His eyes burned with the intensity of a sun.
As his focus narrowed on the goalie in front of him, everything else faded away.
Time crawled and opposing players moved in slow motion.
The roar of the crowd faded into the distance.
There was only him, the goalie, and the sound of his beating heart.
In his mind, he planned out his next move and saw the future.
With a quick fake to his left, the goalie darted over to stop the shot.
But the shot never came.
Instead, he shifted back to his right and flicked the puck into what was now a wide-open net.
It was his 50th goal in his 50th game.
Something no other player had ever done before.
I’m Craig Baird and this is Canadian History Ehx!
Over the course of this month, I have chronicled the lives of the stars of the NHL’s Original Six Era.
Today we are closing out the series with the man who played with such passion and fire that they called him The Rocket.
This is the story of…Maurice Richard!
If you’re a fan of hockey, you know how it goes…
You’re at a party, or at a pub and if there’s another fan in the room, the conversation might turn to the eternal debate…Who is the greatest hockey player of all time?
Some, like myself, will say Gordie Howe. Others will bring up Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, or even Sidney Crosby.
Connor McDavid is in the conversation too.
While they all have made huge impacts on hockey, only one made his influence known outside of the rink and helped shape both our culture and history.
He is more than a hockey player.
He is an icon.
He’s Maurice “The Rocket” Richard.
His story began in Montreal on Aug. 4, 1921.
He would be Onesime and Alice Richard’s, first of eight children.
Onesime was a carpenter with the Canadian Pacific Railway throughout the 1920s and the family was thankful for it.
At the time, Montreal had an unemployment rating of 26 percent, and jobs were very hard to come by.
Unfortunately, within a few years, the Great Depression hit the family hard as his father lost his job and for the next six years the family had to rely on governmental aid and local charities.
As for Maurice, his path to hockey immortality was set when he was four.
That’s when he received his first pair of skates and it didn’t take long for him to be playing hockey on any ice surface he could find, including the backyard rink his father built each winter.
Like many future hockey stars of the Original Six era, Maurice entered organized hockey late, instead, he spent years playing shinny with local kids. The games were simple.
Get the puck, hold it as long as possible until you could score a goal.
Oh, and don’t get hurt.
When he turned 14, Maurice joined his first organized team and quickly became one of the top young players in the city.
From 1937 to 1939, he led the Junior A Verdun Maple Leafs to three consecutive championships.
In his final season he scored 133 of the team’s 144 goals.
He did that while also playing on several other teams at the same time.
It wasn’t exactly allowed but to get around the rules, Maurice played under different names with each team.
That is how much he loved hockey.
In 1940, Maurice signed with the Montreal Senior Canadiens, a farm team for the Montreal Canadiens.
But if you think that he showed signs of being the legend he was to become you would be wrong.
He played just 32 games in his first two seasons, because of injuries and only scored a mere 18 points.
It was okay, but far from iconic.
And to make ends meet, Maurice was working as a machinist for Canadian Pacific Railway.
That is… until he got THE call.
He was going to the big leagues.
By the time he got pulled from the minors, NHL rosters had been heavily depleted as players went off to serve in the Second World War.
There were several spots to fill on the Montreal Canadiens so on Oct. 30, 1942, just over a month after he married his wife Lucille, Maurice Richard signed his first NHL contract.
He made his Canadiens debut just over a week later on Nov. 8 and recorded his first goal.
But as soon as he hit the ice, there were questions in the media and among fans of whether Maurice could handle playing in the NHL.
He had suffered several broken bones including his wrist and ankle, while he was in the minor leagues and in fact that first season, he was on a line with Tony Demers and future Hall of Famer Elmer Lach which became known as The Ambulance Line.
That’s because all three players dealt with injuries during their minor league careers.
In Maurice’s case, some of those worries seemed well-founded when after only 16 games, he broke his leg and was out for the rest of the season.
People may have questioned if Maurice’s body could handle playing in the NHL but those who knew him never did.
They saw the intense fire that burned behind his eyes. All he needed was a chance.
