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In Hainsight: Gervais and Brunet Strike Again |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
If today’s snowfall reminds us of anything it’s that Christmas is fast approaching and for me, Christmas means getting gifts for my loved ones. Thankfully I know just what to get for the hockey fans in my life, the second book written by Mathias Brunet with Pierre Gervais’ collaboration; Pierre Gervais En prolongation. Just like their first book, it contains all sorts of anecdotes from Gervais’ 35-year career as an equipment manager.
It starts strong with Gervais’ thoughts on Canadiens’ sniper, Cole Caufield. Suffice to say the chapter is called the birth of a legend. We also learn in that chapter that teams are normally cordial with each other when players are traded and send the player’s sticks over to the new team, but the Hurricanes were cheapskates when Edmundson was traded to Montreal, only sending over six sticks, you got to wonder what could have made them act like this…Aho offer sheet anyone?
We also learn how Gervais made it from the QJMHL to the AHL to the NHL thanks to some twist of fate when the Winnipeg Jets AHL farm team in Sherbrooke was dissolved and made way for the Canadiens’ farm team. Gervais tells how in Sherbrooke Patrick Roy got his big break thanks to a broken strap on Greg Moffett’s pads and how that’s where he started working with François Allaire to become the embodiment of the butterfly technique.
One part of the book cracked me up, they tell us that an American player who spent three years in Montreal was systematically taking the Canadian flag off of his equipment pieces when he received it. Gervais once asked why he did that, and he stayed stern faced without answering. They didn’t want to reveal his identity but did say that he spent three seasons in Montreal, that it didn’t go very well and that a young defenseman was sacrificed to get him…let’s just say that it’s not a hard trivia question at all.
The book also teaches us that the former captain is as conservative as can be when it comes to equipment. He refused to use Bauer’s new sticks because of the change in the visual aspect of the stick shaft which prevented him from concentrating. We also find out that Michel Therrien once broke a glass board with a punch in between periods, meaning that once play started again, someone was down behind the players on the bench taking the glass pieces out of Therrien’s hand.
Brunet also explains how Gervais was the one in charge of telling players to go see the GM when they were cut in training camp, one of the hardest parts of his job, especially when it came to telling veterans they had to go in there.
I don’t know how to explain it, but this book, just like the first one, draws me in. I read it from cover to cover in one evening all 280 pages. I really liked how it ended on a positive note, telling us about the biggest friendships he’s seen in the room over the years. I don’t want to reveal too much of the book here really, but this is sure to be a great read for the Canadiens’ fans in your life.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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