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RETURN TO DEAN'S WEBSITE for 2025 SUMMER
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE, PHOTOS & MUCH MORE
History of Écureuil Gallagher (Squirrel Gallagher)
I bought my stuffed animal squirrel at Winners for my
niece's dog but it was too cute.
One year in the playoffs Bell had given out to many fans a stuffed
animal Beaver wearing a Montreal Canadiens jersey so I took the Canadiens
jersey off my beaver & it fit the squirrel perfectly. I named him Gallagher (like the
Canadiens player who like squirrels is a high energy all over the ice player). Gallagher & one of his brothers
(Patch for many years & most recently Cole Suzuki Price) & the Bison
tuque come with me to all the festivals & Canadiens games & everyone
loves them all. They profit
from their lives more than most people who work 9 to 5 & go home tired
every night. :) Montreal Canadiens player meets
Squirrel Gallagher here – Episode 9 Season 2 – 24 CH . Écureuil Gallagher’s great dancing
skills can be seen in this
video at the Festivoix Festival in Trois Rivieres (the best part is between the
5 minute & 6 minute mark).
Écureuil Gallagher also has the honour to be 2 music videos so far. Space Carnival by Spacemak3r
(1:26) & Boom
by Simple Plan (2:31, 2:54 & from 3:06 @ 3:09) . :) Écureuil Gallagher & his brother
Patch were also in an episode of the french satirical news
program Infoman right after the recent federal
election. There are now 6
squirrels – Écureuil Gallagher (Squirrel Gallagher), Squirrel Patch, Squirrel
Radu, Squirrel Gallagher the Second, & Squirrel Cole Suzuki Price
Slafkovsky Demidov.
There are now over 3000 photos in Gallagher’s Facebook. Updated
May 28 & 20 2025 (over 200 photos), Jan 22, 27 & Feb 3, 2025 (146
photos), Nov 20, 2024 (66 photos incluant Cuba), Nov 1 (86 photos), Sept 20
(almost 60 photos) & Aug 27th -almost 200 photos added. Other
updates were May 2, 2024, Feb 7, Jan 16 2024, Dec 14, Dec 6, Nov 12, Oct 4 ,
Sept 19 & Aug 24, 2023.
You can LIKE Écureuil Gallagher in Facebook & go see
lots of photos of his life adventures. :)
The Bison
Tuque
The Bison tuque Tuque
has been had its photo being worn by thousands & had its photo beside many
others including hundreds of professional athletes, Olympians etc.
Montreal Canadiens –
Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson, Juraj Slafkovsky, Mike Matheson, Alex Newhook,
Cayden Primeau, Brendan Gallagher, Arber Xhekaj, Joel Armia, Jake Evans, Emil
Heineman, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Michael Pezzetta, Jaydon Struble, & some
currently with Laval Rocket – Joshua Roy, Brandon Gignac, Sean Farrell, Riley
Kidney, Filip Mesar, Jakub Dobes ….
Montreal Canadiens management have
also worn the tuque - Geoff Molson, Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes,
Martin St.Louis, Chantal Machabee.
Canadiens alumni – Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafleur, Henri Richard, Dickie
Moore, Patrick Roy, Carey Price, Claude Lemieux, Chris Chelios, Mats Naslund,
Max Pacioretty, PK Subban, Stephane Richer, John Leclair, Mark Recchi, Kirk
Muller, Vincent Damphousse, Doug Jarvis, Bob Gainey, Steve Shutt, Bobby Smith,
Rick Green, Pierre Mondou, Yvan Lambert, Yvon Cournoyer, Rod Langway, Mike
Keane, Bob Fillion …….
Other NHL Players –
Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Evgeni Malkin, Brady Tkachuk, Jonathan Huberdeau, Bo Horvat, Shea Theodore, Darnell
Nurse & dozens of others
Many current NHL players originally
had their photo wearing the Bison tuque when they were 11 or 12 years old at
the Quebec City International Pee-Wee hockey tournament (each year in February)
such as Clayton Keller, Matthew Barzal, Brady Tkachuk, Dante Fabbro, Cayden
Primeau, Joseph Woll & others.
NHL alumni & other
greats- Joe Sakic, Vladislav Tretiak,
Gordie Howe, Marcel Dionne, Brian Trottier, Mark Messier, Phil Esposito, Teemu
Selanne, Martin St.Louis, Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Rob Blake, Adam
Foote, Jeremy Roenick, Theoren Fleury, Igor Larionov, Real Cloutier, Adam
Oates, Willie O’Ree, Keith Tkachuk, Alexander Radulov, Maxim Talbot ….
Coaches
– Martin St Louis, Jacques Demers, Michel Bergeron, Pierre Page…..
Player agents – Pat Brisson
Referees – Kerry Fraser, Eric Furlatt
Former head of Finland’s ice hockey
federation – Kalervo Kummola
Women’s hockey – Marie-Philip Poulin,
Laura Stacey, Erin Ambrose, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Sarah Nurse, Hayley
Wickenheiser, Kim St.Pierre, Charline Labonte, Danielle Goyette, France St.
Louis, Caroline Ouellette…….
Professional tennis players - Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Roger
Federer, Rafael Nadal, Hubert Hurkacz, Angelique Kerber, Daria Kasatkina, &
almost all top Canadians, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Gabriela Dabrowski, Milos
Raonic, Daniel Nestor, ….
Olympic athletes – swimmer Penny
Oleksiak (7 medals) speedskaters Charles Hamelin (6), Marc Gagnon (5) &
Gaetan Boucher (3), diver Emilie Heymans (4), moguls champion Mikael Kingsbury
(3) in addition to his , Jean-Luc Brassard & hundreds of others….
Baseball players – Cy Young award
winning pitchers Tom Glavine, Eric Gagne, players – Tim Raines, Steve Rogers,
Larry Walker, Warren Cromartie, Andre Dawson & many others, managers Jim
Fanning & Felipe Alou.
CFL players - Doug Flutie, Anthony Calvillo, Ben
Cahoon, Pinball Clemens, Tony Gabriel & most current Alouettes….
Boxers Lucien Bute, Jean Pascal, Marie Eve Dicaire, Kim Clavel….
International
musicians – Roger Hodgson of Supertramp, Dave Mustaine – Megadeth, almost all
Quebec musicians including Les Cowboys Fringants, Les Trois Accords, Robert
Charlebois, Claude Dubois, Bruno Pelletier, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Celine Dion,
Charlotte Cardin, Roch Voisine, Fouki, Marjo, MarieMai, Roxane Bruneau, Daniel
Boucher, …..
Famous
actors – Willem Dafoe, Christopher Lloyd of Back to the Future & other
films, George Takei (Sulu from Star Trek) & Patrick Stewart (Star Trek),
Gunnar Hansen, Marcel Sabourin, Patrice Robitaille, Guylaine Tremblay,
Geneviève Schmidt, Pier-Luc Funk, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, Anne-Marie
Cadieux, Sophie Nélisse, Dorothee Berryman, Stephane Rousseau, Philippe Bond,
Jessica Barker, ………….
Famous
movie directors (& screenwriters) - Xavier Dolan, Denis Villeneuve,
Jean-Marc Vallée, Philippe Falardeau….
Politicians – current Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau, former mayor of Quebec city Regis Labeaume, Marc Garneau, NDP -
Jagmeet Singh, former mayor of Montreal Denis Coderre, former premier of
Alberta Calgary Alison Redford & former Calgary mayor Nasheed Nenshi,…….
Astronauts
– Marc Garneau, Julie Payette
Journalists
– Bernard Derome, Pierre Bruneau, Patrice Roy, David Suzuki, Charles Tisseyre,
Veronique Cloutier, Louis Morissette, Eric Salvail, Guy Jodoin, Charles
Lafortune, Patrice Belanger, André Robitaille, Antoine Bertrand, Stephane
Bellavance, Jean Rene Dufort, Chantal Lamarre, Pierre Yves-Lord, Luc Gelinas,
Pierre Houde, Bertrand Raymond, Francois Gagnon, Yvan Pedneault, Dick Irvin Jr,
Ron MacLean, George Stroumboulopoulos, Dave Randorf, Jamie Campbell, Michael
Landsberg, Mike Duthie, Arash Madani, Gino Reda, Brian Wilde, Harry Neale, ………
Former Hockey Night in Canada
executive producer Joel Darling, former president Sportsnet & NHL for
Rogers media Scott Moore & play by play hockey broadcaster Paul
Romanuk.
Other famous people – Romeo Dallaire,
The history of the Bison tuque
Success stories after tuquages
Videoclips including INFOMAN & other news
***Bison
tuque photos*** UPDATED June 1, 2025 I have
added more than 75 photos from March to June 1 including many Montreal Expos
alumni & Laval Rocket players.
New success stories were also
recently added including the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket & the
Montreal Alouettes among others & there are a few more for me to add. There are also a few bad luck stories
after someone refused completely
to have a photo with the Bison tuque in it.
Covid19
restrictions limited possibilities for new photos from May 2020 until spring
2022 but the Tuque has been back
at festivals, sports events & everywhere else for the 18 months. L
Picasa is
now Google photos. The links give
the photos of albums in various sections. Click on the name of the album for
photos from that album. When you
are in the album each photo you click on opens up larger & you can click on
I for info which names the person & gives the information for that
particular photo including often the link for that persons website.
Recent photos The most famous Hockey Football Athletes other sports Music
Media Politicians
Artists Actors Mascots Superheros
Fans Voyages Festivals Animals, misc
Cowboys Fringants
Forum people Maui, Hawaii
There
are over 8000 photos including over 5000 new photos since 2012
Each time a person sees the Bison tuque for the first time the Tuque is
touched by the joy & pleasure which emanates
from the person’s spirit & the look in their eyes is priceless.
The honour of wearing the Bison tuque has
been offered to many different people & each person who has worn it has
seen their life improved since this fantastic moment.
Many of the success stories after people have worn the Tuque &/or
had their picture taken with the tuque or rubbed the tuque (if they had
previously had their photo with it) are described below.
You can LIKE the Tuque de Bison* on
Facebook & the Bison tuque is now
on twitter.
If you, your musical group or players on your sports team would like
wear the Bison tuque email me your request to funfestivals@yahoo.ca.
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I bought the Bison tuque in December 1998 or January 1999 at Montréal’s
Cohoes store on Ste-Catherine at a very low price. Each winter as I
wore the tuque on my head to keep me warm I never imagined that it would become
famous.
People everywhere fell in love with the tuque. Normally the
Tuque hibernated during summers and sat on my head everytime I went outside
during the winter. But after many Roadtrips (Sept-Iles & Abitibi) to
see Cowboys Fringants’ shows (the # 1 Quebec musical group) the tuque acquired
a passion to travel and since my Roadtrip to France in spring 2007 (again to
see the Cowboys Fringants & to visit relatives) she has travelled with her
Papa from one festival to another all summer long (over 30 festivals every
summer), sat on thousands of famous people’s heads & shared her magical
powers.
Now there are more than 6000 photos of
the Bison tuque on the head’s of NHL players, football players, other athletes,
world champions, musicians, singers, superheroes, politicians, mascots, Cowboys
Fringant Forumers, etc.
The link above is for an online photo site (with thumbnails for easy
viewing) so you can see almost all the bison tuque pictures. Most photos are
not on Facebook.
Many photos such as the Musician section have website links
included. The Tuque is
washed pretty frequently since so many people, animals, etc put it on their
heads. I must stipulate that
all the photos are real. There are no montages. I was physically
present for the taking of each photo (except the photos taken during the
Roadtrip to Sept-Iles, Quebec in March 2006 to see Cowboys Fringants shows when
the tuque was lent to friends who are members of the Cowboys’ official Forum
& from Sept 30 – Oct 7 2015 when the tuque was lent for one week for to
ExpoPierre (an exposition for the Comicbook launch of Pierre et la Pierre
Volume II). The tuque was featured in Pierre et la
Pierre Volume I.
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BISON TUQUE VIDEOS
(incluant les reportages dans les émissions Infoman & 24CH)
We can see Montreal Canadiens player Brandon
Prust putting on the bison tuque in
the January 30th edition of the TV show District V.
The
tuquage is @ 3:04.
The Bison tuque is honoured to have been
featured in the behind the scenes TV series of the Montreal Canadiens 24CH, Episode 9 (9:46-10:29) originally aired end Nov/early Dec 2013.
The Bison tuque is honoured to have been
featured on the Infoman TV show on Radio Canada
(minute 17 – 21 – Thank you Josée for the new video on
Youtube. Radio Canada removed its
original link for the TV show online )
Episode Infoman - September
29, 2011.
The Bison tuque is in Annakin
Slayd’s videoclip - Rock the Sweater (38 secondes) which
came out for the playoffs in May 2014 & in the Cowboys Fringants
music video - Tant qu’on aura de l’amour (end of the clip) which was released in December 2008.
Also Les Cowboys Fringants wrote & performed a song in honour
of the bison tuque. The Toune de la Tuque de Bison was
performed on Friday November 28th, 2008 during their show in Laval
and during the second half of the song I was invited on stage to breakdance
(the worm). Its all in the video.
The Tuque also had the honour of being on stage with the Cowboys
Fringants in front a crowd of tens of thousands at Woodstock en Beauce 2011
when I celebrated my 100th Cowboys Fringants show.
The video of the crowd from the Woodstock en Beauce stage is here & the video of me doing my breakdance with the Tuque on stage is here. Report - Sur le vif – Musiqueplus Fev 26, 2009
Karl Tremblay (lead singer) also sang a song with the Bison tuque on his head
during a Cowboys Fringants show in Dec. 2008 at L’Assomption.
The plans are that in about 5 years (if she is not lost or stolen in the
meantime) the Bison tuque will be sold on auction with all the profits going to
charities (such as cancer, childrens charities, Cystic Fibrosis, etc – I
haven't decided yet all of the charities will share the proceeds).
Other news -
In September 2012 a comic
book was released at Montreal’s Comicon 2012 with the Bison tuque in
it.
There is a nice article about the Bison tuque on
Urbania's website (published Feb 2, 2010).
The Cowboys Fringants Forum (closed since November 2011) is where I
first started placing the photos with the bison tuque starting in March 2006.
The group Les Cowboys Fringants, members of the Forum & a few of my friends
were the only ones to wear the tuque before its trip to France in May
2007. That was
followed by Woodstock en Beauce 2007 when famous musicians, athletes &
others all began getting their pictures with the tuque. Photos with the tuque &
comments were in the Forum for many years but are not longer accessible with
the Forum’s closure.
In September 2008 the Bison tuque got its own photo website (the link
near the top of the page) and that's where almost all of the pictures may now
be seen. There are about a
dozen people (including Celine Dion & a writer for the Degrassi television
series) who were honoured to wear the tuque but did not want their photo on the
website so obviously those pictures are not on the website.
