Gilbert Perreault, Rene Robert and Rick Martin- French connection honoured by Buffalo Sabres
One of the greatest trios that world of hockey and National Hockey League (NHL) ever saw, Gilbert Perreault, Rene Robert and Rick Martin were honoured by the Buffalo Sabres, the team that these three players featured for.
In a ceremony conducted at First Niagara Centre, the home of Buffalo Sabres, the statues of French Connection were unveiled in front of all the fans and the media. Perreault and Robert were present there at the ceremony but Rick Martin was not there, as
he died last year. His 26-year-old son, Cory Martin attended the ceremony on his behalf.
Cory Martin surely missed his father as he was very emotional talking about his deceased father who left them on 13th March 2011. He kept looking at his father’s statues and regrets that he could not watch his father play as he was not born then.
Cory said,
''It's incredible. I’m still looking at it. You can see I can't take my off it. I never got to see him play. I wasn't born when he was playing.''
40 years back, Gilbert Perreault, Rene Robert and Rick Martin earned the nickname French Connection, after the movie released that year with the same name. All three of them were French-Canadians and there trio frightened blue line of every NHL team.
61-year-old Perreault, who himself got inducted into Hall of Fame 22 years ago, talked about the special night and the French Connection as he told that he misses Rick Martin very much. He said,
''The French Connection was something very special. We had some great years together. It's a great honor. It's a very special night. We sure miss Rico, but it's part of life.''
Rene Gilbert also talked about his deceased friend and mentioned that every time he and Perreault meet, they talk about Martin. He misses Martin very much as he said,
''It's difficult. Every time there is something that involves Gilbert and I and we talk about the French Connection, he's missed. He was the one who brought this weather because this morning it didn't look too good”.
In total, French Connection featured in 2396 games from 1972-1979 and scored 1116 goals for 2573 points.
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