Pierre Gervais – Inside the locker room | The one who has seen it all, heard it all

The book Pierre Gervais – At the heart of the locker room, written by colleague Mathias Brunet, will appear in bookshops on Monday. It recounts the journey, anecdotes and analyzes of the man who was equipment manager for the Montreal Canadiens for 35 years. Pierre Gervais has seen it all, heard it all. Here are three notable excerpts from his book, first.

A bad captain

I was surprised to learn, in September 2015, that Max Pacioretty had been elected the team captain following a secret vote of the players. Max was coming off a 37-goal season and he was our best striker, but he didn’t fit the job. He was a very self-centered guy. He rarely smiled and did not mingle with others. Quite the opposite of a unifier. We could win 10-1 and he was sulking if he hadn’t scored. He was probably brought up in cotton wool.

There weren’t many candidates at the time, I understand that, but in my opinion it would have been better not to have a captain than to appoint a bad one. Looking back, I believe that Marc [Bergevin] and Michael [Therrien] would not have let the players choose if they had suspected the result of the vote. Pacioretty had a lot of trouble with PK [Subban]. The two often argued with each other. With the other players it was just okay, but everyone knew what kind of individual he was. No one was more important than him.

He didn’t get much respect from the guys. I’m looking for friends for him in the locker room and it’s hard for me to find any…

Max had had a stretching machine delivered to Montreal, a very bulky thing that fit in a big crate. He was one of the few to use it within the team. At one point, he wanted us to carry the device on trips to our away games. I told him that unfortunately we didn’t have room for his device, called Desmotec. We could barely close the truck door when we were transporting all the equipment from the Bell Complex to the airport. He used all means to try to achieve his ends, he even tried to convince our athletic therapist and Marc Bergevin. I had to take turns explaining the situation to them.

— Marc, it’s nothing personal, but if you tell me that we absolutely have to bring it, we’ll take out a safe from the medical staff to put this box in, because we really don’t have any square.

I even showed a photo of our truck to Marc so that he understood that there wasn’t an inch free in the trunk! I found that cheap that he goes to everyone behind my back for that. I have the impression that being told no, it didn’t work with him… We ran into him again a few months later, when he was playing in Vegas. He didn’t even greet my assistant Pat and me. We had, however, rubbed shoulders on a daily basis for ten years. Even during the warm-up, he stared at me for a few moments without saying anything to me while I was on the bench. Maybe he still resented me for his camera, but I hadn’t told him no out of pride, only out of lack of space.

He’s a guy like that, a bad person. All the staff was happy to see him leave. Moreover, I realized while chatting with the staff of the Golden Knights, during our visit, that he had not changed. They felt like he was making fun of them.

He would decide to bring ten sticks on trips when most players carried around four or five at the most. There isn’t a sane guy who does that. He didn’t care. Me, when it happened, I told the guys that if each player brought ten sticks, that would make 200 sticks for a hockey game. The guys understood and took two more minutes to choose good ones.

A gem from Finland

After the confirmation, a few days later, of the diagnosis of an intra-abdominal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Saku began her chemotherapy treatments. He only allowed four people to visit him in the hospital: his parents, my assistant Bobby Boulanger and me. It touched us. We were very close to him, we had always pampered him. No more than the other players, but he was not used to that in Finland. We really took him under our wing when he arrived.

I only went once because I felt out of place. It was after treatment, he was half asleep, his parents were there, I really didn’t feel like it was my place. It marked me to see a top athlete thus diminished by illness. You think they are invincible. The treatments lasted several months. We then saw him again in the locker room during the winter. He wanted to come back to the game the same season, but I had big doubts. I just hoped he could recover. Over the next few weeks, he resumed training in the gym. Her hair has grown back. He gained weight. I started to believe it.

His return to play on April 9, 2002 at the Bell Center (the amphitheater had changed its name a few months earlier), against the Ottawa Senators, after a 79-game absence, will forever remain one of the most emotions of my career.

I had tears in my eyes during the ovation of the crowd. He had almost achieved the impossible. You had to feel his excitement in the locker room before this match. It was contagious. Everyone had goosebumps. He was anxious, but so happy. He had succeeded! It was beautiful and touching to see! Not only did we win this game 4-3, but the victory allowed us to secure a place in the playoffs for the first time in four years!

This special relationship between Saku and I was forged from his first steps in North America in 1995. He was important at crucial stages in my life. When I separated in 1998, it got wind that I had just left home. The season was coming to an end. He owned a three-story loft in Old Montreal and was going back to Finland for the summer. He came to see me at my office and carefully closed the door behind him.

“Gerv, I heard what’s happening to you. Here are the keys to my condo. I leave you twenty checks to pay the bills over the months. It’s home until September. And you take the wine you want from the cellar!

I spent that summer in the Vieux. The children loved spending time there. It was huge at Saku’s and they had their room there. I took the kids in a carriage, there was a lot of action every night. Twenty years later, I still have tears in my eyes just to recount his gesture of immense kindness towards me. I tried everything to thank him afterwards. He never accepted anything, not even that I pay him a restaurant. He was like that, Saku…

The new generation

A rare regret, with my retirement, will be not to follow the new generation of Canadian players: the Suzukis, Caufields and company. Overall, this new wave has been in school for a long time, they are educated, intelligent, curious, and knowledgeable. I’m not saying the players weren’t before, but those are a step up from the average of previous eras. It is refreshing. Caufield always has a smile and a contagious joie de vivre. Suzuki is a little more reserved, but of very pleasant trade. They already have notions of nutrition, training, recovery. You are not starting from zero with them.

If I had to identify the most hardworking, I would opt for Suzuki, Caufield and Cayden Primeau. They often worked overtime. Jesperi Kotkaniemi was also staying on the ice longer after practices, but maybe not as often as he should have.

The one I would take as a boarder if I had to choose just one? Without a doubt Nick Suzuki. He is pleasant to be around, calm, humble.

He was very intrigued by my career. He often came to my office, looked at the pictures on the wall and asked me a thousand questions. He was interested in the history of the team. He wasn’t even born when we won our last two Stanley Cups… He was born in 1999! He even wondered, jokingly, if his father had been born when I started with the Canadian! He was exaggerating, of course! He was fascinated by the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 and Sidney Crosby’s famous goal. He was barely 2 years old! Before leaving for the All-Star Game in Las Vegas in February 2022, he had been through the office.

“Gerv, if I bring you an All-Star Game jersey, will you take it?”

– Of course I’ll take it! I’m going to put it on the wall in my gym with my other sweaters. With pleasure !

When he brought it to me, I asked him to sign it for me. He was kind of uncomfortable. It shows all his humility. I found it beautiful. Nick reminded me of Vincent Damphousse. They have the same temperament. Vincent wasn’t the most excited in the locker room. He was always in a good mood, but you rarely saw him burst out laughing. He was a calm, intelligent, thoughtful and curious guy. Guy Carbonneau was a bit like that, too. Unsurprisingly, Nick is now captain of the Montreal Canadiens, as were Vincent and Carbo. Nick Suzuki is a fine legacy from Marc Bergevin.

Pierre Gervais – At the heart of the locker room

Mathias Brunet

Ovation Media

292 pages