In Honour of Red Fisher
The Lord Stanley Statue in Stanley Park, Vancouver, B.C. with a Red Tie and Red Fishers book - May 28, 2018

Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association covering the 1st Stanley Cup game in Las Vegas have been asked to wear something red in honour of Red Fisher, the legendary Hockey writer with the Montreal Star and Gazette who died in January at age 91. Fisher retired from The Gazette in 2012, died 10 days after his wife of 69 years, Tillie, passed away.

Fisher was the longest-serving beat writer to cover an NHL team. Over his career, he worked for ten editors and publishers, and won the Canadian National Newspaper Award three times.

Red Fished received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985.

Red Fisher was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

Red Fisher became a Member of the Order of Canada (CM) in 2017.

In 2004, Red Fisher wrote a feature series in the Montreal Gazette on the Top 10 Moments of his career, a personal ranking of games he had covered during more than five decades on the NHL beat. Here’s his list:

1. Paul Henderson scores the winning goal in the dying moments of Game 8 in the historic 1972 Summit Series between Team Canada and the Soviet Union.

2. The Richard Riot on St. Patrick’s Day 1955, when fans at the Forum responded to NHL president Clarence Campbell’s decision days earlier to suspend Maurice (Rocket) Richard for the final week of the season and the playoffs after a savage stick-swinging duel with Boston defenceman Hal Laycoe.

3. The 1961 playoff game between the Canadiens and Blackhawks in Chicago, which Fisher called “the greatest game among the thousands I’ve seen.” Goalies Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall were the stars as the Blackhawks won 2-1 in triple overtime.

4. On Nov. 1, 1959, after being hit in the face with a shot and suffering a savage cut, Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante, hockey’s greatest innovator, returns to the ice wearing a mask for protection.

5. Despite being outshot 38-13, the Soviets, led by goalie Vladislav Tretiak, battle to a 3-3 tie at the Forum on New Year’s Eve 1975 in what some call the greatest game ever played.

6. Goaltender Patrick Roy leads the Canadiens on an incredible journey to their 24th Stanley Cup in 1993, including 10 overtime victories.

7. Rookie goaltender Ken Dryden is a surprise playoff starter and leads the Canadiens to victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 7 of the 1971 Stanley Cup final.

8. Bruins boss Tom Johnson’s decision to bench goalie Gerry Cheevers in favour of Eddie Johnston for a 1971 playoff game against the Canadiens results in the mother of all meltdowns as Boston blows a 5-2 third-period lead.

9. The Boston Bruins were on their way to victory over the Canadiens in Game 7 of the 1979 Stanley Cup semifinals when a late too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty winds up costing them the game, which Montreal wins on an overtime goal by Yvon Lambert.

10. Referee Red Storey quits the NHL after a 1959 playoff game between the Canadiens and Blackhawks in which he had to deal with irate Chicago fans, followed by criticism from league president Clarence Campbell.