Maurice had an iron will and determination.
He wanted to prove his doubters wrong, so he embarked on an intense training program to strengthen his body and limit the potential for injuries.
This decision to train before training camp was ahead of its time.
At the time, off season prep meant laying off of fatty foods and alcohol a few weeks before hitting the ice.
But Maurice’s work paid off.
In 1943-44, coach Dick Irvin placed him on a line with Toe Blake and Elmer Lach.
They became known as the Punch Line, and they dominated the NHL.
He played in 46 of 50 games and recorded 32 goals and 54 points.
In his sophomore season he helped the Canadiens finish first in the NHL.
Then… in the playoffs he shut down any doubters.
In the second game of the semi-final against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Maurice scored all five goals for the Canadiens.
In a 5-1 victory, he was named the first, second and third star of the game, the first time a player ever had that honour.
Montreal won the next three games to win the series and head into the Stanley Cup Final against the Chicago Black Hawks.
Maurice and the Canadiens were unstoppable as they swept the Black Hawks in four straight games, and Maurice scored all three Montreal goals in game two and added another two in game four.
Maurice had an incredible 17 points, including 12 goals, in nine games.
If the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the playoff MVP, existed at that point, he would have won it.
And thanks to his on-ice speed, strength, and determination he also got the nickname The Rocket, which was coined by either Baz O’Meara of the Montreal Star or teammate Ray Getliffe.
The nickname also matched Maurice’s explosive personality.
His future teammate, Jacques Plante, said it was the most appropriate nickname ever given to an athlete.
He even said Maurice’s eyes had such intensity on the ice they were like a rocket’s red glare.
Glenn Hall faced Maurice many times as an opposing goalie. He said,
“What I remember most about Rocket was his eyes. 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.”
Heading into 1944-45, no one doubted Maurice could play in the NHL. Now they wanted to see just how good he could be.
Maurice showed them by having one of the greatest seasonal performances in NHL history.
As soon as the puck dropped, he flew out of the gate, putting the puck into the net at will.
He scored so often it was rare when he didn’t.
Sometimes he scored a lot, and that led to a fabled incident that has gone down in hockey lore.
Maurice had spent days moving heavy furniture into the new home he had purchased.
His shoulder ached, and he was exhausted.
When he got to the Montreal Forum on Dec. 28, 1944, for a game against the Detroit Red Wings, he seemed to want to do nothing but just go to sleep.
Those who saw him earlier were shocked when his skates hit the ice, and the Rocket’s thrusters flared to life.
His fierce competitive drive took over to fuel his tired body.
That game, he recorded five goals and three assists for eight points to set a new single game record.
It stood for 32 years until 1976 when Toronto’s Darryl Sittler made10 points.
And he wasn’t done yet.
That season Maurice put the puck in the net at such an incredible pace that by February 1945, it wasn’t a question of if he would break the single season goal record, but when.
That record had stood since the NHL’s first season, 1917-18, and was held by Phantom Joe Malone by scoring 44 goals.
Joe Malone was present on February 25, 1945, when Maurice shot the puck in the net.
It was a momentous event, and he personally presented the record-breaking puck to Maurice.
By now, the entire league was watching to see if Maurice would score the unheard of 50 goals in 50 games.
While he was beloved by Montreal fans who cheered him on, he was hated everywhere else.
Opposing players started to target him specifically to prevent him from making 50.
He was slashed, hooked, tripped, high sticked and more.
Opposing players draped themselves on him to slow him down and prevent him from scoring.
It seemed to work. His pace slowed down and as the end of the season neared, he went eight games without a single goal.
Then came March 18, 1944,
As fans entered the Montreal Forum for that evening’s game, some were still feeling the effects from St. Patrick’s Day festivities the day before.
The tension was incredible as debate among spectators raged.
Would Maurice finally achieve 50 goals?
It was the last game of the season, against the lowly Boston Bruins.
He stood at 49 goals.
