Henri Richard, who won a record 11 Stanley Cups with the Canadiens, dies at 84

Henri Richard graciously accepted lifelong comparisons to his prolific and fiery older brother Maurice, who was an established star with the Montreal Canadiens when Henri broke into the NHL in the 1955-56 season.

Maurice was nicknamed “Rocket” for his explosive style and scoring feats. Because Henri was much slighter in build at 5-foot-6 and 160 pounds, he became known as the “Pocket Rocket,” a clever nickname that did little justice to his brilliant playmaking and singular ability to control the game against bigger, brawnier opponents.

Henri Richard made a name for himself by winning more Stanley Cup rings — 11 — than he had fingers, an NHL record and three more championships than his brother won. Richard, who played his entire 20-year NHL career with the Canadiens, died Friday at a care facility in Laval, Canada, north of Montreal. He was 84 and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in recent years.

“All I ever had in my mind was to play hockey. To play with the Montreal Canadiens. Nothing else,” he once told the Montreal Gazette. “And finally, I did.”

Richard, who was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979, scored 358 goals and 688 assists for 1,046 points in 1,258 games. He twice led the NHL in assists; his brother led the NHL in goals five times and finished an 18-year-career with 966 points in 978 games. Henri scored 49 goals and 129 points in 180 career playoff games and was the captain of the Canadiens from 1971-72 through 1974-75.

Hockey

Elliott: Kings see their past and present collide against Maple Leafs

The Kings’ rebuilding phase is underway and includes some former-player reunions like Saturday, when two generations of Kings players were on display

March 5, 2020

“Henri ‘Pocket Rocket’ Richard was a great player and a great ambassador for the Montreal Canadiens organization. His passing is a great loss for all,” Geoff Molson, president and co-owner of the Canadiens, tweeted in English and French. “My thoughts are with his family.”

Henri was a young but integral member of the Canadiens’ “Flying Frenchmen” when they won five straight championships, starting in 1956. No team has won as many consecutive titles since then and none might ever match that because the salary cap works against accumulating and keeping talent over the long term as the Canadiens did.

“Some people say it was destiny, but I just think I was in the right place at the right time. That was a great team. There were so many great hockey players,” he told the Hall of Fame in 2003. “I wouldn’t have said it before, but now that it’s all over, I thought winning like that was normal.”

NHL president Clarance Campbell hands the Stanley Cup to Canadiens captain Henri Richard following Montreal’s victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in May 1973.

(Associated Press)

Maurice retired in 1960 but Henri played 15 more seasons, including a run of four championships in five seasons from 1965 through 1969. In 1971, after being benched by coach Al MacNeil in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final and calling MacNeil “incompetent,” Richard responded by scoring the Cup-winning goal in Game 7 against Chicago. He won his final title in 1973.

“Henri Richard was one of the true giants of the game,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “The entire National Hockey League family mourns the passing of this incomparable winner, leader, gentleman and ambassador for our sport and the Montreal Canadiens.”

Henri Richard was more than 14 years younger than Maurice and was a child when Maurice left home to pursue his hockey career. They had little in common besides their unquenchable drive to excel and to win.

Hall of Fame center Jean Beliveau, who played with both men on Montreal teams that are considered among the best ever assembled, devoted a section of his 1994 autobiography to praise Henri’s talent and approach to the game.

Brothers Maurice “Rocket” Richard, left, and Henri “Pocket Rocket” Richard” in February 1996.

(Paul Chiasson / Canadian Press via Associated Press)

“I had plenty of admiration for Henri from his earliest days, not only for what he did on the ice, but off,” Beliveau wrote. “When you’re the younger brother of a hockey legend, it will take people a while to recognize you for what you are. Maurice had been retired for several years before fans began to notice that Henri was a star in his own right.

“All through his long career, everywhere we went, the first question anybody ever asked him was, ‘How’s Maurice?’ Each time he was remarkably patient. ‘Maurice is fine.’ He was a very productive hockey player (1,046 points in 1,256 games) and very tough. He was also a great team player, and a great captain after I retired. It is not by chance that Henri Richard holds the all-time record of eleven Stanley Cup wins.”

Richard became an ambassador for the Canadiens after his retirement. He is survived by his wife Lise, their children Michèle, Gilles, Denis, Marie-France and Nathalie, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Maurice Richard died in 2000 at age 78.

1/25

Kobe Bryant, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sean Connery and more.  (Los Angeles Times)

2/25

Rafer Johnson, winner of the 1960 Olympic decathlon gold medal, was a man whose legacy was interwoven with Los Angeles history, beginning with his performances as a world-class athlete at UCLA and punctuated by the night in 1968 when he helped disarm Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin at the Ambassador Hotel. Johnson lit the Olympic flame at the opening of the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. He was 86.
  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

3/25

With his quick wit and easy smile, Alex Trebek drove the game show “Jeopardy!” up the ratings charts and became a welcome television host in America’s living rooms. As the quiz show rolled through the decades, Trebek remained a comfortable fit — in a 2014 Reader’s Digest poll, Trebek ranked as the eighth-most trusted person in the United States, right behind Bill Gates and 51 spots above Oprah Winfrey. He was 80.
  (Los Angeles Times)

4/25

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s speed and innovations along the fretboard inspired a generation of imitators as the band bearing his name rose to MTV stardom and multiplatinum sales over 10 consecutive albums. The streak made Van Halen one of the most successful bands in rock history, including two albums that reached diamond status (10 million copies sold): 1978’s debut “Van Halen” and 1984’s “1984.” He was 65.  (Wibbitz/Getty)

5/25

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg championed women’s rights — first as a trailblazing civil rights attorney who methodically chipped away at discriminatory practices, then as the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, and finally as an unlikely pop culture icon. A feminist hero dubbed Notorious RBG, Ginsburg became the leading voice of the court’s liberal wing, best known for her stinging dissents on a bench that mostly skewed right since her 1993 appointment. She was 87.
  (Kiichiro Sato / Associated Press)

6/25

Chadwick Boseman’s breakout role was playing Dodger Jackie Robinson in the 2013 sports biopic “42.” The next year, he made an electrifying lead turn as James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, in “Get on Up.” Then came the role that would change his career: As Black Panther, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Black superhero, Boseman became the face of Wakanda to millions of fans around the world and helped usher in a new and inclusive era of superhero blockbusters. He was 43.
  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

7/25

Sumner Redstone outmaneuvered rivals to assemble one of America’s leading entertainment companies, now called ViacomCBS, which boasts CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Showtime, the Simon & Schuster book publisher and Paramount Pictures movie studio. Unlike contemporaries Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner, Redstone was not a visionary, but rather a hard-charging lawyer and deal maker who pursued power and wealth through the accumulation of content companies. He was 97.

  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

8/25

Regis Philbin reigned for decades as the comfortable and sometimes cantankerous morning host of “Live,” first with Kathie Lee Gifford and later Kelly Ripa, above. He earned Emmy nominations by the armful, hosted New Year’s Eve specials, rode in parades, set a record for the most face-time hours on television and helped reinvigorate prime-time game shows with “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” He was 88.
  (Charles Sykes / Associated Press)

9/25

Rep. John Lewis famously shed his blood at the foot of a Selma, Ala., bridge in a 1965 demonstration for Black voting rights, and went on to become a 17-term Democratic member of Congress. An inspirational figure for decades, Lewis was one of the last survivors among members of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s inner circle. He was 80.
  (Mark Humphrey / Associated Press)

10/25

Country music firebrand and fiddler Charlie Daniels started out as a session musician, which included playing on Bob Dylan’s 1969 album “Nashville Skyline,” and beginning in the early 1970s toured endlessly with his own band, sometimes doing 250 shows a year. In 1979, Daniels had a crossover smash with “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which topped the country chart, hit No. 3 on the pop chart and was voted single of the year by the Country Music Assn. He was 83.  (Rick Diamond / Getty Images for IEBA)

11/25

Carl Reiner first came to national attention in the 1950s on Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” where he wrote alongside Mel Brooks, Neil Simon and other comedy legends. He later created “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” one of TV’s most fondly remembered sitcoms, and directed hit films including “The Comic” (1969), starring Van Dyke; “Where’s Poppa?” (1970), starring George Segal and Ruth Gordon; “Oh, God!” starring George Burns and John Denver; and four films starring Steve Martin. He was 98.   (Associated Press )

12/25

The flamboyant, piano-pounding Little Richard roared into the rock ‘n’ roll spotlight in the 1950s with hits such as “Tutti-Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly.” The Georgia native’s raucous sound fused gospel
fervor and R&B sexuality, profoundly influencing the Beatles, James Brown (who succeeded him in one of his early bands), Jimi Hendrix (one of his backup musicians in the mid-’60s) and Bruce Springsteen. He was 87.
  (Boris Yaro / Los Angeles Times)

