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| Mario Tremblay | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1956-09-02)September 2, 1956 (age 68) Alma,Quebec, Canada | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) | ||
| Weight | 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb) | ||
| Position | Right Wing | ||
| Shot | Right | ||
| Played for | Montreal Canadiens | ||
| NHL draft | 12th overall,1974 Montreal Canadiens | ||
| Playing career | 1974–1986 | ||
Joseph Daniel Mario Tremblay (born September 2, 1956) is a Canadian former professionalice hockey player and coach in theNational Hockey League (NHL). As a player, he was a five-timeStanley Cup winner with theMontreal Canadiens.
He was honoured by his hometown of Alma, which named its local arena "Le Centre Mario-Tremblay".[citation needed] Since 1981, Tremblay has owned the sports bar in his hometown called "Bar-Restaurant chez Mario Tremblay".[citation needed]
Tremblay, nicknamed "Le bleuet bionique" (The Bionic Blueberry), played his junior hockey with theMontreal Bleu Blanc Rouge and played with theMontreal Canadiens for his entire NHL playing career (1974–1986), winning fiveStanley Cup championships with the team as a player in1976,1977,1978,1979, and1986. In 852 regular season games in the NHL, he scored 258 goals and added 326 assists for 584 points, with 1043 penalty minutes. He scored the winning goal in game six of the 1978 Stanley Cup finals, giving the cup to the Canadiens. He was the winner of theMolson Cup for the 1982-83 season. Tremblay is 10th on the Montreal Canadiens all-time list forplus-minus at 184. Tremblay remains the youngest goal scorer in franchise history, having achieved his inaugural tally at age 18 years, 75 days on November 16, 1974, against the New York Rangers at the Forum.[1]
In his first few seasons with the Canadiens, he was part of a very dynamicforward line alongside centerDoug Risebrough (who was also a rookie in 1974-75) and LWYvon Lambert. Their job was to contain their opponents' main scoring line and to create room for the team's highly skilled players by agitating and pestering their opponents' best players. When the three began playing together a few weeks into the 1974-75 season, they lit a fire under a team that had started the year slowly, winning just 3 of its first 10 games. All three were regular visitors to thepenalty box during those years. The line was together for all four Stanley Cup wins from 1976 to 1979. In later years, Tremblay was given more goal-scoring responsibilities and was a regular on thepower play. He scored 30 or more goals in four different seasons, the first time in 1978-79, his fifth season in the league.
He announced his retirement in September 1986, after suffering a serious shoulder injury the previous season that caused him to miss the1986 Stanley Cup playoffs.[2]
Tremblay was hired six games into the 1995–96 season as head coach of the Canadiens although he had no previous coaching experience.[3] Tremblay had a long-running dispute with star goaltenderPatrick Roy, which started from their days as teammates, and not long after Tremblay became coach this eventually led to Roy's departure from Montreal. The two had almost come to blows in a Long Island coffee shop before Tremblay was announced as coach, and Roy snickered when Tremblay arrived in the dressing room for the first time. They almost fought a second time after Tremblay fired a shot at Roy's throat during practice.
Tremblay kept Roy in net during a December 2, 1995, game versus theDetroit Red Wings, in which the Wings scored nine goals on Roy, who was jeered by the Montreal fans. Roy stormed off the ice and told team presidentRonald Corey that he would never play for the Canadiens again. Four days later, Roy was traded to Colorado with captainMike Keane forJocelyn Thibault,Martin Ručinský, andAndrei Kovalenko. Roy went on to lead the Avalanche to two Stanley Cups before retiring. The rivalry would continue into the coaching ranks, as Roy would later (on October 15, 2013) tie Tremblay's record for longest winning streak (six games) to begin an NHL coaching career.
Nearly a year after Roy left the Canadiens, Tremblay also had a heated verbal exchange with Habs enforcerDonald Brashear during a team practice before a game against the Avalanche inDenver. Brashear was later traded to theVancouver Canucks.
As a head coach for Montreal, Tremblay coached 159 games, with 71 wins, 63 losses, and 25 ties across two years with the team.
In 2001, Tremblay became an assistant coach for the Minnesota Wild under head coachJacques Lemaire. He remained there for seven seasons, through 2008–09. In 2009, he followed Lemaire to the New Jersey Devils where he remained an assistant coach under Lemaire. Lemaire retired in 2010 after one season in New Jersey and Tremblay was not retained as assistant coach. He then joined the Quebec sport network RDS as a hockey analyst for the Montreal Canadiens games.[4]
Tremblay married Collette Germain in 1977 and the couple had two daughters. Germain died of cancer in 2015.[5]
Tremblay is the uncle of the professional hockey player,Pascal Trépanier.[6]
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1972–73 | Montreal Bleu Blanc Rouge | QMJHL | 56 | 43 | 37 | 80 | 155 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 1973–74 | Montreal Bleu Blanc Rouge | QMJHL | 46 | 49 | 51 | 100 | 154 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 17 | ||
| 1974–75 | Nova Scotia Voyageurs | AHL | 15 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 47 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1974–75 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 63 | 21 | 18 | 39 | 108 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 1975–76 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 71 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 88 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 27 | ||
| 1976–77 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 74 | 18 | 28 | 46 | 61 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | ||
| 1977–78 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 56 | 10 | 14 | 24 | 44 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 16 | ||
| 1978–79 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 76 | 30 | 29 | 59 | 74 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 13 | ||
| 1979–80 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 77 | 16 | 26 | 42 | 105 | 10 | 0 | 11 | 11 | 14 | ||
| 1980–81 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 77 | 25 | 38 | 63 | 123 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 1981–82 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 80 | 33 | 40 | 73 | 66 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 24 | ||
| 1982–83 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 80 | 30 | 37 | 67 | 87 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 1983–84 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 67 | 14 | 25 | 39 | 112 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 31 | ||
| 1984–85 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 75 | 31 | 35 | 66 | 120 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 30 | ||
| 1985–86 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 56 | 19 | 20 | 39 | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 852 | 258 | 326 | 584 | 1,043 | 101 | 20 | 29 | 49 | 187 | ||||
| Team | Year | Regular season | Post season | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | Pts | Finish | Result | ||
| MTL | 1995–96 | 77 | 40 | 27 | 10 | 90 | 3rd inNortheast | Lost in first round |
| MTL | 1996–97 | 82 | 31 | 36 | 15 | 77 | 4th in Northeast | Lost in first round |
| Total | 159 | 71 | 63 | 25 | 167 | |||
Molson Cup winner :http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/player/Mario-Tremblay
| Preceded by | Montreal Canadiens first round draft pick 1974 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Head coach of the Montreal Canadiens 1995–97 | Succeeded by |
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| National | |