Through the entire hard-fought game, Maurice battled but Boston’s players wouldn’t leave him alone and he couldn’t seem to find the net.
As the fire in him started to rage out of control, his fierce eyes lit up.
He was not going to be denied.
With 2:15 left in the game, he skated through several Boston players and put his 50th goal in 50 games into the back of the net.
It was an incredible moment, and it solidified Maurice as a superstar in the NHL.
His incredible feat would not be equalled until 1961 and was not broken until 1964 and by them, the NHL season was 70 games long. Which meant players had more chances to achieve it.
Mike Bossy was the first to achieve 50 goals in 50 games in 1981 and doing so has become one of the most celebrated achievements in the NHL.
It’s what you have to do to make your mark on history as a legendary goal scorer.
Maurice, Bossy, Brett Hull and Wayne Gretzky have all done it.
Gretzky went further by doing it three times, including 50 goals in 39 games, while Hull has scored 50-in-50 twice.
Those greats stood on the shoulders of The Rocket, the man who did it first.
Although Maurice Richard was idolized and praised by the French-language media and fans, English-speaking hockey fans and media questioned his abilities.
Those critics would say that he only scored 50 in 50 because the talent pool of the NHL was diluted by the Second World War.
During his rise French-Canadians worked for Anglophones who owned most of the factories and businesses in Quebec.
Their lives were dictated by the Catholic Church, who controlled health care, education, and culture.
There was no official bilingualism in Canada at the time, and for decades Francophones watched other provinces attempt to suppress the French language and culture.
That is why Maurice Richard began to mean so much.
He was a French-Canadian breaking record and dominating a league where most players, managers, coaches, and league staff were Anglophones all while the league was run by Clarence Campbell, who also opposed Francophone players.
And he would allow a suspension that forever altered Quebec’s history.
But we will get to that.
After Maurice’s history-making season, the following one brought the seed of doubt.
By 1945-46 many players who served in the war were back in the NHL and Maurice’s goal total fell to 27. Critics saw this as evidence that the French-Canadian player wasn’t as good as he thought he was.
They said this as he had 11 points in nine games and led the Canadiens to their second Stanley Cup in three years.
Maurice Richard wasn’t going to let the critics have a win and he roared back to life during 1946-47, when he made45 goals and 71 points and for the first and only time in his career, he won the Hart Trophy as the League MVP.
The Canadiens finished first that season but lost to the Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup Final
As the next season was about to begin Maurice asked for a raise.
He had good reason to, he was unquestionably the best player in the league, but management would have none of it.
If you have been listening to the show the past few weeks, you know that management ruled with an iron first. Even the best players were underpaid, and any attempts to create a players association were quickly struck down.
But Maurice was an exception. Fans loved him so in the end, management agreed to a raise, but it didn’t mean it would be smooth sailing for The Rocket
He had a tough season, not only did he lose his linemate Toe Blake to a career ending leg injury, but Maurice also injured his knee and missed the end of the season.
The Montreal Canadiens fell in the standings and for the first time since 1939-40, they did not make the playoffs.
The next season was even worse.
Opponents realized that they could get under Maurice’s skin and throw him off his game.
If they slashed, hooked, or insulted him, he lost his temper.
His angry outbursts led to ejections from games, and sometimes suspensions.
In1948-49 goading reached a new level and it impacted his play.
That season, he only had 20 goals but nearly led the league in penalty minutes with 110. That is the equivalent of two entire games in the penalty box.
In the playoffs, Montreal fell to Detroit in the semi-final. It was clear that the taunts and on-ice attacks were a problem so to counter that, the following season, Maurice found a delicate balance between his ferocious on-ice temper, and his incredible hockey skills.
While he recorded 114 penalty minutes, he also led the league in goals with 43.
By 1950-51 Maurice was considered one of the best players in the league but he was also a veteran, and his expertise helped the Canadiens reach the Stanley Cup Finals.
Sadly, they lost that series, but you might remember it because Bill Barilko disappeared that summer… He was on a fishing trip and the last goal he ever scored won the Leafs the cup. I did an episode on his story in 2025, so be sure to check it out.
