Hockey Great Passes
Hockey Great Passes, Elmer Lach, a durable, undersize Hall of Fame center who used every one of his 165 pounds in becoming one of the National Hockey League’s most combative players and in helping the Montreal Canadiens win three Stanley Cups more than 60 years ago, died on Saturday in Montreal. He was 97.
The Canadiens announced his death on their website. Lach had been the oldest living former N.H.L. player.
Lach (pronounced “Lock”) was a member of the Canadiens’ fabled Punch Line, playing center between Maurice Richard, a right wing known as the Rocket, and Hector Blake, known as Toe. The three, who got their collective name because of their scoring punch, were all inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Lach in 1966.
Lach spent his entire N.H.L. career (1940-54) with the Canadiens, playing in an era when the league had only six teams, which made it all the more competitive. His teams won the Stanley Cup in 1944, 1946 and 1953. He twice led the league in scoring, he won the Hart Trophy in 1945 as the league’s most valuable player, and he was voted to the All-Star team five times.
In 664 regular-season games — N.H.L. teams played only about 50 a season then — Lach scored 215 goals and had 408 assists for 623 points, retiring as the league’s career scoring leader. In 76 playoff games, he had 19 goals and 45 assists.
In his last season, 1953-54, Lach took the celebrated rookie Jean Béliveau under his wing and won his admiration. Béliveau, who went on to become one of the N.H.L.’s greatest players, described Lach in his 1994 autobiography, “My Life in Hockey,” as “one of the finest passers in the league.”
“He could give you a quick, soft pass that would nestle on your stick,” wrote Béliveau, who died late last year. “It just seemed to settle on the blade without a bounce.”
Lach’s last game was a 2-1 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings in the 1954 Stanley Cup finals. He said years later, “I would have given five years of my life to have scored just one more goal.”
In 1953, his overtime goal gave the Canadiens a 1-0 win over the Boston Bruins and the Stanley Cup. He and Richard leapt into each other’s arms in celebration and crashed to the ice. Lach emerged with a broken nose.
For him, a broken nose was nothing. In the first game of his second N.H.L. season, when he tried to minimize the impact of skidding into the boards, he shattered an elbow, broke a wrist and dislocated a shoulder. His season was over.
In later years, a fractured skull put him in a hospital for two months, and his jaw was fractured so badly that platinum wire was needed to hold it together. The wire was never removed.
In 1950, Jack Adams, the Detroit general manager, called Lach “the meanest, shrewdest, nastiest so-and-so in the league.”
But he quickly added, “There is nobody in hockey today I’d rather have on my club.”
Bill Hollett, an opposing defenseman known as Flash, said of Lach: “He had a trick of coming in under your arms when you were carrying the puck and hoisting you up off your feet. He crosschecked at your face and head all the time, too, and I have no sympathy for the, ah, fellow.”
Lach never apologized for his aggressive hockey. “It’s no game for little gentlemen,” he told The Saturday Evening Post in 1950. “Those guys take the bread and butter out of my mouth when they beat me. Injuries are a part of hockey, and I guess if you don’t want to get hurt, I figure you better not play.”
Elmer James Lach was born on Jan. 22, 1918, in Nokomis, Saskatchewan. At 17, he was earning $200 a month in a senior league. At a slender 5 feet 9, he had to be tough, and he was.
When Lach was 20, a Toronto Maple Leafs scout wanted to sign him and Doug Bentley, another prospect from Saskatchewan. Conn Smythe, who owned the Leafs, had to approve.
“The scout must have told the Leafs we were big,” Lach told The Montreal Gazette in 2002, “but we were both pretty small. Mr. Smythe didn’t like that. He was not happy and sent us home.”
The Canadiens signed him soon afterward.
After his playing career, Lach coached hockey for two years and then worked in sales and public relations. He lived in Pointe-Claire, a suburb of Montreal. His first wife, Kathleen, known as Kay, died in 1985. His second wife, Lise, died in October. His survivors include two stepdaughters, Canadian news organizations reported.
