![]() But I was always trying diets in the winter and it did me more harm than good. What I should have done was dieting during the summer. I tried dieting a couple of times and lost about 10 pounds each time but it made me weak. With my weight that high I wasn't the same Rocket. "Playing alongside Henri and Dickie, I weighed over 200 pounds and I weighed only 160 when I started playing pro hockey. Over the five consecutive Stanley Cup-winning seasons, were you in top condition? Wait and come to me and we'll talk about it.' Toe was afraid that I was going to talk in front of the other guys and the newspapermen and hurt the team morale, but that never happened." When he took over as coach he said, 'If I ever say anything that hurts you, don't come back and say anything to the press. Blake - he'd been my linemate on Cup-winning teams (in 19) - was a soothing influence. I had my troubles in the past but I made a resolution in camp to cool it and I made it stick. What caused you to cool your previously hot temper? He wound up a regular center with me and Dickie Moore." When camp ended, Henri had proven that he could skate, stick handle and shoot with the best we had on the lineup. And Henri was so much tougher than he looked. After every single scrimmage - when lineup cuts were made - Blake couldn't help but agree that the kid either was the best player on the ice or right up at the top. But Toe could see what was happening at camp. Henri seemed too young (19) and too small (5-foot-7, 160 pounds) to handle big league hockey. "To begin with, Blake had no intention of keeping him on the roster. How did your kid brother, Henri, make a difference? But we knew he was behind us and as long as we played for him, Toe was liked by the players." If you made a good play, he wouldn't walk over and pat you on the back. You never heard a good word from him on the bench. When Toe had something to say he would take the guy to a private room, or his compartment on the train, or into his office and discuss it. Blake would never give anybody hell in front of the other players. It was Irvin's policy to publicly roast a player for his mistakes. "Toe had one quality that marked him from Dick. What did you like about Blake as opposed to Irvin? We also had a new coach in Toe Blake, who succeeded Dick Irvin and created a whole new and better atmosphere." The same could be said for Dickie Moore on left wing, but the biggest surprise of all was my kid brother, Henri, who showed up as a walk-on, but definitely was not expected to make the big club. We already had a very good team with Jean Beliveau turning into a superstar at center. "It started in our training camp before the 1955-56 season. How did the unrivaled Canadiens run of winning the Stanley Cup five consecutive seasons (1956-60) come about?
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