Marois still a sniper after all these years

BY PHILIPPE BOISVERT

philippe.boisvert@transcontinental.ca

Celebrities are good to bring people to a hockey marathon. In Canada, hockey players are celebrities – celebrities who can still make spectacular plays on the ice.

Daniel Marois is one of those and at 40, he can still play the game. On Saturday he played at his first 94.7 HITS FM Media Celebrity Hockey Marathon in Kirkland. "I was invited to play last year, but I was out of town. It’s going to be a big day of fun and I think people always love to play against old-timers. It’s always a fun and healthy type of competition," he said prior to the game.

In Marois' eight seasons in the National Hockey League, (1988-1996), he toiled for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the New York Islanders, the Boston Bruins and the Dallas Stars. But a full 20 years later, Marois is best known for the big years he posted for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the late 1980s.

Back injuries derailed his career later on, but for two seasons in the blue and white, Marois had it all together and was one of the NHL's top young snipers.

In 1987-88, Marois played in 76 games for the Leafs and netted 31 goals, just three behind Wendel Clark's team rookie record of 34 goals. He also notched 23 assists to give him a respectable 54 points in his rookie season. He was strong, he was fast and he wasn’t afraid of going in front of the net to battle for the puck. In his sophomore year, playing partly with centre Vincent Damphousse, Marois scored an impressive 39 goals and earned 37 assists for a total of 76 points in just 68 games.

There was clearly something in the air and all signs pointed to Marois having a bright future in hockey. At 21, he was already the best right winger on the team.

His third and fourth years in the big league would prove to be a little bit tougher.

In 1990-91 (21 goals) and 1991-92 (15 goals), he struggled at times, with assists tougher to come by. Even though he was one of the fastest players in the Maple Leafs’ history , with 100 career goals, his health continued to deteriorate. "I don’t think anybody since then scored a hundred goals faster than me. That was a pretty good start for me with the Leafs in the NHL. I was heading into a very promising career," he said.

Injuries take their toll "But I started to have some bad injuries. Toronto traded me to the Islanders and that’s where I got my back problems. Thereafter, I was traded to Boston, where I finally underwent surgery", he added.

After that, he resumed his hockey career in Europe where he continued to play the sport he loves albeit with a less-demanding schedule. His body could no longer endure NHL’s tough schedule and the 40-game schedule played in the Swiss, Germany DEL and Finnish leagues seemed perfect for him. "Going in front of the net is harder than it used to be now. I was an offensive player so the European style fit me well. I’ve got great souvenirs from everywhere I went. I played hockey with guys like Vincent Damphousse, Cam Neely, Mike Modano and Raymond Bourque. These guys were in a class of their own," he said.