Lucky Pierre

Legendary larouche looks back at a great career – and his cards.

- Stephen Laroche 

One of the most gifted goal scorers of his generation, Pierre Larouche grabbed headlines for his ability to put the puck in the net. Today, his accomplishments can unfortunately be forgotten at times, but there is little doubt that his ability to generate excitement made him a favorite among fans in the 1970s and 1980s.

The buzz on Larouche began to grow during his brief junior career that was split between Quebec and Sorel of the QMJHL. He was the league’s Rookie of the Year in 1972-73 with an impressive 114-point effort, but he shocked the hockey world the next season with a then-record 251 points while playing on a line with Jacques Cossette and Michel Deziel. Sorel rolled to a league championship, but fell short in the Memorial Cup.Strangely, seven teams passed over the hot young prospect in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft before he was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“When you’re a kid, the dream is to play in the NHL and I was playing golf when I got a call from Marc Boileau, who was the coach of the Penguins. He said, ‘we’ve drafted you’ and I didn’t even ask him what round. I just said, ‘thank you so much. I’m looking forward to it’ and went back out and played. I don’t think that the concern was first, second, sixth, whatever round it was - just to be drafted.” At the age of 18, he debuted on October 9, 1974 against the Minnesota North Stars. That night, he scored his first career goal against Cesare Maniago and there were many more to come.