Up Close with Mathieu Darche: Still at the Rink

MONTREAL, QC. — Just over a year removed from his playing days, ex-Montreal Canadiens forward Mathieu Darche is still very much involved in hockey. While he is no longer travelling from city to city or checking in and out of five-star hotels with his teammates, Darche still spends a lot of time at the rink with his two young boys. A devoted husband and father, Darche is now enjoying the finer things in life, “It’s great. I get more time with the kids. Right now I’m enjoying the summer spending it with my family.”

After living out his boyhood dream in January of 2010 when he suited up for Montreal in a 4-3-overtime loss against St Louis, Darche sported the red white and blue 138 more times through the 2011-12 season. In that time, he was able to experience many exciting moments, “There are a few moments [that stand out]. Gradually it started with my first game when I got called up and then my first goal and then my [first] goal at the Bell Centre. All three [moments] were special in their own way. The first game was special because forever I’d be a Montreal Canadien, even if it was only going to be for one game. And then I scored a goal for the Canadiens in my next game, the team I grew up idolizing. When I scored my first goal at the Bell Centre, that was special because you do something and there’s 22 thousand people that end up cheering for something that you did.  It was a pretty special feeling.”

Now that his playing career is over, Darche openly considers Montreal’s run to the eastern conference finals in 2010 as a surreal time in his life, “Honestly, that playoff run in 2010 was pretty special. I remember when we won game six at home against Pittsburgh to bring it to game 7, an hour after the game we’d leave the rink and there were still people jumping on our cars outside the parking lot. But I think it was more that we were the Cinderella team. We were supposed to get crushed by Washington, and ended up beating them in 7. And Pittsburgh in 7 and both series we trailed in. I think our injuries and all that caught up to us against Philly and unfortunately we fell short.”

Now that Darche is no longer a member of the Montreal Canadiens, he admits that there are many things he misses, including the ambiance at the Bell Centre, “I’ll never get tired of when Michel Lacroix goes ‘accueillons nos Canadiens’ and we jump on the ice with the kids holding the flags next to our bench. It’s a feeling that I will never forget.”

As he continues to reminisce about his days as a Hab, Darche speaks very highly of ex-teammate Hal Gill. Specifically, he credits Gill for teaching him a lot about the little things like blocking shots and killing penalties, “One guy I really enjoyed playing with was Hal Gill. He was able to do the little things in order to be effective on the team without being the highest talent and he still found a way to contribute to the team’s success. You know, people like to laugh that he’s not the fastest and all that but he’s 37 years old and he’s on a two-year contract so, to find a niche, to find a way to be valuable to the team that’s not always measured in goals and assists [is impressive].”

Now doing some work for RDS as a hockey analyst, Darche is required to evaluate Montreal’s games, a job that involves critiquing some of his ex-teammates. Darche says that it’s simply part of the job, “I just report on and analyze what I see. I never criticized a player personally but if I see a bad play, I’m going to say it. [That being said,] I still try to be careful with what I say.” However, despite his new role, Darche concedes that this job is a way for him to stay in the game on some level, “You always miss the game but it is what it is, at some point everyone has to move on. Being part of the media helps me stay connected with the game and so far so good.”

During my interview with him, Darche even weighed in on general manager Marc Bergevin’s body of work this offseason and in particular the signing of forward Daniel Briere,“I’m sure he’s not done. Initially I was surprised with the Briere deal because of the need for size but saying that, Briere will probably be their best forward or one of their best forwards so he’s going to help the team. But it’s my guess that he’s not done. I think there will be more via trade.”

In closing, Darche did his best to explain the difference between last year’s 2^nd place team and the previous year where Montreal finished 15^th in the Eastern Conference, “That’s one thing about playing in Montreal. When things go bad, they snowball big. I don’t think there was that big of a difference in the team. Eighteen players from last year’s team were on the team in 2011-12. And on the other side, when things go well, they can snowball and it’s easier to keep it going well. In hindsight it (the 2011-12 season) ended up helping them because they were able to draft Galchenyuk because of that season. So long-term it’s going to help them.”