'Slap Shot' goalie enjoying Dobes, Canadiens' ride in Stanley Cup Playoffs

MONTREAL -- Broadcaster Jim Carr sits patiently on the set of his TV show "Sports Talk" and listens to Federal League Charlestown Chiefs goalie Denis Lemieux explain the rule of icing through his thick French-Canadian accent:

"Well, icing happen when the puck come down, bang, you know, before the other guy, nobody there, you know, my h'arm go comme ça, then the game stop then start up."

An NHL goalie's h'arm hasn't needed to go up since the 2013-14 introduction of hybrid icing, but Lemieux's no-nonsense explanation in the 1977 movie classic "Slap Shot" will live forever.

Today, the man who a half-century ago played the quirky, allergy-plagued, often shell-shocked goalie is enjoying the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- especially the work of Jakub Dobes and Andrei Vasilevskiy, goalies for the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning who look nothing at all like Denis Lemieux.

"Slap Shot" is a masterpiece, of course, widely regarded as the greatest hockey movie ever made and among the finest in the sports genre generally.

Charlestown Chiefs goalie Denis Lemieux demands his agent that he be traded in this screen capture from the movie Slap Shot.

Written by Nancy Dowd and directed by George Roy Hill for Universal Studios, the film features Paul Newman's playing-coach Reg Dunlop, Michael Ontkean's cerebral Ned Braden and the maniacal Hanson Brothers, played by Steve and Jeff Carlson and Dave Hanson.

Co-stars include Strother Martin as Chiefs GM Joe McGrath, M. Emmet Walsh as the earnest sportswriter Dickie Dunn, and an ensemble cast that showcases an eclectic dressing room of misfits who bond beyond and briefly within the rules to become Federal League champions against a wild cast of sometimes-criminal opponents.

In goal for the Chiefs, when not stunt-doubled in action sequences because of a pre-production knee injury, is Denis Lemieux, played by Quebec acting veteran Yvon Barrette. He might be channeling a late boyhood hero, Gump Worsley, "who was 5-foot-7, my height when I'm in skates."

There is no goaltender in the history of hockey who is more widely quoted than Lemieux; any netminder from bantam level up worth his or her salt can quote Lemieux's best passages word for word, with a French accent.

Montreal Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes, one of the reasons the team advanced to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and actor Yvon Barrette, who plays Slap Shot goalie Denis Lemieux, with a likeness of the mask he wore in the film.

On Tuesday, hours before the Canadiens faced the Lightning in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round, NHL.com caught up with Barrette at his home in St. Leandre, Quebec, 375 miles northeast of Montreal.

With the Lightning's 3-2 overtime win Tuesday, the series is tied 1-1 heading to Montreal for Game 3 on Friday (7 p.m. ET, CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, The Spot).

Turning 80 in September, Barrette was delighted to discuss the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the iconic film in which he plays a major role, though he remains mildly disappointed that the Federal League never calculated Denis Lemieux's goals-against average and save percentage.

How closely do you follow today's NHL, generally, and the Montreal Canadiens, specifically?

"I watch a lot of hockey and so does my wife, Nicole. We're both huge fans of the Canadiens. I'm so proud of our team now, Dobes has been amazing in goal. Montreal is doing great… I hope they go a long way in the playoffs."

When was the last time you attended a Canadiens game?

"Three years ago (April 1, 2023), I was invited to go to their Bell Centre dressing room before a game against the Carolina Hurricanes. So I went in wearing my Chiefs jersey and announced the starting lineup to the players. They were so surprised to see me."

The cover of the 2013 Blu-ray release of the 1977 movie Slap Shot, and goalie Denis Lemieux chatting with a Big King Drugs pharmacist in a screen capture from the film.

When you watch goalies today, is it as Yvon Barrette or Denis Lemieux?

"As Yvon Barrette (laughs), an actor who was cast to play a goalie. I've been following the Canadiens since I was a kid, since Jacques Plante was in goal. I remember being with my father and family and uncles in the kitchen, listening to the games on the radio. Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau… Between age 6 and 10, I became a very big fan. When I was 10, the Canadiens were beginning their fantastic streak of five consecutive Stanley Cup wins, from 1956-60. There were six NHL teams then, now we have 32. I loved the whole team, not just one player. Since filming "Slap Shot," I've been close to a lot of professional players. I've been to Germany four times, to Australia with the Maple Leafs' Darryl Sittler and Tiger Williams and still do collectibles shows and signings."

What are your memories of the 1977 Montreal premiere of "Slap Shot," screened at a movie theatre across the street from the Forum? 

"There were 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. shows. I was in the theatre with Allan Nicholls (who played Chiefs captain Johnny Upton) and Nancy Dowd, who wrote the script, actors Yvan Ponton and Jean Tetreault (cast as players Jean-Guy Drouin and Andre Bergeron, respectively), a bunch from the movie. We were waiting for the people to come out of the show and tell us whether they liked it or not. For me, it was comedy. But not to everybody. The first guy to come out was an Irishman who was about 70, a huge fan of the Canadiens. He came straight to me and said, 'You're a disgrace to hockey.' He thought it was a documentary. That was the first thing I heard. I'd already done a number of French movies, having studied at the National Theatre School of Canada. I was so proud when they called me to be involved in "Slap Shot," of all the charities it's benefitted with fundraisers, and I'm very proud of all it's meant to me and so many in the years since."

