Jacques Plante was the first goaltender that he wrote about.
Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak were the last two and Alex Auld will be the next. He almost certainly won’t be the last…
Red Fisher turned 84 on the 22nd of August making him the longest serving hockey journalist to cover one team in the history of the game.The first game that he covered was the infamous ‘Richard Riot’ and in the words of Mr. Fisher himself… “Front page news!. Not bad eh…?”
Born in Montreal, Red Fisher began covering The Habs for the now defunct paper – The Montreal Star in 1954 . He was the hockey writer and sports columnist and eventually became sports editor from 1969 until 1979. He was then hired as the Sports editor for The Montreal Gazette – a post he held for several years and he continues to be the ‘Godfather’ of Montreal and Hockey ‘ journalists to this day with the Gazette.
A few years ago, I was in The Bell Center conducting an interview with Murray Wilson and Rick Moffatt , the two announcers that covered The Habs for CJAD radio in Montreal. I was in the media room between periods – eating, drinking (coke) and trying to act as if I fit in with all the seasoned print, television and radio personalities that passed before my envious eyes. Michel Bergeron, the ex- Nordique and New York Ranger coach was there – Jean Perron, the Canadiens Stanley Cup winning coach from 1986 was there – Jacques Demers , the 1993 Stanley Cup winning coach with the Habs was there – all the guys that I watched and admired through the years were there.
As I started to feel more comfortable, I walked around and introduced myself… Michel ‘Le Tigre’ Bergeron was especially kind to this…”wannabe journalist’. We spoke for a good half hour after I thanked him for the great rivalry he helped instill during The Montreal – Quebec Nordiques days. We spoke of Dale Hunter, Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet among others. For me – speaking to someone who had direct contact with these players was a history lesson and I milked it for all it was worth as M. Bergeron and I shared a passion in a room full of ‘passionate’ hockey reporters.
Then – in walked Red Fisher.
I am not sure if it was just me or if everyone seemed to quiet down as Mr. Fisher passed his colleagues.
It was as if James Caan, Al Pacino and Robert Duvall were in my presence and suddenly Marlon Brando walked in.Thankfully, Mr. Fisher was wearing pants. I watched him as he shook hands and made his way to the buffet table and gathered his meal for the night. Others watched as well as he amassed an arsenal of vegetables, meat and a few slices of bread – papers tucked under his left arm. I wanted to approach him, shake his hand and pick his brain but the rumour had always been that Red Fisher will never talk to a rookie on The Montreal Canadiens even if that rookie happened to be Wayne Gretzky. There was no way he was going to talk to me…!
He made his way to a table where he preceded to place his food and papers down.
Watching – I thought to myself that this may be the only chance I have to meet Red Fisher…this may be my last trip to the Bell Center in the form of a journalist since freelance was my game. I decided to toss caution to the wind, got up and approached the veteran reporter.
I reached out my hand and said….”Hi Mr. Fisher…, my name is Rick and I just wanted to say that it is a great honor to meet you…!” For what seemed an eternity – Mr.Fisher stared at me through those big horned-rimmed glasses that lay perched on his nose. He eyed me like a cop would eye a suspect in the local line-up at the county jail…not quite sure if I was innocent or a criminal.
His hand took mine and we shook – briefly yet an eternity in my mind. Upon release Mr. Fisher turned without so much as a nod and sat at his table, food his next breaking story.
Red Fisher did not say a word to me which places me in the same company of Ken Dryden, Larry Robinson, Patrick Roy, Chris Chelios, Yvon Cournoyer, the Pocket Rocket, Jean Beliveau and every other rookie that played with the team for the past 49 years.
Not bad eh…?
Happy Birthday Mr. Fisher…!