Saturday, September 22, 2007

Arena Denis Savard

Les,
Here is a picture of the Denis Savard Arena wich was built next to the Auditorium and wich I took today. I am told that it was built app. 15 years ago. Denis Savard was born in Pointe Gatineau Qc, never played for the Montreal Canadiens nor for any Verdun team as far as I know so I don't know why they named the arena after him. I think the only position he had was as assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens for a year or 2. There are so many other Verdun hockey players or coaches that they could have used.
Guy
 

9 comments:

les__f MSN said...

Hello Guy,..........That's a neat little building,at least Verdun gets one more indoor rink,.that's good. As for Denis Savard,................he played almost his entire career fro the Chicago BlackHawks,,,,,and would never in his lifetime on that team have a shot at the Stanley Cup,....but Jacques Demers ,who was the Montreal Canadiens coach in 1993 decided to convince the powers that be at the time,.to enlist the services of Denis Savard,.from the Blackhawks,..and so Denis became a valuable tool for the Canadiens that year,.and went on to Help Montreal Win the Stanley Cup,........a year which saw Patrick Roy win an unprecedented amount of O/T Victories (off hand I'll say 10 or 12),but I'm guessing on that number right now,.......but if you check the Roster for the Habs in that year ( the last time they won Btw:) you should find Denis Savards name engraved on Lord Stanley's Mug:                           Thanks for the picture Guy,.your efforts are appreciated: It must be nice to just head into Verdun when you like,........Hope you enjoyed your day,....................................                          HF&RV

les__f MSN said...

Here's a shot of Denis wearing the Blu Blan Rouge,.............. ....and he's sports the same number as another very famous Savard with Montreal..............................................                                          of course I mean Serge Savard,.who with his famous teamates had absolutely No Problem taking home the silverware ,with great regualrity ..........................with Habs in the 70's and of course went on to coach the Habs for many years ,....and was at the Helm when the Habs Won a Stanley Cup in 1986,........................ ..........but back to the original question at hand,.and that is that 'Denis ' did in fact play for Montreal for a very brief time,....                                                                                      HF&RV

len_beast1 MSN said...

That arena is gota be more than 27 years old i played there as a teenager it was called the annex back then they have made improvments  may have been rebult and named Denis Savard 15 years ago

les__f MSN said...

len_beast1    Did it hace a frontage like that,.?  I've been back a lot of times over the years but never really knew of that rink,.so I guess it wasn't as prominent a front like it seems to be today,                                                                                                      HF&RV

guy5479 MSN said...

Les, Your right, Denis Savard did play for the Canadiens 1991-1993 when they won a Stanley Cup, I had totally forgotten about it. However, I still don't know what justified the powers to be to name the arena after him when so many deserving Verdunites could have been chosen. I have other photos to post that I took while in the area. I will post them within a day or two. Guy 

les__f MSN said...

Yes Guy,.you are absolutely right on  there,.....  Who knows what motivation is behind naming (or renameing) anything,....... & Why in Verdun,.Good Question.........Pt Gatineau I can see,...but not Verdun,.when there are so many Legends of Hockey ,who made Verdun their Home.....  I wonder if there is some referance to the naming of the arena ,somewhere in the archives of the SHGV??                                                                                                     HF&RV

guy5479 MSN said...

Here are some more pictures that I took while in the area as promissed: Guy   Notice new St Hubert BBQ on the right corner   Ar챕na Denis Savard and Auditorium     Another view of the arenas     Another view of the arenas      

les__f MSN said...

Thanks Guy,...this 'hill' in front of the Auditorium ,was our hill to 'roller skate' down with those old skates that you could size to your shoe & tighten with the key hanging around your neck,,,,( if you could be trusted with the key)........hahahahaha  Sometimes we shared & had only one roller skate & your friend had the other,.....so it was a forerunner to the skate board,.....which I had one of those as well starting with the skateboard that had those roller skae wheels,.then progressing to the nylon type 'wide' wheels.........hahahahaha We were real Pro's,..........hahahahah but that hill in front of the Aud was one where we could gather up some speed & try to make the corner at the bottom........hahahahah Oh well if we did get hit by a car ,the Verdun Hospital was only a block away.......               ...Thanks again Guy for taking the time to take & then share these pictures,We Appreciate the efforts from all who do.             HF&RV

Jkearney said...

Denis did live in Verdun! We played baseball on the same team. And would play ball hockey often in St Willibrods school lot. This would be around 1974-75
I’m pretty sure his family had a small store on Verdun ave around Gordon.