Right in the middle of their 100th birthday party, the Montreal Canadiens had a huge surprise in store for two of their oldest living legends.

Emile Bouchard and Elmer Lach, among the team's 44 former players in the Hockey Hall of Fame, had their jersey numbers retired Friday night to cap a nostalgic on-ice ceremony prior to the Canadiens' centennial game against the Boston Bruins.

Hockey legend Gordie Howe was brought out to introduce Jean Beliveau, the last of 29 former Montreal players to walk out onto the red carpet before the jersey retirements were announced to the delight of the sold-out crowd of 21, 273.

"I'm very happy to be here to take part in this celebration," said the 78-year-old Beliveau, who won 10 Stanley Cups with Montreal from 1953-71.

Guy Lafleur was introduced by actor Viggo Mortensen, a lifelong fan of the team who addressed the crowd in French. Serge Savard introduced Patrick Roy, who led the Canadiens to their last two of a record 24 Stanley Cups in 1986 and 1993.

Bouchard, a four-time Stanley Cup champion with Montreal from 1941-56, was then wheeled out onto the red carpet by son Pierre Bouchard, a former Montreal defenseman.

The 91-year-old Lach, the oldest living former Canadiens player, won three Stanley Cups from 1940-54. He joined his former teammate as Canadiens defenseman Ryan O'Byrne presented the 90-year-old Bouchard with a No. 3 banner.

O'Byrne then took off his jersey while the banners were being hoisted to reveal a No. 20 jersey. Lach's No. 16 was previously retired in honor of Henri Richard, who won a record 11 Stanley Cups and was on hand for the ceremony.

The lengthy pregame ceremony began with a video tribute to the events leading up to the team's 100th anniversary, beginning with the dual retirement of the No. 12 jersey in honor of Dickie Moore and Yvan Cournoyer on Nov. 12, 2005.

The Canadiens, founded on Dec. 4, 1909, had previously retired the numbers of Howie Morenz (7), Maurice Richard (9), Beliveau (4), Henri Richard (16), Lafleur (10), Doug Harvey (2) and Jacques Plante (1), but none had been added to those ranks since 1995.

In a bid to update the honor roll in time for the team's 100th anniversary, Moore and Cournoyer's shared number was retired followed by Bernie Geoffrion, whose No. 5 was retired posthumously on March 11, 2006, after he passed away earlier in the day.

The numbers of Serge Savard (18), Ken Dryden (29), Larry Robinson (19), Bob Gainey (23) and Roy (33) were retired over each of the next three seasons and the team had said that no further numbers from the past would be retired.

That is, until Friday night.