Jean Beliveau to lie in state at Bell Centre, given national funeral

CTV National News: A larger-than-life hero Jean Beliveau is being remembered by many as a larger-than-life hero, on and off the ice. Genevieve Beauchemin has the story.

One of the greatest players to ever skate for the Montreal Canadiens will lie in state for two days at the Bell Centre ahead of a national funeral in Montreal.

The club says Beliveau will lay in wake at the Bell Centre on Sunday and Monday before his funeral on Wednesday afternoon.

Jean Beliveau died Tuesday evening at the age of 83.

"It is with a great deal of sadness that the Canadiens organization learned tonight the passing of Jean Beliveau," the NHL team tweeted late Tuesday night.

Wednesday, the hockey organization issued a press release detailing the events leading up to Beliveau’s funeral, saying that in accordance with his family, they will "reflect the image of the late hockey legend: they will be simple and accessible to the public."

The public may pay their respects to the legendary captain in a number of ways. A bronze statue of Beliveau will be on display across from the Bell Centre’s main entrance until Saturday. Beliveau will lie in state at the Bell Centre on Sunday and Monday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ahead of a national funeral on Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Mary Queen of the World Cathedral on Rene-Levesque Blvd.

Legendary career

Beliveau stood out on the ice because of his size, earning him the nickname of Le Gros Bill. He had a powerful, sweeping stride and tremendous stick-handling skills -- a combination that earned him 10 Stanley Cups in 20 seasons.

Beliveau was born in Trois-Rivieres, Que., in 1931. When he was four years old his father gave him his first pair of skates. His family moved to Victoriaville when Beliveau was six and it wasn't long until he was playing shinny on the frozen rink in his backyard. Beliveau played most of his hockey on that rink until he was 12 and joined his school's team.

At the age of 15, his skill caught the eye of Canadiens general manager Frank Selke. Beliveau signed a contract saying he would join the Habs if he ever went professional.

That happened in the 1953-1954 NHL season, and by 1956 he won the Art Ross Memorial Trophy, given to the league's leading scorer, and the Hart Memorial Trophy, for the league's most valuable player.

After playing 20 seasons with the Habs, and earning the first Conn Smythe Trophy, Beliveau retired in 1971 as the team's all-time points leader and the league's all-time scoring leader. That fall, his No. 4 was retired, and the following year he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

After his playing days ended, Beliveau remained with the team as an executive, having his name etched on Lord Stanley's Cup another seven times.

When he retired, he established the Jean Beliveau Foundation, which was transferred to the Society for Disabled Children in 1993. In 1998 he became a Companion of the Order of Canada and in 2001 his name was added to Canada's Walk of Fame. He was named the honorary captain of 2010 Canadian men's Olympic Hockey Team.

Before passing, he said, "To this day, I thank God every night for giving me the talent to play professional sport."

Sports reporter Michael Farber gave tribute to Beliveau's legacy Wednesday morning.

"Jean Beliveau was Canada's best self. If this country wanted to look in the mirror and get a flattering portrait, you’d see Jean Beliveau staring back. First of all, he was successful: 10 Stanley Cups as a player. Second, he was damn good looking. What a handsome man. What carriage, the way he carried himself. He was also kind, he was compassionate, he was bilingual. He was all the things that Canada aspires to. Not only was he a great hockey player but he was this country’s best self.”

Hockey world mourns

David Perron never saw Jean Beliveau play hockey. The Montreal Canadiens legend retired 17 years before Perron was born.

But the death of "Le Gros Bill" at the age of 83 Tuesday struck a chord with the Oilers winger who grew up a Canadiens fan in Sherbooke, Que., and heard stories about Beliveau from his family.

"Very sad to hear about Jean Beliveau," Perron wrote on Twitter. "The sparkle in my grandfather's eyes when he was talking about him was always very special."

The Canadiens reported Beliveau's death just before 11:30 p.m. ET Tuesday. Even at that late hour, with some teams on flights home after games and others out West still in action, there was an outpouring of sadness as the hockey world mourned the loss of "Le Gros Bill," considered one of the sport's true gentlemen.

"Sad day in the hockey world with the passing of a Mtl legend Mr. Jean Beliveau," former Habs defenceman Josh Gorges tweeted. "He was a role model, idol and the definition of class."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered his condolences on his official Twitter account early Wednesday. It read: "It is with sadness that I learned of the passing of Jean Beliveau. He was a true legend and a class act. My thoughts are with his family."

Mr. Beliveau, as so many called him to honour his class and stature, won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP twice and once captured the Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer and the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. In 1,125 games, he recorded 1,219 points on 507 goals and 712 assists.

"A true legend has passed away," Habs forward Brandon Prust tweeted. "Honoured to say I wore the same colours as the man."

Habs owner Geoff Molson said the organization will "bring all the needed support to the members of Jean Beliveau's family, and will work closely with them to organize the ceremonies that will take place in the coming days." The team plays in Minnesota against the Wild on Wednesday night as part of an ongoing road trip.