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**** Success stories after a tuquage
****
There are hundreds of success stories of people who have worn the bison tuque
or appeared in a photo with the bison tuque. Obviously athletes & musicians
success is a result of their hard work, dedication & incredible talent
& skill. Many have had an immediate additional boost of exceptional play or
success following the wearing of the tuque or posing for a picture with the
tuque.
Is it a coincidence???
Recent success stories include more Montreal Canadiens & some Laval Rocket & Alouettes. Last season Montreal Canadiens Juraj Slavkovsky who recently twice went on hot streaks first after wearing then after rubbing the Bison tuque. Also Montreal Alouettes’ Marc-Antoine Duquoy, James Letcher Jr & Darnell Sankey, tennis player Gabriela Dombrowski, many Laval Rocket players, James Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Larry Walker, junior hockey stars Shane Wright, Cole Perfetti, Ryan Suzuki, tennis player Denis Shapovalov, Canadiens’ Joel Armia, Alouettes’ quarterback Vernon Adams Jr, a few Quebec Remparts, & a handful of tennis players with upset wins over higher ranked players. Other stories less recent below include Max Domi, Carey Price & Phillip Danault, Team Canada’s gold medal winning team at the World Junior Hockey Championships, Max Pacioretty & Dale Weise a bunch of times, Devante Smith-Pelly, Tomas Fleischmann, Mike Condon, Connor McDavid, Brandon Prust, Ryan White, Todd Bertuzzi, Georges Laraque, a little boy named Eric, few women’s curling teams at the Scotties tournament of Hearts.
Sun April 20, 2025 Seattle Mariners baseball player Mitch Garver had his photo with the
Bison tuque before the Jays game Sat 19th during batting
practice. He had a
single in his next at bat & went 2
for 5 in his next game & got another hit in his first at bat in the game
after that.
Tues April 1, 2025 Lane Hutson finally got the opportunity & proudly wore the Bison tuque Sunday afternoon Feb 23 after the Montreal Canadiens’ annual skills competition. He had gone 17 straight games without a goal & had only 3 points in his past 9 games & had a plus-minus of minus 14 in his past 13 games before wearing the tuque. Hutson scored in his next game Tuesday night (2 nights later) & added an assist in Thursday’s game, 2 assists Saturday night & added 2 more assists March 3rd for 6 points & a plus 3 in his next 4 games after wearing the tuque. He has stayed red-hot with 20 points in 17 games & a + 12 since that night & was honoured as NHL rookie of the month for March & is now favoured to win the Calder trophy.
Thu March 27, 2025 Canadiens defenseman Jaydon Struble got an assist less than 12 minutes into his next game after rubbing the Bison tuque March 18 after the Ottawa game. He added another assist in his next game giving him 2 points, +3 in his first 2 games after rubbing the tuque. He had 3 points in 4 games after rubbing the tuque after only 1 point in 8 games before the tuque rub & only 4 points in his previous 25 games before the rub. Struble was the only Hab to rub the tuque that night.
Sat
March 8, 2025 Cole Caufield who had previously worn the
tuque in Dec 2023 gave the Tuque a rub after the Canadiens’ skills competition
Feb 23rd & after only 1 point (a goal) in his past 3 games,
Caufield got hot again with 4 goals &
2 assists for 6 points in his next 5 games during the Canadiens’ 5 game winning
streak (6 game point streak) & continued on for a total of 6 goals &
5 assists & 11 points in 9 games & a +8 since that tuque rub.
Fri
March 7, 2025 There are hundreds
of success stories after wearing, having their photo beside or rubbing the
Bison tuque. However, there are
also stories of bad luck (a curse) after a refusal. When someone is offered for the first time but refuses the honour of either
wearing or having a photo beside the tuque or even just rubbing the tuque it is
bad luck. Sheldon Keefe, former
Toronto Maple Leafs coach & currently coach of the New Jersey Devils was at
the Quebec International PeeWee Hockey tournament in February (like dozens of
other former NHL players & famous people). On my last day at the tournament
Monday Feb 16th I saw him in the downstairs hallway. I asked him if I could please have a
photo & he said yes. I showed
him photos of MacKinnon, Sakic, Beliveau, Henri Richard, Caufield, Slafkovsky
all who proudly wear the Bison Tuque to show him how it’s an honour to wear the
tuque. He didn’t want anything to
do with it (not even a photo beside it) unfortunately for him & his
team. I didn’t know how the
magnitude of the consequences of this refusal at the time but I told one of my
friend’s - “You can write off the Devils for the playoffs. They aren’t going anywhere.” Little did
I know his Tuquage refusal would lead to the injuries of 2 of his team’s best
players - The NHL’s number 1
overall pick in 2019, New Jersey’s Jack
Hughes got injured March 2 & is out for the season & playoffs. He led the Devils in points & goals
at the time of his injury.
Less than 2 days later their best
defenseman, Dougie Hamilton got injured & is out for at least the regular
season & 1st round of the playoffs if they even make it, all
this happening within 2 weeks of that fateful day. After Keefe’s tuque refusal the Devils went on to lose 5 of
it’s next 7 games & they may have a chance of missing the playoffs now,
even though they looked like they were guaranteed to make it at
the time of refusal (4 Nations Cup break), 8 points ahead of the conference’s 9th
place team. They probably will be eliminated in the first round if they do
make it.
Tues
March 4, 2025 PWHL Montreal Victoire goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens
had already worn the bison tuque so she gave it a rub after Sunday Feb 23rd’s
skills competition & in her next
game she was the 1st star with 24 saves on 25 shots in a 3-1
Montreal win & stopping a red-hot Toronto handing them their 1st
regulation loss in 11 games. In
her next game Montreal won in overtime 3-2, Desbiens with 15
saves on 17 shots & tonight Desbiens was again the 1st
star stealing the game for Montreal with 40 saves on 41 shots in a shootout win 2-1
over Minnesota. Desbiens was
perfect in the shootout with 5 saves on 5 shots. That gives her 84 saves on 88 shots
since rubbing the tuque for an incredible save percentage of .955.
Sun
Feb 23, 2025 After having worn the Bison tuque again Sun Feb 16th, Elyott
Ruel-Paquet was player of the game with 2 goals & 3 assists in one of
his team’s games on the way to helping his team, the Quebec
Centre Radissons to win the championship of the B division of the Jonquiere
provincial PeeWee tournament.
Elyott scored
the only goal of the shootout in the tournament semi-final to lead his team to
the final. His teammate
defenseman Jim Loew wore the tuque too on the 16th & he was also named
Player of the game in one of the Radissons’ games & played the best hockey
he’s ever played according to one of the player’s parents.
Thurs
Feb 20, 2025 At the Quebec International PeeWee tournament Burnaby
Winter Club Bruins player Mitchell Wilson wore the Bison tuque after Burnaby’s
win on Monday & in
his next game he had 2 goals including a key tying goal in the 3rd
period & then winner at 3:24 of overtime over the strong Czech Knights
(AAA
winners 3 of the previous 6 years).
Fri
Feb 7, 2025 Cayden Primeau rubbed the lucky Bison tuque after the
game in Montreal against Buffalo Dec 17, 2024. He was then sent down to Laval
(the best thing for him) & he was the first star in a 2-1 overtime
win over Abbotsford stopping 28 of 29 shots then he followed
that up with a 5-0 shutout win over 1st place Cleveland & he has
continued his great play with now a perfect 9 & 0 record with the
Rocket & his first 8 games his save percentage was .932 with a GAA of 1.73
earning him AHL
player of the month for January.
Primeau went on to win 10 straight games after his tuque
rub.
Sat Jan 25,
2025 My friend Caroline rubbed the Bison tuque
between the opening bands of the Sum 41 concert tonight & after the show
she found 2 Sum 41 guitar picks.
Sat
Jan 4, 2025 Filip Mesar rubbed
the Bison tuque after his game Fri Jan 3rd & mentioned he will get a goal
in his next game. He in fact
scored a goal at 16:46 of the 1st period in his next game the next afternoon. Logan Mailloux who
also rubbed the tuque a few minutes after Mesar got an assist after only 7 min 15 sec in the
first period just before Mesar’s goal.
Fri Jan 3, 2025 Emil Heineman
rubbed the tuque less than a minute after Cayden Primeau on Dec 17th &
Heineman, in his next game got a goal & an assist
& was +2, then he got a goal & an assist & was +3 in 2 games for a
total of 2 goals, 2 assists & + 5 in 3 games & the hot play continued
with 2 goals & an assist in the next 4 games giving him 4 goals, 3 assists,
7 points, +6 in 7 games in the 2 weeks that
followed his Tuquage. :). Heineman had only 2 points in the 7 games before
his tuque rub.
Sat Dec 21, 2024 Zachary L’Heureux had 2 goals in 5 games after having worn
the Bison tuque Dec 5 after Nashville’s game in Montreal. Before having
worn the tuque he was pointless in
5 games & only had 2 points (both goals) in 19 games.
Sat Nov 9, 2024 Montreal Alouettes’
wide receiver Cole Spieker had a perfect 5 receptions on 5 passes for
65 yards in the CFL Eastern division final after
rubbing the Bison tuque after his previous game.
Tues June 25, 2024 Jeremy
Roenick will finally be inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Jeremy Roenick wore the Bison tuque at
the Quebec PeeWee hockey tournament in February 2024 & just a few months
later (June) he got the call that he would be inducted. He had to wait 12 years (&
wear the Tuque) before finally getting the honour. This 12 year wait is even longer than Larry Walker’s for the baseball Hall of
Fame. As noted below in 2019 Walker wore the tuque & then in the next vote,
he finally got in, his 10th & last chance to make it.
Sat Apr 27,
2024 Olivier Michaud, goalie coach of Montreal
PWHL (womens hockey) wore the Bison tuque after Montreal’s win over New York
April 24th & in Montreal’s next game a few days later Montreal goalie
Ann-Renée Desbiens earned a 31 save shutout in a 2-0 win over Ottawa.
Mon March 25, 2024 We all know about the great successes of Les
Cowboys Fringants & other musicians, singers & groups after having
worn the Bison tuque. The tuque is
very proud of 3 of the winners at last night’s Juno awards – all who have worn
the tuque - Les Cowboys Fringants (En concert
avec l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (sous la direction du chef Simon Leclerc), Les Cowboys
Fringants & l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal – Album francophone of
the year), Charlotte
Cardin (album of the year & Pop album of the year - 99 Nights), & Talk
(Breakthrough Artist of the year).
Sat March 16, 2024 After having his photo with the Bison tuque following Columbus’ loss to
Montreal their head coach Pascal Vincent had his photo with the tuque & the
Blue Jackets then got 3 of a possible 4 points in their next 2 games.
Tues March 12, 2024 Montreal Canadiens goalie Cayden Primeau not only enjoyed his
first NHL shutout in his next game after
rubbing the Bison tuque (just like Carey Price 16 years earlier) he enjoyed 2 shutouts
in 4 games since the last time he
rubbed the Bison tuque, his 2nd
with a brilliant first star worthy performance stopping 41 shots last night.
Mon March 11, 2024 Quebec Junior hockey
player Alexis Bernier (Baie Comeau) wore the Bison tuque partway through the 3rd
period of the Montreal Canadiens’ game on Wed Feb 21st. He was presented to Habs` fans before
the game with 5 other Quebec league top prospects for the 2024 NHL Entry
draft. Less than 24 hours later Bernier, a
defenseman ended a streak of 22 games without a goal with Baie Comeau’s first
goal at 13:47 of the first period in a 5-1 win & he was +2 & he also
got an assist in his next game. He
had last scored on Dec 10th, almost a month & a half
earlier. He got an assist in his
next game as well & has 4 points in 5 games since his tuquage. Another top player (a point a
game player) who was with the group was offered the honour of wearing the tuque
for good luck during the 2nd intermission. I will not mention his name here but you can message me
& I’ll tell you who & you can look up his stats if you want. He seemed happy to wear the tuque when
an adult that he was speaking with during the 2nd intermission told
him NOT get his photo with the tuque & proceeded to give me his opinion
that I should not be doing that.
This future NHL draft eligible top player had 9 points in 5 games the
week before then he was blanked in his last game before he was offered the
honour. Since passing on his
chance to have his photo with the tuque he went on his longest pointless
drought of the season by far (7 games), 6 straight games pointless since that
fateful night. Also his plus/minus
before he was offered the honour of wearing the tuque was a great plus
30 in 54 games & he is minus 6 in 9 games since that night. Once again it seems like bad luck has followed when
someone refuses an offer for the honour of having their photo with the
tuque. When someone holds or has
their photo beside the Bison tuque it still gives good luck even if the person
requests that I don’t put the photo on the website (which of course I respect
their decision to not have it published & I keep it in a separate
file). It’s the complete refusal
to have a photo with the tuque in it that gives bad luck.
Sat Feb 24, 2024 Marie Philip Poulin of the
Montreal women’s hockey PWHL team got highfived by the Bison tuque on her way
to the dressing room after the pregame warmup before Montreal’s game in Verdun
against Ottawa. She had 3 assists
in the game & was named 2nd star in Montreal’s 6-3 win.
Sun Feb 18, 2024 Xavier Ruel (Atom C Hockey
– Les Radissons) was named `Player of the game` in his next game after wearing
the Bison tuque in his private box at the Quebec Pee Wee tournament Sunday Feb
11th. It was his first game
as a defenseman (instead of forward) for his team.
Sat Feb 17, 2024 Two months after his hot streak after wearing the Bison tuque in December
once again Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slavkovsky got hot again. Just 3 days after rubbing the Bison tuque
at the Canadiens blood drive Jan 22nd Slafkovsky
started an 8 game point streak (Jan 25 – Feb 17) in which he scored 6 goals
& added 6 assist for 12 points.
Sun Feb 12, 2024 A few days after wearing
the Bison tuque at Youppi’s Mascot Party at the Bell Centre on Nov 30th,
2023 mascot Sourdough Sam’s NFL team,
San Francisco 49ers (at the time 8 & 3) pummelled the 10-1 (5 & 0 at
home) Philadelphia Eagles 42-19 in a big upset in Philly, then going on a 3 game win streak & finally ending the regular season with
the best record in the Western conference. The 49ers won their playoff games to go all the way to the
Super Bowl. I thought they’d win
the Super Bowl just like Luc Robitaille won the Stanley Cup a few months after
wearing the bison tuque as president of business operations with the LA Kings
in 2012 but the good luck from the Tuque was not enough to overpower Patrick
Mahomes & the Kansas City Chiefs.
Fri Jan 12, 2024 After wearing the Bison
tuque after his game Wed Jan 10, Laval Rocket goalie Jakub
Dobes stopped 30 of 32 shots in a 5-2 Rocket win. Riley Kidney who also wore the tuque the after Wednesday’s
game had an assist & Arbor Xhekaj also added an assist after rubbing the tuque Wednesday night.
