Retiring Briere cherishes time with Habs
Quebec native glad he got chance to play for team he spurned in free agency
VOORHEES, N.J.— When Daniel Briere chose to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers instead of the Montreal Canadiens in 2007, fans in his home province didn’t let him forget.
Briere was booed mercilessly whenever he went back to Bell Centre wearing orange and black.
“Every time I went back I wouldn’t let my mom come to the game,” Briere recalled. “I always found an excuse for her to be here in Philadelphia somehow.”
In his third season with the Flyers, Briere let his mother come to a game. Constance Brunet met her son at the team hotel in Montreal that afternoon filled will nerves.
“I came down to the lobby and she grabbed me and she gave me a hug and for the first time in my life, she said: ‘I know I never ask you anything like this, but can you please score me a goal tonight?’ ” Briere said.
“And it’s the night I had the hat trick against the Habs. That’s always going to be a pretty cool moment in my life.”
Briere, who announced his retirement Monday after 17 NHL seasons, will never forget Feb. 13, 2010, one of his five career hat tricks and his only one in Montreal. He’ll also never for- get that, six years after he spurned the Habs in free agency, he got to play for the team he grew up watching.
“I leave the game now and for the rest of my life now I can say I was a Montreal Canadien,” Briere said Tuesday. “When I go back home, I can say that I’ve played for the Montreal Canadiens, which is pretty cool, for me personally. I’m glad I experienced it.”
Briere signed a $8-million (U.S.), two-year deal with the Habs two summers ago and lasted just one season there before being traded to the Colorado Avalanche. The Gatineau, Que., native had 25 points in 69 regular-season games for Montreal and then another seven in 16 playoff games.
But as with most of his career, Briere remembers that post-season, which was his fifth trip to the Eastern Conference final. Nothing stands out more than Game 7 against the Boston Bruins, when Briere had a goal and an assist in the Habs’ biggest victory of the 2014 playoffs. “I had a lot of good moments against the Bruins for some reason,” Briere said with a smile. “Beating the Bruins in Game 7 again in their building, when we came back to Montreal that night, for the fans there it was like winning a miniStanley Cup.
“Beating the Bruins is always special because of the rivalry. To experience that once in my life was something that I’ll cherish for a long time.”