Savard shares Canadiens honour
Nov 18, 2006 9:34:13 GMT -5
Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Nov 18, 2006 9:34:13 GMT -5
Savard shares Canadiens honour
Banner raising wouldn't have happened without stellar teammates, blue-line great says
RED FISHER
The Gazette
Saturday, November 18, 2006
This grand night will start for Serge Savard before the puck is dropped for the Canadiens-Atlanta game. One number (18), one name, one banner saluting for all time the eight Stanley Cups he helped bring to this Canadiens franchise as a Hall of Fame defenceman.
What will he be thinking as he watches his banner join others carrying the names and numbers of Jacques Plante (1); Doug Harvey (2); Jean Beliveau (4); Howie Morenz (7); Maurice Richard (9); Guy Lafleur (10); Dickie Moore and Yvan Cournoyer (12); and Henri Richard (16)?
On a night that belongs to him and his family, Savard says he will be thinking of other players.
"It's a great honour for me and my family, but I don't know, it's not something you win like a hockey game or a series," he explained. "I mean, when you're young, when you're a kid, your goal is to play hockey and to play for the Montreal Canadiens when you're from Quebec. When I was a kid, that's all I dreamed about.
"You achieve that and it's the biggest thing of your life up to that point. Then you win the Stanley Cup and play on Team Canada '72, but I never thought for a moment that my number would be hanging up there.
"So yeah, it's a great honour, but I really feel for other players because hockey is a team sport. I feel for a lot of guys who will never be recognized. They were part of the team and they contributed as much and, in some cases, maybe more than I did.
"Let's say a John Ferguson," Savard added. "Montreal probably won a couple of Stanley Cups because of him. Maybe a guy like Peter Mahovlich, who I think was one of the most underrated players in hockey. I feel a lot about my sweater being retired, but I'm also thinking about them because you couldn't go anywhere without those guys.
"I won the (Conn) Smythe in '69," Savard said of the trophy awarded to the most valuable player in the playoffs. "I think I had a very good series, but the reason I won was because I scored some important goals.
"I remember Jacques Laperriere had a great series. Dick Duff had a good effort. Ten guys could have won it. It's a team sport."
So it is, but Savard quickly agrees that some players had a greater influence on him than others.
"When I got to Montreal, I became very close friends with Ferguson," he said. "We used to go to racetracks all the time. He's been my dear friend all these years. He's had a great influence on me.
"Fergy helped me a lot as a player. He was my buddy on the team. We worked together all the time. He didn't teach me how to play the game, but John was a great teammate. He never took anything personally. He was a team player. He kept me on top of my game."
Says Savard's pal Ferguson: "Serge knew how to move pucks. He read the game extremely well. Going back to when he was a rookie and we were in Boston, I'd compare him to Bobby Orr and he'd get really pissed off. But hell, before he (twice) broke his leg, he was as smart as Bobby Orr. He wasn't the electrifying, goal-scoring type of player Bobby was. Nobody was, but he certainly did everything else."
The 1969-70 season, only his third full one with the Canadiens, had all the signs of being Savard's best. He had entered the season with a Stanley Cup under one arm and the Conn Smythe Trophy under the other. He had become a crowd-pleaser, a player to be watched.
That season, in his first 64 games, the 23-year-old defenceman had 12 goals, two more than he had scored in his previous two seasons. He had become the team's best penalty-killer. He was a force offensively. It ended fewer than five minutes into the third period of Game 65. A broken leg. Shattered in five places.
The following season, the Toronto Maple Leafs were at the Forum on Jan. 30. A little beyond the midway point of the first period, Savard fell to the ice after colliding with defenceman Bobby Baun. Then he leaped to his feet, raced back to his own zone for the puck, passed it and headed for the bench. He had broken the same leg.
Savard missed the last 30 games of the season and the first 50 in 1971-72.
Hockey people now and then debate how great a defenceman he would have become if he hadn't missed so much time after breaking the same leg in consecutive seasons. The answer is that even after the terrible injuries, he was good enough to play an important role in Team Canada's epic victory over the Soviets in 1972.
A veteran reporter, who shall remain nameless, had this greeting (in jest) when Savard arrived at the team's hotel for the start of training camp.
"What are you doing here?" he was asked.
