As part of the Winter Classic the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins alumni teams will renew old rivalries and tangle in an Alumni exhibition game. Nothing will be on the line, but it will be a great opportunity to relive some memories by seeing some older players don the blue-blanc-rouge jersey again.
It was Jacques Demers who announced the Alumni team in late November, adding that he would also be coaching the team. The coaching staff will also include three Hall-of-Famers in Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, and Serge Savard, as well as Réjean Houle, the long-standing President of the Montreal Canadiens Alumni Association.
| Forwards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Benoit Brunet #17 | Guy Carbonneau #21 | Mike Keane #12 |
| Mats Naslund #26 | Alex Kovalev #27 | Oleg Petrov #6 |
| Steve Shutt #22 | Normand Dupont #25 | Stéphane Richer #44 |
| Sergio Momesso #36 | Donald Audette #84 | Chris Nilan #30 |
| Christian Bordeleau #23 | Lucien Deblois #27 | |
| Defencemen | ||
|---|---|---|
| Larry Robinson #19 | Eric Desjardins #28 | |
| Gaston Gingras #29 | Patrice Brisebois #43 | |
| Rick Green #5 | Gilbert Delorme #27 | |
| Lyle Odelein #24 | Stéphane Quintal #5 | |
| Francis Bouillon #51 | ||
| Goaltenders | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jose Theodore #60 | Richard Sévigny #33 | |
A Closer Look
#5- Stéphane Quintal played over 500 games with Montreal over two stints: from 1995 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2004, and was one of the top defencemen, as well as one of the feistiest, earning 637 penalty minutes in his time with the team. He is currently the Senior Vice President of Player Safety for the NHL.
#5- Rick Green came to Montreal via trade with Washington and spent the next seven seasons as a stay-at-home defencemen for Montreal, playing 400 games with the team, winning the Jacques Beauchamp Trophy in 1987 as the team’s “unsung hero”, as well as a Stanley Cup in 1986. He also spent six seasons behind the bench as assistant coach from 1999 to 2005.
#6- Oleg Petrov was a on-again/off-again member of the Montreal Canadiens from 1992 to 2000, shuttling between the NHL and AHL, as well as spending three seasons in Switzerland, before finally earning a full-time spot on the team during the 2000-2001 season where he tied Saku Koivu as the team’s leading scorer. All-in-all he played 365 games with the Habs, putting up 183 points in that span.
#12- Mike Keane played professional hockey for 24 seasons, from 1986 to 2010. He played 506 of those games with Montreal where he won a Stanley Cup in 1993 and was team captain in 1995, taking over from Kirk Muller. He was part of the infamous Patrick Roy trade in 1995, and won two more Stanley Cups in 1996 and 1999. After bouncing around several teams to end his NHL career, he spent the last five years of his professional career, captaining the AHL Manitoba Moose, where he helped young prospects adapt to life in hockey.
#17- Benoit Brunet spent the majority of his career with the Canadiens, debuting in 1989 and playing full-time starting from 1992 all the way to 2002 when he was traded to the Stars. As part of his first full-time season he won the Stanley Cup in 1993, and was considered a complete two-way forward in the vain of Guy Carbonneau.
#19- Larry Robinson is a member of the Hockey Hall-of-Fame and spent 17 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, winning the Stanley Cup six times in that span. He also won two Norris Trophies for best defenceman and one Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP. He ranks as the highest scoring defenceman in team history, the fifth highest overall scorer in team history, and rests only behind Henri Richard for total games played as a Hab. His #19 jersey was retired by the Canadiens in 2007.
#21- Guy Carbonneau was Montreal Canadiens captain from 1989 to 1994, and was part of their Stanley Cup winning teams in 1986 and 1993. Renowned for his defensive prowess, he won the Frank J. Selke award three times: 1988, 1989, and 1992. In total he played 912 games for the Habs. In 2006 he became the 28th head coach of the Montreal Canadiens and coached the team to a first place finish in the Northeast Division in 2007-2008 with 104 points, the highest point total since the 1988-89 season.
#22- Steve Shutt played 13 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens from 1972 to 1985, winning five Stanley Cups in that span. In 871 games he scored 408 goals, including nine consecutive seasons with over 30 goals. His offensive production allows him to rank fifth overall for goals scored, and eight overall for points in team history. He is rightfully a member of the Hockey Hall-of-Fame.
#23- Christian Bordeleau is an old-timer among old-timers, having played two seasons with the Canadiens from 1968 to 1970. He was the Stanley Cup with the team in 1969.
#24- Lyle Odelein played 420 games with the Habs between 1989 and 1996, winning the Stanley Cup in 1993. He ranks second all time for the Habs in penalty minutes with 1367. His hockey career continued for another ten seasons after leaving Montreal, playing with Devil, Coyotes, Blue Jackets, Blackhawks, Stars, Panthers, and Penguins, and totalling 1,056 games.
#25- Normand Dupont was a first round draft pick for Montreal in the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft, but only played 35 games with Montreal in the 1979-1980 season before he was traded to Winnipeg.
