It’s 30 years today. June 3, 1993. The Canadian lost the first game of the finals to the Los Angeles Kings. And the Kings were leading 2-1 with a few minutes left.
The Vlimeux to Guy Carbonneau had a secret card in his pocket. He was convinced that Luc Robitaille and Marty McSorley were playing with sticks that were too curved. “But Robitaille switched racquets five minutes before the end of the game,” Carbo told us after the Canadian’s win.
That leaves Marty McSorley. Carbo glanced over. McSorley jumped onto the ice with his banana. Nod and look at Jacques Demers. I call Kerry Fraser, the cheeky umpire that every Nordiques fan hates. We measure. We measure and bingo. Two-minute penalty for McSorley.
Archive photo
Referee Kerry Fraser measures McSorley’s paddle.
Eric Desjardins counts. We play in overtime and after less than a minute the same Desjardins scores his third goal of the evening.
When you’re 40, you know all that. Otherwise your uncles, aunts, teachers or Pat Laprade told you about it.
But what you don’t know is that poor Marty McSorley has been fined, on top of possibly costing his team the Stanley Cup, with a $200 fine.
It was the rules of the league at the time and Dave Lewis, the supervisor, explained it to us like a priest listing the seven deadly sins. The most important of these is desire.
But will we give up McSorley’s $200?
WATER FIGHTS
So here we are in Los Angeles. For games three and four. We stayed at the Marriott in Santa Monica. Pamela Anderson was already 27 or 28 years old. But she wasn’t at the beach.
One evening I happened to run into John LeClair, completely wet, in one of the hotel’s long corridors. Must have been just before midnight. He wasn’t very talkative. So we didn’t talk.
It wasn’t until after I won the trophy that I understood why Big John was all wet. Carbo had organized water balloon fights in the hotel’s hallways and suites. To keep the boys loose and relaxed.
Someone had to pay the bills as the hotel never complained.
And then every CH player, whether wet or not, had to carry their TOGETHER business card with them. Anyone could stop a teammate at any time and ask for the map. It was an automatic fine payable to Carbo. With this money some parties were financed during the holidays.
And on the ring that Canadian players won in June 1993, next to the diamonds is the magic word: TOGETHER.
In short, it was the Everest jewelry store on Lajeunesse that made the rings.
BAIE COMEAU PARTY
There is history and there are stories. On Saturday morning, Marc Dubuc, a tall 24-year-old man from Baie-Comeau who has made the trip of a lifetime to Los Angeles, sits at my table in front of my peanut butter toast. “I’d like to go into the Kings locker room with you,” he asks me.
Bah! If you don’t risk anything in life, you gain nothing.
We make our way to the Los Angeles Forum. In transition. At the gate stands a giant sentinel guarding the entrance to the Holy of Holies.
“You don’t say a word about Baie-Comeau. Anyway, you don’t speak English. But you’ll look at the gentleman like you own the Kings. A little high but not too much. Then you let me go »
So Baie-Comeau closed the big hatch, I explained to the security guard that the young man who was accompanying me was a superstar of French cinema, that he was from Paris and that he had promised his friend Luc Robitaille to say hello!
What happened? Marc Dubuc from Baie-Comeau entered the dressing room. He greeted Wayne Gretzky in French. Then Luc Robitaille. I let him go for a while.
Then I realized that the big superstar of Paris was walking around with a Luc Robitaille stick and going through the dressing room to get his autograph. Gretzky, Sundstrom, McSorley…
I was very ashamed. No cheering in the press box. Imagine being in the locker room of a Stanley Cup finalist…
PAT BRISSON AND HOCKEY IN THE CAR LOT
On Sundays I go out into the fresh air. John LeClair had scored in overtime and everything was under control. In the Mariott’s large parking lot, a man had set up gates with barrels he had collected from the back of the parking lot. And the guy, a handsome, athletic brunette, had organized an in-line hockey game.
It was the first time I saw that. In my day there were roller skates with two pairs of wheels. And they weren’t very flexible, to say the least.
I hear an accent, I go to the organizer, who was also the best player in the game. i replace it A minor league guy. “I’m Pat Brisson. I’m a friend of Luc Robitaille. I stay at his house and take care of his aquariums. »
We talk, maybe I wrote a paragraph. I do not remember.
But 30 years later, Pat Brisson is the most powerful negotiator in the National League. As Co-President of CAA, he manages $1.8 billion in contracts for its clients.
Most of the time, at least mostly for me, I text him when I wanted to talk to him. In the next hour, whether he’s at the airport, between meetings in Los Angeles or Chicago, the phone rings. It’s Pat and his spell.
“What can I do for you, my Réjean? »
Yeah, so sign Cole Caufield…
AND ALL THE REST
And then there’s Patrick’s wink, the June 9 riot after the Forum’s conquest, the pain of fat Pat Burns… the departure of Éric Desjardins and John LeClair with the Flyers… .
It will be for the 40th anniversary.
