Pageau becomes hometown hero after game three
Posted May 6, 2013 05:44:37 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – Jean-Gabriel Pageau, 20, was made a hometown hero Sunday night in game three of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Final between the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens.
He scored a hat trick on the way to a 6-1 Sens win and lost a tooth in the process.
“They put back the actual tooth. I don’t know if it’s going to stay there for the whole series though,” said Pageau Monday following an optional skate for the team. “I had a lot of texts, but I didn’t have time to respond to all of them. It was really special, it’s a little bit weird. I didn’t expect that, that fast, but I’m really happy to have done that to have done that in front of our fans and my family and friends.”
Pageau had a tough road to the NHL and has still only played nine games with the club. At 5’9 it was thought his height would be a disadvantage, but a former coach of his with the Gatineau Olympiques, John Chabot told 1310News his hockey knowledge led the way.
“Never ever the big, big star growing up. He is a good player and all he’s just one of those guys you can put on the second, third or fourth line.” said Chabot. “He’s just blossomed. His head is his biggest attribute he just thinks the game so well.”
Pageau has had troubles making it to the NHL, during the lockout he was close to being sent to the ECHL, a league below the AHL. However, he stayed with the Binghamton Senators, Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, and picked up 29 points in 69 games before Luke Richardson, head coach in Binghamton, recommended the NHL club call up Pageau.
“He got off to a slow start offensively, but that made him even more determined on the defensive side of tthe puck and we really tried to help him point out a few things. It was a little bit of direction from us, but it was a lot of determination from him,” Richardson told 1310News. “His role became bigger (after the lockout ended) and then expanded. He just got better and better offensively so he became a two-way threat. As everybody has seen at the NHL level he’s not the biggest guy, but he is not afraid and he’ll go right through you.”
His hat trick makes him one of only five players to score three in a game and Captain Daniel Alfredsson is the only other Senator to score a playoff hat trick.
Hockey historian Liam Maguire told 1310News Pageau could be on pace for history.
“Gordie Howe only had one playoff hattrick. I mean it’s pretty heavy stuff,” said Maguire. “Guy LaFleur only had two, Bryan Trottier only had two, Bobby Hull only had two.”
