Sevigny devotes many miles to Quebec City Challenge Cup, Canadiens alumni charity game

PIERREFONDS, Quebec -- Goalies are creatures of routine, even superstition. Never is this in sharper focus than on an energy-conserving game day.

Breakfast, maybe a mid- or late-morning skate, a meeting or two, perhaps some video review, a meal, a nap then back to the arena, into a bubble of concentration for the game ahead.

And then there was game day for Richard Sevigny, who played goalie for the Montreal Canadiens alumni team in a charity exhibition at Sportplexe Pierrefonds on May 10.

Sevigny awoke before sunrise in Quebec City, 175 miles northeast of the 7 p.m. ET game. For six-plus hours in the provincial capital, he managed the Quebec Challenge Cup that he's organized since 1998, a huge tournament across many age divisions that spans five weekends on six rinks.

On Thursday, the 68-year-old loaded his car at home in Sorel, filling it with trophies, medals, his decades-old goaltending equipment and referee's jersey (in case he'd be needed to officiate, too) for a 130-mile drive northeast to Quebec City.

Richard Sevigny in action for the Canadiens at the Montreal Forum.

Sevigny juggled myriad tournament duties Saturday, then jumped behind the wheel near 2 p.m. and drove about three hours southwest to Pierrefonds. He'd haul his bag into the arena, suit up with his Canadiens alumni teammates, entertain a delighted crowd, shower, pose for photos and sign autographs at a postgame reception, then load his car again for a 90-minute drive along the shore of the St. Lawrence River back to Sorel.

After a few hours' sleep, Sevigny would be on the road Sunday at 5 a.m. to drive two hours back to Quebec City and work the entire day at the tournament, hoping to return home at some point that evening.

For the record, if there is one, the Canadiens alumni won 7-2 against a plucky opponent made up of players who donated to Top ADN, the game's organizer. The big winner was the event's beneficiary, the Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation and the hospital's pediatrics research program into rare neurological disorders.

Sevigny figures he's played well over 1,000 games for the Canadiens alumni team since his retirement from the NHL in 1987, so he doesn't have a firm or even loose grip on his career goals-against average and save percentage.

Richard Sevigny in action for the Montreal Canadiens, and in a team portrait.

The Montreal native was a seventh-round (No. 124) pick by the Canadiens in the 1977 NHL Draft. He played 141 games for Montreal from 1979-84, then another 35 for the Quebec Nordiques from 1984-86, going 80-54-20 with a 3.21 GAA, .884 save percentage and five shutouts.

"I was lucky to play in the 1980s in both Montreal and Quebec," Sevigny said. "When I signed with the Nordiques, a fan there accused me of still being a Canadien. In Montreal, they were upset I left for Quebec. Now that was a rivalry. Jacques Plante was my goalie coach in my last year in Montreal."

Sevigny played his final two seasons in France from 1989-91, after three with the Nordiques, then coached briefly in France. He expects to play nine of the 11 scheduled Canadiens alumni games this season, 10 of them on urban and hinterland Quebec rinks, one more in Michigan against a Detroit Red Wings alumni team. The barnstorming series will raise nearly $500,000 for various charities.

"It's hard for me to find time in May with my tournament, but it's also hard for me to say no," he said, unpacking his Canadiens equipment bag. "They asked if I could play in Pierrefonds and I said, 'Let me try to get someone to fill in for me at the tournament.'"

Richard Sevigny in a tight crouch during a game with the Canadiens at the Montreal Forum, and his roughly 40-year-old chest and arms protector hanging in a Sportplexe Pierrefonds dressing room May 10, 2025, before a Canadiens alumni charity game.

Sevigny's vintage battle armor is a beautiful mess. His discolored chest and arms protector, which looks like it would fall apart in a strong breeze, is more than 40 years old, from his NHL days. Skates, pads, gloves, and his mask are about half that age.

"All the same stuff for the past 20 years at least," he said with a laugh. "All that I've changed is my stick, because I've broken a few over the years."

