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 with two teams: he scored 53 with Pittsburgh in 1975–76 and 50 with Montreal in 1979–80.[2] and is the only NHL player to have scored more than 45 goals with three different teams, also scoring 48 with the New York Rangers.

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

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

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 c 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.

External links

Preceded byBlaine Stoughton Pittsburgh Penguins first round draft pick 1974 Succeeded byGordon Laxton
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