HOCKEY GONE WILD: The Rocket Riot!

At the tail end of the 1954-55 season, then NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended legendary Canadiens forward Maurice “Rocket” Richard, for excessive stick work on Boston Bruin, Hal Laycoe and for slugging linesman, Cliff Thompson.

Richard had a temper and opposing players used racial slurs to try to goad him into losing it. William Minogue, who was a police officer in charge of the Montreal Forum, was regularly at rink side during games said he, “frequently heard opposing players calling Richard "French pea soup" or "dirty French bastard" as they skated past.” If those taunts resulted in a fight, both Richard and his provoker are sent to the penalty bench. Opposing teams considered this a good bargain.

At the Boston Garden on March 13, the Bruins leading 4 to 2, with six minutes left in the game, received a penalty. In a bid to score, the Canadiens pulled their goalie and sent six men up the ice. Richard was skating across the blue line when he was high sticked in the face by Hal Laycoe. The stick inflicted a wound that required 5 stitches to close.

After play was stopped, Richard lost his temper. He retaliated against Laycoe and got into a tussle with linesman Cliff Thompson, bruising Thompson's face and blackening his eye. As punishment for his outburst, league President, Clarence Campbell, on the afternoon of March 17th, suspended him for the rest of the season and for the playoffs. This was thought, at the time, especially by Canadiens fans, that the punishment - because Richard was badly provoked - was excessive.

On 17 March 1955, Campbell was in attendance at the Montreal Forum as the Canadiens played the Detroit Red Wings. He was greeted with tear gas, rotten produce and shouts of, “Va-t'en!” All hell broke out and later spilled out onto the streets of Montreal. Richard described the goings on at the Forum as a disgrace: "He was aghast at what had happened. ‘This is terrible, awful,’ he said. ‘People might have been killed.’ The Habs were forced to forfeit. Some fans, not done, took it outside. There were 70 arrests and $30,000 worth of damage.
The next day at 7 p.m., Richard, in an attempt to calm the city, made a statement before a battery of microphones.
"Because I always try so hard to win and had my troubles in Boston, I was suspended. At playoff time, it hurts not to be in the game with the boys. However, I want to do what is good for the people of Montreal and the team. So that no further harm will be done, I would like to ask everyone to get behind the team and to help the boys win from the Rangers and Detroit. I will take my punishment and come back next year to help the club and younger players to win the cup." Thus ended the disorder.