Henri Richard

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Position Centre
Shot Right
Nickname(s) The Pocket Rocket
Height
Weight		 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
160 lb (73 kg/11 st 6 lb)
Pro clubs Montreal Canadiens
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born February 29, 1936 (age 72),,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Pro career 1955 – 1975
Hall of Fame, 1979

Joseph Henri Richard (born February 29, 1936 in Montreal, Quebec) is a former professional ice hockey player who played centre with the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1955 to 1975. Although 15 years his junior, he was the brother of hockey legend Maurice 'The Rocket' Richard and consequently, because he was smaller at 5 ft 7 in and 160 lb (73 kg), he was given the nickname The Pocket-Rocket[1].

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Although the Rocket was left-handed, Henri was right. Maurice played his off wing and Henri played centre. Throughout, the two brothers' style of play was quite different. Henri led the league in assists in 1957–58 and 1962–63, a feat never matched by his famous brother.

Henri won 11 Stanley Cups, which is more than any other player in all of NHL history (Jean Beliveau won it 10 times as a player and 7 as an executive). Only one other athlete in North American professional sports has achieved winning eleven championships in his respective league - Bill Russell of the NBA's Boston Celtics.

In 1957–58, he was named to the first All Star team and in 1959 he was named to the second All-Star team.

In his career, he scored 358 goals and earned 688 assists in 1256 games.

He was named captain of the Canadiens in 1971 and always wore the number 16 which was retired December 10, 1975 by the Canadiens in his honour. Henri retired in 1975 and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979. In 1998, he was ranked number 29 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. His name appears on the Stanley Cup 11 times, more than any other player. (Besides Beliveau)

[edit] Career Statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1952–53 Montreal Royals QSHL 1 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --
1955–56 Montreal Canadiens NHL 64 19 21 40 46 10 4 4 8 21
1956–57 Montreal Canadiens NHL 63 18 36 54 71 10 2 6 8 10
1957–58 Montreal Canadiens NHL 67 28 52 80 56 10 1 7 8 11
1958–59 Montreal Canadiens NHL 63 21 30 51 33 11 3 8 11 13
1959–60 Montreal Canadiens NHL 70 30 43 73 66 8 3 9 12 9
1960–61 Montreal Canadiens NHL 70 24 44 68 91 6 2 4 6 22
1961–62 Montreal Canadiens NHL 54 21 29 50 48 -- -- -- -- --
1962–63 Montreal Canadiens NHL 67 23 50 73 57 5 1 1 2 2
1963–64 Montreal Canadiens NHL 66 14 39 53 73 7 1 1 2 9
1964–65 Montreal Canadiens NHL 53 23 29 52 43 13 7 4 11 24
1965–66 Montreal Canadiens NHL 62 22 39 61 47 8 1 4 5 2
1966–67 Montreal Canadiens NHL 65 21 34 55 28 10 4 6 10 2
1967–68 Montreal Canadiens NHL 54 9 19 28 16 13 4 4 8 4
1968–69 Montreal Canadiens NHL 64 15 37 52 45 14 2 4 6 8
1969–70 Montreal Canadiens NHL 62 16 36 52 61 -- -- -- -- --
1970–71 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 12 37 49 46 20 5 7 12 20
1971–72 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 12 32 44 48 6 0 3 3 4
1972–73 Montreal Canadiens NHL 71 8 35 43 21 17 6 4 10 14
1973–74 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 19 36 55 28 6 2 2 4 2
1974–75 Montreal Canadiens NHL 16 3 10 13 4 6 1 2 3 4
NHL Totals 1256 358 688 1046 928 180 49 80 129 181

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Preceded by:
Jean Béliveau		 Montreal Canadiens Captains
1971 - 75		 Followed by:
Yvan Cournoyer