Maurice Richard by Charles Foran

Author:Charles Foran
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PENGUIN GROUP (CANADA)

ON MARCH 13, 1955, the Canadiens were in Boston for the second half of a late-season series with the Bruins. The game the night before had been rough, and Richard had hurt his back after being checked into a goalpost. The Habs were playoff bound again, battling Detroit for top of the standings and home ice advantage. As per the norm of recent years, he had been barely holding it together all season, breaking the front teeth of one player with his stick and then slapping the linesman who restrained him. His penalty total for the 1954–55 campaign wasn’t only a personal high, it was the highest in the entire NHL. But he had also netted his four-hundredth goal, and was three games away from winning his first scoring title (his own young teammates, Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion and Jean Béliveau, trailed him). Tonight, however, Richard was out of sorts, in no small part from having to suffer the train ride down from Montreal with a sore back. Winning the individual scoring title mattered to him, as did the money: a $1,000 bonus from the league, plus another $1,000 from the Canadiens. With his salary at $15,000, the bonuses would be welcome, especially to Lucille, who handled the family finances.

With the game locked up and just six minutes left, Bruins defenceman Hal Laycoe clipped him across the side of the head with his stick. Laycoe was called for a penalty but Richard, incensed that the Boston player would risk ending his season with a skull fracture for no good reason, rubbed his scalp, his eyes gone black with fury. When his fingers came up bloody—he would require five stitches later—he skated over and, using both hands, brought his stick down over Laycoe’s head and shoulders with full force. (The Bruin, who wore glasses, partially absorbed the blow with his arms.) A linesman, knowing Richard’s propensity for repeat attacks, confiscated his weapon and restrained him. He broke away, grabbed another player’s stick, and cracked it over Laycoe’s back. This time, the official wrestled him to the ice. A teammate helped free him, and Richard, up on his feet, first punched the official in the face and then, finding Laycoe again (minus the glasses), blackened his eye with a string of quick jabs. Though it had been fifteen years since his last boxing lesson he remained a solid fighter, always ready to throw the first punch and rarely losing a fair contest.

As the crowd howled, Richard was escorted off the ice. In the dressing room after the game, two officers from the Boston police attempted to arrest him for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Wisely, coach Dick Irvin barred them at the door; extracting his athlete from a police station once charges had been laid would have been much more difficult, and could have affected Richard’s future ability to cross the border to play. Only after the Bruins general manager assured police that the NHL would handle the matter did authorities agree to let the Rocket go home to Canada.

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