(Tampa) Pierre-Cédric Labrie is now a member of the Syracuse Crunch, in the American League. Patrick Maroon is trying to win a fourth Stanley Cup in a row.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
Their lives have gone in opposite directions since then, but about a decade ago, the two behemoths bumped into each other at a restaurant in an American League town. Labrie forgot the circumstances, but he remembers one thing: Maroon was dejected and wondering about his future in hockey.
The Baie-Comeau athlete told us this story last month during the series against the Laval Rocket. Last week, the anecdote was mentioned to Maroon himself.
“I remember the meeting, but not the conversation in detail. But at that time, the Flyers [de Philadelphie] just sent me home,” says Maroon. Then I got traded to Anaheim. I hadn’t had a good year, not so much on the ice, but especially mentally. When I got fired, I wondered if I was going to play again. »
The Ducks gave me a second chance, and I don’t know how to thank them.
patrick maroon
Maroon has a date with history in this finale. The Tampa Bay Lightning are aiming for a third straight Stanley Cup, but it would be a fourth in a row for him, because he also triumphed with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. His current streak of 15 consecutive winning streaks is unheard of since the New York Islanders of the early 1980s, where a handful of players had won 19 series in a row.
Should he pinch himself? “Just winning one is crazy! he retorts. Guys go 10, 12 years without reaching the final or even the conference final. It is the hardest trophy to win in sport. »
From Texarkana to Philadelphia
Maroon’s career is atypical. He began in 2005, in Texarkana, a city so named because it is located on the border between Texas and Arkansas. As if a super-city called Gattawa was created.
His trainer? A certain Jon Cooper, the very one who coach for three years. “He had the same mentality, he was the same coach, but today he deals with NHL players. He understands communication,” recalls Maroon.
His Texarkana club, which will then move to St. Louis, plays in the NAHL, an obscure league from which barely two or three players are drafted each year. Maroon is passed over in his first year of eligibility, before being claimed at 161e rank by the Flyers the following year.
Marc-André Bourdon played with Maroon for just over a year at the Flyers’ affiliates. The man who is now general manager of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies remembers a “super good guy, appreciated by his teammates”.
He’s a big guy, his nickname is Big Rig. Like today, his skating was not his strength, but he was good around the goal, he had very good hands and a certain toughness. He had potential.
Marc-Andre Bourdon
In its third year, the pot jumps. The details are hazy, but there was a disagreement between Maroon and his head coach at the Phantoms. The team scrapped him outright and traded him to the Ducks in November 2010.
“When you go play in the American League at 20, 21, you’re loose without supervision. Without going into details, it may have played, ”says Bourdon.
The transformation
Maroon made his mark, first in Anaheim and then in Edmonton, where he had his best offensive season with 27 goals in 2016-17. He will also help the Oilers make the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.
Now 34, he obviously plays a supporting role, being employed in the fourth line. But he’s there every night. He has been in uniform for the Lightning’s 68 playoff games for 3 years and also played all the Blues games during the 2019 conquest.
He makes the most of his limited minutes, as evidenced by his 4 goals in 20 games this spring. On Monday, he participated in the awakening of his team by preparing the goal of Anthony Cirelli in the first period. He also hit the target mid-game.
“He was offensive, but he had other qualities, recalls Bourdon. There’s a funnel for offensive players in the American League, not all of them can stay offensive at the top.
“Today, he is at the end of his career, but as he is a good individual who agrees to play in the fourth line, he still has his place. He understood his role. And it brought him three Cups. »