Ron Lapointe

Lore & Background

Lapointe grew up in Verdun, Quebec. He was a product of the junior ice hockey league QMJHL and served as a head coach of the Shawinigan Cataractes. He later worked as an assistant on the staffs of the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals. Lapointe also led the Fredericton Express of the American Hockey League. He was named interim head coach of the Quebec Nordiques halfway through the 1987–88 NHL season. After an 11–20–2 start in the 1988–89 season, Lapointe was forced to resign because of a kidney tumor. Lapointe then spent two seasons as the coach of the minor league Milwaukee Admirals before health problems forced him to resign. He later took a job as a scout with the Vancouver Canucks. His total NHL coaching record was 33–50–6. He died at age 42 on March 23, 1992, after a three-year battle with kidney cancer. The Ron Lapointe Trophy is named in his honour, and awarded to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Coach of the Year.

In Their Own Story

The Forum was loud that night, the kind of roar that rattled the glass behind the bench. A rival winger, fast and cocky, was carrying the puck up the left wing with his head down, eyes locked on the net. Lapointe read the play a beat early. He didn't chase. He angled, set his shoulders, and met the winger at the blue line with a hit that stopped the puck dead and sent the skater sprawling into the boards. The crowd exhaled, then erupted. Lapointe just turned, skated back to his own zone, and tapped his stick on the ice once. No celebration. No words. Just the next shift waiting, and the knowledge that the back end was still locked, still solid, still Kings.

Reader's Guide

Ron Lapointe was a coach, not a player. There is no mention of him playing for or being associated with the Los Angeles Kings.

Did You Know?

• Ron Lapointe was a Canadian ice hockey coach, not a player.
• He served as interim head coach of the Quebec Nordiques in the 1987–88 NHL season.
• The Ron Lapointe Trophy is awarded to the QMJHL Coach of the Year.