TORONTO | There are always great stories in sport, but sometimes they get overlooked. In the Lightning’s 7-3 win over the Maple Leafs, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare scored the first goal of the game. It was more than just a goal.
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In the first period, Bellemare jumped on a return shot from Corey Perry to thwart Ilya Samsonov.
Before the start of the playoffs, the 38-year-old Frenchman found himself in a slack period of 20 games without a single goal. Jon Cooper had also scratched him from the training seven times at the end of the season.
“I had a tough year,” Bellemare said in an interview after the first game with the author of these lines and colleague Robert Laflamme of the NHL.com site. “It was very, very hard. I experienced the departure of my mother. I had also endured an injury at the end of last season and underwent surgery. I went through a long road to get back in the right direction. I was eager to get into the playoffs to turn a page. It’s up to me to play well.”
In January, Bellemare experienced the mourning of her mother, Frédérique. In remission from breast cancer, she learned in October that her cancer had returned, now attacking her liver and lungs. She succumbed to this terrible disease a few months later.
When he beat Samsonov in the opening seconds of Game 1, the Lightning center didn’t cast a gaze skyward, as he did on Jan. 28 when he scored against the Kings in Los Angeles, days after the loss of his mother.
“No, I didn’t try to think about it,” he replied. With grief, there are ups and downs. Sometimes you think about it and you have wings that push you. But other times, you think about it and it puts you six feet under. I want to think about it in good times. Hockey helps me focus. When I am at home, I can turn to my wife and my children. My mom’s passing is still fresh in my mind.
The Lightning representative
Lightning candidate for the Bill-Masterton trophy, which crowns the most persevering player, Bellemare had spoken with great emotion about his mother in an interview at the Tampa Bay Times at the beginning of April.
“My mother was a rock to me and my four siblings. She took care of her family alone. I owe him my career. It was she who taught me all the important values in life and in sport.”
A record
1er last December, during a game against the Flyers in Philadelphia, Bellemare scored a record by participating in his 608e NHL game. He became the player from France with the most games in history, ahead of Antoine Roussel.
“It’s not normal,” he said. I’m here, but I shouldn’t be here when you look at my past. When you think of my childhood and all the difficulties I encountered, I shouldn’t be there. But it’s thanks to my mom.”
Bellemare reached the NHL at the age of 29 after eight seasons in Sweden.
Always the desire
With a first goal in the first game, Bellemare intends to erase from his memory a difficult season in many respects. In 73 games, he had 4 goals and 9 assists for 13 points.
Without a contract at the end of the season, he intends to continue his career in the NHL.
“I am 38 years old. I never said I was for playing until I was 38, he recalled after the first game in Toronto. If no team wants me, I’ll hang up my skates. But I hope there will still be interest. For me, there’s no reason why I couldn’t continue here [dans la LNH]. We will see at the end of the season. I could also look for Europe, there would be interest.
Bellemare is finishing the last year of a two-year pact that paid him two million (one million per season) with the Lightning. While not the most attacking player, he is a good point guard and is described by his teammates as an important presence inside the dressing room.