MONTREAL --
Mathieu Darche, a McGill University graduate who parlayed a stellar collegiate career into the professional ranks, has become the institution's 16th hockey product to win the Stanley Cup.
Darche, a 43-year-old native of St. Laurent, Que., who earned a commerce degree from the Desautels
faculty of management in 2000, currently serves as director of hockey operations for the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning. He merited the coveted chance to raise hockey's Holy Grail on Monday evening in Edmonton after Tampa's 2-0 victory over Dallas to win the best-of-seven final series 4-2.
Even more unique was that he joined his older brother
Dr. Jean-Philippe Darche (BSc '97) as the only siblings to win a Stanley Cup and Super Bowl in the same calendar year. The elder statesman serves as a team physician with the Kansas City Chiefs, who defeated San Francisco 31-20 on Feb. 2, 2020. J.P. was one of two McGill grads involved in that Super Bowl contest, joining offensive lineman
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who received his medical degree in 2018.
"It is so tough to win the Stanley Cup, especially in the confines of the COVID bubble and it was an unbelievable feeling to hoist that Cup," said Darche in a post-game text from the victorious Tampa dressing room. "Our players and coaches were simply outstanding from training camp in July to the final game tonight."
The Darche siblings have had a storied, inter-twined athletic career. They both played university football together for McGill (Mat toiled in two sports during his freshman year). The brothers made McGill history in 1998 as the first siblings to be named MVP of their respective teams in the same season. They also served as captains of their respective varsity teams. Both signed pro contracts in the NHL and NFL on the same day in 2000 (Mat with Columbus, J.P. with Seattle). Both were inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame together on Oct. 22, 2015. Both earned Academic All-Canadian honours and made the Principal's Student-athlete Honour Roll and now both have won the ultimate team prize in their respective sports.
The hockey Darche, who became the 10th player from McGill to skate in the NHL, skated with the Lightning, as well as Columbus, Nashville, San Jose and the Montreal Canadiens. He registered 30 goals, 72 points and 58 penalty minutes in 250 regular-season NHL games.
The football Darche played one season in the CFL for the Toronto Argonauts, and was the second of three players in McGill history to play in the NFL, where he had a nine-year career as a long-snapper in Seattle and Kansas City. He also participated in the 2006 Super Bowl, which Seattle lost to Pittsburgh.
Mathieu joined the Lightning last year after formally retiring as an NHL player in 2013. He was heavily involved as part of the NHLPA negotiating committee during the 2012-13 work-stoppage, also serving on the negotiating committee of the Professional Hockey Players Association for the American Hockey League's collective bargaining agreement.
After his playing career, he worked for Delmar International, a Canadian customs broker based in Montreal, in the position of vice president of sales and marketing. He also served five years on the board of Ronald McDonald House and six years as a television analyst on RDS. In his role with the Lightning, his primary focus has been budgeting, negotiation and execution of player contracts, scheduling and salary cap tracking.
He skated four seasons at left-wing for the McGill hockey squad – from 1996 to 2000 – and served as team captain before graduating in 2000 with a commerce degree, majoring in marketing and international business. An All-Canadian and three-time OUAA East all-star, he tallied 170 career points, including 78 goals, in 133 McGill games overall. He received the Dr. Randy Gregg Trophy in 1999-00 as the CIAU player who best combines hockey, academics & citizenship.
Aside from his NHL career, Darche played in the American Hockey League, with stints in Syracuse, Milwaukee, Hershey, Worcester, Norfolk, Portland and Hamilton. He dressed for 552 regular season games in the AHL and tallied 443 points, including 212 goals. He also toiled for one season with Duisburg, in Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga, more commonly known as the DEL.
