Our Life With The Rocket

[BTH]

By Roch Carrier, author of The Hockey Sweater.

I just finished this book and it's great. Much more than just a list of goals. It shows just how influential Maurice Richard was in Quebec and how he represented all the French Canadians each time he laced his skates. It shows the determination of a hero. Medical Miracles. It shows just what kind of perosn this Rocket was and what he was to the people.

In this book we see Richard's journey from his father trying to make a living in the depression, to Maurice's death. Alongside, we see Roch himself talking in the first person about how the kids worshipped Maurice Richard.

A great story that I learned a lot form. Lots of NHL trivia. I wasn't around back then so I didn't know so much.

If all you know about the Rocket is a fast player who had 50 goals in 50 games and started a riot then this book is for you.

[shortcat1]

When I was 10 years old, I sat in front of a TV set with my dad and grand-father and watched, in black and white, the last game of the 1960 Stanley Cup finals. I didn't know much about that stuff at that time, I was more into playing cowboys and indians, bat the can, hide & seek and keeping from getting beat up by some of the local bullies in my hometown called Thorne.

I don't remember much of the game itself except for the guys skating all over the ice. I do remember that there must have been a lot of talk about this guy called Maurice (Rocket) Richard. When I asked my dad and grand-father who this guy was, the answer must have been profound because, after that, I became a Montreal fan and a growingly ardent one. I soon began to collect hockey coins and photos from Beehive Corn Syrup. I began to 'idolize' people like Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Don Marshall, Ralph Backstrom, Tom Johnson, Jean-Claude Tremblay, Doug Harvey, Henri Richard, Claude Provost, etc. They were all the same to me. They all wore the same sweater and they were all great! They were all heros! They were all and only what I longed to be. (The 'all and only' didn't change until an Ed Sullivan Show in early 1964.)

I cheered for them in each of the following four failing seasons. I waited for hours outside the Témiscamingue arena in order to see Jacques Laperriere drive up in his red convertible and to get an autograph from him (that I've since lost). I rejoiced with them when they won the next two Stanley Cups. I 'died' with them when Toronto (and that damned Johnny Bower) came back from a 2-0 game deficit to win the cup 4 games to 2 in 1967. The story continues through to this day, through the rejoicings when the ultimate happened many times, through the frustrations when they ran into the Minnesota North Stars and then Andy Moog and then the damned Québec Nordiques and all the 1st rounders that faded away, including the never-to-be forgotten time that I kissed the floor of the Forum when I went there to see my first ever game live and watch them beat the Hartford Whalers .

I can go on and on with all sorts of anecdotes but, suffice it to say that All OF THIS started with watching a guy called Rocket Richard who I didn't even know existed only minutes before I started to watch that hockey game with my dad and grand-father.

Now, there's an impact on a northern Ontario Franco-Ontarian child, n'est-ce pas?

[Leafs Suck]

Meeting the Rocket three years before his death was one of the greatest moments in my life.