Sevigny enjoying life along St. Lawrence River, reflects on 8-season NHL career with humility

The NHL and conservation nonprofit Ducks Unlimited Canada are teaming up to tell stories of current and former NHL players and how access to community ponds and the outdoors helped shape their love for the sport. Today, in the eighth installment in the series, a look back at former goalie Richard Sevigny, who started his hockey career at his local park, never believing he would one day reach the NHL.

As far back as he can remember, Richard Sevigny was always fascinated by hockey. And it was just a few blocks away, at a park in Montreal's Rosemont neighborhood, where the rather improbable journey of the former Montreal Canadiens and Quebec Nordiques goalie began.

Sevigny was about 6 years old when he first received hockey equipment. It was one of the key moments that pushed him to become a goalie.

"One Christmas, back in the days of Jacques Plante, I got goalie pads," he recalled. "At the time, those pads were about an inch thick. We'd play hockey in the hallway at home. I always had a fascination for the life of a goalie."

At the age of 8, another major event truly convinced young Richard to turn toward becoming a goalie full time.

"Actually, I wanted to be a goalie because I didn't know how to skate very well," Sevigny said. "The first time I hopped on the ice at Pere-Marquette Park, my brother was right behind me. I took a big fall, and my brother caught my stick in the eye. He ended up going to the hospital."

Sevigny's interest for hockey fully took hold well before this first unfortunate experience on skates. He would leave his house by himself at age 6 every Sunday to take the bus to Centre Paul-Sauvé, at the corner of Rue Beaubien and Pie-IX Boulevard in Montreal, to go watch junior hockey.

"There was a big arena with about 3,000-4,000 seats: It's not there anymore," Sevigny said. "I would go watch games from the Metropolitan League. I was always fascinated by hockey. I ate and drank hockey, and I was lucky enough to have a career in it afterwards. I'm very fortunate."

Then came the routine of trips to and from Pere-Marquette Park and the arena bearing the same name, within walking distance of the Sevigny household.

"Every night in winter, I'd have my routine," Sevigny said. "I'd get home at 4:30, I'd do my homework and have dinner. At 6 p.m. on the dot, I'd leave for Pere-Marquette Arena to go watch hockey from 6 to 9. I'd keep an eye on the clock at the arena, and when the clock struck nine, I'd go back home.

"That was my daily routine from Monday to Friday, from age 8 all the way to 16. There wasn't any hockey on Saturday, which I found annoying, so I'd go skate at the park. I was always outside."

It was at age 8 that Sevigny found himself on a team for the first time. The learning curve proved to be quite difficult.

"There weren't any teams for 7- and 8-year-olds, it all started at age 9, so I found myself having to go play with the older kids," he said. "It wasn't easy. When they're 10 and you're only 8, that's already a huge difference, but I had to start somewhere, and it's never easy when you first get started in something."

Sevigny did have some natural ability, but by his own admission, he wasn't the most disciplined player. He was not necessarily ready to commit himself seriously to hockey in order to climb the ranks of minor hockey.

"At 15, in my first year of midget hockey, I had hair all the way down to the middle of my back, and I'd play with my buddies at De Lorimier, a gathering place for two local parishes," he said. "The man who was in charge of the AA team, a certain Mr. Trottier, was incredibly strict. To play on his team, you had to have your hair cut short and you had to keep it on the straight and narrow. I wanted nothing to do with that.

"I began to understand, during my second year of midget, that if I wanted to move forward with my hockey career, not necessarily to go far, but to at least give myself the chance to play in AA, I'd have no choice but to cut my hair, so I swallowed my pride and I ended up playing with the Rosemont Elites."

Rarely has a haircut paid such dividends. The following season, Sevigny was drafted by Sherbrooke of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He won a league championship with Sherbrooke in 1974-75, his first season, then another two years later.

Sevigny was beginning to get noticed. His hometown Canadiens selected him in the seventh round (No. 124) of the 1977 NHL Draft.

