CANTLON’S CORNER: THE MAGICIAN COMES TO HARTFORD 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Before Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux there was another free-wheeling magician on the ice, and he played in Hartford.

Saturday’s summer festival honoring the Hartford Whalers/New England Whalers that was presented by the Eastern League’s Hartford Yard Goats was another smashing success. One of the event’s biggest highlights was the appearance of Andre Lacroix, Sr.

A whole generation is sadly unaware of the tremendous accomplishments Lacroix has on the ice more than 40 years ago. He was a dazzling ice magician who dished off deft passes or a whistling wrist shot himself to the top shelf.

Lacroix, now 73-years-old, has just ended his coaching career at The University School, an Ohio prep school. With a radiant smile, Lacroix spoke of being thrilled to be in Hartford once again.

“I have been really looking forward to it,” He said. “In some cases, I haven’t seen some of these guys in 30 years. We were talking last night how we have to enjoy these events. You never know how many more of these events like this we’ll have. I think the younger players of today are not as involved like we are in these type of settings. It’s such a great time to speak with players and the fans. To be honest, it’s better than I expected,” Lacroix said with his wonderful French-accented English.

His first early highlights were in junior hockey with the legendary Peterborough Petes. The OHL was then called the OHA. Lacroix was there in the mid-1960’s where he finished second in the league with 119 points. The scoring race was won by Bruins legend, Ken Hodge. The second-year Lacroix captured the Eddie Powers scoring trophy with 120 points beating another famous Bruins player, Bobby Orr.

“Bobby was three years younger than me. We all knew he was going to be a great player. He was 14 at the time.”

Lacroix did his AHL apprenticeship near his hometown of Levis, Quebec. He played for the immensely popular Quebec Aces of Quebec City. He skated in the legendary Le Colisee Arena. In his second season, he was second on his team’s scoring lead and fourth overall in the league posting 87 points in 54 games before a recall to the Flyers,

Of the many honors Lacroix has had in his life, one of the most unique was having an arena named after him. It’s called the Arena Andre Lacroix located on Boulevard-Guillaume Couture.

The World Hockey Association was where he trailblazed into the records books. He was the all-time leading scorer with 798 points of which he had 547 assists in his seven years playing for five different teams. After three years with the expansion Philadelphia Flyers, where he led them in scoring in his first two years (56 and 58pts), he dropped to fourth in his third year with the arrival of Bobby Clarke.

Lacroix was dealt by Philadelphia to the Chicago Blackhawks where he had just 11 points in 51 games.

Lacroix was a not a happy man.

“When I went to Chicago, I didn’t think I got fair shot to show my skills. When the WHA came along, it gave me a chance to prove to them they were wrong and that I could play and took advantage of it. The trade to Chicago opened my eyes that hockey was very much a business.”

He, along with the Flyers great goalie, Bernie Parent and two players from the Bruins, Derek Sanderson, and the recently deceased, Johnny “Pie” McKenzie, along with Danny Lawson from Minnesota, took the risk and signed with the fledgling league to play for the Philadelphia Blazers.

“It was a tough year. First, we were shut out of the Spectrum and had to play at the Civic Center. It wasn’t the best place to play hockey. We were competing against the Flyers who were on the rise and very popular. Let’s face it Philadelphia couldn’t support two franchises. We couldn’t play our first game because the ice was so bad and we had to postpone it.” Lacroix said.

Another game changer was the new age idea of using a blue puck, which didn’t freeze, and several broke during the game.

The risks were great.

“We all new in jumping leagues we were going to be blackballed by the NHL. So, I always had a one-year contract. I played like a free agent and we all knew Bernie, Derek, Frank Mahovlich, we all knew we had to do everything to help the league because the NHL wouldn’t want us back.

Remember those stars who went into the NHL in the early 1980’s? Players like Gretzky, (Real) Buddy Cloutier, (Anders) Hedberg, (Ulf) Nilsson, (Mark) Messier, they all came from the WHA. We opened the door for players in the NHL to make more money, and guys in the NHL at-first hated us, but as many soon realized they would still be in the minors not making as much money without the WHA. The kids today with all these huge contracts owe everything to the WHA in increasing salaries.”

Later in the offseason, the team moved to Vancouver. Lacroix elected not to go with the team but instead chose to get a taste of the Big Apple and signed with the New York Golden Blades. That too didn’t turn out so well.

“I figured the league wouldn’t survive without a team in New York,” Lacroix said. They did play in MSG, but it took a court order to do it, however, nobody came, “I just didn’t realize in three months that we would be at a small local rink in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. It was crazy. It was quite a bit different than living in New York City.”

The team morphed in the Jersey Knights.

Lacroix then latched himself onto another team the next season, the San Diego Mariners, who were owned by Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s. Lacroix continued his success on the ice and thought he had found some security, so he bought a house for his young family.

