Pierre Larouche

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Pierre Larouche
Born (1955-11-16) November 16, 1955
Taschereau, Quebec, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight 175 lb (79 kg; 12 st 7 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Right
Played for NHL
New York Rangers
Hartford Whalers
Montreal Canadiens
Pittsburgh Penguins
AHL
Hershey Bears
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 8th overall, 1974
Pittsburgh Penguins
WHA Draft 30th overall, 1974
Houston Aeros
Playing career 1974–1988

Pierre Roland "Lucky Pierre"[1] Larouche (born November 16, 1955) is a retired professional ice hockey forward who played in the NHL for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens, Hartford Whalers, and New York Rangers.

Hockey career

Larouche played junior ice hockey with the Sorel Éperviers of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. During the 1973–74 QMJHL season, Larouche won the Jean Béliveau Trophy as the league's top scorer, with 94 goals, 157 assists, for a total 251 points. Larouche set the Canadian Hockey League record at the time, which is now second only to Mario Lemieux's 282 points ten years later.

Larouche was drafted 8th overall by the Penguins in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. In 1976, he became the 16th player ever to reach the 50-goal mark. At the time he was the youngest player to hit the 50-goal and 100-points plateau.[2] His record was broken by Wayne Gretzky in 1980. He was first player to score 50 goals in a season with two different teams: he scored 53 with Pittsburgh in 1975–76 and 50 with Montreal in 1979–80.[2] and is the only NHL player to have scored more than 45 goals with three separate teams, also scoring 48 with the New York Rangers.

Larouche is also one of the few players to score at least a point-per-game average in their final NHL season. He scored 12 points in 10 games, during the 1987–88 NHL season, his last in the league. He won two Stanley Cups with Montreal in 1978 and 1979.

In the book 100 Ranger Greats (John Wiley & Sons, 2009) by Russ Cohen, John Halligan and Adam Raider, the authors ranked Larouche No. 94 on the all-time list of New York Rangers.

On December 31, 2010 he served as one of the coaches for the alumni game of the 2011 NHL Winter Classic at Heinz Field between the Penguins and Washington Capitals.

Records and Accomplishments

  • He was the youngest player in NHL history to score 100 goals (21 years, 61 days) until he was surpassed by Wayne Gretzky (20 years, 40 days).
  • He was the youngest player in NHL history to score 50 goals (20 years, 139 days) and 100 points (20 years, 129 days) in a season until he was passed by Wayne Gretzky in both categories.
  • He was the youngest player in NHL history to score 200 points (21 years, 32 days) until he was surpassed by Wayne Gretzky (19 years, 347 days).
  • He was the youngest player in NHL history to score 300 points (22 years, 133 days) until he was surpassed by Bryan Trottier (22 years, 102 days).
  • Holds the Montreal Canadiens record for most goals in a season by a center with 50 goals in 1979-80
  • Holds the New York Rangers record for most goals in a season by a center with 48 goals in 1983-84
  • 1st player in NHL history to score 50 goals with 2 different teams (PIT & MTL) as well as 45 goals with 3 different teams (PIT, MTL & NYR).
  • Held the QMJHL record for points in a season with 251 in 1973-74 until he was surpassed by Mario Lemieux with 282 points in 1983-84.
  • Holds the QMJHL record for assists in a season with 157 in 1973-74

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1972–73 Quebec Remparts QMJHL 20 6 7 13 20 — — — — —
1972–73 Sorel Black Hawks QMJHL 43 47 54 101 24 10 7 6 13 2
1973–74 Sorel Black Hawks QMJHL 67 94 157 251 53 13 15 18 33 20
1974–75 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 79 31 37 68 52 9 2 5 7 2
1975–76 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 76 53 58 111 33 3 0 1 1 0
1976–77 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 65 29 34 63 14 3 0 3 3 0
1977–78 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 20 6 5 11 0 — — — — —
1977–78 Montreal Canadiens NHL 44 17 32 49 11 5 2 1 3 4
1978–79 Montreal Canadiens NHL 36 9 13 22 4 6 1 3 4 0
1979–80 Montreal Canadiens NHL 73 50 41 91 16 9 1 7 8 2
1980–81 Montreal Canadiens NHL 61 25 28 53 28 2 0 2 2 0
1981–82 Montreal Canadiens NHL 22 9 12 21 0 — — — — —
1981–82 Hartford Whalers NHL 45 25 25 50 12 — — — — —
1982–83 Hartford Whalers NHL 38 18 22 40 8 — — — — —
1983–84 New York Rangers NHL 77 48 33 81 22 5 3 1 4 2
1984–85 New York Rangers NHL 65 24 36 60 8 — — — — —
1985–86 Hershey Bears AHL 32 22 17 39 16 — — — — —
1985–86 New York Rangers NHL 28 20 7 27 4 16 8 9 17 2
1986–87 New York Rangers NHL 73 28 35 63 12 6 3 2 5 4
1987–88 New York Rangers NHL 10 3 9 12 13 — — — — —
NHL totals 812 395 427 822 237 64 20 34 54 16
AHL totals 32 22 17 39 16 0 0 0 0 0
QMJHL totals 130 147 218 365 97 23 22 24 46 22
[1]

Golf career

After retiring from hockey, Larouche took up golf. He was a winning player on the Celebrity Player Tour and he nearly qualified for the U. S. Open in 1993. He moved to New York, where he became involved in charity works.[2]

See also

References

  • Diamond, Dan; Duplacey, James; Dinger, Ralph; Kuperman, Igor; Zweig, Eric (1998). Total Hockey. New York: Total Sports. ISBN 0-8362-7114-9. 
  • Podnieks, Andrew (2003). Players: the ultimate A–Z guide of everyone who has ever played in the NHL. Doubleday Canada. ISBN 0-385-25999-9. 
Notes
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Diamond et al. 1998, p. 1209.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Podnieks, pp. 478-479

External links

Preceded by
Blaine Stoughton		 Pittsburgh Penguins first round draft pick
1974 		Succeeded by
Gordon Laxton
Authority control
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