2000-05-29 || 17:17:47

Maurice Richard RIP

Maurice 'the Rocket' Richard is dead at age 78 from respiratory failure while in the hospital undergoing treatment for cancer.

He is getting a state funeral at the Notre-Dame Basillica, and the Qu�bec National Assembly will be closed Wednesday so that MNAs can attent the funeral. All government buildings will fly the flag at half-mast.

All this for a hockey icon.

Is it too much ?

For a city and province that pin a major chunk of their identity on hockey, no, it is not too much. For the town that rioted on Ste-Catherine Street when the Rocket was suspended in 1955 for brawling, it is not too much. For the Captain who was the first in the NHL to score 50 goals in 50 games, and who took Les Canadiens to the top of eight Stanley Cup championships, it is definitely not too much.

He was also a symbol of a time when Hockey was a game of finesse and style, rather than excessive speed and brute force; Some would say a canadian game, rather than the steadily Americanised version of Hockey we see on the tube to-day. But more than that, he was a source of a feeling that Qu�b�cois and Montr�alais didn't always get much chance to experience : pride.

He died saturday evening, when many Canadian families would traditionally be sitting down to watch the game.

I can think of no better time for the Rocket to go.

But I still wish he didn't have to.





||Gods save the Queen,
||cf

back || forth

older shite

One last little note... - 09.21.2006

de-stressing, biking and terrorism - 06.06.2006

Mildly stressed... - 05.29.2006

More crime stupidity - 05.28.2006

Scary stuff - 05.25.2006



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