Yvan Cournoyer Brings Stanley Cup to Saint-Boniface

Yvan Cournoyer showed up in Saint-Boniface with the Stanley Cup, and the crowd that formed around him knew exactly what they were looking at.

The 82-year-old Hockey Hall of Famer and Canadiens ambassador was in the Quebec community as part of Kraft Hockeyville, which named Saint-Boniface its 2025 winner and awarded the community $250,000 in arena upgrades along with $10,000 in new equipment through NHLPA Goals & Dreams and the NHL/NHLPA Industry Growth Fund. It marks the first time Hockeyville has come to Quebec since Roberval in 2008.

Cournoyer, a 10-time Cup champion who spent his entire career in Montreal, has been doing this kind of work for years. He visited Renous, New Brunswick, for Hockeyville in 2019. The draw is the same every time: a line of people waiting for a photo with the trophy, many of them getting their only shot at standing next to it.

"It's always nice," Cournoyer said. "It's a great trophy to have, but you have to work quite a bit to be able to win that prize, so I'm very glad for them."

The preseason game between Montreal and Ottawa is scheduled for Monday at Colisee Videotron in Trois-Rivieres. For Saint-Boniface, a community roughly two hours from Montreal, the Hockeyville designation is the headline. Local organizing committee member Jean-Sebastien Descoteaux said the effort to bring the event to the region was bigger than the town itself.

Cournoyer was appointed to the Order of Canada on April 17, another recognition layered onto a career that already includes a place among the NHL's 100 Greatest Players. He is not done giving back.

"I think the players are aware and it's for a very good cause," he said of the two clubs participating Monday.