Lach was the last surviving member of the Punch Line; Blake died in 1995 and Richard in 2000. At Richard’s funeral, Lach said: “My right arm is gone. I’m the last one left.”
The Canadiens announced his death on their website. Lach had been the oldest living former N.H.L. player.
Lach (pronounced “Lock”) was a member of the Canadiens’ fabled Punch Line, playing center between Maurice Richard, a right wing known as the Rocket, and Hector Blake, known as Toe. The three, who got their collective name because of their scoring punch, were all inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Lach in 1966.
Lach spent his entire N.H.L. career (1940-54) with the Canadiens, playing in an era when the league had only six teams, which made it all the more competitive. His teams won the Stanley Cup in 1944, 1946 and 1953. He twice led the league in scoring, he won the Hart Trophy in 1945 as the league’s most valuable player, and he was voted to the All-Star team five times.
In 664 regular-season games — N.H.L. teams played only about 50 a season then — Lach scored 215 goals and had 408 assists for 623 points, retiring as the league’s career scoring leader. In 76 playoff games, he had 19 goals and 45 assists.
In his last season, 1953-54, Lach took the celebrated rookie Jean Béliveau under his wing and won his admiration. Béliveau, who went on to become one of the N.H.L.’s greatest players, described Lach in his 1994 autobiography, “My Life in Hockey,” as “one of the finest passers in the league.”
“He could give you a quick, soft pass that would nestle on your stick,” wrote Béliveau, who died late last year. “It just seemed to settle on the blade without a bounce.”
Lach’s last game was a 2-1 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings in the 1954 Stanley Cup finals. He said years later, “I would have given five years of my life to have scored just one more goal.”
In 1953, his overtime goal gave the Canadiens a 1-0 win over the Boston Bruins and the Stanley Cup. He and Richard leapt into each other’s arms in celebration and crashed to the ice. Lach emerged with a broken nose.
For him, a broken nose was nothing. In the first game of his second N.H.L. season, when he tried to minimize the impact of skidding into the boards, he shattered an elbow, broke a wrist and dislocated a shoulder. His season was over.
In later years, a fractured skull put him in a hospital for two months, and his jaw was fractured so badly that platinum wire was needed to hold it together. The wire was never removed.
In 1950, Jack Adams, the Detroit general manager, called Lach “the meanest, shrewdest, nastiest so-and-so in the league.”
But he quickly added, “There is nobody in hockey today I’d rather have on my club.”
Bill Hollett, an opposing defenseman known as Flash, said of Lach: “He had a trick of coming in under your arms when you were carrying the puck and hoisting you up off your feet. He crosschecked at your face and head all the time, too, and I have no sympathy for the, ah, fellow.”
Lach never apologized for his aggressive hockey. “It’s no game for little gentlemen,” he told The Saturday Evening Post in 1950. “Those guys take the bread and butter out of my mouth when they beat me. Injuries are a part of hockey, and I guess if you don’t want to get hurt, I figure you better not play.”
Elmer James Lach was born on Jan. 22, 1918, in Nokomis, Saskatchewan. At 17, he was earning $200 a month in a senior league. At a slender 5 feet 9, he had to be tough, and he was.
When Lach was 20, a Toronto Maple Leafs scout wanted to sign him and Doug Bentley, another prospect from Saskatchewan. Conn Smythe, who owned the Leafs, had to approve.
“The scout must have told the Leafs we were big,” Lach told The Montreal Gazette in 2002, “but we were both pretty small. Mr. Smythe didn’t like that. He was not happy and sent us home.”
The Canadiens signed him soon afterward.
After his playing career, Lach coached hockey for two years and then worked in sales and public relations. He lived in Pointe-Claire, a suburb of Montreal. His first wife, Kathleen, known as Kay, died in 1985. His second wife, Lise, died in October. His survivors include two stepdaughters, Canadian news organizations reported.
Lach was the last surviving member of the Punch Line; Blake died in 1995 and Richard in 2000. At Richard’s funeral, Lach said: “My right arm is gone. I’m the last one left.”