Thurs Dec 21, 2023 After wearing the Bison
tuque after his game Sat Dec 16, 2023 Juraj Slafkovsky was on fire for
awhile. He played very solidly
early the next week although he didn’t get any points then he had back
to back 1 goal 1 assist games giving him
2 goals, 2 assists + 3 in 3 road games.
Sat Dec 9, 2023 Cayden Primeau
stopped his first 29 shots after rubbing the Bison tuque & made a career
high 46 saves on 48 shots after rubbing the
Bison tuque a week earlier leading the Canadiens to a 3-2 shootout win in
Buffalo. Cole
Caufield, Jesse Ylonen & Juraj Slafkovsky all scored in the shootout after rubbing the Bison tuque 5 nights earlier.
Sun Nov 19 2023 The Montreal Alouettes football team continued its
great play & won the
Grey Cup 28-24 on a great Tyson Philpott catch for a touchdown with only 13
seconds to go in regulation time.
Grey Cup MVP Cody Fajardo, Tyson Philpott, James Letcher Jr, Austin
Mack, Tyrice Beverette, Darnell Sankey & others were still on fire
after either wearing or rubbing the tuque or both in the few weeks prior to the
game. Cody
Fajardo was 21 of 26 in passing for 290 yards, 3 touchdowns & 1
interception in the Grey Cup.
Fajardo had worn the tuque Oct 9th & rubbed it right
after the Hamilton playoff win.
Tyson Philpott had worn the Tuque in Sept 2022 but rubbed it frequently after
games during the Alouettes great run including after the Als’ home playoff
win. He was the top Canadian in
the Grey Cup with 6 catchs for 63 yards including the great catch for the
gamewinning touchdown with 15 seconds to play.
Sun Nov 12 2023 2 months after winning her Grand Slam tennis player
Gabriela Dabrowski was a key as Canada
won it’s first ever Billie Jean Cup.
Sat Nov 11 2023 After the Montreal Alouettes semifinal win over
Hamilton some of the Alouettes who had not worn the Bison tuque wore the tuque
& others who had worn it rubbed it after the game & the Alouettes
defense was redhot forcing a record 9 turnovers & leading them to an upset
38-17 pummelling of the 16 & 2 Argos. With the Argos threatening to take the lead deep in
Alouettes territory , Marc-Antoine
Duquoy intercepted a pass & went 101 yards for a touchdown to open the
scoring & later in the game James Letcher Jr (again) returned a kickoff 105
yards for another touchdown.
They were among those who rubbed the tuque again & were big parts of
the Eastern conference final upset leading the Als to the Grey Cup game. What an incredibly well played game.
Sat Oct 14 2023 Laval Rocket player Joshua Roy had a goal & an assist in his next game less than 18 hours
after wearing the Bison tuque. In
his next week he had a game of 3
goals, 2 assists followed by another game with 2 assists to be named AHL rookie of the month.
Sat Oct 14 2023 Montreal Alouettes James Letcher Jr returned a missed field goal 125
yards for a touchdown in an Alouettes win 5 days after
wearing the Bison tuque & the
next week he followed that up with another great 99 yard punt return for a
touchdown. Cody
Fajardo & Darnell Sankey have also been redhot since their recent tuquages.
Sat
Sept 30, 2023 Marc-Antoine Dequoy earns
Bison tuque profile honours after 2 awesome games the past 2 weekends. Dequoy had a 108
yard interception return for a touchdown last weekend in the Als playoff
clinching win over Ottawa & a week earlier he
had another interception & a fumble recovery. Dequoy rubbed the Bison tuque after the Als home game
against the Argos Sept 15th after he had previously worn the tuque in November
2022.
Wed Sept 27, 2023 After wearing the Bison
tuque this summer in Montreal at
the pro tennis tournament in August Senators
forward Mathieu Joseph had 2 goals in his 1st game in his next visit
to Montreal giving him 2 goals & an assist in his 1st two
games after wearing the tuque.
Sun Sept 10, 2023 About a month after
rubbing the Bison tuque this summer in Montreal at the pro tennis tournament in
August Gabriela Dabrowski became
the first Canadian to win a major title (Grand Slam) in women’s doubles after
winning the US Open. Dabrowski
had worn the tuque earlier in her career.
Sun
June 4, 2023 After many of the Quebec
Remparts either wore or rubbed the Bison tuque during the Quebec Major Junior
hockey league final for good luck, the Remparts went on to win the Canadian
championship, the Memorial Cup
after playing a near perfect tournament outscoring it’s opponents 18-8
including a 5-0 win in the final against a very strong Seattle team. James Malatesta was named the most
valuable player of the tournament.
Wed
May 17, 2023 Justin Robidas of the
Quebec Remparts scored in his next 2 games (2 goals, 1 assist,
+2) after wearing the Bison tuque Friday night May 12th. And 1 year after having worn the tuque
(& scoring 2 goals in his next game) Zachary Bolduc rubbed the tuque Friday
the 12th after the Quebec league final’s 1st game &
he scored less than 8 minutes into his next game. He rubbed the tuque again after Saturday’s game & he
added an assist Tuesday & he scored a goal & an assist Wednesday the
17th . In his next 2 games Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st
Robidas got 3 more assists.
After Saturday night’s game May 13th Pier-Olivier Roy wore
the Bison tuque & he scored a goal in the 1st period Tuesday & got an
assist Wednesday. Roy then scored the winning goal
with less than a minute to play in regulation leading Quebec Remparts to the
QMJHL championship in 6 games. James Malatesta (who had already worn the tuque) rubbed it
after Saturday (13th) game & he had 2 goals & an assist (+2)
Tuesday night including the winning goal in overtime. Then this past weekend Malatesta scored 2 goals in 2
games & was named the MVP of the playoffs. Nicolas Savoie who also wore the tuque after Friday’s
game May 12th had an assist in 2 straight games & was plus 2.
Sat
March 25, 2023 William, the son of my friend Nicole
rubbed the Bison tuque during intermission of a Laval Rocket game March
17th. During his next games he was
red hot. William (who in 20
preceding games had scored a total of 5 goals) scored a goal in the first 30
seconds of the game for 2 straight games & in his 3rd game he scored 2
goals for 4 goals in 3 games.
Wed March 22, 2023 For years the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) had tried
to get Green Day to play at the festival & weren’t able. Louis Bellavance, programming
director of the festival since 2011 had already worn the Bison tuque but in
July 2022 he rubbed the tuque
(after a show) & his assistant programmer Arnaud Cordier wore the Tuque. I told them then that they would now
finally get Green Day & voilà, the best
lineup in the history of the festival including Green Day, FooFighters, Weezer,
Pitbull, Imagine Dragons, Les Cowboys Fringants…….
March 19, 2023 Hockey player Laurent Harbour (MontLaurier Draveurs – Atome BB)
scored a goal in his 2nd game in the Regional Tournament after
having worn the bison tuque after a Laval Rocket game March 8th.
March 2023 Anne-Sophie (Québecoise Fringante) wore the Bison tuque in
March 2022 for the 2nd time.
The first time was more than 10 years earlier. She informed me that in less than 9 months the Tuque
arranged everything in her life.
Not long after she wore the tuque she got her dog, found her good
boyfriend, bought a house & recently she announced to us she is going to
have a baby.
Feb 25 2023 Female hockey player Maelle Gory (
Laurentides Mistral bantam hockey team) scored the first & last goal of the
game in a 4-0 win over one of the best teams in the league after wearing the
Bison tuque after the Canada USA rivalry series game in Laval Feb 22, 2023.
Feb 5 2023 Not long before the Skills competition of
the AHL All-Star Challenge weekend Alex Belzile of the Laval Rocket rubbed the
Bison Tuque & he was amazing right after including 2 goals on the 3 on 0
competition. Success
following Tuquages continued with Darren Raddysh who won the hardest shot
competition (102 mph). Alexandre
Richard had 3 assists on the 3 on 0 breakaway challenge & goalie Joseph
Woll won Best goalie with 15 saves on 18 shots in the 3 events of the Skills
competition. Also Woll was called up by the Leafs right away after the AHL All-star Challenge. Alex
Belzile was called up by Montreal too 3 days
later & he
stayed up with the Habs the rest of the season. In the real Challenge tournament the day after the
Skills competition Dustin Wolf (who wore the Bison
Tuque after the Skills competition Sunday was named one of the 2 most valuable
players in the AHL All-star Challenge.
Alex Nylander, Egor Sokolov, Logan Shaw & Alex Belzile all had 3
points in the
Challenge games after their tuquages.
Darren Raddysh (1 goal, 1 assist in 8 games) & Luke Evangelista (1 goal, 6 assists in his next 7
games) were both
called up by their respective NHL teams not long after All-star weekend.
Sat Jan 21, 2023 In his next game after wearing the Bison tuque
Nashville Predators defenceman Jeremy
Lauzon scored 35 minutes in & he was plus 1 even though Nashville lost
the game. Nashville
defenceman Alexandre Carrier who also wore the tuque after the game in Montreal
had 3
points in his next 4 games after getting 5 points in his first 36 games of
the season.
Fri Jan 6, 2023 After finally getting his photo with the Bison tuque
Laval Rocket player Alex Belzile was named 1st star of the game with
2 goals & an assist & he was plus 4. In the same game Laval Rocket player Rem Pitlick (who
wore the tuque the same night that Belzile had his photo) was named 2nd star of the game with 3 assist
& + 4
& he was called up to the Montreal Canadiens less than 2 weeks later.
Sun Dec 10 2022 Elyott Ruel scored 9 goals in 2 games &
in his next tournament in 4 games he had 7 goals & 2 assists for 16 goals
in 6 games following his Tuquage in the middle of November.
Dec 2022 Melanie Perreault (Québecoise Fringante)
rubbed the tuque again & she was then invited on stage to sing Marine
Marchande with Les Cowboys Fringants 2 straight shows.
Sat Nov 26, 2022 Laval Rouge et Or wide receiver Kevin Mital
had a few exceptional games after wearing the Bison tuque after his game on Oct
29, 2022. He won offensive player of the game
leading Laval to victory
for the Vanier Cup (Canadian University football championship)
less than a month later.
Fri Nov 25, 2022 After
wearing the Bison tuque on Sat Nov 19 Laval Rocket defenseman Justin Barron scored in his next game after only 22 & a
half minutes & he added 2 goals & an assist in his next game
2 nights later for 3 goals & an assist in 2
games.
Sat Nov 19, 2022 A week after wearing the Bison tuque runningback Kalenga Muganda won offensive player of the game with 173 yards on 24 carries to lead Laval to a road win against Western in the Mitchell Bowl. Quarterback Arnaud Desjardins who had worn the tuque 3 weeks earlier was also excellent passing for 265 yards.
Oct 1, 2022 Not
long after wearing the Bison tuque Montreal Alouettes linebacker Tyrice
Beverette had a brilliant game that earned him CFL
player of the week honours.
Sept 17, 2022 Former Montreal
Alouette quarterback Vernon Adams Jr rubbed the Bison tuque (he had previously
worn it so rubbing continues the good luck) after the Alouettes played BC Sept
9th. In his next game about a week later Adams was brilliant leading
the Lions to an overtime win over their division rivals Calgary 31-29. Adams
Jr went 25 for 32 passing for 295 yards & rushed for 32 more yards in his
first start as a BC Lion.
Sept 11, 2022 Carlos
Alcaraz won the US Open tennis Grand Slam exactly one month after having his
photo with the Bison tuque.
Sept 2, 2022 Jack
Draper wore the Bison tuque after winning his qualification match Sunday to
advance to the main draw of the National Bank Omnium in Montreal in August
2022. At the time Draper was ranked 82nd in the world. After he wore the tuque
he destroyed 76th ranked Hugo Gaston 6-2, 6-3. Then he upset then 5th ranked
Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 7-6. In his next match he won over Gael Monfils 6-2,
0-2 before finally losing to the tournament's eventual winner Pablo Carrena
Busta 7-6, 6-1. In his next tournament he defeated former world number 3
Dominic Thiem. At the US
Open advanced to the 3rd round upsetting world number 8 Felix Auger-Aliassime
in straight sets. Then in his next
match he was on his way to another win when he got injured & was forced to
retire from the tournament. Draper
jumped to 53rd in the current ATP rankings.
Hubert Hurkacz also had a hot streak after wearing the Tuque in Montreal. After wearing the Bison tuque Hubert Hurkacz won 3 straight matchs including an upset win over Casper Ruud (currently ranked 5th in the world) before finally losing in the final. Hurkacz is ranked 10th in the ATP rankings.
May 26 2022 Laval Rocket’s Brandon Gignac wore the Bison tuque after his game Sunday May 22 & he scored less than 6 minutes into his next game & he scored again a few nights later for 2 goals in 2 games after wearing the tuque. Louie Belpedio scored early in the 2nd period in his next game after also wearing the tuque Sunday the 22nd.
May 10, 2022 Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes rubbed the Bison tuque after the Canadiens win over Florida, the last game of the regular season April 30th. Barely more than a week later the Canadiens’ won the NHL lottery for the right to draft first overall in spite of only having an 18.5 % chance of winning the lottery.
May 10, 2022 Zachary Bolduc & James Malatesta scored 2 goals each in a 6-3 win for the Quebec Remparts in Chicoutimi to sweep the 3 game series. After last Saturday’s Remparts game, Bolduc wore the Bison tuque & James Malatesta (who had already worn the tuque in 2017) rubbed the Tuque for good luck. Nobody else wore nor rubbed the tuque after Saturday’s game.
March 26, 2022 Tickets for the Ottawa @ Montreal game were going for over $100 a ticket so my friend Peter rubbed the tuque after the Laval Rocket’s afternoon game & upon arriving at the Bell Centre less than half an hour later he got a free red ticket near Centre Ice. The next game he went to he also found a free ticket (Florida-Canadiens) & Saturday night Leafs vs Canadiens he got a ticket for only $30.
March 19, 2022 After rubbing the Bison tuque after his game on Mon March 7th, Rafael Harvey-Pinard of the Laval Rocket has now scored in 5 consecutive games.
Feb 22, 2020 After wearing the Bison tuque after his 1st game at the Quebec PeeWee tournament John Mooney of the Pittsburgh Penguins PeeWee team went on to score 8 goals in his next 4 games as the Penguins played great but finally lost a close semifinal in the AAA division. His teammate Mark Evans had 2 assists in his next game after wearing the tuque & Carson Andrew of St Louis’ team had a goal & an assist in his next game after wearing the tuque.
Jan 26, 2020 After wearing the Bison tuque after their Friday night game January 24, 2020 Saginaw Spirit’s Cole Perfetti scored in his next game with an assist going to linemate Ryan Suzuki then in the next game Suzuki had 2 goals & Perfetti 2 assists & in the next game each scored a goal again.
Jan 26, 2020 After
wearing the Bison tuque after his Friday night game Jan 24, 2020 Kingston
Frontenacs` Shane
Wright scored just 3 minutes 18 seconds into the 1st period of his
next game & added another goal & assist in the 3rd period.
