Pierre Lacroix will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and the news has greatly affected his widow, Colombe.
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Her reaction was extremely touching when she received the phone call from Lanny McDonald and Mike Gartner, who told her the news on Wednesday.
“Looks like I’m still in shock,” she said from her home in Denver in a rare interview. It’s something he wanted so badly. I had resigned, I had told the children that the moment had passed.
The one her loved ones affectionately call Coco admits that she almost lost consciousness when she received the call she was no longer expecting.
“It’s difficult, it was a big surprise for me, I didn’t expect that. I’ve been up since 4 a.m., I couldn’t sleep, I’m very emotional.”
Legacy
This tribute to the one who was her accomplice for 52 years moves Coco Lacroix, but she would have liked her work to be recognized earlier.
“It breaks my heart that he didn’t get the chance to experience it. It would have been 55 years since we were married this year, so it’s a big year for me. This is the legacy that Pierre leaves to the family. We are very spoiled to be able to be part of the Hall of Fame.
Humble, M.me Lacroix describes herself as an ordinary woman who married an extraordinary man.
“I have always been fervent, I believed in him and his abilities so much that I agreed to live the adventure with him and it was extraordinary.”
In the dark
His son Martin was also very moved when The newspaper spoke to him on Thursday. He interrupted himself a few times to fight back tears while talking about his father.
“My father was a great man,” he mentions, before a long silence.
Martin, who lives in Las Vegas, insisted that his father was not looking for recognition, but for him, the Hall of Fame was a goal to achieve.
“He worked a lot in the shadows, he didn’t want to be up front and receive the accolades. But in the end, he wanted to be on top in order to achieve his ultimate goal, which was the Hall of Fame. It was ironic because he has always been in the shadows, ”he mentions, in another emotional moment.
A winner
Pierre Lacroix was recognized as a winner, and two anecdotes prove it.
“I was in Rosemère, I had just finished my playing career and he was starting as general manager in Quebec, remembers Martin. We were eating smoked meat and he told me to get ready because in two years, we would win the Stanley Cup.
That’s exactly what he did in the team’s first year in Colorado.
His accomplice Jean Martineau, who is still employed by the Avalanche as senior vice-president of communications, knew that his friend was a winner and had the eloquent confirmation of it from Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Avalanche, who also owns the NBA Nuggets, the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL, Arsenal in the Premier League and several other clubs.
“On October 7, we received our Stanley Cup rings and I spent about forty minutes with him. He confided to me that he had never had a leader in whom he had as much confidence as in Pierre to bring back results.
Family
Pierre Lacroix’s strength was knowing how to surround himself well and create a family spirit.
“All the people around felt like family, we were close to our players. This was especially true when moving to a city where the players had no family, “says Jean Martineau, speaking of the departure from Quebec to Denver.
Bob Hartley worked for nearly ten years with Pierre Lacroix and he will never forget the place he gave him when the Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup in 1996.
“I was coaching the American League team and he brought me up with the Avalanche along with the reserve players. He gave me a Stanley Cup ring because he thought I had developed well in the youth in the minors.
Visionary
Jean Martineau has great respect for his deceased friend and is happy that he is getting the recognition he deserves.
“Pierre is from Quebec and we should be proud of that when someone from our region is recognized as a visionary. He started from scratch to achieve all of this.”
According to Martin Lacroix, his father was the catalyst for the Avalanche’s success because he knew how to surround himself with the right people. Jean Martineau believes that even today, the Avalanche bears the signature of Pierre Lacroix even though he left the organization ten years ago.
“He was not only the architect who built the Avalanche, he also had an incredible vision of the way of operating which was avant-garde. It is Pierre Lacroix’s vision that is in the Avalanche logo today. It is a logo that is synonymous with success.”