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Yvan Serge (Roadrunner) Cournoyer

NHL, the National Hockey League is a premier professional North American Sports League played in indoor stadiums. It’s divided into two conferences, each comprising of three divisions of ice hockey teams.

Yvan Serge was born November 22, 1943, in Drummondville, Quebec and he played 16 NHL seasons from 1963 to 1979. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1982. Yvan Cournoyer won 10 Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens and was made the team captain. By the time he retired, he was among the all-time leaders in scoring for the storied franchise and he and his team had proven many doubters wrong about his adaptability and perseverance.

He constantly practised his shot using a lead puck that weighed more than four pounds and was soon known for his quick and heavy wrist shot. He totaled 111 points, leading the league with 63 goals in his final year with the Junior Canadiens. He made his debut with the big-time Canadiens during the 1963 to 1964 season and earned a full-time spot on the roster the next season after only seven games with the Quebec Aces in the American Hockey League.

Cournoyer became a better all-around player. With Claude Ruel behind the bench and Cournoyer taking a regular shift, the speedy winger blossomed, scoring 43 goals in 1968 to 1969. He worked hard at both ends of the rink and earned a berth on the NHL's Second All-Star Team that season, as he would in three consecutive yearts beginning in 1971. Cournoyer played for Canada in the 1972 Summit Series, scoring three goals, and returned to North America to have his best post-season. He collected 12 points, six of them goals, in the final series against the Chicago Black Hawks and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable playoff performer.

Cournoyer was reluctant to let go of his hockey life. But after another back operation in 1978, he was forced to concede defeat. At the end of his career, he trailed only Guy Lafleur, Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau on the Canadiens' all-time goal-scoring list. In 2000, during the All-Star Game festivities in Toronto, he returned to thrill fans at the Legends game, showing flashes of the speed that made him a constant threat to defenders and goalies and a hero in Montreal.

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