Marc Tardif left a legacy of pride in Montreal and Quebec, both on and off the ice. He spent his best years in the juniors with Thetford Mines and the Montreal Junior Canadiens. At Thetford Mines, the directors Émile Couture and Maurice Côté, not forgetting the Bélanger family who hosted him, enabled him to live in a peaceful family environment.
He believed the atmosphere at Thetford Mines was phenomenal until he moved to the Junior Canadians.
His teammates Gilbert Perreault and Réjean Houle joined him on the Montreal Junior Canadiens. The team's success allowed them to play in an incredible atmosphere. The forum was full. Sunday Matin journalist Guy Émond never stopped praising the team's players. The junior attracted more spectators in the NHL than the Canadian.
Why did he leave the Canadian and move to the World Hockey Association?
Money on the table
Marc Tardif
The former Canadiens second overall draft pick played four years for the Montreal team and won the Stanley Cup twice. His first contract negotiations with the Canadian were not complicated. He signed for the amount he was offered or returned to work at the Granby Coop. In his final year with the Canadiens, he earned $15,000.
After the season, negotiations for his next contract began. The Canadian offered him $85,000 per year, while the Los Angeles Sharks of the World Hockey Association offered him a three-year contract worth $450,000.
The money was definitely guaranteed. He returned to see Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock and explore the possibility of making him a new offer. He simply fired him, telling him that the AMH was not there to survive. Sam Pollock never expected the two leagues to merge.
Effective double check
Curiously, two years later Claude Ruel of the Canadiens offered him a contract similar to the one he signed with the AMH. The league refused because their rights belonged to them.
In 1976, during a playoff game at the Colisée in Quebec with the Nordiques, Rick Jodzio of the Calgary Cowboys gave him a vicious double-check in the face and continued hitting him with his stick. He fell into a coma and regained consciousness in the ambulance. The consequences of this violent attack were attention problems, difficulty concentrating, memory loss and fatigue. This forced him to stay at home for more than a month.
Even if he retired due to this injury, there was no health or salary protection for the players. He had no choice but to return to the Nordiques. He admits that he was no longer the fierce player he once was because the fear of getting hurt was always in his head. He went to court to prosecute Rick Jodzio for his violent attack. The case was reviewed and he lost the case.
“My life began when my career ended” – Marc Tardif
You knew how to prepare for your retirement.
Your life begins overnight. I had more years of playing professional ice hockey ahead of me. I thought I knew everything, but in reality I knew nothing.
Her career ended too soon.
At 18 you think you are eternal; At 25 you notice that the years go by quickly; and at 33 my career is over. Companies don't want to hire you because they think you'll demand too high a salary.
Who is your business mentor?
Andy Dépatie from Quebec had a big influence on my later career. In 1979 we founded L'École de Hockey de la Capitale, which still exists today.
You own two car dealerships.
I knew how to prepare for my retirement. Today I own a Toyota and KIA dealer.
Are you still there?
I am always there and can rely on my son Marc-André to manage the car dealerships. I use Florida in the winter to play golf and meet my friends, including former Canadian player Claude Larose, who helped me a lot in my early days with the Canadians.
They were born in Saint-Méthode, near Thetford Mines.
The place where the famous St-Méthode bread bakery is based. When he was three years old, the family moved to Granby.
You grew up in poverty.
My father Lionel was a milkman in Granby and then a caretaker while my mother Rosanne was at home looking after us. But she made a huge sacrifice to allow me to play hockey.
Your parents had four children.
I have two brothers, Allain and Yves, and unfortunately my younger sister died at the age of three.
You saw Bobby Orr on the forum.
I was barely 10 years old and he was 14 when I first saw him in action with the Oshawa Generals against the Junior Canadians. Many years later I realized that there were barely 1,500 spectators at his game, while our junior team filled the forum.
You attended Collège Laval.
A Marist brother saw me playing hockey in Granby. He met with my parents to see if they would be interested in enrolling me at Collège Laval because they had an excellent hockey program.
Would you like to share your mother's sacrifice with us?
My parents did not have the means to pay for my education or my stay at Collège Laval since I only came home on weekends. Mom went on the job market to finance my studies. It is a gesture that still touches me today. Without them, I would never have been able to play professional hockey.
Pierre Bouchard helped you a lot.
Pierre Bouchard, Pierre Jarry and I played at Collège Laval. One day Pierre Bouchard came up to me in the players' locker room and asked me my age because the Canadiens scouts had asked him. I shyly told him that I was 15 years old.
The Canadian selected you for the Canadian junior Thetford Mines.
The following year the Canadian drafted me to play for Canadian Juniors Thetford Mines. To convince my parents to let me play at Thetford Mines, the Canadian confirmed that my accommodation and studies would be free. My teammates included Réjean Houle and Gilbert Perreault, and then we ended up with the Canadian youth team from Montreal.
What were your summer jobs?
Who else but my mother could get me a job, that is, two jobs! I worked as a delivery man for Coca-Cola and for Molson Brewery.
She and Réjean Houle did not speak English.
Junior Canadiens general manager Phil Wimmer was not known for his generosity. The forum was full, the players' pockets were empty. Knowing which family was hosting you wasn't a priority for him. We lived with an English-speaking family who didn't speak French.
The team goalkeeper came to your aid.
Bruce Mullett visited Mr. Wimmer and told him that he had found a French-speaking family in Verdun who wanted to take us in. His gesture was greatly appreciated.
Jean Béliveau was your mentor.
When I joined the Canadiens, Mr. Béliveau came to wish me good luck and remind me that he was always there for me. When we played outside of Montreal, the veterans invited the young people to the restaurant.
Maurice Filion conducted a raid before greeting you.
I was still in the AMH, but I didn't want to play for Detroit. Maurice contacted me, even though I was from Detroit, to see if I wanted to play for the Nordiques. I assured him that I was interested. A few days later I was traded to the Nordiques.
Marc Tardif (left) fights for the puck against Guy Lafleur (right). Archive photo from Journal de Québec
What was it like playing in Quebec City?
Over the years it is without a doubt the best thing that has happened to me in my life. I still consider myself privileged to have represented this great city of Quebec.
You removed your son from the hockey minors program.
Parents often harassed my son or players tried to intimidate him because he wore the name Tardif on his jersey. When he was 8 years old, I took him out of the hockey program.
You share beautiful moments with your family.
The support of my partner Lisette for 25 years and the love that exists in the family are good reasons to be happy. My daughters Mélanie, Catherine and my son Marc-André are successful in business. The Avco Cup and Stanley Cup conquests were for our fans from Quebec and Montreal.