During Wednesday’s Canadiens game against the Minnesota Wild, all members of the team will wear the #4 on their helmets to honour Beliveau.

The Canadiens organization also suggested that fans who would like to honour the memory of Beliveau can make a donation in the name of the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation, an organization close to the hockey legend.

The Habs' next home game is Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks.

"Like millions of hockey fans who followed the life and the career of Jean Beliveau, the Canadiens today mourn the passing of a man whose contribution to the development of our sport and our society was unmeasurable," Molson said in a statement Tuesday night. "Jean Beliveau was a great leader, a gentleman and arguably the greatest ambassador our game has ever known."

Beliveau was the second member of the Montreal Canadiens to die in recent days. Gilles Tremblay, who won four Stanley Cups as a linemate with Beliveau in the 1960s, died on Nov. 26 at the age of 75.

"Meeting him is not like meeting other stars from the old days," Tremblay once said.

"When people see Bobby Hull, they say: 'Hi Bobby.' When they meet Big Jean, it's always: 'Hi, Mr. Beliveau.' He commands respect."

Within minutes of Montreal's announcement, the Toronto Maple Leafs offered their condolences to the family of "a true hockey great."

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre tweeted "Farewell Mr. Beliveau, you were an inspiration for us all. A true gentleman. A role model, one of our greatest Habs."

Montreal native and major league catcher Russell Martin, who was recently acquired by the Toronto Blue Jays, tweeted in French, "Rest in peace Jean Beliveau. An idol!"

"Jean Beliveau was the classiest man," tweeted Canadian women's hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser. "Returned every piece of fan mail with a hand written letter."

"Sad to see such a legend in Jean Beliveau pass away," Avalanche centre and Canadian Olympian Matt Duchene tweeted. "What a legacy he left behind, pure class."

Recent Hall of Fame inductee Mike Modano posted a message calling Beliveau a "true icon" with a photo of the Habs great.

"Like millions of hockey fans who followed the life and the career of Jean Beliveau, the Canadiens today mourn the passing of a man whose contribution to the development of our sport and our society was unmeasurable," team owner Geoff Molson said in a statement posted on the Canadiens' website.

"Jean Beliveau was a great leader, a gentleman and arguably the greatest ambassador our game has ever known," Molson added.

"Meeting him is not like meeting other stars from the old days," said Beliveau's former linemate Gilles Tremblay, who died last week.

"When people see Bobby Hull, they say: 'Hi Bobby.' When they meet Big Jean, it's always: 'Hi, Mr. Beliveau.' He commands respect."

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said hockey was "elevated forever by his character, his dignity and his class."

"For all the accomplishments he achieved and all the accolades he received, Jean Beliveau was always the epitome of the boy whose only dream was to play for the Montreal Canadiens," Bettman said in a statement. "Hockey is better because that dream was realized."

Quebec’s premier also recalled his first encounter with the legend.

“I was only 13, a scruffy little guy waiting for an autograph and he gave it to me,” said Premier Philippe Couillard at a press scrum Wednesday in Quebec City. “For Quebecers and Canadians he was more than just a great hockey player, he was a gentleman. And our French language, he spoke it very, very well, he gave us an image of ourselves that we liked.”

Spotless image combined with great feats

Canadiens fans who revered Beliveau were given a scare in 2000 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer, but after losing 30 pounds during treatment and enduring "the worst period of my life," he recovered and was soon back in his familiar spot -- attending nearly every home game with his wife Elise in the seats among the fans. He also survived a stroke in 2012.

Such was his spotless image, Beliveau turned down an offer from prime minister Brian Mulroney in the 1980s to sit in the Senate and refused an offer extended by prime minister Jean Chretien in 1994 to become Canada's governor general.

Even the crafty handling of his first professional contract in the early 1950s, when he landed a comparatively enormous salary that averaged more than $20,000 as an unproven rookie, didn't tarnish his public appeal.

A resigned general manager Frank Selke Sr., when asked what it took to sign Beliveau, simply said: "All I did was open up the Forum vault and say: 'Help yourself, Jean."'

The signing had been ordered by the Canadiens owners, who had bought the entire Quebec Senior Hockey League to secure the rights to the quiet, six-foot-three centre for the Quebec Aces.

And the esteem in which he was held, inside and outside hockey, was not the result of a cynically nurtured persona. Those closest to him insist the graciousness was genuine.

Until shortly before his death, he would spend time before and after every home game signing autographs and talking to anyone who approached. For those he knew, there was always a smile and a handshake.

It seemed that Beliveau got his business savvy from his father, Arthur Beliveau, an electrician, and his values from growing up in the small Quebec community of Victoriaville, where he was an altar boy at the local church.

Beliveau, the eldest of seven children, was born on Aug. 31, 1931, in Trois-Rivieres, Que., but moved to Victoriaville, a dairy centre southwest of Quebec City, when he was three.

He learned to control the puck on a crowded backyard rink and by the time he was a teenager, the Beliveau legend was growing.

