Always remember your roots

We can say with great certainty that there were at least a couple of Montreal Canadiens players tuning into Sunday night's CIS men's hockey finale. They would be McGill alum Mathieu Darche (BCom'00) and centre David Desharnais, who had the Redmen's Francis Verreault-Paul on his wing for four years with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens.

And just to show that pro athletes aren't just about themselves, Darche told us about a whip-around that he and several of his fellow former Redmen had just before the national championship in Fredericton.

University hockey ain't about glamour, so the old boys decided to chip in a few bucks to upgrade the team's accommodations and provide some creature comforts during the tournament.

Darche, in particular, is sensitive to the trials of CIS road trip life, having played four years at McGill before turning pro with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"We'd sleep three to a room, the rookies always got the floor," Darche joked after Habs practice on Sunday.

At least we think he was joking.

Presumably pro hockey people like Tampa coaches Guy Boucher and Martin Raymond (both of whom ran the McGill program) and Detroit's Mike Babcock (who also coached the school) also threw into the hat.

And judging from the nagging he was getting from Darche in the Habs' room, Desharnais probably also stroked a cheque.

Darche was saying that another of his former teammates, who is now a big-wig at a major multinational food services company - clearly some of the guys who played hockey at McGill would have to take a pay cut to play in the Habs' bottom six - saw to it that several cases of energy drinks and snacks were delivered to the team.

In the end the largesse didn't help win McGill its first national hockey title - they were unable to overcome the University of New Brunswick, who are to hockey what the Laval Rouge et Or are to football.

But it was a nice touch just the same.

Read full article: The Globe and Mail, March 28, 2011