Jan 25, 2020 Canadian freestyle skiier Mikael Kingsbury was awesome before wearing the Bison tuque but his success has continued & he’s even more almost unbeatable since he wore the tuque in August 2017. He now has 60 World Cup victories.
Jan 20, 2020 After 9 years of
not even coming close to being elected into the Major League Baseball Hall of
Fame former Montreal Expo outfielder Larry Walker wore the Bison tuque in March
2019 & as I told him it would happen he finally got elected into the Hall of
Fame in his next try, his 10th & last attempt with 76.6 % of the
votes. He got 304 of a
possible 397 votes, 6 above the 298 needed to get in. After
receiving 54.6 percent of the votes last year Walker made a 22-percent jump
this year, the highest for a player in his last year of eligibility in 65
years. As recently as four
years ago, Walker received just 15.5 percent of the vote jumping to 21.9 % in
2017, 34.1 % in 2018.
Between 2011 & 2017 he got between 10.2 % &
21.9 % of the necessary votes.
Jan 17, 2020 As
he stopped at the red light by De la Montagne & Ste Antoine after the
Calgary game Mon Jan 13th, Philip Danault asked if he could rub my
tuque I was wearing for good luck thinking it was the lucky bison tuque that he
would usually rub. I told him it
wasn’t the right tuque but he wanted to rub it anyway so I let him & Danault
scored in his next game & had 3 assists & was plus 3 in the game after
that. Perhaps my new
Bison tuque which I now wear but I don’t have players wear brings good luck
too.
Jan 13, 2020 After 9 straight tournaments where he didn’t
get past the 2nd round Denis Shapovalov finally had his photo with
the Bison tuque at the 2019 Rogers Cup where entered ranked 32nd. He
then went on a roll winning between 2 & 5 matchs in 7 of 11 tournaments
including a tournament win in Stockholm moving into 15th
in the ATP rankings Nov 4th & making it all the way to the
final at the Davis Cup before finally losing to Rafael Nadal. Then Shapo rose to 13th in the
rankings after he made it to the quarterfinals of the ATP Cup before losing to
Novak Djokovic. Djokovic
& Nadal are the top 2 players in the world. In the ATP Cup tournament Shapovalov defeated 3 top 20
players & 2 in the top 10 – Stefanos Tsitsipas & Alexander Zverev.
Dec 19, 2019 Max Domi rubbed the tuque again after the Ottawa game Dec 11th. Heading into the game he had only 1 point in his past 6 games. He had 2 assists in that game & then he added a goal & 2 assists & was + 3 in his next 3 games including the gamewinner in overtime on Thurs Dec 19th in Calgary. He actually went on a hot streak with 6 goals in 6 straight games starting with that overtime winner including 12 points in his next 9 games.
Dec 17, 2019 Carey Price has had lots of success over the
years & some of his successes have followed tuque rubs. As indicated
below it all started with his first NHL shutout the game after he had his photo
next to the Bison Tuque at the Montreal Canadiens blood drive in February
2008. Since then there have
been over a dozen tuque rubs with incredible results. It seems as though
at a certain point after lots of success after tuque rubs the luck runs
out. After a period where I had Carey skip tuque rubs since it didn't
seem to work anymore I decided it was time to try to see if we could get
the luck back & I offered Carey the chance to wear the tuque for the first
time. It seems like it might have worked. After allowing
5 goals to finish the month of November with a 4th straight loss, a save
percentage of .883 & a 3,77 goals against average during the month
Carey wore the Bison tuque after practice at Brossard on Nov 29th
& in his next game he was awesome in Boston where the Bruins had not
suffered a regulation loss all season. Carey stopped
25 straight shots over more than 46 minutes before the NHL's leading goal
scorer David Pastrnak scored on a perfect shot to tie the game at 1.
A bad penalty led to another goal & a Bruins win. Price's play
continued to be exceptional as he gave up only 4 goals against on his next 87
shots (.954 save percentage) before I saw him again after the Ottawa game on
Dec 11th . When I
asked him if he wanted to give the tuque a rub he happily said - "Gimme
that thing" & gave it a good rub. 3
goals against on 59 shots (.949 save percentage) were the result in his
next 2 games including another 1st
star performance with a 38 save 3-1 win in Vancouver.
Dec 2, 2019 Joel Armia
wore the Bison tuque & the next night he scored
19 seconds into the game & added another goal after less than 2 minutes
into the next game 2 nights later.
Oct 25, 2019 A few nights after his photo with the tuque Nate Thompson of the Canadiens had a beautiful assist on an important goal in a Canadiens win over the Leafs.
Oct 18, 2019 A few days after wearing the Bison tuque Montreal Alouettes quarterback Vernon Adams Jr was the player of the game leading the Alouettes to a win over the Argos with 16 completions (including 10 straight) in 23 attempted passes for 249 yards & passing for 3 touchdowns with no interceptions. He also continued his brilliant play for the rest of the season.
Oct 13, 2019 In his next game after wearing the Bison tuque Quebec Remparts Felix Bibeau had 6 goals in his next 4 games including 2 straight 2 goal games. Bibeau scored twice & James Malatesta who also wore the tuque 2 days earlier also scored as the Remparts won 4-1 against Victoriaville in the first game after wearing the tuque. Bibeau scored 2 goals in his next game & 1 each in his next 2 games.
Oct 12, 2019 Starting with the next week Jeremiah Johnson of the Montreal Alouettes got hot with great rushing stats after wearing the tuque starting with 72 yards in 13 carries in his next game.
Sept 19, 2019 Brett Kulak rubbed the Bison tuque (after having his photo beside it in 2019) & he scored in his next game .
Aug 16, 2019 My boss wore the Bison tuque for her birthday (at work) on Wednesday & 2 days later (Friday) she won $132.50 in our work 50/50 draw.
April 6,
2019
I was in the reds for the warmup of the Canadiens last game of the
season against Toronto. Instead of just taking a photo of my squirrels,
Gallagher & Patch with the players in the background for Gallagher’s
Facebook I decided to get the tuque in the photo also. As they often do when a
rookie plays his first game the Canadiens had Poehling go onto the ice first
& instead of following, they let him do a lap or two before joining him. I
managed to get a good photo of Poehling alone on the
ice with the Bison tuque & the luck of the tuque helped
him get a hat trick in his first NHL game
& the winning goal in the shootout.
April 6, 2019 After going pointless
in 3 of his past 4 games Max Domi gave the Bison tuque another rub after the
Canadiens game on March 21st. In
his next game he got 3
points with a goal & 2 assists in a win over Buffalo & he had points in
6 of his next 8 games.
March 30, 2019 Although I often see Jeff Petry after games & give him a
thumbs up after a good game I rarely have him give my tuque a rub for good
luck. After his game
Tuesday March 26th against Detroit he rolled down his window for a
photo with a couple girls from Texas. I took advantage of the opportunity to have have him
give the tuque a little rub for good luck. He
then scored
goals in back to back games for the first time since December 2018 &
only the 2nd time in over a year.
March 27, 2019 After the Blue Jays exhibition game in Montreal Monday March
25th someone approached me & asked politely if he
could please wear my tuque. He
said he had previously worn it when he was playing with Shawinigan in the Quebec
Major Junior Hockey League a half dozen years earlier. I
didn’t recognize him but he told me his name & mentioned to my friend he
had been drafted by the New Jersey Devils. 2 days later while watching the Montreal
Canadiens’ farm club Laval Rocket playing at home against the Binghamton Devils
I recognized the name when he scored a goal. There he was, Brendan Gignac, draft pick of the New
Jersey Devils playing great with a goal & an assist &
was + 2 in a 5-1 win in Laval.
March 21, 2019 Jesperi Kotkaniemi finally wore the Bison tuque after
the Canadiens game Tuesday Feb
19th . I
told him he would score in his next game & he did just that on his 2nd shift of his next game, 3
minutes & 11 seconds into the game.
Dec 31
2018 Montreal Canadiens prospect
playing with Laval Rocket Jake Evans wore the tuque after a game against Toronto. He had gone 5 games without a point
before wearing the tuque. In his
next game after having worn the tuque Jake Evans had 2 assists & he added a goal & an assist
in his 3rd game after wearing the tuque giving him 4 points in 3 games after his tuquage. Dec 16 2018 Matthew Peca, after having only 1 point in
his 6 previous games before wearing the Bison tuque (at the Montreal Canadiens
blood donor clinic in late November) Peca got
hot with 2 goals & 2 assists for 4 points in his next 3 games after
wearing the tuque. Dec 5 2018 Max Domi rubbed the tuque after the
Canadiens’ 5th game of the season Mon Oct 15th. Before giving the tuque a rub he
had only 1 point in his past 3 games.
After rubbing the tuque Domi scored his 1st goal of season 38 seconds
into his next game against St Louis & added another goal Saturday at Ottawa
& added 2 goals & 2 assists in his next 2 games for 6 points in 4 games
& 20
points in his next 15 games (& 22 pt in 17 games) & was named Molson
Cup winner for the month of October after rubbing the tuque. After going pointless in 3
straight games, Domi rubbed the tuque again at the Canadiens blood donor clinic
& got hot again with 2 goals & 2 assists for 4 points in his next 3
games. Domi had his photo with the
tuque originally in the summer of 2014 after an exhibition game preparing for
the 2015 World Junior hockey championships. Nov 2018 Congratulations
to Kiki Bertens who has been redhot since rubbing the bison tuque in Montreal 2
in early August. She upset
the world's number one ranked player Simona Halep to win Cincinnati's Western
& Southern Open in her next tournament. Heading in she had only won 1 match
in 3 previous years in Cincinnati.
She first had her photo with the bison tuque at Roland Garros in 2011 so
when I saw her in Montreal after a doubles match I had her rub the tuque for
good luck since she already had her photo with it. She went on to
upset 2 of the world's top ten players before finally losing in the quarterfinals
in Montreal. Her great play continued in Cincinnait defeating 4 of the world's
top 7 players (top ranked Halep, 2nd ranked Caroline Wozniacki, 6th ranked
Petra Kvitova & 7th ranked Elina Svitolina) on her way to winning the
tournament. She also won the tournament in Korea a month later. Bertens is now
a career high 9th in the WTA rankings. Nov 2018 Daria Kasatkina - After rubbing the tuque after tennis practice she
scored 5 goals & 1 assist in an exhibition soccer game with other WTA
players against Montreal Impact players mid August & continued her winning
ways on the court. She is
now a career high 10th in the WTA rankings after winning the Kremlin
Cup.
Fri Apr 13, 2018 Before the last home game of the Laval Rocket (Fan
appreciation night) hockey fan Jack Pelletier rubbed the bison tuque just
seconds before he spun the wheel to win a chance at a gameworn Laval Rocket
jersey. Not only did his spin give
him a ballot but he was one of the winners selected as his name was drawn for a
game worn jersey. Dec 2017 Laval Express
Junior B - Nathan Arseneault – Before wearing the bison tuque Nathan had an
average of about a goal every 3 games. In his next 5 games after wearing the tuque Nathan
Arseneault had 8 goals & 5 assists. Wed Nov 29, 2017 Canadiens’ player Phillip Danault scored
his 1st goal in over a month (14 games without a goal) in the very next game after once again
rubbing the Bison tuque for good luck after Monday night’s game (Nov 27), his 1st
rub of the new season. Wed Nov 29, 2017 Canadiens’ goalie Carey Price was red hot in his first games
back after his injury following a major tuque rub at the Canadiens’
blood donor clinic where he politely asked me “Where is it? Bring it out”
as soon as he saw me waiting to give blood & knowing that I always get him
to give the tuque a rub whenever I see him after games over the past few
years. He politely took the tuque
& rubbed it softly all over himself before handing it back to me. Once he was back from his injury
he started out with a 36
save shutout & he ended up stopping 100 of the next 102 shots he faced
(.980 save %) on his way to 5 straight wins after this most recent tuque
rub. Wed March 29, 2017 Canadiens’ player Andrew Shaw had his photo with the Bison
tuque after the game Feb 28th. RDS
showed last night during the game some statistics of Shaw’s offense since March
3rd (last 10 games).
Shaw leads the forwards in even strength with the statistics Free pucks
contested that are recuperated (average of 1.5 per game), shots from the slot
attempted (2.1), shots from the slot cadrés (1.5) & he is 3rd in
passes completed with an average of 5.9 per game (in the past 10 games). Mon March 20, 2017 The day after rubbing the Biston tuque (at a Les Trois
Accords concert) Stephane Guilbault got more points in 2 games (6 pt) than he
had in his previous 9 games (5 pt).
He had a goal & 1 assist in his 1st cosom hockey game
Sunday, then added a career best 2 goals
& 2 assists in his 2nd game later the same day. In 9 games leading into Sunday Guilbault had a total
of 1
goal & 4 assists. Wed March 8, 2017 Carey Price after once again rubbing the Bison tuque after
the Canadiens game Thursday March 2nd stopped 49 of the next 50
shots he faced over his next 112 & a half minutes in a 4-1 win in
New York over the Rangers & in an eventual 2-1 overtime
win in Vancouver. Sun Feb 5, 2017 Felix rubbed
the Bison tuque after the Canadiens game Tuesday night Jan 31st & in his
next game Sat Feb 4th he scored 7 goals & he added 2 more in his
2nd game.
Wed Feb 1, 2017 Carey Price stopped 37
of the next 38 shots he faced after rubbing the Bison tuque after Tuesday
night’s game then at the NHL all-star skills competition he stopped all NHL
shooters & scored a goal & in his 1st game after the
all-star break he was once again awesome
stopping the 1st 32 shots he faced before Buffalo finally scored. Mon Jan 30, 2017 Elizabeth Desrochers had 2 straight shutouts in broomball
after wearing the Bison tuque Saturday at the Montreal Winter Classic hockey
tournament. Marie-Eve Laviolette
had at least 5 goals in her next hockey game after rubbing the tuque. Sun Jan 22, 2017 In his 1st game in St John’s after wearing the
Bison tuque (at Complexe Desjardins) Chris Terry had a goal
& an assist. Mike McCarron (who had previously worn the tuque an hour
after winning the Memorial Cup in 2015 in Quebec city) rubbed the Tuque right
after Terry wore it & he added 2 assists in his next game with St
John’s. McCarron scored the Icecaps`
only goal in his next
game with Terry getting an assist.
Terry just added another goal & assist
giving him 2 goals & 3 assists for 5 points in 3 games since wearing the
tuque. McCarron also scored giving
him 2 goals & 2 assists for 4 points in 3 AHL games since his tuque rub. Sat Jan 21, 2017 Kirk Muller (who coaches Montreal’s powerplay) rubbed the
Tuque after Wednesday’s game. All
3 goals the Canadiens scored Friday night were on the powerplay on 5 Devils
penalties in a 3-1 win on the road .
