Gosselin honoured at Nighthawks game

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This article was published 13/12/2023 (907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Niverville Nighthawks president Clarence Braun was 12-years-old, he remembers suiting up for a home game against St Malo inside the old Niverville Arena.

The result that day was a 10-2 thrashing, not at the hands of the opposing team, but at the hands of Richmond Gosselin, who scored all 10 of his team’s goals.

Gosselin was honoured before the start of the Niverville/Winkler Manitoba Junior Hockey League game Nov. 29, as the Nighthawks look to pay tribute to local hockey legends.

The St Malo forward was drafted by the Montreal Canadians in the late-70s after a sparkling junior career in Flin Flon. After playing in the Hanover-Tache league as a 15-year-old, Gosselin made the trip up north, notching an impressive 283 points across 200 games in the Western Canada Hockey League.

When he couldn’t find a roster spot in Montreal, Gosselin found a hockey home in Switzerland, where he spent 13 years plying his trade as a player, before continuing as a coach across Europe.

“I’m just grateful that I got a chance to have a career in the game,” he said.

“The game back then was about size and it was about intimidation and it was about a lot of fighting. I’m the first to admit I wasn’t the best fighter and I didn’t like the corners very much, but I guess I was fairly skilled.”

Gosselin added Europe was the perfect place for a burgeoning skill player like himself to play in that era, with bigger ice surfaces letting him thrive as a scorer. Across 10 seasons in Switzerland’s top division, Gosselin posted 323 goals and 250 assists.

He was quick to thank local fans for supporting him, and his family for sticking through the ups and downs of professional hockey.

“Throughout your hockey career you have good times and you have hard times too, (my wife) was a great help for me throughout my career,” he said.

“I appreciate all the help and support I got from the people of southeast Manitoba.”

Far from reminiscing about how hockey was better back in the day, Gosselin was full of praise for how players get to develop nowadays, from leagues like the MJHL, all the way down to the minor level.

“You can tell they’ve learned to play the game the right way,” he said.

“The game has improved so much in the last 20-25 years. (Players) are faster, they’re bigger, they move the puck quick.”

Gosselin now lives in St Pierre, working at Maplewood Golf Course and spending his free time fishing and watching his four grandkids play hockey from the stands, a new experience for someone who spent years either playing or coaching, including stints with the AAA senior South East Prairie Thunder and junior Steinbach Pistons.

“I get to be a fan,” he said, laughing.

“I’ve done it for 35 years so it’s time to move on I think.”