Amerks honor a leader deluxe

Mongrain to be inducted into the club's Hall of Fame

Mongrain file Who: Bob Mongrain. Born: Aug. 31, 1959, in LaSarre, Quebec. Family: Wife, Carole; daughters Vanessa, 18 (born in Rochester) and Audrey, 15, and son David, 9 (both born in Switzerland). Home: Halifax, Nova Scotia. As an Amerk: Played 322 games over five seasons, scoring 153 goals, 186 assists and 339 points. Also had 430 penalty minutes. As a Sabre: played 70 games over four seasons, scoring 11-11-22. Since he left: Spent 11 seasons in Switzerland, first as a player, then as a coach. Now in his seventh season as coach in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Last visit: Spent a June day in Rochester in 1998, visiting friends and touring the rink. Hockey Night The matchup: Amerks vs. Albany River Rats. Time/place: 7:35 p.m./Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. Tickets/promotion: $10, $14, $18. Team photo magnets will be given to the first 10,000 fans, compliments of Foodlink. Five players will sign autographs in the atrium afterward. Radio/TV: WHAM-AM (1180) and Empire Sports Network (Time Warner Cable channel 52). Amerks update: After going unbeaten in six (3-0-3), the Amerks have lost two in a row.

By Kevin Oklobzija
Democrat and Chronicle

(Friday, February 1, 2002) -- He came to town as a somewhat shy French Canadian kid who couldn't speak English and knew little about the city or the team.

He left five years later as a hero, having won the hearts of fans with his high-scoring, energetic, feisty style of play.

Now, 18 years after he last played at the War Memorial, Bob Mongrain will return for induction in the Rochester Americans Hall of Fame. The Amerks will honor Mongrain before their game with the Milwaukee Admirals on Saturday, Feb. 16.

"Rochester is a great hockey town and it prepared me so well for everything else," Mongrain said earlier this week from northern Quebec, where he coaches the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

"It opened my mind. There's no doubt in my mind Rochester helped me big time. It's why I'm still around the game."

Mongrain, 42, is ninth all-time in franchise scoring with 339 points in 322 games. He ranks ninth in goals (153) and 11th in assists (186), never finishing lower than fourth in team scoring in any of his five seasons. He also earned 430 minutes in penalties.

"We had a great bunch of guys those years and it's going to be something to walk into the rink again," Mongrain said.

The native of LaSarre, Quebec, was a rookie in 1979-80, splitting time with the Amerks (25-24-49 in 39 games) and parent Buffalo Sabres (4-6-10 in 34 games).

By his fourth and fifth seasons, Sabres coach and general manager Scotty Bowman had decided Mongrain was strictly a minor leaguer. Mongrain played all 80 games during the Amerks Calder Cup season of 1982-83 under coach Mike Keenan (29-52-81) and scored a career-high 41 goals and 85 points the next season under coach Joe Crozier.

"The Keenan years were special (1980-81 through '82-83) and I loved playing for Joe; he's 60 years old and he still loved the game, he still loved teaching the game," Mongrain said.

"I remember the one year ('82-83), Mal Davis got hurt and Mike said, 'You're my new captain.' I said, 'Why me, I don't speak English very well.' And he said, 'Because I said you're my captain.' "

Keenan knew talent and knew leadership. Mongrain wore the "C" with pride, and played the game the same way.

Not only was he a scorer, he took pride in defense. When the Amerks played the New Haven Nighthawks, Mongrain's job was to check Bernie Nicholls. When they played the Saint Catharines Saints, he was shadowing Bruce Boudreau.

"Of course you wanted to play in the NHL but it never hurt me one bit when I got sent to Rochester," said Mongrain, who played 70 NHL games for the Sabres and 11 with the Los Angeles Kings (13-14-27).

"In Rochester, you're so close to the NHL and the only way to get there is prove yourself and win."

Though he proved himself as one of the AHL's best players and his Amerks teams won, Mongrain couldn't convince Bowman he belonged in the NHL.

With virtually no free agency in the 1980s, Mongrain also couldn't convince Bowman to trade him, so he left for Europe, spending 11 years in Switzerland as a player, then coach.

"I gave myself five years to make it and when I turned 24, I knew what kind of money I could make in Europe," he said. "I didn't want to spend 10 years in the American League and the Sabres didn't want to trade me."

Mongrain has been coaching in the QMJHL since 1994, winning a league title in 1995-96 with Hull. His team included goalie Jose Theodore, defenseman Colin White and forwards Martin Minard (an Amerk in 1997-98), Peter Worrell and Jean-Guy Trudel.

Those are great players in Hull history, but they may not have had the impact in the Quebec City as Mongrain had in Rochester.