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April 8th, 2007, 11:53:29 AM
http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=298604
The French Connection was a line for the ages
Randy Schultz | NHL.com correspondent Apr 5, 2007, 12:00 PM EDT
Gilbert Perreault performed like magic along with Rick Martin and Rene Robert, also known as the "French Connection."
This season's edition of the Buffalo Sabres boasts four players with 30 or more goals – Daniel Briere, Thomas Vanek, Chris Drury and Jason Pominville. But even these outstanding players would have a hard time keeping pace with the Sabres' "French Connection" line.
Joe Crozier, the former coach of the Buffalo Sabres, has quite the litany of memories surrounding Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert.
“Perreault, Martin and Robert were like magic together. And they could perform like magic on the ice. They could bring fans out of their seats in Buffalo like no other line I’ve ever seen in the Aud. And there were times that you almost had to drag them off the ice during a game. I don’t think they realized how long they were out there sometimes because they were having so much fun.”
That is how Crozier remembered the famed French Connection line. The trio was one of the highest scoring lines in NHL history.
Crozier knew them better than anyone because he is the guy who put them together in the first place. It was March 1972, 35 years ago, that Crozier united the threesome together for the first time.
The 1978-79 NHL season was the last one in which the trio skated together. Although it has been 28 years since the French Connection last played for the Sabres, the legacy they left behind has not been forgotten by Sabre fans throughout Western New York and Southern Ontario.
Fans attending Sabre games at HSBC Arena only have to gaze into the rafters of the building to be reminded of Perreault, Martin and Robert. From up there hangs all three of their uniform numbers, all retired by the club.
Interestingly enough, while all three were born and raised in the Province of Quebec, separated by a mere three years in age, today they still have close ties to the Western New York area.
It was September 1970 when a 19-year-old Perreault arrived in Buffalo from Victoriaville, Quebec. The highly touted Perreault was the NHL’s top overall pick that year. The young center soon became known to Sabre fans as “The Franchise.”
Perreault proved equal to the task, winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year in 1971 and the Lady Byng Trophy in 1973, in addition to being twice named Second Team All-Star center in 1976 and 1977. In all, Perreault played 17 seasons in the NHL, all with the Sabres, tallying 512 goals, four more than his boyhood idol, Jean Beliveau of the Montreal Canadiens. He added 814 assists for 1,326 points. In 1990 he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
“The records, they are all nice,” said Perreault, 56, who still resides in Victoriaville for most of the year. For the past two years he has served as the Sabres' Corporate and Community Relations Liaison, living in the Buffalo area part of the time. "But I couldn’t have done any of it without my teammates, especially players like Rene Robert and Richard Martin. It didn’t take too long for us to click. We didn’t have too many problems.
“We adjusted to each other. Rene was a good playmaker and Richard was a goal scorer who could get 50 to 55 goals a year.”
Martin was the Sabres' No. 1 draft pick, the fifth player taken overall, in the 1971 draft. The Verdun, Quebec native came to the Sabres from the Montreal Jr. Canadiens, where he had been a teammate of Perreault’s.
“A lot of people think we played together when we were in junior hockey," said Martin, a left winger. “But that wasn’t true. We never played on the same line together. That changed when I got to Buffalo. When I played for Punch (Imlach), I was told to go out and score goals and worry about the rest of my game later.
“When I first came to training camp, Punch teamed me with Gilbert. And the only reason Punch teamed me with Gil is because Punch said I was the only one on the team at the time that could skate with him. I remember in my first year that Gilbert came into camp, he was 20 pounds overweight. So Punch put me on a line with him and told me, ‘make him (Perreault) skate kid. Just skate, just go.’ That’s how we got together. Then he (Imlach) was looking for a right winger. He got Rene. He took a chance and put us together and we clicked. We had the chemistry that seemed to work.”
When the Sabres traded Eddie “the Entertainer” Shack, a fan favorite in Buffalo, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Robert on March 4, 1972, it wasn’t considered one of the more popular trades made in the short history of the franchise.
With the addition of Rene Robert the "French Connection" line was complete.
Shack, a veteran of NHL play, was very popular in the Queen City. When the young Robert, a right winger with only 54 NHL games under his belt at the time of the trade, arrived in Buffalo the fans were somewhat skeptical. But when Robert was teamed with Perreault and Martin near the end of the season, those skeptics quickly disappeared.
In the final month of the 1971-72 season Crozier decided to try out the trio together. The move today is considered a stroke of genius. The line was dubbed "The French Connection” after the Oscar-winning movie of the same name and because the trio all had French-Canadian backgrounds.
Crozier remembered when the line came together.
