MONTREAL (AP) – Claude Ruel, who coached the Montreal Canadiens to the Stanley Cup title in 1969, has died. He was 76.
Ruel, a gifted hockey and baseball player in the 1950s before losing sight in his left eye, died Monday at his home in Longueuil, Quebec. He had spent his entire hockey career in the Canadiens organization, mostly in scouting and player development.
Although he liked to work in the background, Ruel twice served as head coach of the Canadiens from 1968-70 and from 1979-81.
Ruel had hoped to be an athlete. As a teenager, he was a promising hockey defenseman and baseball player who had been invited to the Cleveland Indians camp. But he lost sight in his left eye while playing for the junior Hull-Ottawa Junior Canadiens in a preseason game in Belleville, Ontario, in September 1957.
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