Jacques Demers may have lost his speech, but not his memory. His brother Michel knows something about it.
“In his room, he has lots of photos from 1993, we show him some. In his eyes, we see that he lights up, that we won the Cup, says the brother. Sometimes I call his former players on FaceTime, I did it with Denis Savard the other time. He is super happy to see their face. »
“But he made a living with his word, and there he is deprived of it,” he laments.
Deprived of speech since his stroke in 2016, Demers obviously cannot participate in the many interviews made in recent weeks about the 30th anniversary of the last Stanley Cup of the Canadian.
This was also the case at the 25th anniversary. The Habs had invited the members of the champion edition, and at the time Demers had felt good enough to go to the Bell Center, even if he couldn’t talk anymore.
“It was hard to see him like that,” says Stéphan Lebeau. It seemed like he was happy to see us. He was trying to communicate, people were talking to him, he was answering with his head. »
In 1992, at the start of training camp and an 80-point season, his best in the NHL, Lebeau had his first real meeting with Demers.
“I was in his office. He said to me, “Stéphan, I need you, I’m counting on you.” And he kept his promise. We are about nine to have had our best season, and I am one of them. To be successful, having the confidence of your coach is essential. When you feel that you don’t always have your head on the block, it helps to play liberated. »
Lebeau quickly realized this: his new coach was the antithesis of predecessor Pat Burns, who was just as successful as Demers, but with a different approach.
Jacques Lemaire also gravitated to the entourage of the team, he who was then assistant to the general manager, Serge Savard. “Even in difficult times, Jacques was positive to death,” says Lemaire. I found him exceptional because of that. I was like, how can he be positive? Me, I was enraged!
The arrival of Demers behind the bench has an immediate effect. From October 17 to November 11, the CH played 12 games in a row without suffering defeat. “We were the hottest team in the league,” Lebeau recalled. The Habs ran out of gas in March, however, and ended the season with 11 losses in their last 18 outings. The Nordiques are ahead of the Habs and take the advantage of the ice for the all-Quebec duel of the first round.
In the final days of the season, Demers felt he had to step in.
“We arrive at the Forum, the locker room is locked, recalls Lebeau. The lights are off and we go to the players’ bench. Jacques gives us a speech on the great winning tradition by showing the Stanley Cup banners and reminding us of the responsibility that comes with this tradition. »
The players then go to the living room – that of the alumni or the director, depending on the speakers -, where Demers invites them to hold a meeting between them only “to do their dirty laundry”, according to Lebeau.
“All the sweaters were hung on a rack,” explains Charles Thiffault, Demers’ assistant. He told the players, “If you’re ready to give your all for the team, put on the jersey and go to the locker room.” All the players had done it, obviously, but when it comes to team building, that was it. He found situations to unite the team. »
“We didn’t win right away, but we played good hockey. I think he wanted to do a shock treatment to shake up the locker room. It may have reunited the team. At 0-2 against the Nordiques, we did not panic and we supported each other, ”said Lebeau.
Charles Thiffault and Jacques Laperrière were Demers’ assistants. “I was mostly in charge of the special teams, explains Thiffault, still in good shape at 85 years old. Jacques Laperrière and I were also responsible for preparing the video on our next opponents, in turn. »
“Charles was a hockey technician, like a hockey doctor! illustrates Bernard Brisset, then publicist of the Canadian. He was one of those guys who arrived with very studied tactics, in the wake of the rapprochement with the Russians. »
Michel Demers, Jacques’ brother, spawned in this entourage of hockey men. “Saturday mornings I would go to practices at the Forum. The players left and the gang went down, it could talk about an hour and a half of hockey, with coffee. Lemaire, André Boudrias, Serge Savard, Jacques Laperrière… Jacques would ask them: what is your feeling for such and such a case? »
One of those heated discussions comes during the third round series, against the Islanders. Knee damaged, Lebeau had missed the third and fourth games of this series. “Jacques [Demers] said, ‘I don’t know, I’m watching him go, I have a feeling he can help us.’ And Lemaire told him, “Go with your feeling, take it in!” »
In his role as Deputy CEO, Lemaire was then very involved in the daily life of the team. “I said to [Demers]: you, behind the bench, if you’re comfortable with your decision to bring Lebeau back, your players will be,” Lemaire said. Your decision, if you have it in you, if you believe in it, it counts. They are feelings. »
Lebeau finally gets an assist in this match, and the Canadian wins 5-2 to reach the final. The Sherbrooke resident says he heard about this situation “later”.
And obviously, Demers had stuck to what he had told Lebeau nine months earlier.
In the final, the coaching staff expands. Denis Savard was in too bad shape to stay in the lineup, so he moved behind the bench starting in Game 2 of the Finals against the Kings.
“Jacques had the genius to not only get Denis off the ice, but to put him behind the bench, in a role that he accepted”, explains Bernard Brisset.
With this addition, Thiffault returns to the catwalk, where he worked from during the season. He and Laperrière wear headphones; it thus communicates with the bench. “Demers asked Laperriere if I was okay with having McSorley’s stick measured. I said to myself: if the players, with their experience, think that the stick is illegal, they can be trusted. »
The Canadian won this second game, then the next three, and won the Stanley Cup. The trophy has only been won by American teams since. “He had the right recipe and 30 years later it still hasn’t been replicated,” recalls Lebeau.
Demers continued to watch over those with whom he had triumphed. Two years after his dismissal by the Canadiens, he became head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He therefore contacted Thiffault to offer him an assistant position. “But Phil Esposito was the GM, he was the one who fired Michel Bergeron and me with the Rangers! said Thiffault laughing. But Jacques does not forget the people who gave him a hand. »
Lebeau remembers a game at the Bell Center a decade ago when Demers was in the Senate. “My wife and son Jeffrey arrive at the Alumni Lounge early. And there, the prime minister’s security arrives to inspect the living room. Stephen Harper enters the room, Jacques is with him, he sees Chantal and Jeffrey. And he takes the time to go see the Prime Minister. “Mr. Harper, I have someone very important to introduce to you.” And in his great generosity, he introduced my wife and my boy to the prime minister.
“That’s it, Jacques. Wear his heart on his sleeve. »