“Late in he 1971-72 season, we knew that we had a natural line with Perreault and Martin,” Crozier said. “We just needed somebody else to go with them, someone who could play defense, check and stay high. Robert could check. I knew Rene from our American Hockey League days. Things just came together when Robert joined the team.”
Coming together was an understatement. In their first full season together, 1972-73, Perreault, Robert and Martin finished 1-2-3, respectively, in scoring for the Sabres. The trio scored 105 goals and led the Sabres into the playoffs for the first time in their three-year history.
Two seasons later, 1974-75, the French Connection piled up 131 goals and carried the Sabres all the way to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Philadelphia Flyers in six contests.
Ironically, Robert was making his second stint in the Sabres organization. The right winger was drafted by Buffalo from the Toronto Maple Leafs in early 1971. But he was later claimed by the Penguins in the intra-league draft on June 6, 1971. Fortunately, Imlach never forgot about the 5-foot-10, 185-pounder.
“We just seemed to his it off together,“ Robert said. “There were stories of how we didn’t get along together. But that wasn’t really true. Sure, we had disagreements and would argue once in awhile. But who wouldn’t after being together over 200 days a year?
“You are only as good as the people you play with. We were all young and were coming up together as far as our careers were concerned. We just happened to click. We fit into each other’s patterns and began to know each other’s moves. It was something that we had to work on and did.”
But Martin admits that it wasn’t always as easy as it looked for the French Connection.
“It was frustrating at time,” said Martin, now 55. He lives in the Buffalo area, and co-owns his own computer servicing business. “There were certain games when a team would just throw out a line against us, and all their job was was to check us, drape themselves all over us. Do anything to stop us. The best line we ever faced was against Montreal when we played against Bob Gainey’s line. Of course, I had Jimmy Roberts against me. He was all over me. He was between me and my shadow, that’s how close he was to me when he was checking our line. He was really focused.”
Martin also admitted that one of his biggest problems was concentrating on his own game and not watching Perreault when he had the puck.
“The biggest thing you fell into was watching his rushes instead of complementing his rushes,” added Martin. “He’d have the puck in his possession for 30 or 40 seconds at a time. It’s amazing to think five guys couldn’t take the puck away from one guy.”
The end of the French Connection came on the eve of the 1979-80 NHL season. New Sabres coach and GM Scotty Bowman traded Robert to the Colorado Rockies for defenseman John Van Boxmeer. Although the trio had not skated together very often in the four seasons leading up to the deal, the trade ended their relationship as teammates.
...more...
The French Connection was a line for the ages
Randy Schultz | NHL.com correspondent Apr 5, 2007, 12:00 PM EDT
Gilbert Perreault performed like magic along with Rick Martin and Rene Robert, also known as the "French Connection."
This season's edition of the Buffalo Sabres boasts four players with 30 or more goals – Daniel Briere, Thomas Vanek, Chris Drury and Jason Pominville. But even these outstanding players would have a hard time keeping pace with the Sabres' "French Connection" line.
Joe Crozier, the former coach of the Buffalo Sabres, has quite the litany of memories surrounding Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert.
“Perreault, Martin and Robert were like magic together. And they could perform like magic on the ice. They could bring fans out of their seats in Buffalo like no other line I’ve ever seen in the Aud. And there were times that you almost had to drag them off the ice during a game. I don’t think they realized how long they were out there sometimes because they were having so much fun.”
That is how Crozier remembered the famed French Connection line. The trio was one of the highest scoring lines in NHL history.
Crozier knew them better than anyone because he is the guy who put them together in the first place. It was March 1972, 35 years ago, that Crozier united the threesome together for the first time.
The 1978-79 NHL season was the last one in which the trio skated together. Although it has been 28 years since the French Connection last played for the Sabres, the legacy they left behind has not been forgotten by Sabre fans throughout Western New York and Southern Ontario.
Fans attending Sabre games at HSBC Arena only have to gaze into the rafters of the building to be reminded of Perreault, Martin and Robert. From up there hangs all three of their uniform numbers, all retired by the club.
Interestingly enough, while all three were born and raised in the Province of Quebec, separated by a mere three years in age, today they still have close ties to the Western New York area.
It was September 1970 when a 19-year-old Perreault arrived in Buffalo from Victoriaville, Quebec. The highly touted Perreault was the NHL’s top overall pick that year. The young center soon became known to Sabre fans as “The Franchise.”
Perreault proved equal to the task, winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year in 1971 and the Lady Byng Trophy in 1973, in addition to being twice named Second Team All-Star center in 1976 and 1977. In all, Perreault played 17 seasons in the NHL, all with the Sabres, tallying 512 goals, four more than his boyhood idol, Jean Beliveau of the Montreal Canadiens. He added 814 assists for 1,326 points. In 1990 he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
“The records, they are all nice,” said Perreault, 56, who still resides in Victoriaville for most of the year. For the past two years he has served as the Sabres' Corporate and Community Relations Liaison, living in the Buffalo area part of the time. "But I couldn’t have done any of it without my teammates, especially players like Rene Robert and Richard Martin. It didn’t take too long for us to click. We didn’t have too many problems.
