Height: 5-8
Weight: 175
Shoot: L
Born: 5 Jun 1945, Lauzon PQ
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Philadelphia | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | New York-Jersey | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | San Diego | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | San Diego | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | San Diego | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Houston | |||||||||||
| 1978-79 | New England | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Lacroix Returns ... to Glory • by Frank Bertucci • The Hockey Spectator • January 5, 1973
Before Bobby Clarke, there was Andre Lacroix. When there was only the Flyers, Lacroix was the hero, the future superstar, the player who would make the Flyers an NHL power. Lacroix is still a local hero, but it took the Blazers to make him a superstar. "This is the first time in the last two years that I've really felt like playing hockey," Andre says. "The last two years, all I did was pick up my paycheck every two weeks, Now I'm always the first one on the ice." Two years ago, Andre sat in Vie Stasiuk's doghouse. And when Stasiuk was replaced by Fred Shero as Flyers coach, nothing changed. "I never got to know Freddie," Andre says, "but all of the Flyers really like him, I don't know what the problem was, maybe it was in management." So Lacroix was shipped to Chicago for Rick Foley, who promptly replaced him in the Flyer kennel, With the Black Hawks, Andre found himself skating with Bobby Hull. After awhile, he found himself skating alone. The word out of Chicago was that Lacroix couldn't skate, If Andre Lacroix couldn't do anything else in ice hockey, he could always skate. And now that he's on a line with Danny Lawson, he has begun to fly. In the Blazers' first 33 games, Lacroix had 18 goals and 30 assists for 48 points, putting him among the WHA's top five scorers. Lawson had 24 goals, just four less than his career NHL total. And Don Herriman, on left wing, had 13 goals and 16 assists. "This year, I'm freer on the ice," explains Lacroix. "I'm doing more tricks with the puck, the way I like to play. It's the first chance I've had to do that in a while." The last chance was 1967-68 when he had 41 goals in 54 games with the Quebec Aces, then in the AHL. He was called to the Flyers, and finished with six more goals, He had 24, 22 and 20 goal seasons the next three years, and then fell to four last year. "I jumped to the WHA because of the money," he admits, "I was originally drafted by Quebec, which was fine because that's where I'm from, But now I live in Philadelphia, so when I got the chance to play here I had to take it." "Billy Reay told me not to jump because he planned to use me a lot more this season, But then he didn't protect me for the expansion draft, Bill Putnam called me from Atlanta and said he was going to draft me. (Putnam is president of the Flames, and the original president of the Flyers.) But I told him not to waste a draft choice because I was so close to making a deal with the Blazers, I have a lot of respect for Bill and I owed him that much." And Andy was reunited with another original Flyer, Bernie Parent. "The Flyers had the best goalies in the league that first year, with Bernie and Doug Favell," says Andre. "Then they started trading everybody for defensemen." Lacroix and Flyer defenseman, Ed Van Impe, have opened an ice rink in Brookhaven, Pennsylvania. A mild controversy developed when Lacroix' name and picture was omitted from ads for the rink in Flyer programs. "That was the cheapest thing they could have done," he says, "We carried Eddie's picture in ads in Blazer programs, can't imagine why they did that." For Lacroix and the rest of the Blazers, Christmas wasn't on time this year. Between December 22 and January 1, they were on an 11-day road trip through six cities, including games in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve and New York on New Year's night. It was a special hardship for Lacroix because his wife had given birth to their first daughter, Chantal, two days before the team left. "We were going to celebrate before I left, but then my wife was in the hospital having the baby. So we decided to celebrate Christmas on January 2. It's going to be like this for the next three years, because the Ice Follies will be using the Civic Center each Christmas." Andre still expects the Blaers to be playing after the regular season ends. "We were leaning on Bernie too much at the beginning," he feels, "and I think most of us came to training camp out of shape. The other teams were playing a little harder against us, too. But now we're coming on, Our line is playing good and Bernie is back. Believe me, he's been the difference in a few games already." So has Andre Lacroix. |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1975-76 (by Dan Proudfoot)
Sometimes Andre Lacroix seems bitter, and it's difficult to blame him. As professional hockey's tiniest superstar, he has been overlooked time and time again, and the only difference between the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association is that in the WHA his accomplishments cannot be denied. Lacroix is the first player to establish a reputation purely on the basis of his WHA accomplishments. Gordie Howe already had his "greatest of them all" label from his long list of NHL records. Bobby Hull's play with the NHL Chicago Black Hawks made him hockey's first national celebrity in the United States. But, Lacroix was the highest scorer in the WHA in 1974-75, as he was in 1972-73, and the only NHL reputation he's left behind is one of being too small, too slow. With an incredible burst of scoring — 31 points — he led the San Diego Mariners into the 1975 playoffs with eight wins and one tie in the final 10 games of the regular schedule. Lacroix had 41 goals and 106 assists for 147 points in 1974-75. Bobby Hull's totals were 77 goals, 65 assists for 142 points. "And still," Lacroix says, "if you ask 10 hockey men about Lacroix, I bet you seven or eight will say he's too small and too slow to be a top center. That used to make me mad, or sad. Now it makes me laugh." The National Hockey League record for assists in a single season is 102, held by Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins. So Lacroix has edged Bobby Orr. People still remember, though, that he's only 5-foot-8, about 170 pounds. And that he didn't stick with Philadelphia Flyers, who traded him to Chicago Black Hawks, who didn't even try to compete when the WHA offer came. "At one time I was very angry to remember how I was not respect ed in the NHL. Now, life is too good to become upset. If I were really too small or too slow I could never do these things in the WHA." Harry Howell, the outstanding defenceman who played behind Lacroix with Mariners, explains as well as anyone how the shifty centre was labelled with the too small, too slow description. "Ihey were both bum raps," said Howell, "as we now realize. But they were passed along from coach to coach and scout to scout until pretty soon that was the accepted view of Lacroix. He couldn't shake it until he got the chance to become a superstar in the WHA." But has Lacroix really shook the rap? Bobby Hull was named the WHA's most valuable player, despite Lacroix overtaking him in the scoring race. The only thing Lacroix seems able to win is the scoring title. |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander's Guide to Pro Hockey, 1975-76 (by Reyn Davis)
Teammates say this man will sacrifice personal gain for team performance... Tremendous competitor... Superb hockey player... Two time WHA scoring champion whose most recent title (1974-75) involved a points record, 147, and an assists record, 106... Nipped Hull in the stretch drive for the scoring title last season, then was himself nipped by Hull in the voting for Most Valuable Player... All Star center, finishing ahead of runner-up Serge Bernier of Quebec by a comfortable margin... Eagerly promotes hockey off the ice in San Diego... Relaxes before a game by watching soap operas... Feeds butterfly-soft passes, usually timed perfectly... Is durable too... He's never missed a game in the WHA in its first three seasons... Star of the 1975 All Star game. |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1976-77 (by Dan Proudfoot)
The leading scorer in the history of the WHA couldn't number 1975-76 among his better years. He earned 101 points, to be sure, but the year before he'd topped the league with 147. "The problem is the uncertainty of the situation," Lacroix explained late in the season. "We don't have any idea of what's happening. We don't know if new owners are going to appear. But the players want to stay here." Lacroix, one of the best playmakers in hockey, was ready to play. All he needed was a team. |
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