“It was nuts going place-to-place. I always thought this will be my last stop. This was as much comfort as I got in the WHA. Ray Kroc was the best owner financially in the league. He was worth half a billion dollars in 1974. I figured this place will be good, so I bought a house, put a pool in, and three years later, the team folds! I said, ‘C’mon,” Lacroix said with a hearty laugh.

In 1974-75, Lacroix amassed 106 assists in his first season as a Mariner. At the time, that was the most assists in pro hockey surpassing Orr’s 102.

Today, Lacroix is one of only four players in the history of hockey to pass the century mark in assists. Gretzky did it with 109 assists in 1980-’81, which started an eleven-year-run of 100 plus per season. Mario Lemieux had 114 in 1988-89, which was the only time he surpassed 100. Orr did it in 1970-71.

Lacroix holds that record with pride.

“That was my biggest accomplishment because I was a center. I also scored 50 goals one year, (Philly WHA) another important scoring mark in hockey. I had six hat-tricks in one season (second) with the Flyers and that was a pretty big deal, but 100 assists in a season in hockey, that was like batting .400 in baseball. It’s a special thing to do and to be one of the few athletes to do it and to be in that company; I am most proud of that.”

He holds Lemieux, a fellow Quebecer in very high regard.

“He was so special. He once scored five goals in five different ways in one game. Amazing! I was happy when Gretzky broke my assists mark because records are made to be broken, but I don’t think that record by Lemieux will ever be broken.”

He then thought the Houston Aeros would be the ticket. The first time the Aeros existed, it was owned by a big oil business tycoon, but his stay lasted just one year when the OPEC oil embargo killed the oil business, the Aeros were kaput.

“Because I had a lot of respect for (the late) Bill Dineen, I went to Houston next. They had won the championship the year before (the Avco Cup) and were owned by an oil man. It looked good, but then the oil business dropped and the team folded after four years in the league.”

Then, an old acquaintance from his days in Philadelphia, Howard Baldwin, Sr., brought him to Hartford.

“When I started with the Flyers, Howard was the Ticket Sales Director there. It worked out for me to come to Hartford. To be honest, when I started out, I never thought I would play for so many teams and fortunately was so successful.”

While in Hartford he was able to play with legends of the game, many of whom he had played against previously. Bobby Hull was when he was in Chicago, and the legendary Gordie Howe, who he played against for three years, and the legendary, Dave Keon.

“Gordie, Dave, Bobby, and Johnny – we were the four oldest players on the team. We were together on the road together all the time. Bobby Hull was there when I started my career in Chicago. He was as big as Michael Jordan became. He couldn’t go anywhere and everybody wanted to give him everything. He was one of the best then. Never refused an autograph. He was unbelievable. He put the WHA on the map when he went to Winnipeg. To be with them as teammates, I was very fortunate and blessed to be able to do that.”

Throughout his career, Lacroix had worn number seven, but that was until he came to Hartford. That number was worn by the very popular, Gordie Roberts. He didn’t want to relinquish it, so he took number four when Larry Pleau was injured and wasn’t playing and at the end of his career.

“Seven was always my lucky number, but the team asked him to switch. He said, ‘No,’ so I went with four.”

His last year of playing was the Whalers first year in the NHL. He saw it as a perfect way to end his career.

“I got a chance to end my playing days in the NHL. I can’t complain about that.”

His second act in hockey came as a radio color commentator with Chuck Kaiton. Listeners from  Nova Scotia to Hartford and all-points in between, as far out as the Midwest, Quebec, and Ontario, Canada would hear him on WTIC-AM, which was a 50,000-watt clear channel station.

“I loved that so much. Chuck was the good cop, I was the bad cop. I would say things honestly. If a player was playing bad, I would say it. If the team was playing bad, I said it, and some people didn’t like me. I couldn’t be a homer. It wasn’t who I was. I had to pay attention to what Chuck said, he spoke so fast. We were a terrific combination. If he would talk about the offense, I would talk about the defense. We only had so much time. He was a great guy to work with. It was so good to see him this weekend,” Lacroix remarked.

Kaiton paid homage to his old partner.

“Andre was wonderful and we were like the great Danny Kelly and Noel Picard in St. Louis. Noel Picard also had that great French accent, so we were, I think, the only two broadcast teams in the NHL like this style and I think he was a pretty good cop of an announcer,“ Kaiton said with a laugh.

Lacroix laments the presentation of the game today.

“Face it, it’s all about the money. You will never have a player stay a whole career in one city. It’s always about who is gonna give me my millions. It’s sad really because you don’t have young players out signing autographs for fans like this today? They want to get paid on top of the millions they are already making! They are very talented, but all the guys today are here to be with the fans, see some old friends, and make people smile.” Lacroix said.

One amazing stat is that despite all his accomplishments, Lacroix is still not in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Perhaps the Class of 2019 will feature the name Andre Lacroix among its inductees. It would cap a career that bridged the period of pro hockey expansion in the US and Canada and Lacroix is among the founding pillars of pro hockey.