“We adjusted to each other. Rene was a good playmaker and Richard was a goal scorer who could get 50 to 55 goals a year.”
Martin was the Sabres' No. 1 draft pick, the fifth player taken overall, in the 1971 draft. The Verdun, Quebec native came to the Sabres from the Montreal Jr. Canadiens, where he had been a teammate of Perreault’s.
“A lot of people think we played together when we were in junior hockey," said Martin, a left winger. “But that wasn’t true. We never played on the same line together. That changed when I got to Buffalo. When I played for Punch (Imlach), I was told to go out and score goals and worry about the rest of my game later.
“When I first came to training camp, Punch teamed me with Gilbert. And the only reason Punch teamed me with Gil is because Punch said I was the only one on the team at the time that could skate with him. I remember in my first year that Gilbert came into camp, he was 20 pounds overweight. So Punch put me on a line with him and told me, ‘make him (Perreault) skate kid. Just skate, just go.’ That’s how we got together. Then he (Imlach) was looking for a right winger. He got Rene. He took a chance and put us together and we clicked. We had the chemistry that seemed to work.”
When the Sabres traded Eddie “the Entertainer” Shack, a fan favorite in Buffalo, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Robert on March 4, 1972, it wasn’t considered one of the more popular trades made in the short history of the franchise.
With the addition of Rene Robert the "French Connection" line was complete.
Shack, a veteran of NHL play, was very popular in the Queen City. When the young Robert, a right winger with only 54 NHL games under his belt at the time of the trade, arrived in Buffalo the fans were somewhat skeptical. But when Robert was teamed with Perreault and Martin near the end of the season, those skeptics quickly disappeared.
In the final month of the 1971-72 season Crozier decided to try out the trio together. The move today is considered a stroke of genius. The line was dubbed "The French Connection” after the Oscar-winning movie of the same name and because the trio all had French-Canadian backgrounds.
Crozier remembered when the line came together.
“Late in he 1971-72 season, we knew that we had a natural line with Perreault and Martin,” Crozier said. “We just needed somebody else to go with them, someone who could play defense, check and stay high. Robert could check. I knew Rene from our American Hockey League days. Things just came together when Robert joined the team.”
Coming together was an understatement. In their first full season together, 1972-73, Perreault, Robert and Martin finished 1-2-3, respectively, in scoring for the Sabres. The trio scored 105 goals and led the Sabres into the playoffs for the first time in their three-year history.
Two seasons later, 1974-75, the French Connection piled up 131 goals and carried the Sabres all the way to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Philadelphia Flyers in six contests.
Ironically, Robert was making his second stint in the Sabres organization. The right winger was drafted by Buffalo from the Toronto Maple Leafs in early 1971. But he was later claimed by the Penguins in the intra-league draft on June 6, 1971. Fortunately, Imlach never forgot about the 5-foot-10, 185-pounder.
“We just seemed to his it off together,“ Robert said. “There were stories of how we didn’t get along together. But that wasn’t really true. Sure, we had disagreements and would argue once in awhile. But who wouldn’t after being together over 200 days a year?
“You are only as good as the people you play with. We were all young and were coming up together as far as our careers were concerned. We just happened to click. We fit into each other’s patterns and began to know each other’s moves. It was something that we had to work on and did.”
But Martin admits that it wasn’t always as easy as it looked for the French Connection.
“It was frustrating at time,” said Martin, now 55. He lives in the Buffalo area, and co-owns his own computer servicing business. “There were certain games when a team would just throw out a line against us, and all their job was was to check us, drape themselves all over us. Do anything to stop us. The best line we ever faced was against Montreal when we played against Bob Gainey’s line. Of course, I had Jimmy Roberts against me. He was all over me. He was between me and my shadow, that’s how close he was to me when he was checking our line. He was really focused.”
Martin also admitted that one of his biggest problems was concentrating on his own game and not watching Perreault when he had the puck.
“The biggest thing you fell into was watching his rushes instead of complementing his rushes,” added Martin. “He’d have the puck in his possession for 30 or 40 seconds at a time. It’s amazing to think five guys couldn’t take the puck away from one guy.”
The end of the French Connection came on the eve of the 1979-80 NHL season. New Sabres coach and GM Scotty Bowman traded Robert to the Colorado Rockies for defenseman John Van Boxmeer. Although the trio had not skated together very often in the four seasons leading up to the deal, the trade ended their relationship as teammates.
...more...