Montreal also had 3 more powerplay goals on its next 6 attempts in the
next 3 games to climb to 2nd in the NHL after being in the bottom
half of the league before Kirk’s tuque rub in December. Jan 14, 2017 In his next game after wearing the Bison tuque Artturi
Lehkonen had his 1st career 2
goal game & added an assist.
Philip Danault who waved to
the Bison tuque (the traffic light was green so he couldn’t stop) also had an
awesome game with 2 goals including
the goal of the year. Jan 5, 2017 The day
after wearing the Bison tuque Malix, a young hockey player & fan won Selfie
of the game (with his dad) at the Bell Centre at the 2017 IIHF World Junior
Hockey Championships. Dec 30, 2017 Matthew
Barzal & Dante Fabbro had previously worn the Bison tuque at the Quebec
Winter Carnival parade in February 2010 & Barzal went on to dominate the
scoring race (details below) at the Quebec PeeWee tournament. Thanks to this previous meeting,
I had the honour of getting in to the VIP family lounge in Toronto after the
Canada Slovakia game to try to help Team Canada in their quest to win Gold at
the 2017 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. 14 players wore the tuque & the success followed. Canada
won its next game 10-2 as Taylor
Raddysh had 4 goals & an assist for 5 points, Dylan Strome had 4 assists,
Kale Clague had 3 assists, Mathieu Joseph had 2 assists & was +3, Matt
Barzal who had worn the tuque in 2010 & whose father wore the tuque after the
Slovakia game had 2 goals & was +4,
Nicolas Roy scored a goal, Dante Fabbro who wore the tuque again &
his father wore the tuque had an assist & was +3, Noah Juulson (Canadiens 1st
round draft pick) had an assist & was +2, Jeremy Lauzon was +2, Julien
Gauthier had a goal & added 2 more goals 2 games later, Thomas Chabot had
an assist & added 2 goals & an assist in his 2 following games. Pierre-Luc Dubois had 2 assists
& had a goal & 2 assists (3 pt per game) in each of his 1st
2 games since returning to Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action & 15
points (9 goals, 6 assists) in 8 games since returning to the Quebec league
after the tournament. He had
only 18 points (6 goals, 12 assists) in 20 games before he wore the tuque at
the tournament. Nov 20 2016 Montreal Canadiens Carey Price rubbed
the tuque again after Tuesday’s game & was incredible with 31 saves on 32
shots in a 2-1 win over Toronto. Nov 12 2016 Montreal Canadiens Phillip Danault
wore the tuque on Oct 24th & scored in his next game. Danault has rubbed the tuque twice
since that game & he has scored a goal after each game he has rubbed the
tuque including a 1st star of the game Thursday Nov 10th
after his tuque rub after Tuesday nights game. Danault has 2 goals & an assist in 2 games since last
Tuesday’s rub. Carey Price’s
tuque rubbing luck continues as well. He rubbed the tuque after the Tampa Bay game Oct 27th
& he was named 1st star in both of his next 2 games allowing 1
goal against on 80 shots against Toronto (1 goal against 38 shots) &
Vancouver (42 save shutout).
Obviously he hasn’t slowed down since either. Radulov, Mitchell have been among other tuque rubbers this
season who have followed up with great production in their next games. Sept 29 2016 Canada was behind 1-0 to
Europe in the 2nd game of the final of the World Cup of hockey with
less than 4 minutes to play in the 3rd period when I rubbed the tuque on the
Canadian players on my television screen. Canada not only tied the game
but also scored a shorthanded goal for 2 goals within less than 3 minutes of
the tuque rub to win the game & the World Cup 2-1. End July Tennis player Daria
Kasatkina (ranked 33rd in the world at 19 years old) wore the tuque Tuesday
evening July 26th after losing her doubles match. In her next 2 singles matchs she
upset 18th ranked Samantha Stosur (7-6, 6-3) & Roberta Vinci,
8th in the world (7-5, 6-3) in straight sets before losing to 2nd
ranked (& currently number 1) Angelique Kerber, who wore the tuque in 2014. End June 2016 Quebec
city singer Bob Bissonnette wore the Bison tuque at a Laval Rouge et Or
football tailgate party in November 2010.
His fan base grew year after year & after setting record crowds year
after year for afternoon shows at Woodstock en Beauce Bissonnette finally made
his goal of playing a show on the big stage in June 2016. April 10, 2016 St
Johns IceCaps defenseman Ryan Johnston was called up for the Montreal Canadiens
last game of the regular season & after playing over 17 minutes @ the Bell
Centre he wore the bison tuque just outside the parking lot after the
game. In his next game less
than 24 hours later back in the AHL at St John’s he got 2 assists & had an
amazing plus-minus of + 6.
Heading into the game Johnston was minus 18 in 34
games with 10 points. Feb 21, 2016 At the Quebec
Pee-Wee hockey tournament Lac St Louis Sud forward Dovar Tinling scored 6 goals
& 8 points in his next 2 games after wearing the tuque. He added 3 goals as Lac St-Louis
won the final to mlead
the tournament with 12 goals & 16 points in 6 games. No other AAA, AA Elites nor A player
had more than 11 points during the tournament. The last 3 times that Max Pacioretty
rubbed the Bison tuque he did not score so it appears as though there is a
limit to the number of successes after tuque rubs or maybe its just a period in
which even rubbing the tuque can’t help. Also we have discovered that although Dale Weise
scores in the game following a tuque rub when he is already hot with a goal in
a game he doesn’t score in his next game if he rubs the tuque right after the
game he has scored in. There
is still nothing scientific.
Just results, usually great results. Jan 30, 2016 Angelique Kerber won her
1st Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open 2016 - 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 vs Serena
Williams. Kerber is now
2nd in the world (career best) in the WTA rankings, another
great career rise since wearing the lucky Bison tuque. Novak Djokovic, qui n'arrête presque pas d'augmenter
son avance dans les classements ATP depuis qu'il a porté la Tuque en Aout 2013
a aussi gagné l'Australian Open dans son 17e final consecutif (le record est 18). Djokovic
est numéro 1 dans les classements ATP depuis Juillet 2014 & mène les
classements par un incroyable 7845 points (16790 vs 8945 pour
Murray & 8975 pour Federer) . Nov 25, 2015 Even though I had seen & spoken
to Devante Smith-Pelly at least a half a dozen times after games since he
joined the Canadiens in 2014-15 season, it was only this past Sunday night
after the game against the New York Islanders that I offered & took his
photo Bison tuque on his head.
Evidently tonight in his next game Smith-Pelly exploded for his
first regular season 2 goal game
since
he joined the NHL in 2011. He
had 1 goal in 21 games heading into the night. Even more impressive, his 2 goals were against the New
York Rangers, the NHL’s number 1 team before the Canadiens took over the
number 1 stop by winning the game.
The Rangers & their goalie Henrik Lundqvist are tops in the NHL with
the least goals against & best save percentage. Nov 23, 2015 After his little rub of the Bison
tuque Monday night after the game Max Pacioretty again scored a goal & an
assist Thursday & scored again Sunday. Dale Weise after having rubbed the tuque Wednesday at
the Montreal Canadiens Blood Donor Clinic also scored a goal Thursday &
added an assist on Friday night (+3 for the 2 games) & even though his goal
Sunday was disallowed because Desharnais (who didn’t touch the puck) was
offside Weise added another assist for 3 points in 3 games. Wednesday when Weise saw my
tuque sitting at the top of my bag he put his hand in & gave it a little
rub while saying "I wanna get hot again". It worked. Tomas Fleischmann who wore the tuque
Wednesday also played 3 great games with 2 goals & a post in his next 3
games. Unfortunately Mike
Condon who saw me & said “I
think I need to rub the tuque again” just before giving it a rub
Wednesday didn't have as much succes Thursday as he had after his first 2
tuquages. Nov 7, 2015 Tomas Plekanec scored 2 goals in his
next game earning 2nd star of the game honours after rubbing the
tuque Thursday night (although his 2nd goal was disallowed even
though Gallagher was pushed into the Boston goalie). Mike Condon was great again stopping 29 of 31 shots
as 3rd star of the game in a 4-2 win over Boston & earning 3rd
star of the week in the NHL.
Also Dale Weise once again got hot with a goal a game (Tues & Thurs) in
his next 2 games after rubbing the Bison tuque to become the 3rd
leading scorer in the NHL. Oct 25, 2015 After Tuesday
night’s win against St. Louis I waited for the players by the garage as I
sometimes do after games.
When he came out of the garage I gave a thumbs up to Max Pacioretty to
let him know great game. He
then signaled me with his finger to go see him so I went around to the other
side of his car & I knowing what he wanted I said ‘Things are going so well
you don’t need any good luck.’ He
then said ‘Yes, I do’ so I let him give the tuque another rub & success
followed as usual. – a goal & an
assist in each of his next 2 games, 4 points total - Oct 23 & 24th. Mike Condon also rubbed the tuque
& stopped 49 of his next 51 shots. Oct 2, 2015 In his
next game after rubbing the tuque in preseason Dale Weise got
the gamewinning goal & Mike Condon in his 1st game after wearing
the Tuque got the win with a shutout. Weise scored again in each of his next game for 3
goals in 3 games.
Vaclav Karabacek (Baie Comeau – QMJHL) also scored in his next game after
wearing the tuque. Summer 2015 – Less than a month
after wearing the bison tuque Kevin Anderson has now won 9 straight matchs
including 5 straight with his 1st
tournament championship in more than 3 years in North Carolina & 4 straight now at the US Open including a
4 set upset victory over 3rd ranked Andy Murray. Murray had defeated Anderson 4 straight
times in the past 15 months before Anderson’s recent win after wearing the
tuque. Anderson later rose
to a career-high 10th in the ATP rankings. Right before his 2nd round
match in Montreal Jack Sock rubbed the tuque for good luck & Sock
went on to defeat Grigor Dimitrov & Ivo
Karlovic wore the tuque not long before winning over Canadian Milos Raonic,
both upsets coming against higher ranked players. Right before their ball hockey game at
the Rogers Cup tennis tournament Lars Eller rubbed the tuque & Antoine
Roussel wore the tuque.
Eller scored 3 goals & Roussel had 2 goals in the game. May 13, 2015 This time
I didn’t need to run far to have Carey & Max rub the tuque. With the light green when
Carey Price arrived at the corner of De la Montagne I ran to again catch him at
the next light but Carey saw me, slowed down & with no cars behind him he
stopped the car & opened his window to rub the tuque before closing the
window & driving off. As
he was leaving I told him "Great game, We got 'em in 7." He knows that the tuque rub in
the past guaranteed a great game.
Same thing for Max. I
missed Max when he was signing & posing for photos with fans between the
garage & the red light.
I realized it was Max just in time & even though the light turned
green & he started driving I yelled "Max" & he saw me. He stopped (even though the
light was red) & he opened his window to rub the tuque. Mission accomplished. As usual Pacioretty
scored a goal in game 6 but for the 1st time Carey’s stats were not as
great as usual after a tuque rub, although the goals allowed were not his
fault. May 1, 2015 Carey
Price, Max Pacioretty, Tom Gilbert & Dale Weise all rubbed the tuque after
last Friday’s loss & Carey
Price was incredible with a 43 save shutout & stopped 76 of his next 77
shots (including last night’s game). Pacioretty had a goal in each of his next 2 games. Gilbert & Weise were also
very solid as the Canadiens won in Ottawa 2-0 to win the series 4 games to 2
& in the 1st game of the Tampa series which Montreal outplayed
Tampa in spite of the 2-1 double overtime loss on a goal that should have been
ruled offside. Since his 1st
NHL shutout after his photo with the tuque Carey Price has now rubbed the tuque
8 times with exceptional results lasting many games. Here is the result in the very next game after Carey Price
has rubbed the tuque - April 26,
2015 - Shutout, April 19 - 1 GA, March 14 - 1 GA, Jan 31, 2015 - Shutout, Dec
18, 2014 - 2 GA, Oct 25/14 - 1 GA, Feb 8/14 - 1 GA (before being incredible on
the way to Olympic gold), Jan 28/14 - Shutout, Photo beside tuque – Feb 16,
2008 - 1st NHL Shutout.
That’s 4 shutouts, 4 games with only 1 goal against & 1 game with 2
goals against. The good luck
usually continues for at least a few games. Pacioretty also has
great success after rubbing the tuque. April 26, 2015 – 1Goal, April 19 – 0, March 30 – 1G,
March 12 – 2G, Feb 21 – 2G, Jan 31,2015 – 1G, Feb 25, 2013 – 1Assist (but
player of week following with 4 goals, 3 assists in 4 games) Jan 7, 2009 after wearing the tuque –
1Assist April 23, 2015 Carey Price rubbed the tuque again for good luck &
once again responded with 2 great games allowing only 1 goal per game in his
next 2 games stopping 64 of the next 66 shots. Max rubbed the tuque again too but his results for the
first time were not as good as usual. March 30, 2015 Max
Pacioretty again. As he came out
of the Bell Centre garage Saturday night Max saw me & drove his car right
up to where I was. He rolled down
the window & said “Gimme a rub” in reference to wanting to rub the tuque
again. This time Max only
scored once. Not bad still. March 15, 2015 Tuesday
night March 10th, after the game against Tampa Bay, Max Pacioretty
(as drove out of the Bell Centre garage) again stopped to rub the Bison tuque
for good luck & once again in his next game (this time within less
than 9 minutes of play) Pacioretty scored 2 goals earning 3rd star
of the game honours. Pacioretty
scored another goal at 2:13 of the 2nd
period in his next game to be named 2nd star of the game.
After giving up a rare 5 goals Thursday night, the 12th,
Carey Price rubbed the tuque again for good luck. In his next game Saturday night the 14th he shut
out the New York Islanders for over 57 minutes before New York finally scored
on a 6 on 4 (powerplay & empty net). Price finished the game with 35 saves on 36 shots in a 3-1 win to
earn 1st star honours.
Alex Galchenyuk, who also rubbed the tuque after the game Thursday night
also had a great game with a beautiful pass as he got an assist on Montreal’s 1st
goal. Connor McDavid also continues
his awesome season after having his photo with the tuque in August 2014. McDavid has 42 goals & 112 points in only 44
games (2.55 points per game) with Erie in the Ontario Hockey League. March 1, 2015 Last
Friday, Feb 20th @ Montreal’s High Lights Festival Max Pacioretty
& David Desharnais were present for an hour for autographs &
photos. I couldn’t miss the
opportunity to help the Habs win their next game (especially since it was my
annual group game with 43 people to be present) . I waited to see
the players & after having a photo with them & even before I had a
chance to ask Max said “I don’t think David’s rubbed the tuque for good luck
recently.” Max
& David then both proceeded to rub the tuque for good luck & Max scored 2:29
into the 1st period & again less than 12 minutes later with
David getting an assist leading Montreal to a 3-1 win over Columbus &
Pacioretty was named with NHL 3rd star of the week honours. Since that tuque rub
Pacioretty has 3 goals, 2 assists & is +5 in 4 games & Desharnais has 2
goals, 2 assists & is +8 in 4 games. They had both previously worn the tuque for a photo so
a tuque rub is the norm when someone has already had their photo with it. The tuquerubbing moment was
also captured for this past week’s Episode 21 of 24CH. Feb 18, 2015 After the team’s practice January 30th, Carey
Price rubbed the tuque again for good luck & followed it up as 1st
star of his next game with 36 saves (against Washington) for another shutout
& he also earned the NHL’s 1st star of the week honours. In his 7 games following his
tuque rub Carey gave up only 8 goals stopping 182 of 190 shots (Save %
.958). Max Pacioretty rubbed
the tuque again just before the practice & he scored the
game’s only goal in overtime.
