April 2002: the town of Hearst organizes two days of festivities to honor its five-time Stanley Cup champion, Claude Larose. The Recreation Center is to be renamed in his honor at a ceremony on Friday, April 26.
The former Montreal Canadiens player has just celebrated his 60th birthday, he is still in good shape to bring reinforcements to a local team. While Claude Larose is on the rink, the community is invited to have their picture taken with the holy grail of hockey.
Twenty years later, Claude Larose remembers that more than 1000 pictures
were taken by the locals with the Stanley Cup. It didn’t stop
he tells us on the phone from his home in Florida.
Whoops !
In the evening, a ceremony is organized to unveil the sign for the new recreation centre.
For the occasion, Claude Larose puts on his hockey equipment, his skates and his jersey number 15 of the tricolor. The plan is as follows: he will be introduced and take a tour of the rink with the Stanley Cup at arm’s length.
Guy Losier, one of the main organizers of this evening, is next to Claude Larose backstage. He remembers very well that the Stanley Cup goalkeeper had given him a very clear instruction.
” The guy wanted Claude on the ice before and then after he gave him the Cup. Claude said: ‘no, I’m correct. I’m going to go on the ice with it. ‘ »
The person in charge of the Stanley Cup probably still remembered the fall of Maurice Richard on the ice of the Forum, which had occurred 9 years earlier, at the All-Star Game in 1993. The Cup had come out severely dented.
One detail had undoubtedly escaped Claude Larose’s vigilance: he will jump onto the ice rink through the referees’ entrance, and will be in absolute darkness, while a follow spot
then follow him.
” There was a stepsand there was no light, I missed the steps and the Cup fell on the edge of the tape. I took the Cup and then lifted it above my head and it looked a little prickly. »
Result: The black ring at the base is distorted. Guy Losier, who has seen the whole thing, notes that it is the recreation center facilities that are probably the cause of the blunder.
the steps where the referees enter is much higher than the entry of the players. Claude had just played a game. He didn’t see this […] of steps-the. He planted his nose, it didn’t take long. Being in the dark didn’t help.
Claude Larose receives a standing ovation and continues his lap of honor on the ice rink at the recreation center which will bear his name in a few minutes.
Arriving at the center of the ice to deposit the trophy, Claude Larose observes the damage and turns the dented part towards the dignitaries, so that the crowd present does not see too much damage.
Among them, the municipal councilor – a body repairer by trade – Roger Sigouin who will become a month later, on May 30, 2002, mayor of the municipality of 5800 inhabitants.
A stressed Stanley Cup goalie
During the ceremony, Roger Sigouin remembers taking a few glances at the Stanley Cup: he was analyzing whether he would volunteer to repair it. Behind the scenes, Guy Losier feels the internal temperature of the Stanley Cup manager rising.
You know who was much more stressed: the Hockey Hall of Fame guys. Roger lowered the temperature because he was a body repairer. It’s the same way it picked up there
says Guy Losier.
” In a small village, we are always there to help everyone. When this incident happened, I asked: can I fix it for you soon enough? I think I should be able. »
After the ceremony, the Stanley Cup goalkeeper backs his vehicle into the Sigouin family’s garage.
She was in her trunk that you see everywhere on TV. He took it out of there and just put it on my workbench. It took me about 10 minutes tops to fix it.
His tools: a rag and a wrench.
I had seen how she worked at the arena. I was confident that I was able to fix it. You had to be thorough. The rag was precisely so as not to scratch her. Then by making these small gestures to bring it back to normal.
His daughter, Marieve, tries to immortalize the scene. He had forbidden us to take pictures at the time. We just respected the decision of the people who said no pictures, please.
Upon his return to the arena, Claude Larose was impressed by the body work: it didn’t even appear.
I think it’s a pride of Hearst to say that we received the Stanley Cup, we took care of it until the last minute
underlines the mayor, by way of conclusion, with a smirk.
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca