Mario Tremblay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the hockey player and coach. An unrelated Mario Tremblay is a disc jockey under the professional name MC Mario.

Mario Tremblay (born September 2, 1956 in Alma, Quebec) is a former professional ice hockey player and a former National Hockey League head coach.

Tremblay played with the Montreal Canadiens for his entire NHL playing career (1974 to 1986), and was also the coach of the club from 1995 until his resignation in 1997. He is best known for his long running dispute with star goaltender Patrick Roy, which eventually led to Roy's departure from Montreal. The two had almost come to blows in a Long Island coffee shop before Tremblay was announced as a coach and his first appearance in the dressing room was greeted with snickers from Roy.

They almost fought a second time after Tremblay fired a shot at Roy's throat during practice, by which point it was only a matter of time before the hot-tempered Tremblay and his equally hot-tempered goalie reached the point of no return.

He was the man behind the bench who kept Patrick Roy in net during the Dec. 2, 1995 game versus the Detroit Red Wings, where the Wings scored 9 goals on Roy, who was also derided by fickle fans. The angered Roy stormed off the ice and told team president Ronald Corey it was his last game for the Canadiens. Four days later, Roy was traded to Colorado with captain Mike Keane for Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky and Andrei Kovalenko.

Nearly a year later, Tremblay also had a heated verbal exchange with Donald Brashear during a team practice prior to a game against the Avalanche in Denver. Brashear was later traded to the Vancouver Canucks.

In 852 regular season games in the NHL, he scored 258 goals and added 326 assists for 584 points, with 1043 penalty minutes. Tremblay currently serves as an assistant coach to Jacques Lemaire for the Minnesota Wild, a position he has held since their inaugural season.