He was wearing a plain black mask in Sorel two decades ago when someone he met postgame told him, "I don't like it. Give it to me and I'll do a job on it."

Sevigny replied, "Do what you want," which would produce a sparkly motif of stars, Canadiens logos on the ears and his Canadiens-worn 33 on the chin over a skyline of the city. He's worn it every game since, reminders of errant pucks all over it.

Richard Sevigny is flat out above the ice during a 1980s game at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, the photo a gift to the goalie from a local photographer, and a close-up of his roughly 20-year-old mask, taken May 10, 2025, before a Canadiens alumni charity game.

Sevigny is one of only two in Canadiens history to have worn No. 33. The goalie who followed him with it was future Hockey Hall of Famer Patrick Roy, the number retired Nov. 22, 2008, to hang from Bell Centre rafters. Roy's name is on the Stanley Cup four times, with the 1986 and 1993 Canadiens and the 1996 and 2001 Colorado Avalanche. He won the Vezina Trophy with Montreal in 1989, 1990 and 1992.

Sevigny shared the 1981 Vezina with teammates Denis Herron and Michel "Bunny" Larocque after allowing the fewest number of goals in the regular season (232 in 80 games). Award winners have been voted by NHL general managers since 1981-82.

You'll also find his name, as R. Sevigny on the Stanley Cup with the 1978-79 Canadiens, the 35th of 36 names, on the last of 12 lines. It's just a detail that Sevigny didn't play his first NHL game until Nov. 13, 1979, six months after the Canadiens clinched their championship in five games against the New York Rangers.

A Montreal Gazette photo of fallen Canadiens goalie Michel "Bunny" Larocque taken during warmup for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Canadiens and visiting New York Rangers on May 15, 1979. Larocque's name is scratched, that of Richard Sevigny added.

Sevigny was minding his own business near the dressing room, before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final in Montreal on May 15, 1979, up with the Canadiens from their American Hockey League affiliate as a practice goalie. After Ken Dryden's shaky loss to the Rangers in Game 1, generously heckled while surrendering four goals on 13 shots, coach Scotty Bowman chose to go with Larocque for Game 2.

All of that changed during warmup, when Canadiens forward Doug Risebrough drilled Larocque in the head with a shot, sending him to the hospital with a suspected concussion.

In went Dryden, Sevigny hustled into equipment and onto the end of the bench as the backup.

"I remember those guys in practice," Sevigny remembered with a laugh of at least some of the Canadiens forwards. "If they weren't going well in games, they'd just stand 10 or 15 feet in front of their own goalie in practice and blast away."

Things didn't start well for Dryden, who was beaten twice by 6:21 of the first period. As fresh abuse rained down from the stands, Sevigny battled his nerves, even fears.

Stanley Cup engraving of the 1978-79 Montreal Canadiens. Richard Sevigny, as R. Sevigny, is the second-to-last name, having qualified for addition after dressing for one game of the 1979 Stanley Cup Final.

"I'm sitting on the end of the bench saying, 'There's no way do I want to go in,'" he said. "I was 21. I was just… there. I had no idea what I was doing."

If Bowman was looking Sevigny's way, the goalie's head was conveniently turned.

Dryden weathered the storm and settled down for a 6-2 win. He played the rest of the series, anchoring Montreal's 22nd title and his sixth and final championship, retiring after that season.

"In those days, all you had to do was dress for one game in the final to get your name on the Cup," Sevigny said. "You could play 39 games in the regular season but not dress for the playoffs and not qualify."

Today, a player must have appeared in at least 41 regular-season games or one in the Stanley Cup Final to be eligible as one of a maximum 55 names engraved on the trophy.

Sevigny remains fiercely proud of one game, when he played a 4-2 Canadiens win against a touring team from Russia on New Year's Eve 1979, just a handful of games into his NHL career.

Richard Sevigny in action with the Canadiens at the Forum, and a closeup as a member of the Canadiens alumni team Dec. 31, 2015, in advance of the 2016 Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

"Bunny was [angry] I got the start," he said. "But a week later, they sent me back to the minors. I was on a two-way contract, paid $65,000 to play in the NHL, $14,000 in the AHL. It was, 'Bye, kid!'"