"You'll find out," said an exercised Savard.
"I had just come back from a broken leg in February of '72, and I just started getting in good shape in the summer. I made the team and I didn't play in one losing game," he said. "I was very proud of that."
Savard retired from the Canadiens following the 1980-81 season, with the idea of devoting all of his time to his growing business interests. Winnipeg Jets GM Ferguson had a better idea. He claimed Savard on waivers for $2,500.
"Hell, I used to spend more than that bettin' on a horse," Ferguson was telling me a few days ago, "so that wasn't much of a gamble! I mean, I had all the kids coming in for their first year. Dale Hawerchuk, Scott Arniel, Brian Mullen ... a lot of kids. I needed somebody like Serge. He sorta laughed when I phoned him with the news.
" 'Lookit, I'm gettin' on a plane and I'll meet you at Ruby Foo's tonight. We'll talk,' I told him."
"Give me a month," Savard told Ferguson that early October night. "I'm going with Jean Beliveau to Florida. I've gotta lose 25 pounds. When I get back, I'll go on a diet, start working out and then I'll come out there."
"He took all those kids under his wing," Ferguson recalled. "I think we improved something like 44 points that season."
Savard played 47 games that season and 77 the next before retiring from the game for good. Or so it seemed, until Savard's pal Fergy was on the telephone.
"Have you heard about Serge?" he asked.
"What about him?"
"He's your new general manager in Montreal," Ferguson said.
"How do you know?"
"Trust me."
"I'll check it out," I said.
"Serge isn't home," Paulette Savard said on the telephone from Winnipeg. "He's on the golf course. He'll be home around 11 o'clock tonight."
I called Fergy back.
"Mrs. Savard says Serge is playing golf. She says he'll be home tonight at 11."
"He left for Montreal about an hour ago," Ferguson said. "The Canadiens are holding a press conference tomorrow."
The next day, The Gazette carried a Page 1 story that reported Savard would be named to the general manager's post. He was at the press conference that afternoon.
"How'd you shoot yesterday?" I asked him.
"Shoot? What do you mean, shoot?" he asked.
"On the golf course. I called your home yesterday. Your wife told me you were playing golf."
"Oh," Savard said. Then he burst out laughing.
Banner raising wouldn't have happened without stellar teammates, blue-line great says
RED FISHER
The Gazette
Saturday, November 18, 2006
This grand night will start for Serge Savard before the puck is dropped for the Canadiens-Atlanta game. One number (18), one name, one banner saluting for all time the eight Stanley Cups he helped bring to this Canadiens franchise as a Hall of Fame defenceman.
What will he be thinking as he watches his banner join others carrying the names and numbers of Jacques Plante (1); Doug Harvey (2); Jean Beliveau (4); Howie Morenz (7); Maurice Richard (9); Guy Lafleur (10); Dickie Moore and Yvan Cournoyer (12); and Henri Richard (16)?
On a night that belongs to him and his family, Savard says he will be thinking of other players.
"It's a great honour for me and my family, but I don't know, it's not something you win like a hockey game or a series," he explained. "I mean, when you're young, when you're a kid, your goal is to play hockey and to play for the Montreal Canadiens when you're from Quebec. When I was a kid, that's all I dreamed about.
"You achieve that and it's the biggest thing of your life up to that point. Then you win the Stanley Cup and play on Team Canada '72, but I never thought for a moment that my number would be hanging up there.
"So yeah, it's a great honour, but I really feel for other players because hockey is a team sport. I feel for a lot of guys who will never be recognized. They were part of the team and they contributed as much and, in some cases, maybe more than I did.
"Let's say a John Ferguson," Savard added. "Montreal probably won a couple of Stanley Cups because of him. Maybe a guy like Peter Mahovlich, who I think was one of the most underrated players in hockey. I feel a lot about my sweater being retired, but I'm also thinking about them because you couldn't go anywhere without those guys.
"I won the (Conn) Smythe in '69," Savard said of the trophy awarded to the most valuable player in the playoffs. "I think I had a very good series, but the reason I won was because I scored some important goals.
"I remember Jacques Laperriere had a great series. Dick Duff had a good effort. Ten guys could have won it. It's a team sport."
So it is, but Savard quickly agrees that some players had a greater influence on him than others.