13/25

Don Shula was the NFL’s winningest coach, leading the 1972 Miami Dolphins to the league’s only undefeated season. He coached the Baltimore Colts to one Super Bowl and the Dolphins to five, winning Lombardi Trophies after the 1972 and ’73 seasons. He was 90.
  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

14/25

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak crushed dissent for decades until the 2011 Arab Spring movement drove him from power. During his presidency, which spanned nearly 30 years, he protected Egypt’s stability as intifadas roiled Israel and the Palestinian territories, the U.S. led two wars against Iraq, Iran fomented militant Shiite Islam across the region and global terrorism complicated the divide between East and West. He was 91.  (Sameh Sherif / AFP/Getty Images)

15/25

Among his 40-odd films, burly Brian Dennehy played a sheriff who jailed Rambo in “First Blood,” a serial killer in “To Catch a Killer” and a corrupt sheriff in “Silverado.” On Broadway, he was awarded Tonys for his roles in “Death of a Salesman” (1999) and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” (2003). He was 81.  (Dia Dipasupil)

16/25

Singer-songwriter John Prine broke onto the folk scene in 1971 with a self-titled album that included two songs brought to broader audiences by Bette Midler and Bonnie Raitt: “Hello in There” and “Angel From Montgomery,” respectively. In 2019, he was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was 73.  (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images for Stagecoach)

17/25

Country singer Kenny Rogers racked up an impressive string of hits — initially as a member of The First Edition starting in the late 1960s and later as a solo artist and duet partner with Dolly Parton — and earned three Grammy Awards, 19 nominations and a slew of accolades from country-music awards shows. Country purists balked at his syrupy ballads, but his fans packed arenas that only the titans of rock could fill. He was 81.  (Suzanne Mapes / Associated Press)

18/25

Xerox researcher Larry Tesler pioneered concepts that made computers more user-friendly, including moving text through cut, copy and paste. In 1980, he joined Apple, where he worked on the Lisa computer, the Newton personal digital assistant and the Macintosh. He was 74.  (AP)

19/25

Ski industry pioneer Dave McCoy transformed a remote Sierra peak into the storied Mammoth Mountain Ski Area. Over six decades, it grew from a downhill depot for friends to a profitable operation of 3,000 workers and 4,000 acres of ski trails and lifts, a mecca for generations of skiers and boarders. He was 104.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

20/25

Screen icon Kirk Douglas brought a clenched-jawed intensity to an array of heroes and heels, receiving Oscar nominations for his performances as an opportunistic movie mogul in the 1952 drama “The Bad and the Beautiful” and as Vincent van Gogh in the 1956 drama “Lust for Life.” As executive producer of “Spartacus,” Douglas helped end the Hollywood blacklist by giving writer Dalton Trumbo screen credit under his own name. He was 103.  (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)

21/25

“Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark became a perennial best-seller, writing or co-writing “A Stranger Is Watching,” “Daddy’s Little Girl” and more than 50 other favorites. Her sales topped 100 million copies, and many of her books, including “A Stranger is Watching” and “Lucky Day,” were adapted for movies and television. She was 92.  (Associated Press)

22/25

Fred Silverman was the head of programming at CBS, where he championed a string of hits including “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “All in the Family,” “MASH” and “The Jeffersons.” Later at ABC, he programmed “Laverne & Shirley,” “The Love Boat,” “Happy Days” and the 12-hour epic saga “Roots.” He was 82.  (Associated Press)

23/25

Former California Rep. Fortney “Pete” Stark Jr. represented the East Bay in Congress for 40 years. The influential Democrat helped craft the Affordable Care Act, the signature healthcare achievement of the Obama administration, and also created the 1986 law best known as COBRA, which allows workers to stay on their employer’s health insurance plan after they leave a job. He was 88.  (Associated Press)

24/25

News anchor Jim Lehrer appeared 12 times as a presidential debate moderator and helped build “PBS NewsHour” into an authoritative voice of public broadcasting. The program, first called “The Robert MacNeil Report” and then “The MacNeil-Lehrer Report,” became the nation’s first one-hour TV news broadcast in 1983. Lehrer was 85.  (David McNew / Getty Images)

25/25

Terry Jones was a founding member of the Monty Python troupe who wrote and performed for their early ’70s TV series and films including “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” in 1975 and “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” in 1979. After the Pythons largely disbanded in the 1980s, Jones wrote books on medieval and ancient history, presented documentaries, wrote poetry and directed films. He was 77.  (Associated Press)