While the Leafs didn’t win another until 1962, for the Canadiens it was the first of 10 consecutive appearances at the Stanley Cup Final.
The following season the first round of the playoffs against the Boston Bruins was a brutal affair. Through the seven-game series, Maurice recorded four goals. He also kept his temper in check despite constant harassment by Bruins’ players and, only one penalty.
In the deciding game seven of the 1951-52 series, Maurice was checked hard by Leo Labine. As he fell, he hit his head on Bill Quackenbush’s knee and was knocked out. Despite suffering a concussion, Maurice returned to the game in the third period with a large cut stitched up above his eye. Even though coach Dick Irvin knew Maurice was dazed he sent him out in the final minutes of the game.
At 16:19 Maurice scored the game winning goal to send the Canadiens to the Final for the second straight season.
The media called it “Richard’s Unconscious Goal.”
As the two teams shook hands at the end of the game, a bruised and bloodied Maurice Richard was photographed shaking the hand of Bruins goalie Jim Henry, who was also suffering from injuries. Two gladiators of the arena fighting hard for their teams.
It became one of the most famous NHL photos of the 1950s.
But Maurice wouldn’t have a picture-perfect season.
In the Stanley Cup Final, the Detroit Red Wings and their star goalie Terry Sawchuk swept the Canadiens in four straight games.
While players rested in their off season one thing became very clear… Maurice would be headed into the 1952-53 season chasing Nels Stewart’s all-time NHL record.
That’s 324 goals.
When the season began, fans followed along as Maurice ticked closer to the record with each goal.
On Oct. 29, 1952, he scored two goals in a game against the Maple Leafs and tied the record.
But then… he was scoreless for three games… until…Nov. 8, 1952, in front of a packed house at the Montreal Forum, he scored his 325th goal and made history…. again.
The Montreal Gazette wrote that the ovation he received shook the rafters.
There was no denying that Maurice Richard was the NHL’s all time leading scorer.
In the playoffs, he guided the Canadiens to their first Stanley Cup since 1946.
Maurice was riding high and things were looking up.
The team was becoming unstoppable with the addition of legends Jacques Plante, Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, and Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion.
Maurice had already cemented himself as one of the all-time hockey greats… but soon something would happen that would place him in the path with Canadian history.
As the 1954-55 season came to a close in mid-March, the Canadiens were on a tear.
They had not lost a game since Feb. 9,
On March 12, they defeated the Boston Bruins 2-1 at the Montreal Forum where, Maurice was thrown against the net and injured his back.
The next day, the two teams were scheduled to meet again, this time at Boston Gardens.
The Bruins were fighting to hold onto a playoff spot, while the Canadiens were doing their best to keep their winning streak alive.
The stakes were high and Maurice headed into the game, injured and in a foul mood.
On the train trip to Boston, he was unable to sleep because of the pain.
He told a Montreal reporter,
“My back still hurts like the dickens. I feel beat.”
The next day, Maurice suited up.
In the first period, Dickie Moore scored his 16th goal of the season to put the Canadiens up 1-0.
Tempers were high and there were seven penalties including one fight.
Things took a turn for the worse when the Bruins scored three straight goals to go up 3-1 in the second period.
Maurice also took a penalty for high-sticking.
As they entered the third period The Rockets’ temper began to flare.
The Bruins were now up 4-1, and they began to pester Maurice to get him to boil over.
With 4:59 left in the third period, Bruin Hal Laycoe high-sticked Maurice in the head during a Canadiens powerplay, cutting his forehead.
The referee put his hand up to signal a delayed penalty since the Canadiens had possession of the puck.
But by then Maurice was seeing red and like Mount Vesuvius he exploded.
Laycoe dropped his gloves in anticipation of a fight, but The Rocket took his stick and struck him over the head and shoulders instead.
The linesmen attempted to restrain Maurice, but he broke loose and attacked Laycoe once more.
