Speaker A
[Music] La. [Applause] [Music] When I was a boy growing up in a small village in Quebec, two events were mandatory: the Mass on Sunday and the Saturday night hockey game. [Music] L. Moris. [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I remember very well the winter of 1946. We all wore the same costume as Maurice Richard did: the red, white, and blue costume of the Montreal Canadiens, the best NHL team in the world. We all combed our hair like Maurice Richard and we used a kind of hair glue to keep it in place. We laced our skates like Maurice Richard. We taped our sticks like Maurice Richard. We cut his picture out of the local newspaper and we knew everything there was to know about Maurice. [Music] Richard. On the whistle, when the referee blew his whistle, both teams would rush at the puck. We were five Maurice Richards again, five other Maurice Richards throwing themselves on the puck. We were 10 players all wearing the uniform of the Montreal Canadiens, all with the same burning enthusiasm. We all wore the famous number nine on our backs. How could we forget that? [Music] One day, my Montreal Canadiens sweater was too small for me and it was ripped in several places. My mother told me, "If you wear that old sweater, people are going to think we are poor." And then she did what she did whenever we needed clothes. She started to look through the catalog that the Eaton Company in Montreal sent us every year. My mother was proud. She never wanted to buy our clothes at the general store. The only clothes that were good enough for us were the latest styles from Eaton's catalog. My mother did not like all the forms that were included in the catalog. There was too much English on them and she did not understand a word of it. When she ordered my new sweater, she did what she always did. She took our writing pad and wrote in her fine school teacher's hand: "Dear Mr. Eaton, would you be so kind as to send me a Canadiens sweater for my boy Roch, who is 10 years old and a little bit tall for his age? Dr. Roch thinks he is a little too thin. I'm sending you $__. Please send me the change if there's any." I hope your picking will be better than it was last time. Mr. Eaton answered my mother's letter promptly. Two weeks after she wrote it, we received the sweater. It was one of the greatest disappointments in my life. Instead of the red, white, and blue Montreal Canadiens sweater, Mr. Eaton had sent the blue and white sweater of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I had always worn the red, white, and blue sweater of the Montreal Canadiens. All my friends wore the red, white, and blue sweater. And besides, the Toronto team was always being beaten by the Canadiens. With tears in my eyes, I said I did not have the strength to say I would never wear that uniform. "First of all," said my mother, "you're going to try it. If you make up your mind about something before you try it, my boy, you won't go very far in this life." I was crying. "I can't wear that. Why?" The sweater is a perfect fit. Maurice Richard would never wear it. "You are not Maurice Richard. Besides, it's not what you put on your back that matters, it's what you put inside your head." "You never made me put in my head to wear a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater." My mother sighed in despair and explained to me, "If you don't keep the sweater, which fits you perfectly, I'll have to write to Mr. Eaton and explain that you don't want to wear the Toronto sweater. Mr. Eaton understands French perfectly, but is English, and he's going to be insulted. Do you think he's going to answer us right away if he is insulted? Spring will come before you can play a single game just because you did not want to wear that nice blue sweater." So I had to wear the Toronto Maple Leafs sweater. When I arrived at the skating rink in my blue sweater, all the Maurice Richards in red, white, and blue came and looked at me. The referee blew his whistle and I went to take my usual position. The coach came over and told me that I could be on the second line. By the third period, I still had not played. One of the defensemen was hit in the nose by a stick. It started to bleed and I jumped into the eyes. My moment had come. When the referee saw my maple leaf sweater, he gave me a penalty because there were already five players on the ice. That was too much. It was too unfair. This is persecution. It's just because of my blue sweater. And out of spite, I crashed my stick against the ice so hard that it broke. I bent down to pick up the pieces. When I got up, the young curate on skates was standing in front of me. "My child, you're not going to lay down the law around here just because you're wearing a maple leaf sweater. A good boy never loses his temper. Take off your skate and go to the church and ask God to forgive you for wearing my Toronto Maple Leafs sweater." I went to the church and prayed to God. I asked God to send me right away a hundred million M's that would eat up my Toronto Maple Leafs sweater. [Music] N. [Music]