Jan 17, 2015
During the warmup before tonight’s Canadiens –
New York Islanders game I took a closeup of PK Subban & the tuque together
from the reds just behind the net.
PK
scored the game’s 1st goal 1 minute & 56 seconds into the 1st
period. Andrei Markov
was also in the photo. He had 3
assists in the game & I also got Pleky in a shot with the tuque during the
warmup. He had 2 goals &
2 assists. Jan 11, 2015 Stephanie Croteau after rubbing the bison rubbing the bison
tuque in December scored 3 goals & 2 assists in her next 3 games with the
Champlain Rapides (South Shore league) & the Aeros (ASHL league). After wearing the tuque about a
year earlier she felt extra energy & skated better than ever & played
great although she didn’t get any points immediately after. Jan 6, 2015 Actor Marc
Primeau became an official ACTRA member after only 4 months of apprenticeship
not long after wearing the Bison tuque after 4 years of trying to get into
ACTRA. He also got a part in
the series 19-2 & in the sci-fi show Helix not long after his tuquage. Jan 5, 2015 18 out of 22
players from Team Canada’s gold medal
winning World Junior hockey championship team had their photo taken with
the bison tuque. Connor McDavid
& others were redhot since having their photo with the tuque & easily
put an end to Canada’s 5 year goldless streak. Canada completely dominated the tournament going
undefeated & outscoring its opponents 34-5 & doubling them in shots by
an average of 40-19 heading into the final. Jan 4, 2015 Carey Price rubbed the tuque again once again
just outside the Bell Centre parking lot after Montreal defeated Carolina on
Dec 16th. He then won 5 of his next 6 games
(the last were 4 road wins) making 162 saves on 170 shots (.953 save %). Price was 1st star
twice & 2nd star once in those games. Brandon Prust rubbed the tuque again for good luck too a few
minutes before Carey & he played awesome in his next few games adding one
of his rare
goals a few nights later.
Prust had previously snapped a 12 game goal-less streak in the next game
right after he wore the tuque. Nov 8, 2014 In his 2nd game after having worn the Bison tuque
Olivier Ouellette (Repentigny Bruins – bantam B) got his first points of the
season (in his 8th game) with a goal & 2 assists in a 5-4 win Sat Nov 8th
over Crabtree, the team in first place.
Oct 29, 2014 Tuesday night
October 21st after the Detroit game Carey Price opened his car
window as he stopped at the red light (Saint Antoine & De la Montagne) just
outside the Bell Centre parking lot & he gave the Bison tuque a little rub
once again for good luck.
Carey then stopped 74 of the next 76 shots he faced & was named 1st
star in his next 2 games (vs NYR & Calg). He made 34 saves on 35 shots in a 3-1 victory
over the New York Rangers on Saturday night, then Tuesday night he stopped
40 of 41 shots in a 2-1 win @ Calgary (including 3 of 3 in the shootout). Montreal had
been outshot 38-19 during the game. It was the first time Montreal won @ Calgary in over
10 years. Below you
can see other successes of Carey after rubbing the tuque. J
July 2014 In August
2012 at the Rogers Cup in Montreal Eugenie Bouchard had
the honour of wearing the bison tuque. She has played awesome tennis ever since &
exploded up the rankings. At the
time she wore the tuque she was ranked 237th in the world. In 2013 she was named WTA newcomer of
the year ending the season ranked
32nd & this week, less than 2 years later Eugenie moved
into 7th in the WTA rankings making history as the highest
ranked Canadian female ever in addition to being the first to make a Grand Slam
final. March 7, 2014 At the Quebec
International Pee-Wee Hockey tournament in Quebec city I saw the Detroit Red
Wings’ Todd Bertuzzi, who was there during the Olympic break to see his son
playing in the tournament.
Evidently I took the NHL player’s photo with the Bison tuque on his head
& told him it would give him good luck but when I realized that Detroit’s
next game was in Montreal I went back to see him & I said ‘Todd. 1 goal is
ok against us but please don’t score more than 1’. Bertuzzi scored the only goal of the game (at 14:01 of the
1st period), his 1st goal & 2nd point in his past
19 games & he was well on his way to being the first star of the game when
Brian Gionta finally tied up the game with only 29 seconds left to play &
Montreal’s goalie on the bench for a 6th attacker. Detroit scored in overtime to win the game 2-1 so I’m sorry
but the Canadiens loss was my fault. Bertuzzi followed that up with another
goal in his next game giving him 2 goals in 2 games since wearing the
tuque. 3 days later Bertuzzi
added another 2 assists.
It was only the 2nd time in over 2 years that Bertuzzi had 2
goals & 2 assists in a 4 game stretch. Feb 23, 2014 Montreal Canadiens’
forward Brandon Prust wore the Bison tuque for the first time at the Montreal
Auto Show in January
& scored in his next game, his first goal in his past 13 games. Carey Price who
rubbed the Tuque a few seconds after Prust wore it had
a shutout in his next game to end a 5 game sequence where he had allowed at
least 4 goals per game (21 goals against in 5 games). In his next game the only goal Price allowed was by P.K.
Subban who put it in his own net before a goal in overtime, giving Price 70
saves on 71 shots (only PK beat him) for a save percentage of .986 immediately
after having rubbed the bison tuque. Price continued his great play with 102 saves on his
next 106 shots faced (%.962) including another shutout. After his win at the Bell Centre
against Vancouver Price stopped his vehicule as he was leaving the parking lot
after the game to rub the tuque again for good luck with 1 game left before the
Olympics. Price stopped 31
of 32 shots (%.969) in another Canadiens’ win in Carolina & he was nearly
perfect in Sochi in winning best goalie of the tournament honours & the
gold medal with Team Canada. His opponents
only scored 3 times in 5 games at the Olympics. 103 saves on 106 shots (%.972) including 2 shutouts in the
most important games, the semifinal against the USA & the final against
Sweden. Feb 23, 2014 At the Quebec International Pee-Wee hockey
tournament in Quebec city many players wore the tuque & success
followed in many cases. Xavier
Parent, Samuel Poulin & other players of the team representing
Blainville-Boisbriand helped the team win
the AAA category. Long
Island Stars & other teams also did well after their players wore the
tuque. Feb 9, 2014 At the Scotties Tournament of Hearts womens Canadian curling
championship tournament at Montreal’s Maurice Richard arena I got photos of
curlers from 3 Canadian teams wearing or holding the tuque. Rachel Homan’s team (Team Canada)
won the tournament to advance to the world championships with a perfect 13-0
record, the first time in
29 years that a team went undefeated for the whole tournament. Val Sweeting’s Alberta team which
faced Canada in the final won
4 straight games after Sweeting wore the tuque before losing in the final
including 2 wins against Manitoba (the 2nd place team in the
roundrobin standings). 4th
place Alberta surprised 3rd place Saskatchewan in the 3 vs 4 game & then
Alberta surprised Manitoba in the semifinal to earn its spot in the final. After a bad start to the
tournament Ontario team members wore the Bison tuque & some good wins
followed (including a 12-2 win & another win over Alberta before Sweeting
had worn the tuque. Feb 8, 2014 When friends from Alberta were in Montreal visiting during
Super Bowl weekend I took a day off work on Friday January 28th to see the
Canadiens practice with them in Brossard.
Ryan White (who had already worn the tuque) rubbed the tuque for good
luck. As soon as he was back from
his injury, after a warmup game, White scored 2 goals & added
an assist in his next 2 games. Feb 2, 2014 The night the Alberta friends arrived (Thursday January 27th)
we went for dinner & to see the Canadiens Bruins game at the Cage aux
Sports. At the table next to us
there was a nice man from Manitoba & his 8 year old son Eric. I took a photo of each of them
with the tuque on their head.
Sunday as I was waiting in line for the doors to open before the Habs
game against the Jets I saw they were both there too. Mr. Lafleche informed me that his son had won the
right to ride the zamboni while it was cleaning the ice during the intermission
of Saturday’s game. Once
again the tuque had brought someone some good luck. Jan 26, 2014 At Montreal’s Snow festival at Jean-Drapeau park during the Foundation
David Suzuki’s ‘Protect
our winters’ hockey game former Montreal Canadien Georges Laraque had still
not scored after 1 period of play.
He had already worn the tuque in 2011 so I yelled to Georges to come
over & rub the tuque for good luck.
He did & he scored not long after & had 4 goals & 1 assist
in the next 2 periods.
Jerome Dupras of the Cowboys Fringants (Quebec’s best musical group)
rubbed the tuque also before the game & he was brilliant in goal but Jerome
is always brilliant in goal. Nov 22, 2013 At the Montreal Canadiens blood donor clinic Travis Moen once
again rubbed the Bison tuque for good luck & in his next game he scored his 1st
goal in 47 games. Ryan White
& Michael Bournival who also gave the tuque a rub on Wednesday each had an
assist on Moen’s goal.
Players that have previously worn the tuque for a photo give it a rub
for good luck instead of wearing it again. Daniel Brière who got off to a terrible
start to his season with only 1 point in his first 5 games after refusing a
photo with the bison tuque this summer, had his photo taken beside the Tuque at
the clinic & he also scored a goal Friday. Nov 8, 2013 Melanie
Perreault wore the Bison tuque Thurs Nov 7 at Kain’s CD launch. The very next night, during the Bon
Jovi concert at the Bell Centre, Jon Bon Jovi, her favourite musician &
IDOL (love since her childhood) bent down & gave her directly his guitar
pick with his most beautiful smile.
It will evidently be framed. J Nov 4, 2013 Canadian
tennis player Peter Polansky exploded in the world rankings after having worn
the Bison tuque just like Milos Raonic, Vasek Pospisil, Eugenie Bouchard &
others. Polansky wore
the tuque during the Rogers Cup in August. Since September Polansky has won 3 Challenger tournaments
& just lost in the final of a 4th tournament. He has climbed to 150th in the ATP rankings. Nov 1, 2013 Dallas Stars Tyler Seguin had his
photo taken beside the Bison tuque late in the 3rd period of
Tuesday’s game in Montreal. Two
nights later Seguin had a
goal & an assist & earned the 1st star of the game. August 12, 2013 At
the 2013 Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Montreal Alex Bogomolov Jr. (ranked 83rd
in the world) proudly wore the
Bison tuque for a photo & in his next match he
upset the 3rd ranked player in the world David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4. Canadians Milos Raonic &
Vasek Pospisal had already worn the Bison tuque so I didn’t need to take
another photo but they each rubbed the tuque for good luck before most of their
matches & Pospisal won 4 matchs (including upsets over 20th
ranked John Isner & 6th ranked Tomas Berdych) to make it to the
semifinal & Raonic won 5 matchs advancing to the final before finally
losing to 4th ranked Rafael Nadal. Since wearing the tuque during the
Davis Cup in midSeptember 2012 in Montreal Pospisal has climbed in 11 months from
120th in the ATP rankings to a career high 40th after
the Rogers Cup. Milos Raonic
as noted below climbed from
691st in August 2009 when he wore the tuque to a career high 10th
in the ATP rankings after the 2013 Rogers Cup. August 12, 2013 Baseball
player Zackary Ruel wore the Bison tuque during a Quebec Capitales game in
midJuly. He then went on a
tear with 6 hits in his next 7 at bats in his next 3 Timbits’ games. 2 for 2 (2 rbis), 2 for 3, 2 for
2, 1 rbi. August 3, 2013 Vancouver
Canucks forward Alexander Burrows had his photo taken with the Bison tuque
during halftime of a fun celebrity
ball hockey game at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament. Less than a minute later Burrows
scored a goal. May 2013 Andrew Waines has been the rhythm guitarist for the group Jordan McIntosh since April 2013. He wore the bison tuque in April
2010. March 14, 2013 Jonathan
Drouin of the Halifax Mooseheads wore the Bison tuque in January 2013. Before the day he wore the tuque he had
20 goals & 31 assists for 51 points in 26 games (1.96 Pt/gm). In his next 21 games he scored 21
goals & added 32 assists for 53 points (2.52 Pt/gm) to take over the QMJHL
scoring lead with 104 points in 47 games. March 6, 2013 Goalie Dustin Tokarski wore the Bison tuque after the
Hamilton Bulldogs (Canadiens farm club in the AHL) game at the Bell Centre on
February 22nd, 2013. Tokarski then stopped 77 of the
next 78 shots he faced (save percentage of .987) including 2 straight shutouts
in his next 3 games. March 4, 2013 Max Pacioretty had already worn the Bison
tuque after a Canadiens game on January
4th, 2009 so when I saw him after the Canadiens practice in Brossard on Feb
23, 2013 instead of taking another photo with the Tuque on his head I simply
asked him if he wanted to pat it for good luck. In effect Max gave the tuque a little pat &
quick rub & a little over a week later he became the 1st
star of the week in the NHL with 7 points (including 4 goals) in 4 games
& Montréal, 8-0-3 in its last 11 games has the 4th best record (14-4-4) in
the NHL. March 4, 2013 During the NHL lockout Corey Crawford played
a game
in late September (with proceeds going to charity) in his hometown Chateauguay,
Qc. The Bison tuque was there
& after the game I had a
chance to get a photo of Crawford with the bison tuque. Is it a coincidence that Crawford is 2nd
in the NHL in save percentage at an incredible
.945 & leads
the NHL in goals against average (1.41). Chicago has now gone an NHL record 22 games with at
least a point to start the season. March 4, 2013 During the NHL lockout in December I also
went to see some women’s hockey games (Montreal Stars). Most of the Montreal team wore
the bison tuque after the 1st game I went to see. Leading up to that game in December
Montreal had a record of 3-3-1 in it’s league. As of that day when the players wore the tuque Montreal
has 12 wins & only 2 losses (by 66 – 27) for
a record of 15-5-1. The
game after the Stars wore the tuque was an exhibition game against Les Boys
(10-9 shootout win for Montreal). Dominique Thibault scored 4 goals in the game,
the same number of goals that she has in 18 regular season games. Haley Irwin & Ann-Sophie Bettez
both had 3 points in the game after wearing the tuque. Feb 24, 2013 For the 3rd
consecutive year (since we started going to the Quebec International PeeWee
Hockey tournament) the Bison tuque is proud of PeeWee players that had their
picture taken with her on their head. Kyle Peters (Philadelphia Flyers) had 2 goals
& 3 assists in his next 2 games after wearing the tuque (including the
winner in overtime) & Zach Egber scored 4 goals in his next 3 games for
Philadelphia. Their team
lost 3-2 in the semi-final with less than 2 minutes to play against the
eventual champions Minuteman.