Cliff Thompson grabbed him, but Maurice turned around and punched him twice in the head, knocking him out.
After everyone was separated, Maurice left the ice.
He required five stitches to his head, and Vince Lunny, a writer with the Montreal Star said his face looked like a smashed potato.
For his part in the incident, Laycoe was given a game misconduct, while Maurice received a game misconduct and an automatic $100 fine.
The game continued, but the Canadiens fell 4-2, losing their first game in weeks.
After the game, Boston Police wanted to arrest The Rocket and charge him with assault.
Canadiens players blocked the door to prevent them from getting to their teammate.
Bruins’ officials convinced the officers to let the Canadiens leave on condition that the NHL would handle the issue.
Now it fell to NHL President Clarence Campbell… who as you might remember wasn’t a fan of francophone players.
On March 16, 1955, Maurice Richard, Hay Laycoe, Canadiens assistant manager Ken Reardon, Boston General Manager Lynn Patrick, Canadiens coach Dick Irvin and NHL referee-in-chief Carl Voss attended a hearing at league headquarters in Montreal.
Speaking in his defence, Maurice said “When I’m hit, I get mad, and I don’t know what I do. Before each game, I think about my temper and how I should control it, but as soon as I get on the ice, I forget all that.”
After three hours of testimony, Campbell made a decision.
In his judgement, Maurice would be suspended for the rest of the season and the playoffs.
It was the longest suspension in NHL history and would be the longest suspension ever handed down by Campbell in his 31 years as president.
The suspension was a serious blow to Maurice, who saw his chances of finally winning the Art Ross Trophy evaporate.
It was also a massive blow to the Canadiens so it’s no surprise angry phone calls flooded the NHL office and one person even said,
“Tell Campbell I’m an undertaker and he’ll be needing me in a few days.”
Despite the threats, Campbell would be in attendance at the next Canadiens game on March 17, 1955.
Two hours before puck drop, hundreds of people were in the lobby of the Montreal Forum.
Several tried to crash the gate, but they were stopped by police.
By the time the game started, there were 6,000 people waiting for Campbell who arrived midway through the first period and by then, the Canadiens were down 3-0, and the crowd was ready to explode.
As soon as Campbell took his seat, 15,000 Canadiens fans started to boo.
The boos escalated into a barrage of eggs and vegetables.
For six straight minutes, a giant chef’s salad fell on Campbell, while the boos continued unabated.
At one point, an orange hit Campbell square in the back, while another object knocked his hat clean off.
A fan walked up to Campbell and squished two tomatoes into his chest and then ran up the Forum stairs.
Toronto Star photographer Frank Teskey turned to take a picture of the man, only for a grapefruit to hit his camera out of his hands.
At one point, a fan pretending to be a friend got close enough to extend a handshake and instead slapped Campbell across the face.
Moments later, at 9:11 p.m., there was a bang and flash.
Ottawa Journal reporter W.G. Westwick wrote,
“Smoke poured up, billowing straight up and then spreading through the section. Women were screaming and all near the scene either fanned out or retreated. Campbell left shortly afterwards. I’ve never seen as many people with tears streaming down their face.”
Someone had thrown a tear gas bomb, and the game was immediately suspended.
The Forum had to be evacuated.
Campbell sent a note to Jack Adams, the General Manager of the Red Wings, stating the game was forfeited to his team.
Meanwhile, as the crowd poured out of The Forum they met with the crowd that had been waiting outside.
The streets echoed with chants of Vive Richard and Down with Campbell.
Police in the area tried to disperse the crowd but people started to throw things at the officers.
Tensions were at an all time high and then… someone smashed a window.
And seconds later the sound of shattered glass took over downtown Montreal.
Cars were overturned, and the smell of smoke filled the air as newsstands were lit on fire. Signs were pulled down and doors were torn off their hinges.
In a 15-block radius around the Montreal Forum, over 50 store windows were smashed, and their contents looted as the anger over a suspension became a free-for-all.
