by Cate Racher, Staff Writer/Copy Editor, All Habs Hockey Magazine
Welcome to Habs History! Throughout this series, we’re going to be taking a look at the top seven goalies to ever wear the bleu-blanc-rouge throughout the Habs’ extensive history, according to their number of wins. It will include bios, player stats, and other fun facts about some of our favourite team goalies and how they fit into the team’s history.
Michel Raymond Larocque was born on April 6th, 1952 in Hull, Quebec. When he was a child, Michel’s mother gave him the nickname “Bunny” which often served in place of his actual first name throughout the rest of his life. As a teenager, Larocque played for the Hull Losiers in the Quebec AAA league before being called up to the Ottawa 67’s in in 1967.
He played only four games in the 1967-’68 season, and four games the next, before becoming the team’s main goaltender for the 1969-’70 season. That season, he achieved a goals-against average of 3.63 and had three shutouts in the 51 games he played.After the 67’s joined the newly formed Ontario Major Junior Hockey League (OMJHL) in 1971, Larocque lead the league in terms of shutouts and achieved a goals against average of 3.45.
At the age of 20-years-old, Larocque was selected sixth overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft. Montreal had also selected Steve Shutt, two picks ahead of Larocque with the fourth overall selection.
In his first professional hockey campaign with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, Larocque posted a 2.50 GAA in 47 games played and earned the Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award alongside his fellow netminder Michel Deguise.
When Ken Dryden decided to sit out the 1973-’74 season in order to finish law school, the Habs called Larocque up to serve in his place alongside Wayne Thomas and Michel Plasse. He won 15 out of 27 games played and maintained a GAA of 2.89 for the regular season. When Dryden returned for the 1974-’75 season, Larocque willingly resumed his role as backup.
Bunny Larocque was popular both on and off the Forum ice in large part due to his friendly personality and eager attitude towards his role with the team. Despite serving only as a backup, Larocque practised like he was the team’s starter and never once complained about the part he played. He spent five years as Dryden’s backup, starting 137 games, 89 of which he won while losing only 18.
On top of being a Stanley Cup winner, albeit from the sidelines save for the 1978-’79 season, Larocque and Dryden split the Vezina trophy three times. He was also awarded the Vezina again for the 1980-’81 season alongside Richard Sévigny and Denis Herron following Ken Dryden’s retirement. Unfortunately, he only played 28 games with the Habs that season before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Robert Picard.
The next few years of his career were a bit of a mess. After playing only a season and a half in Toronto, Larocque was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Rick St. Croix. In 1984, he was sold to the St. Louis Blues before he retired from hockey and the NHL.
After his retirement, Bunny Larocque joined the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) as an executive and general manager of the Victoriaville Tigers. Under his leadership, the team was able to come out at the top of the QMJHL before ultimately being defeated in the championships by Laval. Nevertheless, his contributions to the Tigers earned him the John Horman Trophy for the QMJHL executive of the year in 1989-’90.
Before the start of the 1991-’92 season, Larocque was promoted to the vice presidency of the QMJHL. On July 29th, 1992, Bunny Larocque quietly lost his battle with brain cancer and passed away at the age of 40. Despite never serving as the Habs’ main goalie, he is remembered as one of the best and most reliable goalies to ever suit up for the team, with a career GAA of 2.83 and 144 wins over his 231 games played.