Bobby Clarke Had Rocket's Red Glare

Butch Bouchard remembered Elmer Lach's winning goal not for Lach's heroics, but for Rocket Richard's theatrics

"The Rocket got clipped in the face during the overtime. He went into the room for repairs and was gone for maybe five minutes. The doctor tried to do a thorough job but Rocket told him to put a patch on his face, he wanted to get right out. When he came out his face was smeared with blood. He jumped onto the ice and ran around like a crazy man. He made a rush, passed to Lach, Lach shot and that was that. I remember seeing him and Lach jumping high off the ice. They were so happy."

Elmer Lach's memory of his own famous goal was not quite as vivid.

"When I got the puck from Richard I was in the corner and I slapped it at the net. I didn't think I could shoot a puck that fast. I never did see it go in."

Lach, in an interview in the early 1970s, went on with his own memories of Rocket Richard, while comparing him to modern players.

"The playoffs, the way I look at them, they are like a student who goes to school all year and then takes a final exam on what he knows. The playoffs are the final exams. The student, he is crammed with all that information, now he has to produce it. That is why the clubs that have been taught the most and have the best discipline . . . the ones that have great direction . . . they win, I think the thing that is lacking today is that players have no discipline, no direction, no desire. There's too much money. Richard had only one object: to put the puck in the net. It's difficult to pick people and say this one has great heart and desire but you can probably see it in young Bobby Clarke. I think he has it."