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Jacques Gerard Lemaire

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.

Jacques Lemaire was born on 7 September 1945 in LaSalle, Quebec. He was played 12 NHL seasons from 1967 to 1979. Jacques Lemaire developed his hard slapshot as a youth by working with a heavy steel puck and his shot was rated second only to Bobby Hull for speed and accuracy. He used that powerful shot to beat Tony Esposito of Chicago, keying a Montreal comeback in game 7 of the 1971 finals en route to a Stanley Cup.

Jacques Lemaire was known for his overtime heroics in the playoffs, scoring three sudden death markers in his career. His overtime goal on May 14, 1977 won the Cup for Montreal against Boston. When he added the Cup winner in 1979 against the New York Rangers, he became one of only five players to have scored two Stanley Cup winning goals. During his career he averaged almost a point per game in the playoffs. He was a member of eight Stanley Cup winners while with the Canadians and participated in the NHL All-Star games of 1970 and 1973.

Lemaire left the Canadiens after the 1979 Cup win and continued his career in Switzerland in preparation for a life as coach in the NHL. He returned to North America and accepted an assistant coaching position in Division 2 of the NCAA with Plattsburgh State University. Lemaire guided the club into the Wales Conference Finals and was given the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year. His duties included being the managing director of the Fredericton Canadians from 1991-93 and Managing Director of the Verdun Junior Canadians in 1988-89.

He decided to step behind the bench again in New Jersey with the Devils in 1993 and remained there until 1998, winning a Stanley Cup 1995. Lemaire returned to Montreal as assistant general manager in 1998 and stayed with the organization until accepting the position of head coach with the expansion Minnesota Wild on June 11, 2000. Jacques Lemaire was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984.

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