Maurice Richard, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Maurice Richard

Canadian ice hockey player

Date of Birth: 04-Aug-1921

Place of Birth: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Date of Death: 27-May-2000

Profession: ice hockey player

Nationality: Canada

Zodiac Sign: Leo


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About Maurice Richard

  • Joseph Henri Maurice "Rocket" Richard (; French: [?i?a?]; August 4, 1921 – May 27, 2000) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens.
  • He was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season, accomplishing the feat in 50 games in 1944–45, and the first to reach 500 career goals.
  • Richard retired in 1960 as the league's all-time leader in goals with 544.
  • He won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player in 1947, played in 13 All-Star Games and was named to 14 post-season NHL All-Star Teams, eight on the First-Team.
  • In 2017 Richard was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.Richard, Elmer Lach and Toe Blake formed the "Punch line", a high-scoring forward line of the 1940s.
  • Richard was a member of eight Stanley Cup championship teams, including a league record five straight between 1956 and 1960; he was the team's captain for the last four.
  • The Hockey Hall of Fame waived its five-year waiting period for eligibility and inducted Richard into the hall in 1961.
  • In 1975 he was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
  • The Canadiens retired his number, 9, in 1960, and in 1999 donated the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy to the NHL, awarded annually to the league's regular season leading goal-scorer. The oldest of eight children, Richard emerged from a poverty-stricken family during the Great Depression.
  • He was initially viewed as a fragile player.
  • A string of injuries prevented him from joining the Canadian military during the Second World War.
  • Outspoken and intense, he was renowned for his physical and occasionally violent style of play.
  • Richard was involved in a vicious on-ice incident late in the 1954–55 season during which he struck a linesman.
  • NHL President Clarence Campbell suspended him for the remainder of the season and playoffs, which precipitated the Richard Riot in Montreal.
  • The riot has taken on a mythical quality in the decades since and is often viewed as a precursor to Quebec's Quiet Revolution.
  • Richard was a cultural icon among Quebec's francophone population; his legend is a primary motif in Roch Carrier's short story The Hockey Sweater, an emblematic work of Canadian culture.
  • In 1998, Richard became ill with abdominal cancer and died from the illness two years later.
  • He became the first non-politician honoured by the province of Quebec with a state funeral.

Read more at Wikipedia

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