DEMERS WAS SPECIAL TO 1993 CUP CHAMPS

‘Band of brothers’ pay tribute to coach who favoured inspiration over X’s and O’s

It was beautiful to see Jacques Demers at the Bell Centre Thursday night.

It was also sad. Demers, the last coach to win a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens, was honoured along with other members of that 1993 championship team before the Habs’ home opener against the Los Angeles Kings. The players were shown on the giant screen while standing in entrances to the rink around the building, all wearing Canadiens sweaters. Demers, unfortunately, can no longer stand since suffering a stroke two years ago. He was shown sitting motionless in a wheelchair with Serge Savard, the general manager of the 1993 team, standing beside him. The former coach was greeted by a standing ovation. At one point, Savard seemed to wipe a tear from his eye. He surely wasn’t alone. Demers is one of the nicest men I have ever met and what made it beautiful to see him Thursday night is the fact the 74-year-old has always been a fighter and still is. He had to be, growing up with an abusive, alcoholic father who did his best to destroy his self-confidence as a boy, calling his eldest of four children stupid and scaring Demers to the point he would wet his pants. Demers learned later in life he had attention-deficit problems and an anxiety disorder, which contributed to him dropping out of school after Grade 8. In 2005, Demers revealed he was functionally illiterate in a Frenchlanguage biography titled Jacques Demers En Toutes Lettres.

But that didn’t stop the Montreal native from becoming an NHL coach, leading the Canadiens to their last Stanley Cup championship 25 years ago, and then being appointed to the Senate in 2009 by former prime minister Stephen Harper.

“It means everything (that he’s here),” Guy Carbonneau, the captain of the 1993 team, said about an hour before Thursday night’s game.

“I think if you ask everybody that is part of this team, Jacques was probably the No. 1 guy that came to mind when we won. Everybody was happy for him. Everybody was happy for what he did for us. Obviously, when he got sick a couple of years ago, everybody felt really, really bad. I had the chance to go see him a couple of times, so I know how he is. I’m sure today is a big day for him.”

Said Vincent Damphousse, another key member of the 1993 team: “He was my best coach in my career. I played 18 years and had a lot of different coaches. He was very human in his approach and he always found a way to get the best out of everybody and I think that was his strength. ... Obviously, it’s difficult because he can’t communicate. He liked to talk, he liked to discuss and ask about different things. Unfortunately, with what happened he can’t really talk anymore. But he’s all there and I’m sure he wanted to be here tonight.”

Mathieu Schneider smiled when reminded of Demers’s bold statement to his players before the start of the 1992-93 season, telling them: “We’re going to shock the hockey world.”

“Well, knowing Jacques, it wouldn’t surprise me if he said that to every club he coached,” Schneider said. “The one thing about Jacques, he was very inspirational. I think players will tell you he wasn’t the greatest X’s and O’s guy that they played for, but there was something about him. He could get you to want to skate through the boards for him and that’s what made him such a great coach for our team and that’s what made him a great coach for years in this league. He was truly inspirational for all of us.”

Demers was one of many fighters on that 1993 team, which is why they won the Cup. They were a band of brothers. One of those fighters — both literally and figuratively when he would drop the gloves — was defenceman Lyle Odelein. Remarkably, Odelein was at the Bell Centre Thursday night only six months after having a multi-organ transplant, replacing the aortic valve in his heart, his liver and kidneys. Odelein didn’t even bring the cane he had been using recently with him to the Bell Centre.

Odelein walked proudly into the private Canadiens loge where the 1993 team watched the game, along with his wife and the smile that his former teammates say almost never left his face during his days with the Habs.

“I was close with Lyle Odelein,” Schneider said. “We came in together and we were (defence) partners. But we all grow apart and in a sense it’s like a high school reunion. People that you share a special bond with and that will never be broken. It’s always special to see any of these guys in any type of atmosphere, but being back here in Montreal it’s a really good feeling.

“You never see (Odelein) without a smile on his face,” Schneider added. “It’s great to see him up and walking. He’s a walking miracle, there’s no question about it.”

Jacques Demers can no longer walk, but the man is still a miracle.

Jacques was probably the No. 1 guy that came to mind when we won.