Sculpture created in memory of The Rocket
CMC 2003.2.1 Sculpture created in memory of The Rocket
Artist: Michel Dusablon, 2000

Celebrity, National Figure, Icon

By the time of his passing in 2000, The Rocket has become a subject for painters and sculptors across Canada, his image carrying symbolic weight beyond his having been - as he used to insist - "just a hockey player".

"Maurice and Gordie"
Artist: Michael Davey, 2000

Sandblasted into each side of a black granite puck are the parts of the body - eye and elbow - associated with two rival hockey heroes: Maurice Richard and Gordie Howe. On one level, the artwork portrays their different playing styles as "two sides of the same puck"; on another, it represents the dialectic between French and English Canada.

Gold puck
CMC 2002.81.22
Photo: Stéphane Juteau

In 1999, a gold puck is presented to The Rocket at a gala celebrating the launch of a TV movie of his life.