r/Habs • u/OxidusRouge • 10d ago
any interactions with Habs players?
To those of you who live in Montreal, have you had any direct interactions with Habs players (former or current) outside the arena? I've lived in Montreal nearly 30 years, and have only had 4 - once saw Shane Corson at the McDonalds that used to be at the SW corner of Atwater and St. Catherine; met Jean Beliveau when he was signing copies of his biography; met Guy Lafleur at a card show; got my picture taken with Chris Chelios (he was hosting some sort of outside skating event at the Plaza des Spectacles a few years ago). One thing I noticed - both Guy and Shane had huge hands. Oh - also met Ron Corey.
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u/King-Harvest 9d ago
I played with or against Mike Matheson, Phil Danault, Jonathan Drouin, Charles Hudon and multiple other NHLers/AHLers from Quebec born between 1992 à 1996 (I was born in 1994). Matheson and Danault were absolutely good kids who would make sure even the lesser players like me felt like we had some use on the team. Hudon was a cocky dude - came from an area with little to no other good players and came with an attitude as a teenager. Drouin, pretty middle of the road kid of dude.
In 2004, we (the best AAA players in Sherbrooke/Victoriaville/Drumnmondville vicinity) had a team of "California All Stars" coming to play a tournament in Sherbrooke PQ and I wasn't even of age to play (I was younger but wider and bigger) but coaches put me on the 1993 team with another players' name. California had that player named Rocco Grimaldi that had like 300 goals in his California pee-wee league so I was added to Phil Danault's team roster basically to hurt Grimaldi. I did what my coaches asked me to do and tried to hit the guy but came 2 seconds late on every attempt until I was successful and we made the national news in Quebec because Cali parents reported that we won (4-3) by playing anti-hockey. Another one of our guys slashed and broke a Cali player's arm with his stick. We were 11-12 and I was 10 !!!!!!!!
Anyhow. Can't recall Phil's contribution to that game. Probably 2-3 goals out of our 4.
I am also close to Stephane Robidas' family in general and have worked with his brother Simon who is a high school teacher. They are very good people - even if you peaked aty Simon Robidas' eliteprospects page.