At the United Cigar Store, which was on the main floor of the Forum, saleswomen barricaded themselves in the stock room to escape being injured.
By midnight, the riot ballooned to the point that police arrived with revolvers, sticks, and tear gas bombs.
Firefighters were also ready to use high-pressure hoses on the crowd.
Choosing restraint, Chief of Police Tom Leggett stated
“It might have led to panic and hysteria and that’s when people get killed.”
Police kept the crowd contained to a 15-block radius as the riot continued for hours.
By 3 a.m., the rioters dispersed and left the area in shambles.
In the aftermath, 100 people were arrested while there was approximately $100,000 in damages and $68,000 in stolen merchandise in just one jewelry store.
Today it would be over 2 million dollars.
Twenty-five civilians and 12 police officers suffered minor injuries.
On March 18, Maurice gave a statement in French and English and stated,
“Because I always try so hard to win and had my troubles in Boston, I was suspended. At playoff time, it hurts not to be in the game with the boys. However, I want to do what is good for the people of Montreal and the team. So that no further harm will be done, I would like to ask everyone to get behind the team and to help the boys win from the New York Rangers and Detroit.”
As for the scoring race, Maurice’s teammate Bernie Geoffrion surpassed Maurice by a single goal in the second-last game of the season to capture the Art Ross Trophy.
Instead of celebrating Geoffrion’s accomplishment, the Montreal Canadiens fans booed him after he scored.
Geoffrion said,
“I couldn’t deliberately not score, that isn’t the point of hockey. I was feeling the urge to vomit. I felt terrible.”
His teammates supported him however, so there was no ill will among the Canadiens. m.
One thing is certain: the Maurice suspension and the Richard Riot from 1955 are often viewed in retrospect as a sign of growing nationalism within Quebec that led to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s.
It brought progressive change to the province and ended Catholic Church control.
That nationalism grew in the 1970s, leading to the election of the Parti Quebecois and a call for Quebec nationhood that lasted well into the 1990s.
As for Maurice Richard, he dismissed his own role in the Quiet Revolution.
You can learn more about The Quiet Revolution in an episode I did on it back in 2024.
When his suspension ended Maurice was back on the ice. Meanwhile fans continued to boo Geoffrion well into the following season which saw Richard joined by his younger brother Henri, who became known as The Pocket Rocket.
In his own Hall of Fame career, Henri won a record 11 Stanley Cups.
The Canadiens were now coached by former Punch Line teammate Toe Blake, who replaced Dick Irvin.
Irvin had retired due to ill health and sadly passed away a year later from bone cancer.
Maurice worked with his friend and coach to control his temper, and he went from a career high 125 penalty minutes in 1954-55, to 89.
He also recorded 71 points in 70 games and helped the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup.
The next season, Maurice became the Canadiens’ captain and continued to work on his rage as his penalty minutes dropped to 27.
But he never lost the lust for scoring.
He may have been in his mid 30s, but he still recorded 62 points and led the Canadiens to the 56-57 Stanley Cup Final win against the Boston Bruins.
On Oct. 19, 1957, he became the first NHL player to score 500 goals in his career.
This bright spot of the season was marred soon after when he suffered a severed Achilles tendon and missed three months.
He returned in time to record 11 goals in the playoffs as he led the Canadiens to a third straight Stanley Cup.
The following season Maurice Richard was 37 and the oldest player in the league and although he missed part of the season due to injury, he helped the Canadiens become the first NHL team to win four Stanley Cups in a row.
But the writing was on the wall, injuries were nagging and the following season would be his last.
In it he scored 35 points in 51 games and in the playoffs that year, he had four points in eight games and guided the Canadiens to a record fifth Stanley Cup in a row.
With nothing left to prove, Maurice announced his retirement on Sept. 15, 1960.
In 978 games, he recorded 544 goals and 966 points. Like other NHL greats, Maurice was inducted immediately into the Hockey Hall of Fame. His famous #9 was also retired by the Canadiens who made him team ambassador.
Three years later he became team vice president.
