Terry was shining star while Rocket season fell flat

Veteran forward first Canadiens farmhand to win an AHL scoring title since 1988-89

Chris Terry wasn’t planning to watch Sunday afternoon’s game between the Providence Bruins and Springfield Thunderbirds. The Laval Rocket players cleaned out their lockers and held exit meetings with management Sunday morning at Place Bell, at which time Terry was leading the AHL scoring race with 32-39-71 totals. The only player with a legitimate chance of catching him was Providence’s Austin Czarnik, who was three points behind.

“I’ll just wait until 7 (p.m.) and check the results,” Terry said. “I’d rather not have the anticipation of sitting through the game.” When Terry did check the results, he saw that the Bruins beat the Thunderbirds 4-2 and Czarnik was limited to one goal. As a result, Terry became the first player from a Canadiens farm team to win the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the AHL’s scoring champion since Stéphan Lebeau posted 70-64-134 totals in 1988-89 with the Sherbrooke Canadiens. Terry finished one point ahead of Phil Varone of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (23-47-70) and two points ahead of Czarnik (25-44-69). Terry was a shining star for the Rocket this season despite the fact they finished with the worst record in the AHL (24-42-10). Off the ice, the 29-year-old leftwinger was named the Rocket’s man of the year for his outstanding contributions to the local community. Terry launched the Chris ALS All- Star Program, giving four tickets for each Rocket game to families that have someone living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Terry would meet with them for 10-15 minutes after games and autograph a stick as a souvenir. Terry also helped distribute gifts to less fortunate families at Christmas, took part in minor hockey clinics and visited Laval’s regional hospital with some teammates. Terry first learned about ALS when he was with the junior Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers and was introduced to 16-year-old fan Bobby Suvoy, who had ALS. Suvoy had already lost movement in his extremities and could barely talk. Terry developed a relationship with Suvoy and his family and started an annual Walk ’n’ Roll for ALS fundraiser in honour of Suvoy, who died on May 6, 2008, before his 17th birthday. Terry won the Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy in 2009 as the OHL’s humanitarian of the year for his community work. “I was 18 or 19 at the time I first met Bobby and I didn’t really know what ALS was,” Terry said. “To see someone a couple of years younger than me not being able to move … it had a pretty big impact on me. I just kind of stuck with me and I’ve tried to be involved in whatever community I’ve been in since with ALS. The idea was to bring people to watch a Rocket game and have a night out away from the disease.” Terry can become an unrestricted free agent this summer and after never getting called up by the Canadiens this season isn’t sure whether he will be back with the Rocket.

The Rocket players sounded much like the Canadiens did when they cleaned out their lockers on April 9. Players for both teams seemed to have problems buying into what the coaches were selling, which might explain why Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin blamed a bad attitude in the locker-room for a lot of the problems. More than one Canadiens player said they need to buy into coach Claude Julien’s system from the start of training camp. Terry said there was a lack of accountability with the Rocket and that “we didn’t play the right way for a lot of the time.” When asked if that’s on the players or the coaching staff, Terry said: “I think it’s all on us, the players. Coaches preach the right things. There’s nothing wrong with the systems. Execution as players … if we don’t execute, how good is the system at the end of the day?” Terry defended Rocket coach Sylvain Lefebvre, whose future is in doubt after the Canadiens’ AHL team missed the playoffs for the fifth time in six years.

“Sly put the work in, regardless of what lineup we had or what the score was,” Terry said. “He was a constant professional and I appreciated that. He’s always been very good to me. At the end of the day, he never gave up regardless of where we were at.”