Charlestown Chiefs goalie Denis Lemieux in a screen capture from the 1977 movie Slap Shot.

You've mentioned your love of Maurice Richard. "Slap Shot" was film No. 9 – Rocket's number – of the 15 for which you're credited. Your most recent, in 2015, was "Le Bruit des Arbres (The Noise of Trees)" starring Roy Dupuis, who memorably starred as Maurice in the 2005 film "The Rocket"…

"When I met Roy, I told him, 'This is the first time that Maurice Richard has met Denis Lemieux!' It was perfect."

In Montreal, we had late, legendary goalie Ken Dryden through the 1970s, a lawyer whose profound thought was expressed in eloquent paragraphs. But Denis spoke more to the common man, to the fan in the tavern…

"And there's still one line more than any other that fans want to hear me say: 'Trade me right (expletive) now!' Slap Shot has been translated into many different languages. Every week I receive letters from fans from Canada, the U.S. and Europe. They print photos from the movie, mail them to me sometimes with a few dollars to cover postage. Two weeks ago, I did a video for a company that makes electric bikes in Rimouski (Quebec)… they painted a bike in Chiefs colors that I signed. I wore a mask that someone using a 3D printer had made of my "Slap Shot" mask. That bike will be auctioned to raise money for a foundation benefitting a man who lost his wife, mother and daughter in a car accident. "Slap Shot" is still giving back."

Charlestown Chiefs goalie Denis Lemieux demonstrates high-sticking to TV talk-show host Jim Carr in the opening scene of the 1977 movie Slap Shot.

The opening scene, as you explain a few rules to sportscaster Jim Carr, is cinematic genius. How many takes did it take to do that to the satisfaction of director George Roy Hill?

"Just one. Andrew Duncan (who played Carr) wasn't nervous in rehearsal, so I was able to hit the floor with my stick to demonstrate slashing. But when the cameras rolled, he was nervous and his shin came up. I hit him hard. The look of pain on his face is absolutely real. It was shot in a gym and in rehearsal I got up and went to get a drink of water. The director liked that so much, he put a water cooler in the scene. It was fantastic to play Denis Lemieux. I think he was funny and he was touching."

The equipment you wore in "Slap Shot" isn't quite the battle armor that today's goalies wear. You must feel for today's guys who are run over in the crease and drilled with shots because you were injured even before filming began. 

"I was ready to do my own stunts, even if I'd only played forward in hockey and practiced just a bit with goalie equipment. Two days before we began shooting, I was on the ice with the actors, players and the director, who told everyone not to take slap shots at me from inside the blue line. But Jerry Houser (playing Dave 'Killer' Carlson) was excited and so was I. He fired from maybe 15 feet out, hitting the inside part of my knee where I wasn't protected. I was almost crying in pain. But I made the save and it brought the Chiefs closer as a team. A doctor came to the hospital and evaluated my knee. He put me on crutches for three weeks. I went back to the hotel, almost certain that I'd lost my job. Then Paul Newman came in with a food basket and a bottle of fine Napoleon brandy. A little later, the guys wrote a song and sang it in my room, telling me I was their goalie. For action sequences I had a double, Ron Docken. He was left-handed, so we couldn't switch back and forth. Ron saved my life."

Yvon Barrette, who plays goalie Denis Lemieux in the movie Slap Shot, with two NHL Hall of Famers at a 2015 event: Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower (l.) and Montreal Canadiens forward Guy Lafleur.

When you watch today's NHL, is there one shooter in particular who Denis Lemieux wouldn't want to see winding up?

"I was injured before we even began filming. So, that would be everyone!"

Of all the madness of making "Slap Shot," for its enduring popularity a half-century later, fan mail still arriving, the legacy of the movie, do you have one memory that stands above the rest?

"The friendships we established. There were no egos. We were the Slap Shot family. It's always great to meet the guys but we're losing more and more of us."

Circling back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and your love of the Canadiens. Do you like this team, for what it can do this season and beyond?

"I love this team a lot, they have great potential. We were shooting "Slap Shot" in 1976 and the Canadiens were playing the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup Final. The Flyers had won two Cups in a row, but Montreal swept them that year then won three Cups in a row after that. We were all watching the final game together and the next day in filming, Ray Schultz, the brother of Flyers enforcer Dave Schultz, was playing on the Syracuse Bulldogs, the team we'd be playing in the movie. I was happy to skate up to him and ask, 'What do you think of the Montreal Canadiens?' You should have seen his face."

Top photo: The opening scene of Slap Shot plays on a monitor in a net as part of a hockey exhibition at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec in March 2017. It was the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup, the 40th anniversary of the release of the movie.