Cournoyer credits young cancer patient for inspiring final NHL hat trick 50 years later

MONTREAL -- Yvan Cournoyer was two months into his captaincy with the Montreal Canadiens, having been voted successor to the retired Henri Richard to begin the 1975-76 season.

Now, 14 games into the schedule, the bullet-fast skater known as the Roadrunner was having a difficult time getting untracked; heading into a game at the Pittsburgh Penguins 50 years ago this Nov. 13, he'd scored just three goals, none in his previous six games.

Cournoyer snapped out of his slump that night with a hat trick, the ninth and final regular-season three-goal game of his Hall of Fame-bound career, and to this day he gives credit to a courageous young cancer patient on whom he paid a call hours before the opening face-off.

Yvan Cournoyer on the cover of the Montreal Forum Sports Magazine in 1965, and in 1977 as captain of the team.

Word had got to Cournoyer that he had a big fan in Pittsburgh, a 12-year-old French-Canadian who'd been transplanted from Montreal with his father's job transfer.

Two months earlier, the youngster had lost a leg to cancer. In Pittsburgh, Cournoyer was asked whether he might have a few minutes to pay the boy a visit in his rehabilitation center.

"Of course I did," Cournoyer remembered on the anniversary of the visit and the night that saw him score his milestone 350th goal, his third goal proving to be the game-winner in a 5-4 Canadiens victory.

In fact, it was a night of milestones. Penguins forward Vic Hadfield, the former New York Rangers star, scored his 300th career goal, and Penguins teammate Jean Pronovost scored his 200th.

Yvan Cournoyer tests Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Gary Smith during a December, 1966 game at the Montreal Forum.

"The funniest thing about it is that I didn't know I was going for my 350th goal," Cournoyer told reporters who announced it to him.

"When you're scoring and you're getting near a figure like that, everybody is telling you that you're one or two goals away and you start thinking about it. The way I was having trouble scoring, nobody bothered talking to me about it. I really didn't know that I'd scored my 350th goal."

The Canadiens had skated briefly that morning, Cournoyer returning to his dressing room to autograph a puck and have everyone on the team sign a souvenir stick for his visit. He would forego his usual pregame afternoon routine, his call on a young boy taking much greater importance.

"When I got there he was playing pool, he was excited," Cournoyer almost whispered postgame to Montreal Star columnist Red Fisher, the only writer to mention a visit that was off the radar.

Yvan Cournoyer in action as captain of the Canadiens, and posing with 10 miniature Stanley Cup trophies to represent his career winnings.

"He was happy. Twelve years old and he loses a leg. What can be worse? The poor kid. He didn't even cry when they told him about it. He said, 'I'm going to lose a leg but I'm going to live.' Maybe my luck started by visiting that kid. All of us think we have problems when we don't have any."

The memories of the day were flooding back to Cournoyer a half-century later, details coming sharply into focus.

Cournoyer played 968 games, all for the Canadiens, from 1963-64 until 15 games into the 1978-79 season, his career ended by a second back surgery. He was the captain for four consecutive Stanley Cup championships from 1976-79, four of the 10 he won.

He had 863 points (428 goals, 435 assists) and was voted winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the postseason in 1973. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1982, had his No. 12 retired by the Canadiens with that of fellow legend Dickie Moore on Nov. 12, 2005, and in 2017 he was voted among the 100 Greatest NHL Players for the League's Centennial year.

Yvan Cournoyer eulogizes friend and fellow Canadiens legend Guy Lafleur at the latter's funeral at Montreal's Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral on May 3, 2022.

Today, Cournoyer is a hugely popular ambassador for the Canadiens, attending many home games and representing the team at myriad functions in Montreal and beyond. Often he meets cancer patients, and when he does it's common for him to think of the many friends and teammates he has lost to or been touched by the disease.

Most famously on too long a list are fellow Hall of Famers Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafleur and Ken Dryden.

"Jean was like a father to me," he said. "I remember Guy saying in an interview that when he turned 70, he'd do many different things, help many people, relax more. He died of cancer at 70."

Cournoyer eulogized both at their state funerals, his emotions overflowing with his words of goodbye.

Yvan Cournoyer in a Michel Lapensee painting illustrating his career, and Cournoyer's Stanley Cup ring saluting four consecutive championships won from 1976-79.

He knows how much a visit or a phone call or an autograph by mail might mean to someone who's waging a tough fight, often living on borrowed time.

"I've had many, 10 operations," Cournoyer said. "I know what it's like to be sick, to be in the hospital. You need all the help and support you can get when you're down. I've lived that.

"I've had a lot of injuries, though I'm lucky that I've not had cancer. When you're going through those days, you have to think about others. You don't have to play hockey to be worthy of being recognized with a small gesture that might brighten the day."

Cournoyer will be part of a handful of special events this November as the Canadiens mark Hockey Fights Cancer month, happy to bring a smile to someone whose days are dark more often than not.

Yvan Cournoyer wheels out from behind as goalie Ken Dryden casually watches during a mid-1970s game at Maple Leaf Gardens, defenseman Larry Robinson standing against the glass.

"Last year I had someone working for me as a contractor," he said. "He told me, 'I have a guy who doesn't have too long. Would you like to come with me to the hospital?' Of course I did. The man died two days after the visit, when he was talking like he was fine.

"You just never know. One day it could be yourself in that man's place and you'd like to have someone come and say hello."

On Thursday, 50 years to the day after his final hat trick and 350th NHL goal, Cournoyer was thinking not of his own milestones, but of a boy who showed him what courage was all about, a youngster to whom cancer was merely an inconvenience.

Top photo: Yvan Cournoyer waves to the crowd during a ceremony honoring him prior to the Canadiens' game at Bell Centre on April 19, 2022.