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MONTREAL | December 18th, 2009
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For decades, the team photo has been an annual right of passage in all sports. Getting it done is normally cut-and-dry, though one particular morning at the Montreal Forum proved an exception to the rule.
Following a major snowstorm back in the 1970s that dumped several feet of snow on the city, the job of filling the spots for the annual team photo was tricky, to say the least. With a skeleton crew making it out to the Forum that morning, those who did manage to get there figured they’d take a different type of commemorative picture.
“There weren’t many of us there that day, because the storm was pretty bad,” recalled former Habs winger Doug Risebrough, who cited a long list of those missing in action, including head coach Scotty Bowman. “We decided to horse around and take a team photo with whoever was there and include a few people who wouldn’t normally be in it.”
One of those photo fill-ins was Forum fixture Doc Serchuck. By far the league’s eldest stick boy at over 70 years old, Serchuck handled the sticks for opposing teams and was a popular figure in the Habs’ dressing room. Being featured in the photo would have been quirky enough, but the good-natured equipment guru took it one step further by outfitting himself in the trademark gear of the missing coach.
“We’re there preparing for this photo and who walks in but Doc, wearing Scotty’s stuff,” laughed Risebrough, current GM of the Minnesota Wild. “He had on Scotty’s practice jacket, hat and even the leather gloves he liked to wear on the ice at practice. So we sat Doc in Scotty’s spot right in the middle of the front row. It was hilarious!”
Also on hand that day at the Forum was a photographer from Le Journal de Montreal, who snapped the shot and promptly ran it the next morning.
“When Scotty saw Doc wearing his gear in the paper, he teased him about it from that day on and never let Doc live it down,” said Risebrough. “The worst thing was, it was Serge Savard who put him up to it in the first place. That’s Serge for you. Poor old Doc never knew what hit him.”
See also
Is there a doctor in the house?
A White Welcome
Boss' Orders
Birds of a Feather
Howe could you?
Following a major snowstorm back in the 1970s that dumped several feet of snow on the city, the job of filling the spots for the annual team photo was tricky, to say the least. With a skeleton crew making it out to the Forum that morning, those who did manage to get there figured they’d take a different type of commemorative picture.
“There weren’t many of us there that day, because the storm was pretty bad,” recalled former Habs winger Doug Risebrough, who cited a long list of those missing in action, including head coach Scotty Bowman. “We decided to horse around and take a team photo with whoever was there and include a few people who wouldn’t normally be in it.”
One of those photo fill-ins was Forum fixture Doc Serchuck. By far the league’s eldest stick boy at over 70 years old, Serchuck handled the sticks for opposing teams and was a popular figure in the Habs’ dressing room. Being featured in the photo would have been quirky enough, but the good-natured equipment guru took it one step further by outfitting himself in the trademark gear of the missing coach.
“We’re there preparing for this photo and who walks in but Doc, wearing Scotty’s stuff,” laughed Risebrough, current GM of the Minnesota Wild. “He had on Scotty’s practice jacket, hat and even the leather gloves he liked to wear on the ice at practice. So we sat Doc in Scotty’s spot right in the middle of the front row. It was hilarious!”
Also on hand that day at the Forum was a photographer from Le Journal de Montreal, who snapped the shot and promptly ran it the next morning.
“When Scotty saw Doc wearing his gear in the paper, he teased him about it from that day on and never let Doc live it down,” said Risebrough. “The worst thing was, it was Serge Savard who put him up to it in the first place. That’s Serge for you. Poor old Doc never knew what hit him.”
See also
Is there a doctor in the house?
A White Welcome
Boss' Orders
Birds of a Feather
Howe could you?