Richard, Maurice

Maurice Richard

1921-2000

Canadian hockey player

When Maurice Richard—universally known by his nickname, "The Rocket"—died in Montreal on May 27, 2000, the entire nation of Canada went into mourning. One of the greatest players in the history of hockey, Richard's legendary exploits on the ice helped the Montreal Canadiens win eight Stanley Cup championships during his eighteen years with the team. The leading goal scorer in the National Hockey League (NHL) five times, Richard was also the first player to score fifty goals in one season. Yet Richard's true importance to his fans lay not in his impressive statistics and career longevity, but rather in what he symbolized. To many people in the province of Quebec, Richard was the epitome of French-Canadian pride. Indeed, Richard's professional career from 1942 to 1960 paralleled the growth in Quebecois consciousness that culminated in

the so-called Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, when the province's social, political, and economic landscapes transformed the Canadian nation.

Native Son of Montreal

Joseph Henry Maurice Richard was born on August 4, 1921 in Montreal, Quebec. The oldest child of Onesime, a carpenter for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and Alice Richard, Maurice grew up in a rough neighborhood in Montreal's north end, where the Richard family house sat next to a city jail. Richard began playing hockey in his neighborhood when he was about four years old and played in the city's athletic leagues through his teens. After playing in junior hockey leagues while studying to be a machinist at the Montreal Technical School, Richard joined the Montreal Canadiens organization in 1940 and was sent to play for its minor-league affiliate, the Montreal Royals. Although he scored a goal in his first game with the team, Richard suffered a broken ankle when his skate got caught in a rut on the ice. He sat out the rest of the season.

Returning to the Royals for the 1941-42 season, Richard lasted thirty-one games before another injury—this time, a broken wrist—put him out of action. He had healed sufficiently to rejoin the team for the playoffs, where he scored six goals. The performance was impressive enough to get Richard called up to the Canadiens for the start of the 1942-43 season. Signed as a free agent in October 1942, he was again made inactive when he broke his ankle after just sixteen games. Given the recurring injuries, Canadiens general manager Tommy Gorman had doubts about Richard's future on the team. In the midst of World War II, however, there was a lack of available players to join the roster; Richard himself had attempted to enlist twice in the Canadian Armed Forces but was deferred because of his numerous injuries. With the Canadiens mired in fourth place in the then-six-team NHL at the end of the season, there was little choice but to let Richard rejoin the team for the 1943-44 season.

First of Eight Stanley Cup Victories in 1944

For the 1943-44 season, Richard began wearing the number-nine jersey in honor of his first child, daughter Huguette, who had been born to his wife, Lucille, weighing in at nine pounds. The couple eventually had seven children and remained married up to the time of Lucille Richard's death in 1994. In addition to picking up a new number for the 1943-44 season, Richard also earned a new nickname, "The Rocket," bestowed upon him by teammate Ray Getliffe. The moniker was a testament to the left-handed, right wing's speed and power on the ice, as well as for his explosive temperament that often resulted in fights with his opponents. Although his size was modest—at just five feet, ten inches tall and weighing between 170 and 180 pounds—Richard had the ability to intimidate his opponents just by staring them down. "What I remember most about the Rocket were his eyes," said goalie Glenn Hall in a remark later reprinted in Richard's Associated Press obituary, "When he came flying toward you with the puck on his stick, his eyes were all lit up, flashing and gleaming like a pinball machine. It was terrifying."

Richard's thirty-two regular season goals helped the Canadiens finish the 1943-44 season in first place. In the team's first game of the Stanley Cup finals, Richard scored five goals to give the Canadiens the win. The team subsequently swept the series to claim their first NHL victory since the league assumed sponsorship of the Stanley Cup in 1926. Although the Canadiens did not make it to the finals the following season, Richard topped the NHL for goals scored in the 1944-45 season, with fifty goals in fifty games. It was the first time any player had reached that number; the record was not surpassed until 1966. Richard went on to lead the league in goal scoring in four more seasons: 1946-47; 1949-50; 1953-54; and 1954-55, when he shared the honor with Montreal's Bernie Geoffrion. Richard also won the Hart Trophy as Most Valuable Player in the NHL at the conclusion of the 1946-47 season; it was the only Hart Trophy he received in his career, much to the disappointment of his fans.

With his own weekly newspaper column, which he often used to criticize NHL officials and administrators, Richard became Quebec's best-known athlete by the early 1950s. Although he was often criticized himself for his rough tactics on the ice, Richard's rivalry with Detroit Red Wings star Gordie Howe delighted fans of both teams. Montreal emerged as the NHL champion at the end of the 1952-53 season, but the Red Wings held the edge in the first half of the 1950s, when the team won the Stanley Cup four times.

