On His HHOF Induction Night, Some Personal Memories of Pierre Lacroix

The late, great Avs GM inducted tonight

One person I really miss in this world is Pierre Lacroix. I’ve written plenty about him over the years, but on a night in which he was (finally) inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder, there is always room for a few more Pierre stories.

First off, it was really nice to see such a large turnout of ex-Avs greats tonight in Toronto, such as Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy and Ray Bourque. All four of those guys are fellow Hall of Famers, and so I’m sure there were some great Pierre stories told by those guys.

There is always a private reception in the back room of the HHOF before the actual ceremony, and it’s always a Who’s Who of hockey. How do I know this? Because I was at one of those receptions, in 2004 when Bourque went into the Hall.

My writer buddy Jim Matheson (another HHOFer in the media section) had an extra ticket to the reception, and invited me. There was one moment when, get this: Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe were standing together next to a giant platter of shrimp, just talking. And there I was, just standing next to them for a moment. You talk about a moment. For me, that was one I’ve never forgotten.

First off, I’m really happy Pierre’s family got to see him inducted. Sons Eric, Martin, his wife CoCo, his grandson Max and many others were on hand. Pierre was all about family, so it’s great they all got to share in this moment tonight. It says it all about Pierre that his kids, his wife and anybody else I’ve ever met in his family are good, kind people.

Pierre was an unforgettable person. I’m not sure I’ve ever known someone who was so driven to succeed. When he was a beer salesman in Canada as a young man, he became the best at that. As a hockey agent, he became great at that. As a GM with the Nordiques and Avalanche, he was the best. Nine straight division titles (one with Quebec, eight with the Avs) remain the NHL record. And, those were his FIRST NINE YEARS as a GM.

Think about that for a minute. Two Stanley Cups, six Western Conference finals trips in his first seven years in Denver. Not bad.

I’ve told a lot of Pierre stories, but here are a few more that maybe I haven’t: