1973-74 QMJHL: 5 Players With 200+ Points

We’re now living in times when it’s a rarity for a player to total more than 100 points in a season. Back in the 1973-74 QMJHL, it was simply a different game. The top five players in the race for the Jean Beliveau Trophy had over 200 points. These five individual performances are among the top nine single season point productions in Canadian Hockey League history.

These five 200+ point men were all members of one of just two teams. In fact, seven of the top ten in the QMJHL in 1973-74 either played for the Sorel Eperviers or the Quebec Remparts. The two teams finished one-two in the regular season standings with Sorel getting the edge by 11 points. The two met again in the playoff finals with Quebec exacting revenge by winning the series four games to two.

·         Pierre Larouche set the current CHL record of 157 assists

·         Larouche’s 251 points in 1973-74 still stands as the 2^nd most, behind Mario Lemieux

·         1973-74 QMJHL dominated by Sorel Eperviers and Quebec Remparts

·         Just Larouche and Real Cloutier went on to star in pro hockey

Pierre Larouche – Sorel Eperviers

Pierre Larouche of Sorel led the way with 251 points on 94 goals and 157 assists over 67 games, earning the Jean Beliveau Trophy. The 157 assists stands today as a QMJHL and CHL record for most assists in a single season. The point total is the second most in a QMJHL and CHL season behind Mario Lemieux’s 282 points in 1983-84 with Laval Voisins.

It was the third of three seasons in the QMJHL for Larouche. He started in 1972-73 with the Quebec Remparts before moving to Sorel for his final two seasons. The Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL liked what they saw and drafted Pierre eighth overall at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. The Houston Aeros of the WHA also drafted him but he chose the NHL route.

Larouche played over 800 regular season games in the NHL from 1974-75 to 1987-88 with the Penguins, Montreal Canadiens, Hartford Whalers and New York Rangers. He twice reached the 50 goal plateau in the NHL with 53 goals in 1975-76 with Pittsburgh and 50 in 1979-80 with Montreal.

Michel Deziel – Sorel Eperviers

Michel Deziel finished second behind Larouche with 227 points on 92 goals and 135 assists in 69 games with Sorel. It was his fourth and final year with the club and his highest offensive output by far. Deziel’s 122 points in the previous year were respectable by today’s standards but a far cry from what he would do in his final season.

The Buffalo Sabres selected Michel in the third round in 1974. The New England Whalers of the WHA also drafted him. Deziel played just one NHL game during his career, a playoff game with Buffalo in 1974-75. He split time between the AHL and IHL until calling it quits after the 1979-80 season.

Real Cloutier – Quebec Remparts

Real Cloutier of the Quebec Remparts finished third with 216 points on 93 goals and 123 assists in 69 games. It was the second of two seasons in the QMJHL for Real. Before he was eligible for the NHL draft, the Quebec Nordiques of the WHA picked him ninth overall in 1974. Cloutier was playing for the Nordiques in 1974-75.

Real played with Quebec until the WHA ceased to exist after the 1978-79 season. He stayed with the club as they were swallowed up by the NHL and remained until the end of the 1982-83 season. After two more seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, Cloutier retired after 1984-85.

In the WHA, Cloutier totaled 566 points in 369 regular season games. He surpassed 100 points in four of his five seasons. In 1976-77 and 1978-79, Real was awarded the Bill Hunter Trophy as the WHA’s leading scorer.

Jacques Cossette – Sorel Eperviers

Jacques Cossette finished fourth, two points behind Cloutier with 214 points on 97 goals and 117 assists over 68 games with Sorel. Cossette began his junior career in 1971-72 with the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the OHA and moved to Sorel for the following season. In his first season with the Eperviers, he scored 61 goals and totaled 127 points.

Jacques was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL and the Vancouver Blazers of the WHA in 1974. He played a total of 64 regular season and three playoff games in the NHL, all with Pittsburgh. He retired after the 1979-80 season.

Jacques Locas – Quebec Remparts

Jacques Locas rounded out the top five with 206 points on 99 goals and 107 assists in just 63 games with the Remparts. 1973-74 was his fifth season in the QMJHL after starting out with the St. Jerome Alouettes in 1969-70. He was traded to Quebec midway through his second season. In 1972-73, he finished second in the league with 143 points, eight behind teammate Andre Savard.

Despite his offensive success in junior, it took until the eleventh round of the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft before the Los Angeles Kings picked him. Locas never played in the NHL but did appear in 187 games in the WHA between 1974-75 and 1977-78 with the Michigan Stags, Baltimore Blades, Indianapolis Racers, Cincinnati Stingers and Calgary Cowboys.

The 4 Bill Hunter Trophy Winners In The WHA

Over the entire seven year history of the WHA, the Bill Hunter Trophy was given out each year to the player in the rebel league that finished the regular season with the most points. To put it another way, it was the World Hockey Association’s equivalent to the NHL’s Art Ross Trophy.

 Just four players won the award over the seven years, three winning on two occasions. Looking back, one would think that hockey greats Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe would be among this select group. However, that is not the case.

Andre Lacroix

Playing for the Philadelphia Blazers in the WHA’s inaugural season, Andre Lacroix was the first ever recipient of the Bill Hunter Trophy. Lacroix scored 50 goals and assisted on 74 others in 1972-73 for a total of 124 points. He was also the Bill Hunter Trophy winner two years later in 1974-75 as a member of the San Diego Mariners. That season, he scored just 41 but assisted on 106 for 147 points. He is one of just four major league hockey players to surpass 100 assists in a season. The other three are Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr.

Andre was no stranger to being at the top of a scoring race. He won the Eddie Powers Trophy in 1965-66 as the OHA’s top point-getter while playing major junior for the Peterborough Petes. Lacroix played in every WHA season from 1972-73 to 1978-79. He also appeared in 325 NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Black Hawks and Hartford Whalers.

Mike Walton

In between Lacroix’s two Bill Hunter Trophy wins was Mike Walton, WHA scoring champion in 1973-74. Walton scored 57 goals and assisted on 60 for 117 points with the Minnesota Fighting Saints. It was the first of three years Walton would play in the WHA, all with Minnesota. He had a respectable NHL career, playing in 588 regular season games between 1965-66 and 1978-79 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks. Not a Calder Trophy winner in the National Hockey League, Walton made some hockey trivia, winning the CHL rookie of the year in 1964-65 and the AHL rookie of the year in 1965-66.

Marc Tardif

The Quebec Nordiques dominated the Bill Hunter Trophy for the final four years of the WHA with Marc Tardif and Real Cloutier alternating victories. Tardif won in 1975-76 with 71 goals and 77 assists for 148 points. His 154 points on 65 goals and 89 assists in 1977-78 will forever be a WHA record for most points in a single season. At the time, it was a major league record, two points better than Phil Esposito’s total with the Boston Bruins in 1970-71.

Tardif was the second overall pick at the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft by the Montreal Canadiens. He played parts of four seasons with the Habs before jumping to the Los Angeles Sharks of the WHA for the 1973-74 season. He moved to the Nordiques midway through the 1974-75 season and remained with the club throughout their WHA days and four years into their existence in the NHL.

Real Cloutier

Real Cloutier is the only one of the four players to begin his career in the WHA. He was a ninth overall draft pick of the Nordiques at the 1974 WHA Amateur Draft. He played with Quebec from 1974-75 until the demise of the WHA after the 1978-79 season. He carried on with the NHL Nordiques for four more years and ended his NHL career with two partial seasons with the Buffalo Sabres.

Cloutier was the Bill Hunter Trophy winner in 1976-77 and 1978-79. In his first win, he scored 66 and assisted on 75 for 141 points. He reached 75 goals in 1978-79, adding 54 assists for 129 points. In 1973-74, as a junior with the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, Cloutier honed his scoring touch with 93 goals and 123 assists for 216 points in just 69 games. However, Real was a full 35 points behind league leader Pierre Larouche of the Sorel Eperviers who led the league with 251 points.