Ask Gerv! No. 14

In his three decades as a member of the Canadiens' organization, head equipment manager Pierre Gervais has picked up his share of insider info from within the Bell Centre's walls. In this week's edition of Ask Gerv!, read about a merchandise order... that got a bit mixed up.

To read the previous edition, click
here
.
1. Question from Brianna, via Twitter.
What is the most stressful part of your day?
I'm not a stressed out kind of guy. I don't get easily stressed out, but I feel it a bit before training camp gets started, before everything is in place. I breathe a sigh of relief when all the guys take their first steps on the ice on the first day of camp. Everything is in its right place, the jerseys, everything is good, so then, I feel relieved. I start dreaming about it at night this time of year. In the playoffs, I'm a bit more stressed out. During the year, it's when we're headed out on the road and when we get to a city, I'll be happy to see that everything made it. When we get to a city, even if we double check everything, even if it's our own plane, truck and there isn't too much room for something to go wrong, I can't control everything. I have my team who all take care of their various tasks. I take care of the jerseys myself, but often after practice, we'll leave with just the skates, and the equipment stays put. It always happens a couple of times a year that you realize that you left the gloves here, the equipment is in different places. We try to make sure that it happens as little as possible, but I'm only happy once we've unpacked everything and see that everything is there.

2. Question from Zach DbacksBandwagon, via Twitter.
What's the funniest thing that's happened to you with managing the equipment?
It's happened that I've ordered merchandise, like sweatshirts and things like that, and we've received Bruins gear instead. It was pretty funny, especially that it was the Bruins. It was just a code entry error at the warehouse, but we had socks, t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. It was a pretty big order, but the Bruins got mine instead. It was really funny!
I've also received right-handed sticks intended for guys who shoot left. It was his model, his name, everything, but the wrong side.
3. Question from J.D. Mbængle, via Facebook.
Among the other equipment managers around the League, who are your closest friends?
I'm friends with a lot of them, especially the older ones. There was a big turnover in the NHL about 10 or 15 years ago. My assistant, Pat, who worked in the AHL for a long time, probably knows more of them personally than me because they've all worked there first. But for me, the older ones, like Pat O'Neill in Vancouver, Mike Aldrich in San Jose, Troy Parchman in Chicago, Brian Papineau in Toronto, these are all guys I'm pretty close with. The oldtimers!