Darche savours time with Habs
"Hopes fitness, dedication and work ethic will keep him playing for a few more years"
By STU COWAN, The Gazette

There was no shortage of feel-good stories during the Canadiens' surprising playoff run to the Eastern Conference final but, to me, the best feel-good story of the season was Mathieu Darche.

It's remarkable how far the St. Laurent native has come since his first season of university hockey at McGill in 1996-97, when he had no goals and one assist in 15 games. Part of the reason for his limited success might have been the fact he was playing two sports at McGill: hockey and football. He was also carrying 233 pounds on his linebacker body.

"My brother (J.P., who went on to play nine seasons in the National Football League as a long-snapper) and I always played both, but I always liked hockey a little bit better," the 33-year-old Darche said when I spoke with him on Thursday.

Darche actually had a couple of offers to play NCAA Division 1 university hockey in the United States, "but I ended up at McGill because (former McGill football coach) Charlie Baillie told me he talked to the hockey coach and I could play both." Darche eventually put his focus on hockey, and in his final season at McGill in 1999-2000 he was the leading Canadian university scorer with 27-35-62 totals in 26 games.

"I never thought about playing pro, to be honest with you," said Darche, who graduated with a business degree.

But the Columbus Blue Jackets signed the undrafted forward as a free agent for the 2000-01 season, beginning what has been a 10-year journey, most of it spent in the minor leagues, with briefs NHL stops in Nashville, San Jose and Tampa Bay.

"It kind of came full circle 10 years later when I had a chance to sign with Montreal," Darche said. "They initially signed me to play in Hamilton, but the thing they promised me last summer when I talked with Julien BriseBois (the Canadiens' vice-president of hockey operations) is that they recall players based on merit, not on draft status, and they kept true to their word." In 32 games with the Bulldogs, Darche posted 16-9-25 totals before being called up by the Canadiens in mid-January. He never went back, finishing the regular season with 5-5-10 totals and a plus-2 in 29 NHL games. He also played in 11 playoff games, picking up an assist and was minus-1.

"It's been special," Darche said. "It was my first Stanley Cup playoffs, and to live that in Montreal of all places ... living that in Montreal as a guy from here who grew up idolizing this team was pretty special." The only downside was that Darche didn't have his wife, Stephanie, and their two young boys, age 7 and 5, with him to enjoy the experience. They remained in Hamilton since Darche had no idea how long his ride with the Canadiens would last and didn't want to take the kids out of school.

"It's tougher on the wives than it is on us (players)," Darche said. "I've changed cities the last six or seven years. The only reason you can do that is if you have an understanding wife.

"My wife graduated from McGill, too, and she couldn't work because of me because we moved to the U.S. and we had kids right away, and you travel and you move from city to city. We (players) get 20 new friends right away when we move in (with a new team), but she's got to meet the wives, and if I'm in the minors, most of the time the wives are younger and she's one of the only ones with kids. I'm lucky to have a wife that's understanding and lets me live my dream.

"I'm sure she's going to cash in one of these days," he added with a laugh. "She's keeping it all in the bank, and she's like: 'You bastard, you owe me!' She told me last week: 'By the way, I need a trip this summer ... no kids.' " Darche will have some extra money now to pay for that trip, since his NHL salary was $600,000 - $400,000 more than what he was earning in Hamilton.

"I'm one of the lucky ones ... I made a decent salary in the minors, too," Darche said. "But, obviously, it's a nice added bonus for the family.

"For me, it's a lot of money when I got called up, but for a lot of guys on the team it's probably chump change," he added with a laugh.

Darche hopes to earn another NHL paycheque with the Canadiens next season.

"We had our exit meetings and everything went well," he said. "I told them that I'd love to be back. It sounds cheesy sometimes, but it's true with me . . . for me it truly was an honour to play for this team that I grew up watching." Darche's most impressive statistic this season might have been in the V02 Max fitness tests. During preseason testing, he was in the top 5 on the Canadiens, and when the test was done again after the Olympic break, he was No. 1.

"I take pride in my training," said the 6-foot-1, 215-pounder, who also works with a nutritionist. "I made it as a pro, and me being here this year was all through work ethic and effort. Hard work and dedication put me here. I take pride in doing that ... and especially after you get over 30 you want to show that you're still in great shape, even if you're older." Darche hopes his fitness, dedication and work ethic will keep him playing for "a few more years," but he already knows what he wants to do after he hangs up his skates.

"I'd love to stay in the game, but more in the management and business side of it," he said. "Use my business degree a bit. I'd love to do that."

scowan@ thegazette.canwest.com

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