. As a result, the Canadiens were declared the 1924–25 NHL champions after defeating the Toronto St. Pats in the NHL semi-final, winning the 1925 O'Brien Trophy. Facing the Victoria Cougars for the Stanley Cup championship, the Canadiens lost the series three games to one.

Returning to Montreal for training camp for the 1925–26 season, Vézina was noticeably ill, though he said nothing about it. By the time of the Canadiens' first game on November 28 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he had lost 35 pounds in a span of six weeks, and had a fever of 102 Fahrenheit. Regardless, he took to the ice, and completed the first period without allowing a goal. Vézina began vomiting blood in the intermission before returning for the start of the second period. He then collapsed in his goal area, and left the game, with former U.S. Olympic team goaltender Alphonse Lacroix taking his place.
The day after the game, Vézina was diagnosed with tuberculosis and advised to return home. He made a last trip into the Canadiens' dressing room on December 3 to say a final goodbye to his teammates. Dandurand would later describe Vézina as sitting in his corner of the dressing room with "tears rolling down his cheeks. He was looking at his old pads and skates that Eddie Dufour [the Canadiens trainer] had arranged in Georges' corner. Then, he asked one little favour—the sweater he had worn in the last world series." Vézina returned to his hometown of Chicoutimi with his wife Marie, where he died in the early hours on March 27, 1926, at l'Hôtel-Dieu hospital. Though he played only one period for the Canadiens during the entire season, the team honoured his entire $6,000 salary, a testament to how important Vézina had been to the team.

Vézina would play in 327 consecutive regular season games and a further 39 playoff games, before leaving early during the game in 1925 due to illness.

The only goaltender to play for the Canadiens between 1910 and 1925, Vézina helped the team win the Stanley Cup in 1916 and 1924, while reaching the Stanley Cup Finals three more times. Nicknamed the "Chicoutimi Cucumber" for his calm composure while in goal, Vézina allowed the fewest goals against in the league seven times in his career: four times in the NHA and three times in the NHL. In 1918, Vézina became the first NHL goaltender to both record a shutout and earn an assist on a goal.

LEGACY
A lasting legacy of Georges Vézina was the trophy named after him - The Vezina Trophy. At the start of the 1926–27 season, Léo Dandurand, Louis Létourneau and Joseph Cattarinich, owners of the Montreal Canadiens, donated the Vezina Trophy to the NHL in honour of Vézina. It was to be awarded to the goaltender of the team who allowed the fewest goals during the regular season.

The inaugural winner of the trophy was Vézina's successor in goal for the Canadiens, George Hainsworth. He went on to win the trophy the next two seasons as well. In 1981, the NHL changed the format of awarding the trophy, instead giving it to the goaltender deemed best in the league based on a poll of NHL general managers.

The Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1945 and among the first nine inductees was Georges Vézina.

In honour of the first professional athlete to come from Chicoutimi, the city renamed their Hockey arena the Centre Georges-Vézina in 1965.

In 1998 Vézina was ranked number 75 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

In 2017 the NHL included him on their list of the 100 greatest players in league history.