Egber, Peters (with 6 points for 1.5 points per game) & Mattias
Samuelsson (5 points) were near the top of the leading
point-getters of the tournament. Other PeeWee players also played very well
after wearing the tuque during this year’s edition of the tournament. Nov 23, 2012 After wearing the Bison
tuque following University of Laval Rouge et Or’s final football game of the
2012 regular season injuries to the team’s top runningbacks led Maxime Boutin
to a bigger role on the team & he has been on fire ever since. In his 1st game in a
prime role after wearing the tuque Boutin responded
with 119 yards on 6 carries (average of 19.8 yards) as Laval won the Quebec league Dunsmore Cup
final 40-17 over Sherbrooke. He
followed that up with what was then a career high performance of 213
yards on 25 carries (average of over 8.5 yards), also receiving 3 passes for 30
more yards in
Laval’s 42-7 Uteck Bowl win over Acadia earning most valuable player (MVP) of
the game honours. He was
once again the MVP as Laval destroyed number 1 ranked McMaster 37-14 to win the
Vanier Cup. Boutin beat his
previous week’s career high with 253
yards (an average of 10.5 yards per carry) & 2 touchdowns & added
another 22 yards on a reception. His 253 yards was only 7
short of the Vanier Cup record.
Most of his offence was when it counted the most with 207
yards on his 1st 14 carries (14.8 average) in the 1st 3
quarters helping Laval to a 31-14 lead. Almost all Laval Rouge et Or players have worn the
Bison tuque. The photos are all on
the Picasa website. Nov 17, 2012 Ricky Stenhouse Jr has won 2 straight NASCAR Nationwide
series car racing championships (2011& 2012) since wearing the Bison tuque in Montreal
in 2010. J Nov 12, 2012 Canadian tennis player
Milos Raonic has quickly climbed the ATP singles rankings since wearing the
Bison tuque in Montreal on August 9th, 2009. He went from
691st in the world at the moment he put the tuque
on his head to 37th
within a year & a half.
Raonic is now ranked 13th in men’s tennis (best in Canadian
history). Nov 9, 2012 2 nights after 18 Quebec
Major Junior Hockey League players put the Tuque on their heads for good luck,
the team ended its 5 game losing streak against the Russian Junior All-star
team exploding for 5
goals in a 5-2 win in Val d’Or.
Nathan MacKinnon (1
goal, 3 assists, +2) & Jonathan Huberdeau (2 goals, 1 assist, +2) led the
way less than 48 hours after having the tuque on their heads. Huberdeau followed that up with 4 assists in his next
regular season game (7
points in 2 games after wearing the tuque). MacKinnon had 2 assists in his next
game (6 points in 2
games) & goalie Zachary Fucale stopped 20 of 21 shots in the same game
(Halifax’s 5-1 win in Gatineau).
That exact same Russian team defeated Quebec 6-2 right before the Quebec
players wore the tuque & in its next 4 games Russia
only allowed 5 goals total in
regulation time (barely over a goal a game) going 2-1-1 against the Western
Hockey League & Ontario Hockey League all-star teams. Halifax goalie Zachary
Fucale also had a great game right after wearing the tuque stopping 20 of 21 shots
in a 5-1 win in Gatineau. ***Update April 28, 2013
– Since
the NHL lockout Huberdeau is playing with Florida & finished the season as
the top
rookie point-getter in the NHL with 31 points (48 games). Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal
Canadiens is the favourite for rookie of the year. He finished just 3 points back of Huberdeau with 28
points (44 games in less than 14
minutes playing time per game) & was among the rookie leaders in +/- at +10. Gallagher wore the Bison tuque
after a Hamilton Bulldogs game at the Bell Centre also in November. The
Tuque is proud of them all. J Sept 2012 Canadian tennis player Alexandra Wozniak
(ranked 55th at the time) had lost all 4 matchs against Jelena Jankovic
before wearing the bison tuque.
Less than 2 days after she wore the tuque in August 2012 Wozniak
destroyed 13th ranked Jankovic 6-2, 6-3 at
Montreal’s Rogers Cup tennis tournament. It was her 1st win over a top 20 player in
almost 3 years (20 straight losses). Wozniak also won her 3rd round match
against 26th ranked Christine McHale becoming the 1st
Canadian woman to advance to the Canadian tournament quarterfinals in 20 years.
She eventually lost in the quarters to 8th ranked Caroline Wozniacki
but continued her great play advancing to the quarterfinals in her next
tournament in Dallas.
Wozniak shot up to 42nd
in the WTA rankings before an injury in September
in Quebec City ended her season. Jan 30, 2012 Not long after wearing the Bison
tuque actor Emmanuel Bilodeau scored 3 goals to lead the blue team to a win
over the green team in the Quebec Winter Carnival’s David Suzuki Protect our
winters hockey game.
Teammate Maxim Martin also racked up a lot of points not long after
wearing the tuque.
Later at night the Quebec Remparts were edged by Victoriaville 6-5 but
it was a great effort as Quebec was playing its 3rd game in 3 nights. Jeremie Malouin (2
goals, 1 assist) & Gabriel Desjardins (1 goal, 2 assists) each had 3 points
for Quebec less than 24
hours after they had their photos with the Bison tuque. Victoriaville
hadn’t played since last Wednesday. Jan 15, 2012 Last night after the Montreal
Canadiens game at the Bell Centre I bought a Mike Cammalleri stuffed doll &
then went to the Cage aux Sports to watch the 2nd half of the LA at
Calgary game with some people from Alberta. I put the Bison tuque on the doll’s head for some
luck. 2 shifts later Cammy
scored his 1st goal for Calgary since his trade. Jan 4, 2012 What a great game
tonight for players who had their pictures taken with the Bison tuque yesterday. I'm very proud of Lars Eller for his 4 goals & 1
assist for 5 points tonight.
He was also +4 & the 1st star of the game (in less than 16 minutes
of icetime) after having had his photo with the Bison tuque yesterday morning
after the Montreal Canadiens practice in Brossard. 4 goals!!!! And what
an awesome goal on the penalty shot. Eller is hot. Michael Cammalleri & Tomas Kaberle also had their
photos with the Bison tuque yesterday and they scored too. For Kaberle it was
his 1st goal with the Canadiens. Travis Moen (who had 2 goals & was the 2nd
star after having worn the Bison tuque on November 22nd against Toronto) rubbed
the Tuque yesterday and he had 3 assists tonight. Alexei Emelin wore the tuque
yesterday too and he was +3 in the game.
Dec 8, 2011 You may wonder what happened to Jose Theodore. He was one the NHL’s best
goalies from 1999 to 2004 (including his MVP & Vezina trophy winning season
in 2001-02 in which he had one of the best
save percentages in NHL history at .931). The lockout followed in 2005 and Theodore was
mostly terrible from 2006 to 2010.
With Minnesota last season he was pretty good but after having his
picture with the Bison tuque this summer at a Blink182 concert at the Bell
Centre Theodore has been one
of the NHL’s best goalies with a .929 save percentage with Florida in the
2011-12 season including a 40 save shutout last
night against Boston.
When I told him at that concert that I believed he’d have another good
season he surprised me by telling me that he was old & washed up. I told him that the Tuque brings
people good luck. He wanted
to share the luck with his nephew so I took a picture of both of them with the
Bison tuque. Whether
or not Theodore was joking about being washed up I wasn’t joking about the good
luck and Theodore is now once again one of the NHL’s best. I haven’t had news
about how his nephew is doing but I’m sure he’s having a great season too. Oct 24, 2011 Congratulations to Peter Budaj who in
his first game after he wore the Bison tuque he was brilliant with 29 saves on 31 shots to earn 2nd star
of the game honours. During the 3rd period of the
same game Dean, Papa of the Bison tuque won Fan of the game honours while
dancing with the Bison tuque on his head. J Oct 22, 2011 Other success stories will be added when I have more time. Dec 5, 2010 Like Carey Price in February, 2008 Jimmy Appleby of the Quebec Remparts
had a shutout (4-0)
in the first game he played following his tuquage. Oct 3, 2010 Montreal (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) player Louis Leblanc scored
2 goals & 2
assists for 4 points, +3 & was named 1st star in
his next game after wearing the Bison tuque. Philippe Fontaine (1 goal, 1 assist, +1)
was the 3rd star in
the same game, also less than 48 hours after having worn the tuque. Leblanc has
3 goals & 5 assists for 8 points (an average of 4 points per game) in the 2
games after a member of his line wore the bison tuque & only 29
points (1.07 points per game = 13 goals 16 assists) in the 27 games
(updated Jan 16) after no member of his line wore the tuque. Sept 12, 2010 Montreal Junior (QMJHL) player Philippe Lefebvre was the 1st star in his next
game after wearing the Bison tuque scoring 4 goals & adding 1
assist for 5 points. April 2010 Steven Stamkos had his photo with the bison tuque during the All-star
weekend in Montreal in January 2009. At the time he had only 6 goals in 45 games (.13 goals
per game). After that special
moment Stamkos
quadrupled his goal production with 17 goals over his next 34 games &
he’s been a top scorer ever since winning the Rocket Richard trophy for most
goals 2 of the next 3 seasons (sharing it with Crosby in 2009-10 with 51 goals,
finishing 2nd with 45 goals in 10-11 & winning it easily with 60
goals, 10 more than Malkin in 11-12). April, 2010 Montreal Junior hockey player Trevor Parkes scored 4 goals in 3 games
after wearing the Bison Tuque. Kevin Poulin of Victoriaville was named 1st,
2nd & 1st star (with 56 saves on his next 58 shots
& 85 saves on the next 90 shots) in the 3 games following wearing the bison
tuque. February, 2010 8 members of the Burnaby Winter Club hockey team wore the bison tuque
Saturday Feb 14 at the Quebec Winter Carnival parade. At the Quebec
International PeeWee tournament Burnaby had a perfect record of 6
wins 0 losses before losing Sunday's final against Detroit 1-0, the only goal
coming with less than a minute to go. Congratulations Burnaby! 2nd place out of
56 teams. Burnaby also had the top
2 pointgetters in the tournament, Mathew Barzal (6 years later drafted in the 1st
round of the NHL entry draft) & Justin Szeto with 22 pt & 15 pt
respectively in 7 games. The link for the players pictures is just below. Saturday Dec 26, 2009 Gabriel Bourque of Team Canada
juniors scored
a record 7 points in Canada's first regular World Junior Hockey Championship
game after wearing the bison tuque immediately following his last game with
his Baie Comeau junior team right before the tournament. Thursday March 26, 2009 Emmanuel of the Escouade Family
Zone at the Bell Centre for the Montreal Canadiens games told me his success
story after having worn the Bison Tuque. He buys coffee about once
every other day. Emmanuel before having worn the bison tuque earlier in
the season had bought 30 coffees in a row during Tim Horton’s “Roll up the rim
to win” contest without having won. Immediately following the game
in which he wore the tuque Emmanuel bought a coffee and won instantly a free
coffee. He told me actually that he won 3 coffees in a row right after
wearing the tuque. 0 for 30 before wearing the tuque then 3 coffees
in a row after. The Bison Tuque has once again helped
someone. J Tuesday January 6, 2009 The game after that meeting (his first with the tuque this season with
Montreal) Angelo had 6 points. The
3 big winners at the 2008 Quebec music ADISQ awards all had proudly worn the
bison tuque. Karkwa,
Ariane Moffatt & Alfa Rococo won 2 awards each at the show Sunday Nov 1st
at the Bell Centre.
Karkwa also won 2 awards at the other gala a week earlier. In 2005 Les Cowboys Fringants won for song of the year & album of
the year after being the first members of a major musical group to wear the
bison tuque. Chris Higgins of the Montreal Canadiens’ 3 goals against Ottawa on
November 11th (his 1st career NHL hat trick-no pun intended) came less than a week after he had
his photo with the bison tuque. Alex Tanguay & Tomas
Plekanec also recently had a streak of super games following their photos with
the bison tuque. Another
NHL player to have an incredible hot streak following his recent photo with the
bison tuque is Teemu Selanne. On Saturday October 25th after the
Anaheim Ducks practice at the Bell Centre Selanne tentatively posed for a
picture with the tuque after hearing previous success stories. Selanne
went on to score a goal in an Anaheim win over Montreal (the Canadiens only
regular season regulation time loss at the time) & over his next 3 games
Selanne had 6 more goals and 2 assists for 8 more points & earned the NHL’s first
star of the week. Alexander Semin of the Washington Capitals at the same time was named
the NHL’s player of the
month for October (9 games – 8 goals, 8 assists = 16 points to lead the NHL
& +/- of + 7. Semin proudly wore the bison tuque during Russia’s World Championship victory
celebrations in May in Quebec City. In his next NHL games Semin was
redhot and led the NHL with 27
points, just ahead of Evgeni Malkin (24 points – Malkin also had worn the bison
tuque). Semin also
led the NHL in +/- with a + 17 & il était 1e
en buts avec 13. Dominic Coulombe (Anatole Eugene in the Cowboys Fringants Forum) proudly
wore the bison tuque. As spokesperson for the Patro of Lévis for the TV
show L'union fait la force he helped lead his team to 5 straight wins
(0 losses) to win $5000 for the organisation. On
Easter Sunday in 2008 defenseman Francis Bouillon of the Montreal Canadiens
proudly wore the tuque for a photo and during the game the next night (Easter
Monday) Bouillon scored his second goal of the season in a Canadiens win over
Ottawa. He was also +1 with 3 bodychecks, 3 blocked shots & earned
the 2nd star of the game (the 2nd time during the 2007-08
season that Bouillon was one of the games 3 stars). Josh Gorges was the first Montreal Canadien to wear the tuque (Canadiens
Blood Donor Clinic February 2007) soon after joining the Canadiens in a
trade. Not long after
wearing the tuque Gorges went from being the Canadiens 7th
defenseman to one of the team’s key regulars (and with Andrei Markov injured
Gorges has been the Canadiens best defenseman). There
are also many success stories from the 2008 World IIHF Hockey Championships in
Quebec City. There are also unfortunately bad luck stories following a
player’s refusal to appear in a photo with the tuque. Goalie Cam Ward lost the Gold for
Canada blowing a 4-2 3rd period lead, giving up 5 goals on 32 shots
as Canada lost 5-4 in overtime to Russia in the 2008 World Hockey Championships
in Quebec city after Canada had
dominated the tournament. In
other bad luck stories – While other Team North America players were proud to wear
the Bison tuque at the airport after an North America Europe exhibition game in
Montreal in September, Aaron Ekblad wanted nothing to do with the tuque (did
not want to wear it & did not want a photo next to the tuque) & he
later got injured in his team’s 1st tournament game & he had to
miss the whole World Cup of Hockey in addition to a part of the preseason. Canadiens’ backup goalie Al Montoya had a .893 save
percentage in his next 2 games (8 goals against on 75 shots) after refusing
a photo with the tuque. I will add
more bison tuque stories soon. UPDATES – March 23, 2016 – I add
photos usually the same night I take them or maximum one week from the date
unless it’s nonstop festival time or if I’m out of town. Sept 7, 2015 – All up to
date again. Aug 17, 2015
Again the website is up to date with recent summer photos. I’ve been adding them weekly or nightly
depending on if I am in Montreal.
