Yvon Lambert is a winner who has always excelled in the postseason. Among other things, he won four Stanley Cups in a row with the Canadian.
He is one of the rare athletes who has performed both on the ice – such as his game-winning goal that eliminated the Bruins in overtime – and with his song “La p'tite mare,” which was performed at several Quebec cottages during the holiday season , have left an impression.
Yvon has three wonderful women in his life, whom he describes as follows: “My two wonderful daughters, Natascha and Jennifer, whom I adore, have given me seven grandchildren, whom I love very much. And my wife Danielle. There are no words to describe the role she has played in the last 30 years that I have shared with her, the last five years as my wife. Without them I would never have had the quality of life I have today.”
Your mother is the only one who always believed in you.
I owe everything to my mother Juliette. She is the only one who always believed in me. She had great trust in me, so much so that my mother and I worked on the family farm.
You were disappointed to be traded to the Canadiens.
I would even say rather unfortunate. I looked at the cast, which included Frank Mahovlich, Yvan Cournoyer, Henri Richard, without forgetting Guy Lafleur, Serge Savard, Claude Larose and Guy Lapointe.
Your mother's reaction.
She was happy and proud of me. She kept telling me to have faith in myself.
How did your father react?
My father Marcel drove me to the Forum, where the Canadian's training camp was taking place. He didn't even get out of the car. He simply gave me his hand. Nothing else.
They lived on a dairy farm in Saint-Germain-de-Grantham.
Nine months after I was born in Drummondville, my father bought a dairy farm in Saint-Germain-de-Grantham, about 12km from Drummondville. We had 22 cows, several pigs and chickens.
Have you worked on the farm?
From the age of eight, I got up at six in the morning to do my work on the farm, and when I got home after school, I continued my work. I was at the top of my class at school.
How many children were at home?
We were six boys and three girls. I only found out about my last brother almost five years ago. When I was 18 or 19, my mother had a son, but had to send him to a daycare center where he was adopted.
Why was your mother your idol?
My mother was so brave, she gave her children everything she could. She experienced the loss of two of her children. The first loss when she had to leave her first son at daycare to be adopted.
Her younger brother died at the age of seven.
He was slightly disabled in one leg, but also had a brain disease. He was walking along the railway line near the farm when he suffered an epileptic seizure which forced him to sit on the railway tracks. The train driver never saw him. He was tragically hit by the train.
A second loss for your mother.
It took three men to stop her from seeing her late son's body. For my mother it was the second loss of a son.
You got your first pair of ice skates when you were 13.
I hadn't yet learned to skate when my father gave me my first pair of skates. So I learned to ice skate on the frozen gravel paths, on the water laps and on the village ice rink.
You hitchhiked to play hockey.
I played for the Midget team that won the Drummondville Midget Tournament. However, to get to the games or return home, I had to hitchhike.
Réjean Bergeron and Maurice Filion opened the door to the NHL for you.
I wasn't drafted by a junior team after my Midget stint. Réjean Bergeron, who became an executive at O'Keefe and Molson Breweries, was my instructor in a local adult garage league. Twice I abused opposing players who secretly attacked one of my 42-year-old teammates. Oh yeah, I was only 16 when I fought.
Maurice Filion, the GM of the Drummondville Junior Rangers.
Réjean Bergeron recommended me to Maurice, the future GM of the Nordiques, who decided to meet my father with Yvan Prud'homme, the recruiter of the New York Rangers. They asked my dad if I could play for the B-junior team, the Montreal East Rangers. My father looked at me to see if I wanted to go. That was the beginning of my journey to the NHL.
Maurice Filion called you into his office.
Before he accepted his new position at the Remparts de Québec, he wanted to congratulate me on my tremendous progress. However, I had a problem.
Which problem ?
I was stunned when I left his office. It wasn't my skating, but my personal life that I needed to improve. I tended to ignore curfews. I took over the management and was eventually recruited by Detroit recruiter André Lachapelle.
You almost signed with the Expos.
I was invited to an Expos mini-training camp. Who knows, instead of scoring against the Bruins, I could have hit a home run against the Red Sox in the World Series?