Back in Montreal, Sevigny would play a role in making goaltending a more colorful position, literally. He wandered across the street from the Forum to a garage and had the paint-shop specialist airbrush his white fiberglass mask with some red, blue, a few stars and the Canadiens logo.

"The guy handed me a $300 bill for the work, so I gave it to the Canadiens trainer (Eddy Palchak)," Sevigny said. "Eddy just looked at me, pretty upset, but he paid it. At least it was just one mask. In those days, you had one mask and one pair of pads. If you asked for a second pair, the first one had better be no good."

Sevigny persuaded his pad-maker, Canadien, to dress those up with some color, too.

Steve Heinze of the Boston Bruins alumni team skates after the puck between Stephane Quintal and goalie Richard Sevigny of the Montreal Canadiens alumni team on Dec. 31, 2015, in advance of the 2016 Classic at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

"I told them that kids would go nuts," he said. "The first pair they brought me ripped after two shots with the paint on the leather but look at what companies do with pads now. It's crazy."

Sevigny's home bears virtually no sign of his hockey career, save a couple of photos that include one of himself with the Canadiens seemingly in flight at Northlands Coliseum during a game against the Edmonton Oilers. It was taken by a photographer he didn't know, but who offered him souvenir prints in exchange for a few sticks.

Indeed, he has to be prompted to talk about the Stanley Cup, "though I'm proud to have won the Vezina with Bunny and Denis. I never use my name to say I played for the Canadiens or the Nordiques. Almost every kid today doesn't know me. Our sport is the present, not the past. A lot of today's coaches, parents, they're young, they don't know me. They never saw me play.

"If someone wants to talk about my career, fine, but it's behind me. I was proud and lucky. When I started in the pros in Kalamazoo (1977-78, in the International Hockey League), they cut me after two weeks. They changed the coach, they called me back and that's how my career began. I had the chance to play with some great players, great guys. My first day in Montreal, I'm sitting in the Forum dressing room between Guy Lafleur and Ken Dryden, guys I watched as a kid."

Sevigny cherishes his memories of two large-stage outdoor alumni games with the Canadiens: one preceding the inaugural 2003 Heritage Classic at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, and another on New Year's Eve 2015, a day in advance of the 2016 Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Richard Sevigny defends the Canadiens net, teammate Bobby Smith and Edmonton Oilers forward Wayne Gretzky behind the goal at Commonwealth Stadium during the Heritage Classic Megastars game Nov. 22, 2003.

He remains deeply involved with hockey thanks to the Canadiens alumni, his tournament work and his miles skated as a referee. Sevigny estimates he officiated more than 400 scholastic and minor-hockey games in the Sorel area this season, sometimes working as many as a dozen games on a weekend, and he'll soon be wearing a striped jersey in various summer leagues.

"I'm not young, but I'm not in bad shape. It's fun. If a parent or a coach has a complaint, we have a conversation right away," he said, grinning.

Hockey, he will tell you, is just a part of his life, though a love that enriches him every day.

A teacher who 10 years ago retired from the classroom, Sevigny speaks of hockey's life lessons that have transcended any statistic or trophy.

"My career and my trophies are behind me, of no importance," he said. "Even my Stanley Cup ring is in a drawer somewhere. What's important to me is that I played 11 years as a pro and experienced everything possible in hockey: I traveled, met many people, became a coach, learned English and worked with young players. All that I achieved as a player is very secondary."

And yet, wearing a Canadiens jersey Saturday, Sevigny's competitive blood still ran hot nearly 40 years after his final NHL game, only two shots among the mystery total taken getting past him.

"I have to stop to recharge," he said before packing his bag for his drive home.

That was in reference to his electric car, though he might have been speaking of himself, too.

Top photo: Richard Sevigny holds his roughly 40-year-old chest and arm protector on a bench of the Sportplex Pierrefonds in the suburbs of Montreal on May 10, 2025, before a Canadiens alumni charity game.