March 13, 2015 Up to
date. Every time I get
new photos I put them on the website.
Once again, Montreal Canadiens, Quebec city PeeWee hockey tournament,
Canada’s best junior hockey players including Connor McDavid (before they went
on to win gold at the World Junior Hockey Championships in December 2014), all
have been added to the website.
The photos are all up to date. July 30, 2014 – Over 60 photos from St-Jean
Baptiste till now have been added. Feb/March/April/May/June
2014 – over a hundred new photos have been added including Brigitte Boisjoli,
Mixmania, Joey Scarpellini, Montreal Canadiens Brandon Prust, Detroit’s Todd
Bertuzzi, former NHL players like Rob Blake, Mark Recchi, Stephane Richer,
player agent Pat Brisson & over a dozen success stories. Jan 20, Jan 14, Jan
7,2014, Dec 15,2013 & Nov 17 –
Updated again. Oct 31
– Haley Wickenheiser & many others have been added. Oct 16 - The latest photos have been added once again. Sept 18 – Photos of George Takei (Star Trek), Christopher
Lloyd (Back to the future, Taxi, etc), Joe Mastroianni (Degrassi series), Kevin
Nash (pro wrestler) & many others who wore the Bison tuque at Montreal’s
Comicon have been added. Sept 4 – All photos have
been added from this summer. Aug 7 – The world’s number
1 tennis player Novak Djokovic & other photos from Montreal’s pro tennis
tournament have been added. May 15 2013 – About 2 weeks
ago I moved all the photos in the New Photos (June 2012- present) category to
their respective sections, doubling some of them up adding them also to the
Famous section. Other photos
have been added recently. March 24 2013 – Montreal
Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin & poker world champion Jonathan
Duhamel wore the tuque today. I
added other former NHL stars photos with the tuque also. March 3 – Jacques Demers,
former Montreal Canadiens coach (Stanley Cup winner in 1993) & currently a
Canadian senator wore the Bison tuque. Feb 24 – I added former NHL
players Joe Sakic, Adam Foote, Mike Peca, Rory Fitzpatrick & Doug Messier
along with Montreal Canadiens owner & president Geoff Molson, each with the
Bison tuque on his head. I also
added many PeeWee players & a few other photos. J Jan 15, 2013 - I have finished labelling & adding
links for over 550 photos that were added after Nov 21, 2012 including 100 from
the Grey Cup festival in Toronto & many others. New photos include CFL greats Tony Gabriel, Hank Ilesic,
Terry Greer, etc & from the world of hockey - Jean Perron, Jacques Martin,
Francois Allaire & many of the best women hockey players. 21 Nov 2012 – I added 345
new photos from summer 2012 (June-Nov).
The last photos were added in June – Robert Charlebois, Veronique
Cloutier, Antoine Bertrand, Maude Guérin, Louis Morissette, Montreal Alouettes
cheerleaders, musician James McCartney, Canada’s best divers including
Alexandre Despatie & Emilie Heymans, the Gala Artis & Earth day. Not long ago I moved all the
photos from earlier in 2012 to their proper sections. Previous recent additions included former Expo great
Warren Cromartie, Montreal sports music sensation Annakin Slayd, comedians
Andre-Philippe Gagnon, Francois Morency (who just published a book) &
Laurent Paquin. I also added
recipe book author Jean-Francois Plante. St Patricks day parade pictures are also there. There are almost 40 pictures from
Quebec cinema’s Jutra awards including award winners Philippe Falardeau (best
director), Sophie Nélisse (best supporting actress), Emelien Neron (best
supporting actor), all from the film Monsieur Lazhar), Jean-Marc Vallée (award
winning director of C.R.A.Z.Y. & more recently Café de Flore), Denis Villeneuve
( award winning director for Incendies), etc. There are also photos from the Montreal Highlights Festival
& over 50 pictures from Quebec City’s Winter Carnival and Pee Wee
tournament including more former NHL greats including Scott Niedermayer &
former baseball great Cy Young award winner Tom Glavine. Other additions include more former
Montreal Canadiens including Richard Sevigny & Mathieu Dandenault &
former NHL players Luc Robitaille & Patrick Roy, many Quebec Remparts &
some actors. There were more
Montreal Canadiens photos & 175 photos from Nov 2011’s vacation in Maui,
Hawaii. At some point
hopefully soon I will try to add over 100 photos from May 2011’s vacation in
France. The Bison Tuque is very proud to have
been thanked by lead singer Karl Tremblay (Papa Dean also is proud) following
the Cowboys Fringants win as Quebec’s Group of the year at the Gala ADISQ on
Sunday October 30, 2011.
Unfortunately the video is no longer available online. L Early June 2011 - The Bison
tuque just got back from 3 weeks vacation in France where she sat on many
heads. This included a day
at Roland Garros (pro tennis) in Paris, a visit to Nice, Monaco, Monte Carlo
& some beaches in the San Tropez region & of course a visit to the
Cannes film festival where the Tuque was very excited about her chance to sit
on the heads of Robert DeNiro, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sean
Penn, Steven Spielberg & many other movie stars & directors. Unfortunately we weren’t there
long enough to get most of the major stars. Pictures from 3 weeks in France will soon be added to
the website. In mid-February various
former NHL players & current PeeWee players wore the tuque at the Quebec
PeeWee tournament. Once again
success followed for most of the players but unfortunately a tough schedule of
3 games in less than 3 days helped eliminate the St Louis Blues in a shootout
just as it looked like they were well on their way to winning the Elite
division championship. On the weekend of January 30th,
2011 at Quebec City's Winter Carnival (Protect
our Winters friendly ice hockey game) great Canadian environmentalist,
scientist & broadcaster David Suzuki, former NHL player Georges Laraque,
musician Fred Fortin & dozens of mascots had the honour of wearing the
bison tuque. On January 18th the bison tuque was honoured to have
been worn by retired Lieutenant
General & now Senator Romeo Dallaire who recently published his 2nd
book They
fight like soldiers, they die like Children, following up the eyeopening book (turned into a
movie) Shake hands with the devil. In early January most
members of the McGill Martlets women's hockey team wore the Bison tuque. McGill won the Canadian
university championship in 2008 & 2009 & was on a 93 game winning
streak in league action at the time. McGills only loss since 2007 (ending its 87 game
overall streak) was in the 2010 national championship final, a game won 2-0 by
Alberta. The Martlets spent the season ranked number 1 in Canada. The women’s team won the
national championships after wearing the tuque. The men’s team lost in the championship final to end up 2nd
in Canada. On December 1st
after the Grey Cup parade Ben Cahoon & other members of the Montreal
Alouettes Grey Cup champion team wore the tuque. I already had many members of
the Alouettes wearing the tuque including Anthony Calvillo. November was a busy
month with numerous tuquages. At the Montreal Canadiens blood donor clinic
various members of the Montreal Canadiens got their picture with the tuque. On
a recent roadtrip to Quebec City, many players of the Laval Rouge et Or Vanier
Cup champion university football team & players of the Quebec Remparts
junior hockey team also wore the bison tuque. The Hamilton Bulldogs (Montreal
Canadiens farm club) had many of its players who had not yet worn the tuque
have the honours in early November. Also Canada's great speed skating stars
including Charles Hamelin & Mariane St-Gelais had the honour of wearing the
Bison tuque after dominating races in Montreal also in early November. Before the Montreal Impact
soccer game on July 28th in the Air Canada goal celebration contest
I scored a goal while wearing the Bison tuque & then I did the worm
(breakdance) to celebrate. Mine was chosen as one of the 20 best celebrations.
During halftime of the Impact game on October 3rd after the 3 top
videos were presented on the big screen it was officially announced that I got
the most votes (542-227-127....) as the best celebration so I won a trip for 2
to Europe. With
my almost non-stop festivalgoing (and birthday celebrations) I have added a new
section where I put all new photos before updating the information with the
photo & placing each one in its proper section. If the details are not yet
included under the picture if you rightclick you can see the name of the person
in the photo. In
February 2010 the Bison tuque had the honour of being worn by Montreal
Canadien's great Jean Beliveau. Pictures of Scott Gomez, Hal Gill, other
Montreal Canadiens, former Canadiens Dickie Moore, Mike Keane, Mike McPhee,
Steve Penney, Rick Green, Gilles Tremblay, & Canadian gold medal winner Kim
St-Pierre were also added. Hockey Night in Canada's Ron MacLean, Elliot
Friedman & great sportswriter Roy MacGregor also posed for a photo with the
bison tuque during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. Other
recent pictures on the Tuque's website (link below) include Guy A. Lepage &
Dany Turcotte of the hit TV show Tout le monde en parle, Vancouver Canucks head
coach (former Canadiens coach) Alain Vigneault, Montreal Canadiens great Henri
Richard & actor/writer/producer/director Xavier Dolan (J'ai
tué ma mère). I
will soon add more success stories following the tuquage of people. Over
300 photos from this summer were added in August & September 2009 including
over 75 musicians, Canada’s 12 strongest men from the Canadian Strongman
Championships at Expo Québec & the CANAM baseball champion Quebec Capitales
with 2003 major league baseball Cy Young award winner Eric Gagné. Over
100 photos from NHL all star weekend in Montreal were added including Jean
Beliveau, Guy Lafleur, Gordie Howe, Sidney Crosby, Alex Kovalev, Mark Messier
& over a dozen NHL mascots & many other players & members of the
media. :)
Last night I brought the Bison Tuque with me to the final of the World Junior
Hockey Championship tournament in Ottawa. The Tuque sat on the
window just above the Canadian bench before the Gold medal game and I took
pictures of the Tuque with lots of Canadian players warming up behind her
during the pre-game warmup. But even more impressive………………..
As everyone knows Angelo Esposito had his picture with the Tuque when he played
with the Quebec Remparts. Even though there are pictures sitting on the heads
of almost every other player of the Remparts in the picture with Angelo is
beside the Tuque. When he joined the Montreal Junior team this year (after the
trade from Quebec I saw him many times after the junior games & he said
about having his picture with the Tuque sitting on his head (instead of beside)
“Je ne suis pas prêt" (“I’m not ready”) but then added “later in the
season”.
I didn’t ask again thinking that when he’s ready he’ll say. After the
Montreal Junior’s last game before the Team Canada Selection Camp I asked
Angelo if he wanted to pat the Bison tuque for good luck and he did.
As everyone knows after being cut from Team Canada’s National Junior team 3
straight years Angelo finally made the team in his 4th try in December (after
having patted the Bison Tuque).
Monday night in Ottawa after the Bronze Medal game I joined the crowd of
youngsters who were waiting in the stands just by the exit of the Canadian
dressingroom for the warmup before the Gold Medal game. After the
warmup when the players were leaving the ice Angelo passed us and I yelled to
him Hey Angelo or Salut Angelo or something like that and showed Angelo I had
the tuque in my hand. I don’t remember exactly if he said anything (I think he
didn’t say a word). Angelo kept walking and then stopped for a second,
backtracked 2 or 3 steps and rubbed the Bison tuque then continued on into the
dressingroom.
It was a very magical moment (like if Angelo said in his head wtf – it will
bring me good luck).
1 minute later PK Subban (the player drafted by the Montreal who wore the tuque
for a picture in September 2007 at the Canadiens Jamboree) passed by and was
highfiving the youngsters who put out their hands for highfives. Evidently I
highfived PK with the Bison tuque in my hand so PK technically patted the Tuque
in the highfive before heading to the dressingroom just before the game.
We all know what followed. After only 38 seconds PK Subban scored the first
goal of the game for Team Canada.
At 4:06 of the second period Angelo Esposito scored the game-winning goal.
2 goals for Team Canada by 2 players that patted the Bison tuque & had
previously had their pictures with the Tuque) & 2 assists (if you believe)
to the Bison Tuque.
It was a very special night & game & I’m very proud of the part the
Bison tuque played in the victory.
Yes, Canada surely would have won the game anyway but I’m proud & convinced
that the Tuque’s magical powers contributed to the 2 key goals as Canada won
our 5th consecutive Gold Medal.
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Coulombe & Bouillon join Carey Price, Evgeni Malkin, the new mayor of
Québec Regis Lebeaume & many others in an extensive list of people who have
had super positive effects after contact with the Bison tuque.
Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) the night after wearing the tuque (Sept 18,
2007) obtained a goal & an assist & was +3 to earn first star of the
game.
The new mayor of Quebec City Regis Lebeaume won the city’s election with help
from the bison tuque.
At the moment that he wore the tuque on his head Mr. Lebaume had only about 10%
of votes in surveys compared with 34% for Ann Bourget. Right after
wearing the tuque for a photo (before a Laval Rouge et Or football game)
Lebeaume exploded in popularity & 3 weeks later he was voted mayor of
Quebec with 59 % of the votes.
Carey Price (Montreal Canadiens goalie) got the first shutout of his NHL career
in his next game after he touched & appeared in a photo with the bison
tuque. February 14, 2008 around 6 pm at the Montreal Canadiens Blood
Donor Clinic Price spent some time with the bison tuque & 52 hours later he
helped the Canadiens shut out Philadelphia 1-0 stopping 34 shots. He won
the next night also (Feb 17) 5-3 with 34 saves to earn one of the 3 stars of
the week for the whole NHL.
Who will be the next person to benefit from
the possible magic powers of the Bison tuque?
McGill's mens team, the Redmen also had almost every player wear the tuque
after a recent win that improved the team's record to 21-0-2 in league play.
The Redmen were ranked 2nd in Canada in mens university hockey.
With the contest a little over a year ago the top 20 videos have been erased
but a friend managed to make
a copy of my winning video.
In July 2010 at the Quebec City Summer festival the Bison tuque had the
honour of being worn by Roger Hodgson (lead singer of the number one band in
the early 80s, Supertramp). Politician Pauline Marois, singer Ginette Reno,
& many musicians at the Jazz Festival, Francofolies & Woodstock en
Beauce have also had their photos with the tuque recently added.
The Bison tuque celebrated her 2nd anniversary with her girlfriend Tuque de
Vache (Cow Tuque) on January 10th, 2011. Many photos of the two together are in
the section Vacation/Festivals.