A Pocketful of Rocket: Born in Montreal on today’s date — sorry, yesterday’s — um, well, February 29, 1936, Henri Richard was in on an incredible 11 Stanley Cup championships in his 20-year career as a member of the Montreal Canadiens. That’s him in the middle here, dissolving his way past a — New York Ranger, it looks like? (Image: Antoine Desilets, BAnQ Vieux-Montréal)
Fin: Guy Lafleur (on the right) on the ice at the Montreal Forum in the late 1970s alongside his long-time left winger, Steve Shutt. Quebec is honouring Lafleur with a national funeral this morning at Montreal’s downtown Marie-Reine-du-Monde Cathedral. (Image: Antoine Desilets, BAnQ Vieux-Montréal)
Henri The Great: Henri Richard was born in Montreal on … well, actually, his debut in 1936 came on February 29, so we’re a day early here in observing his birthday. A veteran of 20 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, he won 11 Stanley Cup championships in bleu, blanc, et rouge. Elevated, like his elder brother, Maurice, to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the man they called the Pocket Rocket served as captain of Montreal, which his brother never did. Henri Richard died at the age of 84 in March of 2020. (Image: Antoine Desilets, BAnQ Vieux-Montréal)
Ready Room: Born in Landrienne, Quebec, on a Tuesday of this date in 1946, Hall-of-Fame defenceman Serge Savard (a.k.a. The Senator) is 76 today: many happy returns of the rink to him. He played on eight Stanley Cup-winning teams with the Montreal Canadiens from 1968 through to 1979. He won a Conn Smythe Trophy in 1969 as playoff MVP and manned the defence for Canada during 1972’s Summit Series. He served as GM of Montreal from 1983 to 1995. He’s pictured here in the later 1960s in a Forum dressing room, under the gaze of Dick Irvin. (Image: Fonds Antoine Desilets, BAnQ Vieux-Montréal)
Way Out: Canadiens legend Jean Béliveau departs Montreal’s Forum in the early 1970s. (Image: Antoine Desilets, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec)
Listen Up: A birthday yesterday for the NHL’s canniest — and winningest — coach: Scotty Bowman rounded the corner to 87 on Friday. Five of the nine Stanley Cups he won, of course, came in Montreal, which is where he’s seen here, advising a Canadiens crew circa … I’m guessing it’s during the 1971-72 season, his first in Montreal. That hinges on whether I’m properly identifying the three goaltenders in the group. Tall number 29 is obviously Ken Dryden; wearing number 30 I’m thinking is Phil Myre. That leaves the ’minder fourth in from the left. Rogie Vachon was still with Montreal that year, but it doesn’t look like him, so possibly it’s the other man to have worn number 1 that year, Denis DeJordy? I’ll go with that. There are a couple of obscured players on the right side of the group. Excusing them, it looks like we’ve got, from left, Henri Richard, Pierre Bouchard, Guy Lafleur (who turns 69 tomorrow), maybe DeJordy, Guy Lapointe, Yvan Cournoyer, possibly Rey Comeau, Jacques Laperriere, Bowman, Jacques Lemaire, Rejean Houle, Frank Mahovlich, Ken Dryden, Serge Savard, Myre, Jimmy Roberts, and Marc Tardif. (Image: Antoine Desilets, Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec)
Sight Visit: Photographer Antoine Desilets takes a through-the-mask goalie’s point of view at a Montreal practice circa 1973-74, and catches — how about that — a pair of Canadiens netminders passing by. That’s Wayne Thomas on the left, Michel Larocque at right. (Image: Antoine Desilets, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec)
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