Lemieux children mourn four-time Cup winner days after Bell Centre appearance

Lemieux children mourn four-time Cup winner days after Bell Centre appearance

Four-time Stanley Cup champion Claude Lemieux died Thursday at the age of 60, days after making a public appearance at Montreal’s Bell Centre, where he carried a torch before the Canadiens’ Eastern Conference Final game against the Carolina Hurricanes. His death drew immediate tributes from across the hockey world, with his children among the first to speak publicly.

His daughter, Claudia, posted a personal message on social media describing the loss as devastating. “No words to express the level of devastation we feel. I love you forever daddy. Forever your only girl,” she wrote. His son, Brendan, shared a three-generation family photograph and wrote that his own son’s favourite person would now “watch from above.” Brendan Lemieux followed his father into professional hockey and most recently played for Carolina during the 2023-24 NHL season.

Claude Lemieux built a reputation as one of the league’s most combative forwards, winning Stanley Cup titles with Montreal in 1986, New Jersey in 1995, Colorado in 1996, and again with New Jersey in 2000. His 1986 playoff run produced one of the more celebrated goals in Canadiens history, a Game 7 backhander against Hartford goaltender Mike Liut. Former NHL centre Doug Gilmour captured the duality of Lemieux’s career succinctly: “He was a pain in the a– to play against, but you wanted him on your team.” Lemieux grew up in Mont-Laurier in western Quebec.

The torch ceremony at Bell Centre, held just days before his death, now stands as one of his final public appearances. No cause of death has been reported in the available information.