Chronology

1921	Born August 4 to Onesime and Alice Richard in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
1942	Begins playing in National Hockey League (NHL) for Montreal Canadiens
1944	Canadiens win Stanley Cup
1945	Leads National Hockey League in scoring with fifty goals
1946	Canadiens win Stanley Cup
1947	Wins Hart Trophy as NHL's Most Valuable Player
1950	Leads National Hockey League in scoring with forty-three goals
1953	Canadiens win Stanley Cup
1954	Leads National Hockey League in scoring with thirty-seven goals
1955	Shares leading National Hockey League scoring record with thirty-eight goals
1955	Suspension leads to riot in Montreal in protest
1956	Montreal Canadiens begin string of five consecutive Stanley Cup victories
1960	Retires as professional hockey player
1980	Works for Montreal Canadiens as special team ambassador
1998	Maurice Richard Trophy created by National Hockey League for season's top goal scorer
2000	Dies in Montreal on May 27

Awards and Accomplishments

1944, 1946, 1953, 1956-60	NHL Stanley Cup (Montreal Canadiens)
1947	Wins Hart Trophy as NHL's Most Valuable Player during regular season
1961	Induction into Hockey Hall of Fame

The Richard Riot

After losing to Detroit in the 1954 championship by one game, the Canadiens were determined to turn the tables the following year. Richard was especially pleased to welcome his younger brother, Henri, to the lineup of the Canadiens for the 1954-55 season, which promised to be one of the Rocket's finest. Yet Richard's season ended in one of the most controversial episodes in sports history. In Boston on March 13, 1955, Richard was struck on the head by Bruins defenseman Hal Laycoe during a third-period power play that left the Bruins short-handed. Richard retaliated by hitting Laycoe with his own stick and, after a linesman took that away, with two other sticks that he managed to grab. Finally restrained by linesman Cliff Thompson, Richard hit the official twice before leaving the ice. Richard left the game to receive five stitches to a head wound caused by Laycoe, and Laycoe received a five-minute penalty for high sticking.

NHL president Clarence Campbell was outraged by Richard's treatment of the game officials. In a hearing held in Montreal on March 16, 1955, the league announced that Richard would be suspended for the rest of the regular season and any playoff games as well. The decision shocked Canadiens fans for its severity; not only would it put Richard out of the race for that year's top scorer award, but it would also jeopardize the team's chances for a Stanley Cup victory. Many French-speaking Canadians also saw Campbell's decision as a slap in the face by the English-speaking elites who then dominated the country's economic and political spheres.

Although he had received numerous death threats for issuing the suspension of Richard, Campbell insisted on attending the game between the Canadiens and the Red Wings at the Montreal Forum the day after the decision was announced. He was greeted with jeers and insults and after he took his seat, a variety of objects began raining down on him. At the end of the first period, one spectator walked up to Campbell as if to shake his hand; instead, he started punching the NHL president. Another fan later made his way up to Campbell and threw tomatoes at him. Despite the assaults, Campbell remained in his seat until another protester threw a tear gas canister into the audience. The bomb exploded and sent the Forum crowd scrambling toward the exits. No one was injured in the incident and the game was immediately canceled; the victory was awarded to the Red Wings, who were leading by a score of three to one.

What happened next turned the event into the Richard Riot. As fans fled the Forum, a restless crowd started to gather on the streets. Outraged by Campbell's seeming arrogance, the mob turned violent and began smashing windows and looting stores in downtown Montreal. It was not until 3:00 am that the crowd of about 10,000 people was finally dispersed, some six hours after the event began. Richard immediately went on the radio to ask his fans to restore order, and calm prevailed the next day. Privately, however, Richard blamed Campbell for deliberately inciting the crowd with this appearance at the Forum. L'affaire Richard, as the event was also known, not only ended Richard's season but contributed to the loss by the Canadiens to the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup finals by a single game.

Five Consecutive Stanley Cup Victories

The infamous conclusion of the 1954-55 season fueled Richard's desire for another Stanley Cup victory. The Canadiens indeed won the 1956 championship over the Red Wings in a four-to-one game series. Thus began one of the greatest hockey dynasties in the sport's history, as the team went on to win five consecutive championships. In all Richard contributed to eight Stanley Cup victories by the Canadiens in his eighteen years with the team.

Ironically, the Canadiens' success from 1956 to 1960 occurred when Richard's skills were being dimmed by age. At the conclusion of the 1959-60 season, Richard announced his retirement. Within a year, in contradiction of the rule mandating a five-year waiting period for retired players, Richard was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He continued to work for the Canadiens for a brief period, but tensions with the team's owners left him disillusioned. He instead worked as a sporting goods salesman for several years until the Canadiens lured him back with an offer to serve as the team's goodwill ambassador.