Former McGill Hockey Players who have won the Stanley Cup (16)
| NAME |
YEAR(S) OF CUP VICTORY |
| Shirley Davidson |
(1895, 1896) |
| C.Graham Drinkwater |
(1895, 1896, 1898) |
| Percival Molson |
(1896) |
| Harry J. Trihey |
(1899, 1900) |
| Arthur F. Farrell |
(1899, 1900) |
| Fred Scanlan |
(1899, 1900) |
| Jack P. Brannen |
(1899, 1900) |
| H.L. "Billy" Gilmour |
(1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1909) |
| *Lester Patrick |
(six times: 1906, 1907 as a player; 1925, 1928*, 1933 & 1940 as a coach) |
| Walter Smaill |
(1908) |
| Frank Patrick |
(1915; as a player-coach) |
| Sam Rothschild |
(1926) |
| Russ Blinco |
(1935) |
| Mike Babcock |
(2008; as a coach) |
| Jamie Kompon |
(2012, 2013; as an asst.coach) |
| Mathieu Darche |
(2020; as dir. of hockey operations) |
|
|
| *also played one playoff game as a goalie |
McGillians in NHL Coaching & Management (37)
| COACHING STAFF (10): |
|
|
| NAME |
POSITION |
NHL TEAM |
NHL YEARS |
| Lester Patrick |
Head Coach |
NY Rangers |
1924-1954 |
| Bryan Murray |
Head Coach |
WASH / DET / FLA / ANA / OTT |
1981-2008 |
| Doug Carpenter |
Head Coach |
New Jersey / Toronto |
1984-1991 |
| George Burnett |
Head Coach / Asst. Coach |
Edmonton / Anaheim |
1994-2000 |
| Jamie Kompon |
Asst. Coach |
St. Louis / LA Kings / Chicago / Winnipeg |
1997-present |
| Jon Elkin |
Goaltender Coach |
Calgary / Phoenix |
1999-2018 |
| Mike Babcock |
Head Coach |
Anaheim / Detroit / Toronto |
2002-2019 |
| Guy Boucher |
Head Coach |
Tampa / Ottawa |
2010-2019 |
| Martin Raymond |
Asst. Coach |
Tampa / Ottawa |
2010-2019 |
| Todd Woodcroft |
Asst. Coach |
Winnipeg |
2017-2020 |
|
|
|
|
| MANAGEMENT & STAFF (18): |
|
|
| NAME |
POSITION |
NHL TEAM |
NHL YEARS |
| Philip D. Ross |
Trustee, Stanley Cup |
National Hockey League Office |
1893-1949 |
| Lester Patrick |
General Manager |
NY Rangers |
1924-1954 |
| Frank Patrick |
General Manager |
Boston Bruins |
1934-1936 |
| Brian O'Neill |
Exec. VP / Trustee, Stanley Cup |
National Hockey League Office |
1966-1992 |
| Gaetan Lefebvre |
Athletic Therapist |
Montreal Canadiens |
1981-2000 |
| Fred Steer |
VP Finance / CFO / Exec. VP |
Montreal Canadiens |
1982-2017 |
| Ken Sawyer |
Exec. VP / CFO / CEO |
National Hockey League Office / Pittsburgh |
1985-2011 |
| Ray Lalonde |
VP Marketing & Sales |
Montreal Canadiens |
2001-2011 |
| Matt Nichol |
Strength & Conditioning Coordinator |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
2002-2009 |
| Joseph Desousa |
Exec. VP Finance |
National Hockey League Office |
2005-present |
| Shauna Denis |
Dir. of Strategic Content |
Montreal Canadiens |
2008-present |
| Ken Morin |
Hockey Ops / Amateur Scout |
Montreal Canadiens |
2010-present |
| Real Paiement |
Hockey Ops / Amateur Scout |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
2015-present |
| Patrick Delisle-Houde |
Strength & Conditioning Coordinator |
Montreal Canadiens |
2017-present |
| Jack Han |
Player Development Analyst |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
2017-2019 |
| Paul Wilson |
Sr. VP Public Affairs & Communic. |
Montreal Canadiens |
2018-present |
| Mathieu Darche |
Dir. of Hockey Operations |
Tampa Bay Lightning |
2019-present |
| Thomas Barbeau |
Strength & Conditioning Coordinator |
Carolina Panthers |
2019-present |
McGill Hockey Products to play in NHL (9)
| NAME |
POS |
TEAM |
NHL YEARS |
| Sam Rothschild |
G |
Montreal Maroons, Pittsburgh Pirates, NY Americans |
1924-1928 |
| Lester Patrick |
D |
New York Rangers |
1926-1927 |
| *Russ Blinco |
G |
Montreal Maroons & Chicago |
1933-1939 |
| Nels Crutchfield |
F |
Montreal Canadiens |
1934-1935 |
| Jack McGill |
F |
Montreal Canadiens |
1934-1937 |
| Johnny Peirson |
F |
Boston Bruins |
1946-1958 |
| *Jack Gelineau |
G |
Boston Bruins& Chicago Blackhawks |
1948-1954 |
| Reggie Sinclair |
F |
New York Rangers & Detroit Red Wings |
1950-1953 |
| Mathieu Darche |
F |
Columbus, Nashville, San Jose, Tampa Bay, & Montreal |
2000-2012 |
|
|
|
|
| *Calder Trophy winner |
|
|
|
(NHL rookie of the year)
Mathieu Darche's Pro Hockey Playing Career (year-by-year)
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012
MOBILE SITE:
http://mcgillathletics.ca/mobile/index.aspx
WEBSITE:
www.mcgillathletics.ca
E-MAIL:
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
