The fiery Maurice Richard was the highest-scoring NHL player of his era, the first to achieve the feat of fifty goals in fifty games. Les yeux de Maurice Richard, as it was first published in 2006 in Quebec, won the Prix Marcel-Couture 2007 from the Salon du livre de Montréal. Translated here by the award-winning Fred A. Reed, The Rocket revisits highlights of the esteemed Number 9’s greatest feats and most memorable moments, including his 1955 suspension for hitting a referee and the famous street riot that followed. The author goes well beyond the man to fully explore the myth that remains today.

From Bob Hill’s song “Saga of Maurice Richard” to Roch Carrier’s The Hockey Sweater and Al Purdy’s “Homage to Ree-shard,” cultural historian Benoît Melançon draws on print sources, photos, and illustrations to show how sportswriters, artists, playwrights, politicians, and citizens immortalized the Rocket.

The Rocket celebrates Richard in all his glory. This book is also in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens, the Rocket’s one and only team.

“The author breezily, intelligently and wittily shows the evolution of Richard from taciturn goal-scorer into mythological figure . . . It is fine reading.” —British Journal of Canadian Studies