Maurice "Rocket" Richard

Of course, he was much more than "just a hockey player." It wasn't just that he was a winner during his eighteen seasons with the Canadiens, it was the way he won. He could lift a team, a province, and at times even a country into a frenzy of winning. He pushed himself to the brink, and when he and the team won, "his people" imagined themselves winners as well—even if it was for only a little while. When he was Number One, they were too. When he lost, they lost. It's why "his people" erupted into what will always be remembered as the Richard Riot on March 17, 1955. The reason? After clubbing Hal Laycoe of the Boston Bruins with his stick, Richard had been suspended for the last few games of the regular season and for the entire playoffs.

With Richard, the eyes had it. They were coal-black, wet, and shining with the intensity he brought to every game. No wonder he lit up every arena in which he performed. It was the menace implicit in him each time he swooped in on an opposing goaltender, often with another player clinging to his back. It was in his arms and in the barrel of his chest which threatened to burst his sweater at any moment. It was in the tight line of his mouth, and in the snarl it formed when he was challenged.

Source: Red Fisher, Hockey, Heroes, and Me, McClelland & Stewart, 1994.

Career Statistics

Yr	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Canadiens: Montreal Canadiens (NHL).
1942-43	Canadiens	16	5	6	11	4
1943-44	Canadiens	46	32	22	54	45
1944-45	Canadiens	50	50	23	73	46
1945-46	Canadiens	50	27	21	48	50
1946-47	Canadiens	60	45	26	71	69
1947-48	Canadiens	53	28	25	53	89
1948-49	Canadiens	59	20	18	38	110
1949-50	Canadiens	70	43	22	65	114
1950-51	Canadiens	65	42	24	66	97
1951-52	Canadiens	48	27	17	44	44
1952-53	Canadiens	70	28	33	61	112
1953-54	Canadiens	70	37	30	67	112
1954-55	Canadiens	67	38	36	74	125
1955-56	Canadiens	70	38	33	71	89
1956-57	Canadiens	63	33	29	62	74
1957-58	Canadiens	28	15	19	34	28
1958-59	Canadiens	42	17	21	38	27
1959-60	Canadiens	51	19	16	35	50
TOTAL		978	544	421	965	1285

A Nation Mourns

Richard's last major public appearance occurred at the closing of the old Montreal Forum on March 11, 1996, where he was given an extended standing ovation by the audience. Suffering from abdominal cancer and Parkinson's disease, Maurice Richard died on May 27, 2000. An estimated 50,000 people waited in line to pay their respects at a public showing held in the Molson Centre hockey arena before Richard's funeral at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal.

Acknowledged as one of the best players in the sport's history, Maurice Richard's significance reached beyond the hockey rink. As the most popular member of the Canadiens in the 1940s and 1950s, he symbolized the aspirations of a province that often felt slighted by the Anglo-dominated institutions that prevailed in the Canada of that era. Although his fans' passions sometimes boiled over, as in the infamous riot that followed his 1955 suspension, they also contributed to the newfound pride of French-speaking Canadians in their language and heritage that led to a cultural renaissance in the province in the 1960s and beyond.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

Fisher, Red. Hockey, Heroes, and Me. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1994.

McFarlane, Brian. The Habs. Toronto: Stoddart Publishing, 1996.

Periodicals

Bird, Heather. "Adieu, M. Richard." Toronto Sun (June 1, 2000).

Bird, Heather. "A Family Member Lost." Toronto Sun (May 31, 2000).

McRae, Earl. "'He Was Everything to Us.'" Ottawa Sun (June 1, 2000).

Other

Flatter, Ron. "The Rocket Lit Up Hockey." ESPN Classic Web site. http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Richard_Maurice.html (October 20, 2002).

"Maurice Richard Dead at 78.#x201D; Canoe Web site. http://www.canoe.ca/HockeyRocketRichard/may27_dead.html (October 17, 2002).

"Maurice Richard: 'The Rocket.'" Joy of Hockey Web site. http://www.joyofhockey.com/xRet1MauriceRichard.html (October 21, 2002).

"Prime Minister Chretien Speaks Out." Canoe Web site. http://www.canoe.ca/HockeyRocketRichard/may27_pm.html (October 17, 2002).

"Rocket Remembered for His Emotion, Determination." Canoe Web site. http://www.canoe.ca/HockeyRocketRichard/may27_roc.html (October 17, 2002).

Sketch by Timothy Borden