Adelard Lafrance, born in Chapleau in 1912, was given a five game "look" by the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League in the 1933-34 season, according to Joe Pelletier writing on his blog 'Greatest Hockey Legends.com, the Hockey History Blog'.
He was the first Chapleau born player to make the NHL. The others are: Ron Schock, Floyd Curry and Jason Ward.
Although it would not appear that the community had an official minor hockey program when he was growing up, hockey was played starting in the winter of 1885-86 on a rink on Lorne Street where the first two arenas were located until 1978 when the Mrs. A.W. Moore Arena was opened at the Chapleau Recreation Centre.
Adelard, also called 'Adie' must have been playing on local teams to start his career as Mr. Pelletier wrote he was a "key member of the Sudbury Wolves team that won the Memorial Cup as Canada's national junior champions in 1932. He scored the overtime game winning goal against the Winnipeg Monarchs.
In 1933-34 season Adelard was given a try out by the Montreal Canadiens late in the year, according to Mr. Pelletier. He played three games in regular season and two in the Stanley Cup playoffs. No points, one minor penalty.
Interestingly, Mr. Pelletier adds that the Canadiens paid his train fare to Montreal. I recall Garth "Tee" Chambers, who was my hero as a hockey player, telling me that players wanting tryouts with professional teams usually had to pay their own expenses. As a result, many potential players never made the NHL. After the Great Depression and World War II, they simply could not afford to travel.
Here are more details on his hockey career taken from Wikipedia: He joined "Sudbury St. Louis of the Nickel Belt Hockey League in 1929-30. The following season he moved to the Sudbury Wolves in time for the playoffs and Memorial Cup play. The following season he split between the St. Louis and the Wolves and played in the Memorial Cup and Allan Cup playoffs.".. In 1933-34 he joined the professional Falconbridge team
After his tryout with the Canadiens late in that 1933-34 season, Adelard played one year with the Quebec Astors of the Can-Am league before joining the Springfield Indians for four seasons.
He retired from professional hockey after the 1938-39 season returning to Sudbury where he worked for the family company A. Lafrance and Sons. The company established in Chapleau in 1908 by his father also named Adelard, was in the fur trade business. It is still operating today in Sudbury.
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| bales of fur in front of Lafrance store (just behind Bridgeview Motel) |
His father was playing hockey in Chapleau in its early years and was a member of the team that won the McEwen Cup emblematic of local hockey supremacy circa 1911-12. Some other players from pioneer families at the time included Richard Brownlee, George Collinson, Tom Godfrey, Ovide Payette, and my grandfather Harry Morris.
The Lafrance family was among the earliest settlers in Chapleau. In 1885, Lambert Lafrance arrived to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway. His wife Adele Roy joined him shortly thereafter. Apparently the train stopped seven miles east of Chapleau, and they brought all their worldly belongings into the community on a push cart. Other family members arrived later.
Adelard Lafrance died in 1995 in Sudbury. My email is mj.morris@live.ca
