he was the first NHL player to score 50
goals in 50 games he won 8 Stanley Cups
and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall
of Fame just one year after he retired
hi I’m Rebecca Braden and welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re speaking
with biographer Charles foreign to learn
more about Maurice the Rocket Rashard
why don’t we start by having you give us
an idea who Maurice Rashard was born in
1921 working-class Montreal gaspé roots
he came of age during the Depression he
was a machinist he tried out for the
Montreal Canadiens
he almost false started his career
interestingly because he had this series
of injuries he was rejected twice by the
Canadian Army during World War Two
because he was considered unfit because
these injuries and he goes on to this
extraordinary hockey career he leads the
Habs from 1944 really to 1960 and then
of course he ends his career at the same
times the quiet revolution begins to
transform Quebec to modernize Quebec
where did the nickname rocket come from
early in his career and it’s significant
that it was during World War two when of
course there were a lot of rockets going
off if you will around the world players
began to notice he had this
extraordinary velocity he would
accelerate on the ice he seemed to be
moving at one speed and almost and he
would just take off his English
teammates again calling him the rocket
the rocket so it was always an
Anglophone English name for a
french-canadian star now let’s talk
about some of the most remarkable
moments in his playing career the moment
most people remembers the rashard riot
because it transcended sport this is in
March 1955 and mother’s Rashad was
suspended for the rest of season and the
playoffs for some fairly egregious
on-ice behavior to be honest he broke
two different sticks over the head of an
opposing player nevertheless this
suspension and the fact that the league
president came to this building the
forum triggered a riot that night so
that is probably the defining moment but
that of course that that’s an off ice
moment the on ice moments are the ones
that I guess hockey fans treasure more
was the Rockets these blazing goals shot
left but he played on the right wing so
a signature move was to cut in from the
corner cutting across the goal and using
his strength he had tremendous upper
body strength those goals predated
television so we don’t actually have
them
we have recreations of them the film
with Laroy Duke we recreated them
beautifully actually what was
interesting about those goals as they
were transmitted orally through radio
commentators through fans through
newspaper council they became sort of
mythic huge moments defining moments of
his own eyes glory and what about his
personality I mean what kind of man was
he he was a quiet man he was a famously
quiet man oh man a few words he was I
think deeply shy he was inward he was
honorable he was perfect for what the
Habs needed 1943 because believe it or
not this great franchise was on the
verge of folding during the Second World
War it was only because Rocco Bouchard
began to electrify the league that the
suddenly the arena was full but all the
while he was living a very simple life
as a working-class Montrealer who had
graduated to the middle class but he
never made a lot of money and that was
an issue later on and he was carrying
himself with a kind of grave dignity
that Quebecers really admired and
related to it said that Maurice Rashard
is one athlete who was able to transcend
his sport can you explain to us exactly
what that means even the greatest of
hockey players like Wayne Gretzky
probably wouldn’t merit inclusion in
this series of books about extraordinary
Canadians because for all his on-ice
greatness he didn’t he was otherwise
simply important to his sport motor char
joins a very elite small group of people
like Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson
who through the force and quality of his
athleticism and simply the coincidental
interaction with social change
transcended his sport became larger than
his sport Motors Rashard was a catalyst
for social change in Quebec and
therefore in Canada and I don’t think
there’s any other athlete you can say
that up in Canada thank you very much
very welcome
you
goals in 50 games he won 8 Stanley Cups
and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall
of Fame just one year after he retired
hi I’m Rebecca Braden and welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re speaking
with biographer Charles foreign to learn
more about Maurice the Rocket Rashard
why don’t we start by having you give us
an idea who Maurice Rashard was born in
1921 working-class Montreal gaspé roots
he came of age during the Depression he
was a machinist he tried out for the
Montreal Canadiens
he almost false started his career
interestingly because he had this series
of injuries he was rejected twice by the
Canadian Army during World War Two
because he was considered unfit because
these injuries and he goes on to this
extraordinary hockey career he leads the
Habs from 1944 really to 1960 and then
of course he ends his career at the same
times the quiet revolution begins to
transform Quebec to modernize Quebec
where did the nickname rocket come from
early in his career and it’s significant
that it was during World War two when of
course there were a lot of rockets going
off if you will around the world players
began to notice he had this
extraordinary velocity he would
accelerate on the ice he seemed to be
moving at one speed and almost and he
would just take off his English
teammates again calling him the rocket
the rocket so it was always an
Anglophone English name for a
french-canadian star now let’s talk
about some of the most remarkable
moments in his playing career the moment
most people remembers the rashard riot
because it transcended sport this is in
March 1955 and mother’s Rashad was
suspended for the rest of season and the
playoffs for some fairly egregious
on-ice behavior to be honest he broke
two different sticks over the head of an
opposing player nevertheless this
suspension and the fact that the league
president came to this building the
forum triggered a riot that night so
that is probably the defining moment but
that of course that that’s an off ice
moment the on ice moments are the ones
that I guess hockey fans treasure more
was the Rockets these blazing goals shot
left but he played on the right wing so
a signature move was to cut in from the
corner cutting across the goal and using
his strength he had tremendous upper
body strength those goals predated
television so we don’t actually have
them
we have recreations of them the film
with Laroy Duke we recreated them
beautifully actually what was
interesting about those goals as they
were transmitted orally through radio
commentators through fans through
newspaper council they became sort of
mythic huge moments defining moments of
his own eyes glory and what about his
personality I mean what kind of man was
he he was a quiet man he was a famously
quiet man oh man a few words he was I
think deeply shy he was inward he was
honorable he was perfect for what the
Habs needed 1943 because believe it or
not this great franchise was on the
verge of folding during the Second World
War it was only because Rocco Bouchard
began to electrify the league that the
suddenly the arena was full but all the
while he was living a very simple life
as a working-class Montrealer who had
graduated to the middle class but he
never made a lot of money and that was
an issue later on and he was carrying
himself with a kind of grave dignity
that Quebecers really admired and
related to it said that Maurice Rashard
is one athlete who was able to transcend
his sport can you explain to us exactly
what that means even the greatest of
hockey players like Wayne Gretzky
probably wouldn’t merit inclusion in
this series of books about extraordinary
Canadians because for all his on-ice
greatness he didn’t he was otherwise
simply important to his sport motor char
joins a very elite small group of people
like Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson
who through the force and quality of his
athleticism and simply the coincidental
interaction with social change
transcended his sport became larger than
his sport Motors Rashard was a catalyst
for social change in Quebec and
therefore in Canada and I don’t think
there’s any other athlete you can say
that up in Canada thank you very much
very welcome
you
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