Ray Emery: a tribute to a rock star

He immediately noticed when he came out of the cabin after training. Visually through the hairstyle, outfit and rappelling step of a rapper. Most of the time, he was playing music in headphones and he was already in another world. He had the charisma of a "warrior" in a positive sense, radiating a tremendous vitality and yet, when I spoke to him, he was friendly and kind. One of the most fascinating personalities I have ever met in hockey.

And the timing was perfect. If I had talked to him after training or playing, Martin Gerber was far from ready and putting weights in the weight room. Ray Emery was the first to leave, Martin Gerber the last

The rebel of a family of steelworkers in Hamilton, the socially indignant city of Canada, and the quiet, introverted and difficult ascetic of Langnau, the the most idyllic village in Europe. greater opposition was not possible. Something like a combination of Mike Tyson and Christian Stucki. But one thing that they both had in common: the tenacious will that distinguishes athletes who bring it from humble conditions to the top of the dollar honey pots in the sports sector. Both became dollar millionaires and Stanley Cup winners.

Two seasons – 2006/07 and 2007/08 were shared by Martin Gerber and Ray The work of Emery in Ottawa with almost the same statistics and the same number of games: 86 Emmentaler has denied right now, 89 Canadians. Ray Emery remains in the playoffs of the Stanley Cup.

Who was the best? I think the Martin Gerber was better and Ottawa would probably have taken the Stanley Cup in the spring of 2007, if head coach Bryan Murray had the guts to take the Emmental in the final.

But Ray Emery brought Ottawa to the finals. He was popular as a pop star. When he built a harmless accident with his white lobster during the 2007 Stanley Cup final on the road to the stadium (the stadium is located in Ottawa outside the city), the traffic is high. collapsed for hours. Because everyone wanted an autograph.

He wore a strange tattoo "Anger is a poison." Which means "Anger is a gift". This sentence can explain his personality. He was not only motivated by passion. There was always a strange, perhaps destructive energy. His ego was kind of big for Ottawa, too big for a cabin, for a crew.

He polarized. Everyone laughed when he won a bet against captain Daniel Alfredsson and ate a live cockroach for $ 500. But he was upset when he came back late from Las Vegas after the "All-Star Break" or missed the team's charter and left with a scheduled flight.

Sometimes he wore a goalie mask with Mike Tyson's portrait. He provoked fights at training and rumors about wild parties and assaults did not stop. But he has never been in jail.

He has already stated that he must live with the fact that 90% of the stories and chronicles about him were negative for the rest of his life. In any case, even in his wildest moments in Switzerland, Todd Elik was comparatively a Sunday student.

A long, quiet career was not possible. After a wrist injury, he has never been the charismatic goalkeeper of the spring of 2007. Ottawa has released a current contract, making a detour to Russia and returning to the NHL ( twice Philadelphia, Ottawa, Chicago). As number two in Chicago, he was allowed in spring 2013 to lift the Stanley Cup in the air. His last matches, he played in Germany in Mannheim. He resigned in the spring of 2016.

He died in a swimming accident on a boat from a friend on July 15 at the age of 35. The circumstances are not yet clear. The best must go way too fast