Marcel Dionne was with members of the Los Angeles Kings organization last Monday as the hot topic in the NHL, either Ridly Greig's strike into an empty net or Morgan Rielly's reply, invited himself to the discussion. “They told me it was incredible. I told them, 'I made it in junior year!'” he said with a laugh Saturday.
The Quebec legend, met during the Pee-Wee tournament in Quebec, then talked about the Ottawa Senators forward's slap shot in an empty cage… and not the stick to the head given to him by the Toronto Maple defender Leafs missed last weekend in response.
The scene Marcel Dionne is talking about is from 1971, the same year he and Guy Lafleur crossed swords at the Memorial Cup.
The future Kings star was wearing the jersey of the Saint Catharines Black Hawks in the Ontario Junior A League and his team faced the Toronto Marlboros.
The Marlboros were “well, well, the favorites” in this Ontario final, he explains, but the Black Hawks managed to take a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven game series.
Marcel Dionne signs his autograph on a Los Angeles Kings jersey accompanied by Patrick Dom, general director of the Quebec Pee-Wee Tournament. Photo Jessica Lapinski
“We won it!”
In the fourth game, when the Marlboros withdrew their goalie to close the gap in the score at the end of the game, Dionne completed her hat trick with a slap shot.
“For me, it was my way of saying, ‘We did it! We won it, the final!'”
And at a time when junior players weren't known for their gentleness, Dionne says she received no reprimands from her opponents.
Far from “code”
We are therefore a long way from the hockey code of honor that is often used to explain Rielly's answer: which earned him a five-game suspension.
“What I don’t understand is why didn’t he try to stop him from scoring instead? Marcel Dionne asked about that stick strike from the Leafs defenseman. Why didn't he talk to him after the game instead?
Left, IGA mascot Doug Gilmour and Marcel Dionne before walking on the ice at the Quebec Pee-wee tournament on Saturday to drop the ceremonial puck. Photo Jessica Lapinski
Despite his 5-foot-10 frame, Doug Gilmour, who signed autographs alongside Dionne at the Videotron Center on Saturday, wasn't known as a wimp during his long NHL career that ended in Montreal in 2002-2003.
His record on the National League website shows 1,414 points in 1,474 games, but also 1,301 penalty minutes.
Doug Gilmour at the Quebec Pee-Wee Tournament, Saturday. Photo Jessica Lapinski
“There would have been two or three fights”
Furthermore, knowing what Quebec fans would talk to him about when they met him, Gilmour responded with a laugh: “About that time I broke the window closing the penalty box!”
The former Maple Leafs in particular weren't particularly upset about last weekend's incident, but he pointed out that in his day – he started his career in 1983 – it was more like “two or three fights that broke out.”
A sign that hockey has still changed… a little.