01:00 AM EST on Sunday, February 13, 2005

1953-79 CANADIENS

YEARS: 27.

CHAMPIONSHIPS: 16.

STANLEY CUP FINAL APPEARANCES: 19.

In terms of percentages, the Canadiens are the most dominant dynasty in sports history. (They won 59 percent of the time during their championship run, compared to 53 percent for the Celtics and 44 percent for the Yankees.) The National Hockey League, however, was a six-team league until 1967, making Montreal's task -- beating out five other opponents -- easier than the Celtics' (who were never in a league smaller than eight) and the Yankees' (who had to beat out 15 other teams in both leagues during the majority of their run, and 19 other teams by the end of it). And the Canadiens' dynasty was slightly smaller than the Celts' and significantly smaller than the Yanks'.

This isn't to downplay what the Habs accomplished, though; not at all. Montreal won 8 of those 16 titles after the '67 expansion doubled the size of the league, and the Canadiens had runs of five consecutive titles at the beginning of their streak (1956-60) and four straight at the end (1976-79). And in New England, we remember those Habs vividly. After all, they eliminated the Bruins in the Stanley Cup playoffs in 11 of those 27 seasons.

Honorable mention: Through the 1967 season, the Toronto Maple Leafs were a strong second to the Canadiens in this category, having won 10 Stanley Cups (and getting to the finals two other times) in the 26 years between 1942 and 1967. But that's where it ends for Toronto. Amazingly, the Leafs haven't been back to the Stanley Cup finals in 38 years. Their '67 Cup victory was the last time they were there.

-- ART MARTONE