Posted by Scott Burnside
MONTREAL -- You understand the notion of a living legend, but when you see Elmer Lach, one third of one of the greatest forward lines of all time, in the Canadiens' alumni lounge Wednesday night prior to Montreal's home opener against Boston, it gives a different texture to the concept.
Lach came into the lounge and reached over to embrace former teammate Emile "Butch" Bouchard as the longtime Montreal Canadiens defenseman was wheeled into the room.
Lach, of course, was a member of "The Punch Line" with Maurice "Rocket" Richard and Toe Blake and played 664 games for the Habs and won three Stanley Cups. He is 90 and told Bill Beacon of The Canadian Press that he played golf Tuesday.
Lach and Bouchard, who just turned 88, presided over the ceremonial opening faceoff with Bouchard sporting a Habs jersey with the "C" proudly stitched on the front.
Bouchard, Lach, Jean-Guy Talbot, Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Guy Lapointe, Dickie Moore, Henri Richard. You could have lined up the players' Stanley Cup rings in this room and pretty much gone wall to wall with them.
The Hab greats were, of course, on hand to help the Habs kick of their 100th anniversary against the Boston Bruins. The Habs, who do celebration like no other sports franchise, once again outdid themselves with a spectacular opening ceremony.
It began with a video presentation that featured regular fans wearing Canadiens colors around the world, including the Great Wall of China, Paris, India and Tokyo. The montage then showed image after image of the Habs logo on everything from road signs to manufacturing plants.
The ceremonies deftly interspersed highlights of the current players with those of the past; Serge Savard footage ran alongside highlights of Mike Komisarek, and Maurice Richard shared video time with Alexei Kovalev.
Nicely done and more than a little symbolic.
After the video presentation, the Canadiens unveiled their new Ring of Honor, which features 44 players and 10 builders, all of whom are honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Ring of Honor members in attendance were shown standing next to their likeness in the ring that circles the top of the Bell Centre. Again, very cool.
So, what do these legends think of the current squad's chances?
"I never won a Stanley Cup before the season starts," said Cournoyer, although he did manage to collect 10 rings over his career. "If you have a good team, then the more you win, the more you want to win.
"Thinking it and doing it are two different things."
Still, he likes the way this team is put together.
"It's a fun team to watch," he said. "Before we didn't have a chance to win. Now we have a chance to win. We had to wait to be better."
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