Behind the Number: Jacques Lafontaine and Ryuu Crimson

[SlapshotWrangler 864]

CALGARY - Jacques Lafontaine has been wearing the number 82 for the Saskatoon Wild and for the Calgary Wranglers for quite a while now. While most goalies go with the number 1, or something in the 30s, he has chosen to wear 82 in his Victory Hockey League and in the Minors. In the LMAA, he decided to use the number 0.

 

“I wore the number 0 in Midget because I thought it was cool. No other leagues I played in allowed it and you can’t even wear it in the National Hockey League anymore. Just wanted to see what it was like. I knew that it wouldn’t be the number I would wear in the Victory Hockey League. To be honest, I only did it for the memes and for the laughs. Sure, I got picked on for wearing it by fans like ‘0? That must represent the amount of saves you make’ but it was a fun ride.” 

 

So how did Jacques Lafontaine go from the number 0 to 82? You’d expect him to take something in the 30s or even the 40s, right? The only other goaltender that wears the number 82 in the professional hockey world is Tyler Parsons and no offense to him, he isn’t exactly a star goaltender.

 

“Yeah, no, Parsons is a great goaltender and definitely is doing great in his respective leagues but I didn’t choose 82 because of him. It’s actually a fairly simple story. When I was in the LMAA, one of my teammates said that he’d pay me 5 bucks if I used a random number generator to decide my number. I mean, that’s an easy 5 bucks. So I decided to wear it in the VHLM and then change back. But then in Saskatoon, we had our historic season so I decided to keep it. 82 has been on my back since.”

 

We were also able to find Ryuu Crimson, who happened to be in Calgary after the cancellation of the American Hockey League season. He had a decent season, potting 23 goals and 15 assists in 47 games for the Stockton Heat. Ryuu ended up having to wear 81 in the AHL but is most known for wearing 18 for Riga and Davos. However, there could’ve have been a possibility that we would know him as number 12.

 

“Well, back when I was young, I actually used to wear the number 12. My favourite player growing up was Jarome Iginla. He was a star in the NHL and was probably the best player of his era. This guy was the definition of a power forward and I wanted to be just like him. Well, by just like him, I meant play-style wise because I ended up playing left wing for a while. However, I ended up switching in honour of a good friend and teammate, Robert King. We lost him in an accident back when I was in Junior A. So when I ended up going to Swift Current to play with the Broncos, I wore his number 18.”

[IamMOOSE 361]

That's awesome. I love little stories like these. They bring so much immersion to the league. I do wonder why leagues are against #0 for a jersey. It doesn't make much sense to me beyond the use for mascots. you're getting a 10/10 from me though. I hate reviews but gotta get ahead of the trivia again. And plus, this made me smile.