But like we saw with the Gordie Howe episode, Maurice wasn’t there to guide the team. He was window dressing with no real power.
So, in 1965, he resigned and became bitter towards the team.
So much so that for the next 15 years he refused to have anything to do with the Montreal Canadiens.
To fill his time, he became a consulting editor for the magazine Maurice Richard’s Hockey Illustrated, and he owned the 544/9 Tavern in Montreal.
He also became a TV pitchman, helping sell everything from beer and car batteries to fishing tackle and children’s toys.
His most famous commercial was for a hair dye product and included a referee uttering the famous line,
“Hey Richard, two minutes for looking so good!”
He even attempted to follow the path of his friend Toe Blake and become a coach.
He joined the Quebec Nordiques of the World Hockey Association in 1972, but the resigned after two games.
By 1981 he reconciled with the Montreal Canadiens and became a team ambassador.
For the next15 years he was a fixture of old-timer games and became one of hockey’s elder statesman.
Everywhere he went, he was revered as a hockey god, even by people who had never seen him play.
In 1992, Maurice became the first hockey player ever appointed to the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada.
From then on, he could be The Honourable Maurice Richard, but he never used the title and instead preferred to be known as The Rocket.
Ken Dryden is the only other player to receive the same honour but his came because he served as a federal cabinet minister after he retired from hockey.
When the Canadiens played their final game at the Montreal Forum on March 11, 1996, fans gave Maurice a 16-minute standing ovation when he walked onto the ice.
The outpouring of love brought him to tears.
Three years later, he was one of the first inductees into Canada’s Walk of Fame. That same year, the Montreal Canadiens donated the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy to the NHL.
It was to be presented annually to the season’s top goal scorer.
By then, The Rocket’s health was failing, he had battled cancer for years and on March 27, 2000, he lost.
The news of The Rocket’s death swept across Canada.
I remember the day well… It was my 20th birthday and I was in no mood to celebrate.
Instead, we all mourned.
Maurice became the first non-politician in Quebec history to receive a state funeral. Over 115,000 people paid their respects while he was lying-in state at the Molson Centre.
In 2025, he was named a Historic Figure by the Government of Quebec.
But beyond his hockey glory, his greatest legacy is thanks to a short story written two decades after he retired.
In the late-1970s, amid a growing separatist movement, the CBC approached writer Roch Carrier and asked him to write something about Quebec’s political climate.
Carrier started writing an essay but found it dull.
So instead, he thought about his childhood and the memories of growing up in Quebec, playing hockey on the outdoor rinks. From that, a story emerged.
In 1946, Carrier asked for a Canadiens sweater, but Eaton’s incorrectly sent him a Maple Leafs sweater.
The idea of wearing a Maple Leafs sweater when he idolized Maurice Richard was something he could not do.
That story became The Hockey Sweater, which was published in French in 1979.
Within months, it was translated into English by Sheila Fischman.
In 1980, the National Film Board adapted the story into a 10-minute animated short film. Voiced by Carrier and animated by Sheldon Cohen, it cost $199,000 to make.
Maurice Richard watched the premiere of the film and was moved to tears and a few months later it won the 1981 BAFTA for Best Animated Film.
In 1982, an illustrated version of the story was published. It has since sold 300,000 copies.
It has been presented as a gift to royalty and astronaut Robert Thirsk even took it to the International Space Station.
The story has become so important in Canadian culture that a line from it was placed on the back of the 2001 Canadian $5 bill. It remained on it until 2013.
It reads, in French/English:
“The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places – the school, the church and the skating rink – but our real life was on the skating rink.”
Maurice “The Rocket” Richard worried that after he retired, he would be forgotten.
All I can say to that is.
Not bloody likely.
*sources*
- NHL: https://www.nhl.com/player/maurice-richard-8448321/stats
- Canadian Encyclopedia: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rocket-richard
- Ville de Montreal: https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/ordre/en/maurice-richard
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography: https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/richard_maurice_22E.html
- Our Life With The Rocket by Roch Carrier