When Victoriaville's junior team folded, he moved to Quebec City and began filling rinks around the province. When he moved up to the senior Aces, he was said he be earning $20,000 in salary and endorsements on what officially was an amateur team.

It was Arthur Beliveau who insisted his son not sign away his pro rights and maintain the right to negotiate his salary -- a rare move in a time when the six NHL teams virtually owned players from boyhood onward.

That forced the Canadiens to hand Beliveau, nicknamed Le Gros Bill, a $110,000, five-year contract, including a large signing bonus, to lure him from Quebec, a city he loved and that adored him in return.

Beliveau had short stints with the Canadiens two consecutive years before joining the club for good for the 1953-54 season.

He carried tremendous pressure into the NHL, both for his amateur scoring feats and his salary, which was only topped by scoring legend Maurice (Rocket) Richard.

His rookie season was spoiled by injuries. Although he rebounded with 37 goals as a sophomore, he was criticized for soft play and failing to retaliate to opponents' cheap shots.

That all changed in his third season, 1955-56, when Beliveau decided to fight back. He led the team with 143 penalty minutes, led the NHL with 47 goals and 41 assists and took the first of his two Hart Trophies as the league's most valuable player.

That season also marked the beginning of the Canadiens' record string of five consecutive Stanley Cup titles, on a team that also had Richard, scorers Dickie Moore and Bernard (Boom Boom) Geoffrion and two innovators -- rushing defenceman Doug Harvey and wandering goaltender Jacques Plante.

At six foot three and 205 pounds, Beliveau combined strength, a long reach, a soft touch on the puck and remarkable vision on the ice to dominate the league.

In a 2011 interview, Beliveau said he would not have quite the same size advantage in today's NHL.

"I'd only be average," he said. "Way back 40 or 45 years ago, at 6-3 there were not too many of us.

"In Chicago, Eddie Litzenberger, maybe Allan Stanley in Toronto. But now you have players who are 6-7, 6-9, 250 pounds. What amazes me is that, in the past, a tall and heavy guy was usually not a great skater but today they skate pretty well. Very good, as a matter of fact."

Beliveau's slapshot, with a lazy-looking half wind-up, was deceptively hard.

Don Marshall, a checking forward for the Canadiens in the 1950s and 1960s, said even Beliveau's teammates were in awe of his skill.

"It was such a pleasure to watch him play and handle the puck," said Marshall. "He was so graceful on the ice.

"You knew that when your team needed a goal, he'd be on the ice with Richard or (Bert) Olmstead and you knew it could happen."

Richard retired in 1960 and Harvey was traded the following year. Beliveau took over the captaincy in 1961 on a team rebuilding for another run of Cups under coach Hector (Toe) Blake.

Beliveau won his second Hart Trophy in 1964, when a new Canadiens dynasty arose to take four Cups in a five-year span.

The one that got away was 1967, when Montreal desperately wanted a Cup to celebrate the city's world's fair, Expo 67, only to lose in the final to Toronto in what remains the Maple Leafs' last championship.

"We lost to Toronto in 1967 and I was disappointed because I thought we had the better team," Beliveau said years later.

After the 1969-70 season, in which an aging Beliveau had only 19 goals, general manager Sam Pollack talked his captain into playing one more season.

Beliveau scored 25 goals -- including his milestone 500th -- and added 22 points in 20 playoff games as the Canadiens won another Stanley Cup, allowing their big centre to retire, at 40, a winner.

In his career, Beliveau had 1,219 points in 1,125 games, plus 79 goals and 97 assists in 162 playoff matches. He was named to the NHL's first all-star team six times, and the second team four times.

"I always enjoyed the playoffs," he said. "I enjoyed playing in it. Everybody, not only the players, but management, the fans, maybe the press, everybody is so much more nervous. So I enjoyed every game."

Where other stars, including Richard, had nasty post-career experiences with token public relations jobs, Beliveau was made the Habs vice-president of corporate affairs, where he worked on marketing and became a bright and knowledgeable sounding board for a succession of team presidents and general managers.

It may not be coincidence that it was after Beliveau stopped going to the office every day in 1993, when he "retired" to become a part-time public relations "ambassador," that poor decision-making set in and the Canadiens began a slide into mediocrity.

In 2005, Beliveau made headlines when he sold off many of his hockey mementoes. Beliveau said he had mixed emotions about his decision but that the time had come to part with the objects, including his Stanley Cup ring from 1958-59, a replica of the Conn Smythe Trophy he won in 1965, the inaugural year for the playoff MVP award, his Hockey Hall of Fame induction ring and the pucks he used to score his first and last NHL regular-season goals. The auction raised about $1 million.

When the Canadiens opened Centennial Plaza at the Bell Centre as part of the team's 100th anniversary, their four greatest players were honoured with statues -- Richard, Howie Morenz, Guy Lafleur and Beliveau.

Beliveau also ran a charitable foundation and sat on the board of directors of several companies.

He and his wife Elise had one daughter, Helene, and granddaughters Mylene and Magalie.

-With files from The Canadian Press