Jacques Lemaire
Jacques Gerard Lemaire ( born September 7, 1945 in LaSalle, Quebec ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. With the Montreal Canadiens, he won the Stanley Cup ten times, eight times as a player during his twelve-year career, and twice as a member of management. As coach of the New Jersey Devils, he won his eleventh Stanley Cup in 1995.
- 3.1 As a player
- 3.2 In Management
- 3.3 As a coach
Career as a player
Jacques Lemaire played from 1963 to 1966 at the Montreal Junior Canadiens in the OHA, where he was able to achieve 93 points in 48 games in his third year. 1964/65 had also played a game with the Quebec Aces in the AHL. In 1966 he went to the Houston Apollos in the CPhl before he was taken in the following year by the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL.
Lemaire was immediately well in the NHL squad, scored 42 points and won at the end of the season his first Stanley Cup. The Canadiens dominated the playoffs and lost only one game. The following season in 1968/69 should not run much different. Like last year, they met in the final of the St. Louis Blues, which again could not answer anything and the Canadiens won confidently with 4-0.
Next year, Lemaire and the Canadiens failed to qualify for the playoffs. They lay at the end only to fifth place in the East Division, level on points with fourth-placed New York Rangers. Nevertheless, they had 38 victories and were better than the St. Louis Blues, who led the table in the West.
In the following three years, the Canadiens came back but with two Stanley Cup victories back and Lemaire played 1972/73 had hitherto been his best season with 44 goals and 51 assists, which brought a total of 95 points to him.
After Lemaire with his team in the seasons 1973/74 and 1974/75 could not celebrate successes, they dominated the next few years. In the summer of 1976, they brought the first of four Stanley Cups in a row. Lemaire became a hero in the Stanley Cup final in 1977, when he scored the winning goal in extra time and the Canadiens thus led to an unchallenged 4-0 victory over the Boston Bruins. 1977/78 Lemaire played his best season with a total of 97 points and at the end of the season was again the Stanley Cup victory.
His last year as a professional hockey player, he played then 1978/79. Due to injury, only 50 completed games, he could still get 55 points. The playoffs should be the best of his career. In 16 games, he met eleven times and prepared twelve gates, which earned him a Career High of 23 points. With his eighth Stanley Cup victory he left in the summer of 1979.
In 1984, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
NHL player statistics
Career as a coach and manager
Jacques Lemaire was the sport of ice hockey faithful and just a few months after he had finished his playing career, he began in Switzerland in the HC Sierre in the National League B a coaching career. In 1981 he returned to North America and took over the post of assistant coach of the Plattsburgh State University before he became head coach of the Longueuil Chevaliers in 1982, who played their first season in the QMJHL. The year was very successful and the team set a record as the best league newcomer of the QMJHL all time.
In the summer of 1983 he was hired by the Montreal Canadiens as an assistant coach, but at the end of the season he was promoted to head coach. The 1984/85 season was very positive for the team that wins 41 could enter. Despite the successful season he decided the post of head coach leave and took over the post of assistant general manager for the next eight years, in which the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup twice more. Lemaire was responsible among other things for the farm teams and the young members of his management position.
1993 returned Lemaire back in the coach business and took over the New Jersey Devils, which had developed in recent years to a distinguished team. Under Lemaire they became a contender for the Stanley Cup. In the first year they made it to number two in the regular season and went into the playoffs until the Conference Finals, where they had to admit defeat to the New York Rangers after seven games. Lemaire was honored after the season with the Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the NHL.
The following season should be the highlight of his coaching career. His team marched through the playoffs and a team could hardly oppose them something. In the first three rounds they had lost only four games together and in the Stanley Cup final they beat top favorite Detroit Red Wings sovereign in four games. The next season, however, was a big disappointment, as the Devils missed the playoffs as the defending champion. But Lemaire led the team in 1997 and 1998 in the playoffs.
1998 Lemaire went back to the Montreal Canadiens, where he worked as an adviser to the General Manager. For two years he remained at this post, but then took over in the summer of 2000 the job as head coach of the Minnesota Wild, who stood before their first NHL season.
As expected, the team ended up in the first two seasons in the lower regions of the table, the more remarkable it was then reached the playoffs and moved in to the finals of the Western Conference as the Minnesota Wild in the 2002/03 season. Lemaire was awarded for his work in the season his second Jack Adams Award as the best coach.
In the following two seasons 2003/ 04 and 2005/ 06, the team could not qualify for the playoffs, but returned in 2007 to the final round back, but subject already in the first round against the Anaheim Ducks.
Lemaire is known that he likes his teams can play defense and frequently exchanges within rows of players and rarely over time maintains a consistent lineup. He is also considered a coach who manages to unite young players and experienced players.
Jacques Lemaire played in the seventies already with his assistant coach Mario Tremblay and Doug Risebrough, the general manager of the game, at the Montréal Canadiens and together they won four Stanley Cups. Lemaire is one of the most successful hockey personalities with a total of eleven Stanley Cup rings. Eight, he won as a player, two as a member of management of the Canadiens and a. As coach of the New Jersey Devils
Prior to the 2009/10 season he returned to the New Jersey Devils Lemaire as head coach back. After retirement in Conference quarter-final against the Philadelphia Flyers, he gave his resignation on April 26, 2010 known, but the franchise was preserved in other position. After the dismissal of John MacLean on December 23, 2010, he again took over as coach at the Devils. The team played under his leadership, more stable and more successful than the start of the season under MacLean, but the shortcoming of poor start to the season was not made up and missed the playoffs. Shortly after the end of the regular season 2010/11 declared Lemaire his coaching career ended.
His nephew Manny Fernandez was most recently until 2009 goalkeeper of the Boston Bruins and played under his leadership from 2000 to 2007 in Minnesota.
Awards and achievements
As a player
- Stanley Cup in 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979
- Inclusion in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984
In management
- Stanley Cup in 1986 and 1993 ( as an Assistant General Manager)
As a coach
- Stanley Cup 1995
- Jack Adams Award 1994 and 2003