Briere, Theodore, Cloutier. Marois and Lapointe to go into QMJHL hall of fame

MONTREAL - Daniel Briere, Jose Theodore, Real (Buddy) Cloutier, Mario Marois and former coach Ron Lapointe will be inducted into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Hall of Fame, the league announced Friday.

They will be formally inducted April 6 in Montreal.

Briere had 185 goals and 453 points in 216 games for the Drummondville Voltigeurs, an average of 2.1 points per game. He led the QMJHL in scoring with 163 points in 1995-96 and helped Canada win gold at the 1997 world junior championship.

The Gatineau, Que., native had 307 goals and 696 points in 963 NHL games for Phoenix, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Montreal and Colorado. He had seven seasons of 20 or more goals and added 116 points in 124 career playoff games.

Theodore played four seasons with the St-Jean Lynx and Hull (now Gatineau), helping the Olympiques to a league championship in 1995. The Laval, Que. native played 229 games with a 3.48 goals-against average. He won world junior gold in 1996. He still holds the record for most assists by a QMJHL goalie with 18.

In the NHL, where he played from 1996 to 2013, Theodore won both the Hart and Vezina Trophies with Montreal in 2002 and took the Masterton Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey in 2010. He also scored a goal in 2001 against the New York Islanders.

Cloutier had 166 goals and 386 points in 157 QMJHL games with the Quebec Remparts, including 26 games with five or more points. In 1973-74, when he helped the Remparts to a league title, the St-Emile, Que., native set a QMJHL record that still stands with 216 points in one season by a right-winger.

At 18, he was drafted in the first round by Quebec in the defunct WHA and was with the Nordiques when they joined the NHL in 1979. He had 244 points in 317 games with Quebec and Buffalo. Between the WHA and NHL, he had more than 900 points. He retired in 1985.

Marois was a skilled and tough defenceman who helped the Remparts to a league title in 1976. While scoring 31 goals and adding 131 assists, he also had 710 penalty minutes in 188 games as a junior.

In the NHL, the native of Ancienne Lorette, Que., played 955 regular-season games from 1977 to 1993 with the New York Rangers, the Nordiques (twice), Winnipeg and St. Louis. He had 76 NHL goals, with 433 points and 1,746 penalty minutes. He is now a scout for the Detroit Red Wings.

Lapointe will go into the Hall as a builder. The charismatic Montreal native posted 195 wins in 350 QMJHL games with Montreal, Sorel, Quebec and Shawinigan, leading the Cataractes to the 1984-85 regular season title.

He later worked as an assistant coach for the Washington Capitals but got his first NHL head coaching job in 1987 with the Nordiques. However, just over a year later, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer and coached his last NHL game on Dec. 15, 1988.

Following treatment, he returned as coach of the Vancouver Canucks' farm team in Milwaukee in 1989-90 and later became a Canucks scout. He died in 1992 at age 42. That year, the QMJHL named its award for coach of the year the Ron Lapointe Trophy.