O'Brien was born in
Renfrew, Ontario, the son of
Michael John O'Brien, a Canadian businessman, and later one of the owners of mines in
Cobalt, Ontario during the
Cobalt silver rush. O'Brien played varsity
ice hockey at the
University of Toronto. He moved to the Cobalt area and founded two ice hockey clubs, in Cobalt, Ontario and
Haileybury, Ontario, funded by his father. In 1909, he founded the
National Hockey Association, Les Canadiens, later
Montreal Canadiens, and bought the
Renfrew Creamery Kings. In the
1909–10 NHA season, the Creamery Kings received the nickname "Millionaires" as O'Brien signed up several stars of the time to extravagant contracts, including
Fred "Cyclone" Taylor and brothers
Frank Patrick and
Lester "the Silver Fox" Patrick, and acquired
Edouard "Newsy" Lalonde in an attempt to win the
Stanley Cup for Renfrew. The attempt was unsuccessful and he folded the team after two seasons. While in Montreal for business in November 1909, O'Brien was asked by the then owners of the Creamery Kings to apply to join the
Canadian Hockey Association. He made the application but was turned down. Outside the hotel room where the CHA meetings were occurring he met
Jimmy Gardner, manager of the
Montreal Wanderers. Together, they developed the idea of starting their own league with O'Brien's Cobalt and Haileybury teams, the Wanderers and a new team "Les Canadiens" for Montreal to capture francophone Montrealers' interest as a rival for the Wanderers. As a result, the
Montreal Canadiens were born. O'Brien only owned the team for one season. After the season, he was sued by
George W. Kendall (Kennedy) owner of the Club athlétique Canadien, claiming the legal rights to the Canadiens name. A settlement was reached and on November 12, 1910 Kendall acquired the team for $7,500. In December 2006, as the founder of the Montreal Canadiens, John Ambrose O'Brien was an inaugural inductee in the team's newly created 'Builders Row' in the
Bell Centre. ==See also==