Mario Tremblay

Joseph Daniel Mario Tremblay (born September 2, 1956 in Alma, Quebec) is a former professional ice hockey player and former coach in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was honoured by his hometown of Alma, which named its local arena "Le Centre Mario-Tremblay". Since 1981, Tremblay has owned the sports bar in his hometown called "Bar-Restaurant chez Mario Tremblay".

Playing career

Tremblay, nicknamed "Le bleuet bionique" (The Bionic Blueberry), 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, winning five Stanley Cup championships with the team as a player in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, and 1986. He scored the winning goal in game six of the Stanley finals giving the cup to the Canadiens in 1978. He was the winner of the Molson Cup for the season 1982-83. Although his playing days have been overshadowed by his controversial coaching career, Tremblay is 10th on the Montreal Canadiens all time list for plus-minus at 184.

In 852 regular season games in the NHL, he scored 258 goals and added 326 assists for 584 points, with 1043 penalty minutes.

Coaching career

Tremblay was hired four games into the 1995–96 season as head coach of the Canadiens although he had no previous coaching experience. As coach, he developed a 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.

Tremblay kept Patrick Roy in net during a December 2, 1995, game versus the Detroit Red Wings, in which the Wings scored nine goals on Roy, who was jeered by the Montreal fans. Roy stormed off the ice and told team president Ronald Corey that it was the last game he would play for the Canadiens. Four days later, Roy was traded to Colorado with captain Mike Keane for Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky and Andrei Kovalenko. Roy went on to lead the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup twice before retiring. The rivalry would continue into the coaching ranks, as Roy would later (on October 15, 2013) tie Tremblay's record for longest winning streak (six games) to begin an NHL coaching career.

Nearly a year after Roy left the Canadiens, Tremblay also had a heated verbal exchange with Montreal's enforcer Donald Brashear during a team practice prior to a game against the Avalanche in Denver. Brashear was later traded to the Vancouver Canucks.

As a head coach for Montreal, Tremblay coached 159 games, with 71 wins, 63 losses and 25 ties across two years with the team. Prior to his 2009–10 hiring as assistant-coach of the New Jersey Devils, Tremblay served as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Wild. In both jobs, he was an assistant coach to Jacques Lemaire. After Lemaire retired in 2010, Tremblay was not retained as assistant coach. He then joined the Quebec sport network RDS as a hockey analyst for the Montreal Canadiens games.^[1]

Career statistics

Coaching record

References

Molson Cup winner : http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/player/Mario-Tremblay

External links

• http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1974/74012.html
• Mario Tremblay's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database