"I was drafted by the Canadiens, but at the time, there were 12 goalies in the organization, so my chances of making the team were about as good as my chances of winning the lottery," Sevigny said.

That year saw the release of the cult film "Slap Shot." The classic hockey comedy woke something up in Sevigny. He didn't think much of his chances of reaching the NHL, but watching the film made him want to try his hand at semipro hockey.

"In all honestly, I never thought I'd be able to make it all the way to the NHL," he said. "The simple fact of getting to major junior hockey was already such a big deal for me. At that point, all I was hoping to do was to be able to play a season of semipro. In watching that film, we said to ourselves, 'It sounds like a lot of fun, what's going on in the world of hockey.' I was hoping to experience at least one year at that level."

The 5-foot-8, 178-pound goalie received three offers to go play at the college level. He found himself in Michigan, playing for the Detroit Red Wings' International Hockey League affiliate in Kalamazoo.

"They gave me a chance, but I got cut," Sevigny said. "I found myself back home for two weeks with nothing else to do, I thought my career was over. The team ended up making a coaching change, and I got a call back, so that's the way my pro career got started."

Sevigny ended up back in the Canadiens' system in 1978-79, playing for Nova Scotia in the American Hockey League. He got his first opportunity to play in the NHL the following season when he relieved Denis Herron in the first period against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 13, 1979, making 22 saves for his first NHL win, 5-2 at St. Louis Arena.

Montreal, at the time, was reaching the end of a dynasty, having won the Stanley Cup in each of the four prior seasons.

"Those were the years of (goalies) Ken Dryden and Michel Larocque, the years of several legends in Montreal," Sevigny said. "Ken retired, and the doors were opened. The first time I found myself in the Canadiens dressing room, I was sitting between Ken Dryden and Guy Lafleur. It's pretty impressive when you've spent so much time watching those stars on TV.

"I was asking myself what I was doing there, but that's how it all started."

In 1980-81, his first full season with Montreal, Sevigny won the Vezina Trophy with Herron and Larocque after allowing the fewest number of goals in the regular season (232 in 80 games). At the time, the Vezina was awarded to the goalie(s) of the team that allowed the fewest goals in the regular season, the William M. Jennings replacing it the following season.

Sevigny played eight seasons in the NHL, five for the Canadiens and three with the Nordiques, going 80-54 with 20 ties in 176 games (151 starts) and playing four Stanley Cup Playoff games. He doesn't have a big head about the fact that he had a solid NHL career. Ever humble, he simply calls himself lucky.

"Whenever I talk about it, I always tell people that I was extremely lucky, because I couldn't have the same life today if I did things the exact same way," he said. "I couldn't relive what I've already lived. The goalies today are true athletes. Modern goalies are all a foot taller than I am.

"I've had the most wonderful life, I'm very fortunate. Hockey has given me so much."

His fascination for the sport remaining ever-present, Sevigny remained close to the hockey world once his playing days were done. He spent 20 years in the high-school ranks, four years at the Collège de Montréal and 16 at the Collège de l'Assomption, getting involved in many different hockey programs.

Now 68, Sevigny, lives along the St. Lawrence River in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, and still puts on the goalie pads from time to time.

"I still play with (Canadiens) alumni, but I'm getting close to hanging up my skates. If I don't do it, someone else will tell me to!

"I ref a lot of games in the Sorel area. I'm very involved in officiating in Montérégie, I'm on the ice practically six days a week. It's important to keep busy, it keeps you young. If you don't move around and you spend all day lying around with your feet up, that's when you start getting old. That will be the beginning of the end."

Sevigny then pointed out that time outdoors helped shape the people of his generation, a mentality he feels is unfortunately starting to become lost to time.

"I spent my summers playing outside at the park. With today's generation of kids, it's not the same," he said. "You never see anyone in the schoolyard anymore after school lets out. In my day, it was the complete opposite. We were always there."