Pierre Larouche

Pierre Larouche
Born (1955-11-16) November 16, 1955 (age 68)
Taschereau, Quebec, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 175 lb (79 kg; 12 st 7 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Right
Played for New York Rangers
Hartford Whalers
Montreal Canadiens
Pittsburgh Penguins
National team  Canada
NHL draft 8th overall, 1974
Pittsburgh Penguins
WHA draft 30th overall, 1974
Houston Aeros
Playing career 1974–1988

Pierre Roland Larouche (born November 16, 1955) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens, Hartford Whalers, and New York Rangers between 1974 and 1988. He was a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Canadiens.

Hockey career

As a youth, Larouche played in the 1965, 1966 and 1968 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a minor ice hockey team from Amos, Quebec.[1]

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 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 for Pittsburgh (scoring 53 in 1975–76) and is the only NHL player to have scored more than 45 goals with three different teams, also scoring 50 with Montreal in 1979–80 and 48 with the New York Rangers in 1983-84.

Larouche is also one of the few players to score at least a point-per-game average in his final NHL season. He had 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 2009 book 100 Ranger Greats, the authors ranked Larouche at No. 94 all-time of the 901 New York Rangers who had played during the team's first 82 seasons.[3]

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 teams (PIT & MTL) as well as 45 goals with 3 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 and playoffs

    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

[4]

International

Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1977 Canada WC 10 7 8 15 16

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.[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. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
  2. ^ a b Podnieks, pp. 478-479
  3. ^ Cohen, Russ; Halligan, John; Raider, Adam (2009). 100 Ranger Greats: Superstars, Unsung Heroes and Colorful Characters. John Wiley & Sons. p. 24. ISBN 978-0470736197. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  4. ^ Diamond et al. 1998, p. 1209.
Preceded by Pittsburgh Penguins first round draft pick
1974 		Succeeded by