"When I got to Montreal, I became very close friends with Ferguson," he said. "We used to go to racetracks all the time. He's been my dear friend all these years. He's had a great influence on me.
"Fergy helped me a lot as a player. He was my buddy on the team. We worked together all the time. He didn't teach me how to play the game, but John was a great teammate. He never took anything personally. He was a team player. He kept me on top of my game."
Says Savard's pal Ferguson: "Serge knew how to move pucks. He read the game extremely well. Going back to when he was a rookie and we were in Boston, I'd compare him to Bobby Orr and he'd get really pissed off. But hell, before he (twice) broke his leg, he was as smart as Bobby Orr. He wasn't the electrifying, goal-scoring type of player Bobby was. Nobody was, but he certainly did everything else."
The 1969-70 season, only his third full one with the Canadiens, had all the signs of being Savard's best. He had entered the season with a Stanley Cup under one arm and the Conn Smythe Trophy under the other. He had become a crowd-pleaser, a player to be watched.
That season, in his first 64 games, the 23-year-old defenceman had 12 goals, two more than he had scored in his previous two seasons. He had become the team's best penalty-killer. He was a force offensively. It ended fewer than five minutes into the third period of Game 65. A broken leg. Shattered in five places.
The following season, the Toronto Maple Leafs were at the Forum on Jan. 30. A little beyond the midway point of the first period, Savard fell to the ice after colliding with defenceman Bobby Baun. Then he leaped to his feet, raced back to his own zone for the puck, passed it and headed for the bench. He had broken the same leg.
Savard missed the last 30 games of the season and the first 50 in 1971-72.
Hockey people now and then debate how great a defenceman he would have become if he hadn't missed so much time after breaking the same leg in consecutive seasons. The answer is that even after the terrible injuries, he was good enough to play an important role in Team Canada's epic victory over the Soviets in 1972.
A veteran reporter, who shall remain nameless, had this greeting (in jest) when Savard arrived at the team's hotel for the start of training camp.
"What are you doing here?" he was asked.
"You'll find out," said an exercised Savard.
"I had just come back from a broken leg in February of '72, and I just started getting in good shape in the summer. I made the team and I didn't play in one losing game," he said. "I was very proud of that."
Savard retired from the Canadiens following the 1980-81 season, with the idea of devoting all of his time to his growing business interests. Winnipeg Jets GM Ferguson had a better idea. He claimed Savard on waivers for $2,500.
"Hell, I used to spend more than that bettin' on a horse," Ferguson was telling me a few days ago, "so that wasn't much of a gamble! I mean, I had all the kids coming in for their first year. Dale Hawerchuk, Scott Arniel, Brian Mullen ... a lot of kids. I needed somebody like Serge. He sorta laughed when I phoned him with the news.
" 'Lookit, I'm gettin' on a plane and I'll meet you at Ruby Foo's tonight. We'll talk,' I told him."
"Give me a month," Savard told Ferguson that early October night. "I'm going with Jean Beliveau to Florida. I've gotta lose 25 pounds. When I get back, I'll go on a diet, start working out and then I'll come out there."
"He took all those kids under his wing," Ferguson recalled. "I think we improved something like 44 points that season."
Savard played 47 games that season and 77 the next before retiring from the game for good. Or so it seemed, until Savard's pal Fergy was on the telephone.
"Have you heard about Serge?" he asked.
"What about him?"
"He's your new general manager in Montreal," Ferguson said.
"How do you know?"
"Trust me."
"I'll check it out," I said.
"Serge isn't home," Paulette Savard said on the telephone from Winnipeg. "He's on the golf course. He'll be home around 11 o'clock tonight."
I called Fergy back.
"Mrs. Savard says Serge is playing golf. She says he'll be home tonight at 11."
"He left for Montreal about an hour ago," Ferguson said. "The Canadiens are holding a press conference tomorrow."
The next day, The Gazette carried a Page 1 story that reported Savard would be named to the general manager's post. He was at the press conference that afternoon.
"How'd you shoot yesterday?" I asked him.
"Shoot? What do you mean, shoot?" he asked.
"On the golf course. I called your home yesterday. Your wife told me you were playing golf."
"Oh," Savard said. Then he burst out laughing.