#26- Mats Naslund was the first European to play for the Montreal Canadiens. He was part of the team from 1982 to 1990, and is 12th all-time for points with the team. He won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for Most Gentlemanly player in 1988, and won the Stanley Cup in 1986.
#27- Gilbert Delorme was a first round draft pick in 1981 for the Canadiens, and played 165 games with the team, including the 1982-1983 season where he was a remarkable (and coincidental) +27.
#27- Lucien Deblois played two seasons with the Canadiens from 1984 to 1986. He won the Stanley Cup with team in 1986.
#27- Alex Kovalev was a very popular, yet highly polarizing, player for the Montreal Canadiens from 2003 to 2009. A player of undeniable talent and game-breaking capability, he frequently lead the team in scoring, but struggled with consistency shift-to-shift.
#28- Eric Desjardins was an offensively gifted defenceman who played with the Canadiens from 1988 to 1995 when he got traded (along with John Leclair and Gilbert Dionne) for Mark Recchi. He is best remembered in Montreal for his hat-trick in game two of the 1993 playoff finals that turned the series momentum in favour of the Canadiens, and ultimately led to a Stanley Cup. He played another 11 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, where he was the team’s top defenceman, and sits only behind Mark Howe for top points by a defenceman on the Flyers.
#29- Gaston Gingras played six seasons in Montreal over two stints with the team and was part of the 1986 Stanley Cup winning team. He was an offensively gifted defenceman, scoring a career high 45 points in 1986-1987.
#30- Chris Nilan is the Canadiens all-time leader in penalty minutes, and it’s not even close. In his nine seasons with Montreal, from 1979 to 1988, Nilan was the most feared enforcer on the team, but still recorded three seasons of 15 or more goals, showing that he was capable of more than just throwing fists. He was part of the Stanley Cup winning team in 1986. After a falling out with Head Coach Jean Perron in 1988, Nilan was traded to the arch-rival Boston Bruins. He returned for one final tour of duty with the Habs in 1991-1992 where he played out the final 17 games of his professional career. His story is documented in the tremendous documentary “The Last Gladiators”.
#33- Richard Sévigny is sometimes forgotten in Montreal Canadiens lore as he was the stopgap starter for the Canadiens between two legendary dynasties at that position: Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy. He played 141 games with Montreal from 1979 to 1984, and won the Vezina Trophy in 1981. Since retiring, Sevigny has been involved in charity hockey games, and is a mainstay in any Montreal Canadiens alumni game.
#36- Sergio Momesso was a promising hard-nosed forward with a very high-offensive upside in the Juniors, and played his rookie season for the Canadiens in the 1985-1986 season. After putting up an impressive 8 goals and 15 points in 24 games, a severe knee injury put an end to his rookie year, and cost him the chance to play on the Stanley Cup winning team. He struggled after returning from injury, and never seemed to recapture the pace of his rookie year. Although his offensive game may have slowed down, his hard nose play didn’t, as he earned himself two consecutive seasons of around 100 PIM. He was traded in 1988.
#43- Patrice Brisebois ranks sixth all-time for games played by a Montreal Canadien defenceman at 896. He was a regular on the blueline from 1990 to 2004, and again from 2007 to 2009. At one point he had the richest contract in Montreal Canadiens history, which began a love-hate relationship with the public over a sentiment that he was under-performing given his contract. This is what lead to his initial departure. However historically speaking his numbers are right up there with some of the greats, including sixth all-time in goals scored for a defenceman, more than Doug Harvey who had played roughly the same amount of games.
#44- Stéphane Richer is the last Montreal Canadien to score 50 goals in a season, accomplishing the milestone on two occasions: 1987-1988 and 1989-1990. Playing 490 games over two stints with the team, he won the Stanley Cup in 1986.
#51- Francis Bouillon is probably still very fresh in the minds of Montreal Canadiens fans as he just played for the team two seasons ago, retiring from the NHL at the conclusion of the 2013-2014 season after a 15 year career. The undrafted defenceman split time between the Nashville Predators and Montreal Canadiens during the course of his career, playing 581 games in Montreal. He was a stay-at-home defenceman, not easily intimated and always eager to get physical beyond his 5’8″ frame. He was well-liked by fans for his never-ending effort levels.
#60- José Theodore was at one time considered the real heir to Patrick Roy in Montreal, culminating in winning a Vezina trophy for best goalie and a Hart trophy for League MVP for his outstanding 2001-2002 season and taking Montreal to its best playoff run since winning the Stanley Cup in 1993. He was immortalized in a picture wearing a touque over top of his goalie helmet at the first Heritage Classic in 2003.
#84- Donald Audette played 90 games for Montreal from 2001 to 2004, arriving already as a 14 year pro. During a game in 2001, his forearm tendons were severed by a skate and required life-saving surgery after a tremendous loss of blood. He amazingly recovered in time for the playoffs, but his level of play was never the same. He is currently an Amateur Scout for the Canadiens. His son Daniel was drafted by Montreal in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and is expected to start his professional career next year.
