from Stephen Smith of the New York Times,

A hundred years after the National Hockey League was born in Montreal’s grandest hotel, the Windsor, the league is back where it all began this weekend.

The hotel is gone, but the nearby train station is still there, next door to the Montreal Canadiens’ home rink at the Bell Centre.

Gathering there — on paper, at least — are the 100 players deemed to be the best to have played in the N.H.L.

For the past year, the artist Tony Harris has been at his easel trying to translate the speed and color and glory of hockey into oil paint.

Last week, he finished the final two 11-inch-by-14-inch portraits, depicting the Canadiens speedy winger Yvan Cournoyer and Wayne Gretzky in the Edmonton Oilers’ blue and orange. On Saturday, all 100 paintings will be shown together in public for the first time.

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