A St. Albert hockey hero is being celebrated in a new book by sportscaster Ken Reid, but he’s not Jarome Iginla, Mark Messier, Troy Murray, or an NHL name at all.
You may have passed him on the street or encountered him when he worked as a parts man for the City of St. Albert. Perhaps you were lucky enough to watch one of his games when he played for the St. Albert Comets, the Moose Jaw Canucks or the Hobbema Oilers.
His name is Richard (Richie) Perreault, and in Reid’s new book Hometown Hockey Heroes, Perreault is described as a “fighter,” “strong,” “quiet,” “intimidating,” and “a nice guy.”
Reid picked Perreault to be one of 14 players profiled in the book because “[Perreault] was content playing senior hockey in St. Albert and Hobbema, and around Alberta…. A lot of guys who were probably as good as Richie could think, ‘Man, I didn’t make the NHL.’ But he was content that he made an impact in the St. Albert area.”
Hometown Hockey Heroes highlights players who became hockey legends in their communities but didn’t necessarily go on to play in the big leagues.
When Reid put out the call on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, for stories about these local heroes, he heard from former St. Albert Comets goalie Zane Jakubec.
“I called Zane up and said, ‘Tell me about Richie Perreault,’” Reid said. “It was such a cool story… I could kind of picture what the old arena must have looked like in St. Albert. And then I called Troy Murray… and he told me right in the book that the city ran on Saturday night, and [Comet's Place] was the place to be and ‘we were all there to watch Richie Perreault.’”
Perreault didn’t know that Jakubec had talked to Reid when he got the phone call for an interview.
Nor did he know that Troy Murray, who describes Perreault in the book as “the guy on the [Comets],” looked up to him.
“It was honestly nice to hear that,” said now 76-year-old Perreault, who still lives in St. Albert.
Perreault started playing hockey as a kid in the 1950s. He was an Indigenous child in majority-white St. Albert.
His parents couldn’t afford to buy him sticks, but a friendly local man, noticing that Perreault was out playing hockey on any patch of ice he could find, would buy the supplies for him.
Another friend got Perreault his first pair of skates when Perrault was 11.
A young talent, Perreault joined the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, now known as the Western Hockey League. He played for the Moosejaw Canucks and had offers to play with the Edmonton Oil Kings. During his tenure in professional junior hockey, he went up against future NHL players Bob Clarke, Reggie Leach and Jim Harrison among others.
“It was a rough game,” he said. “We always played physical. Not dirty, mind you, but physical…. We were always taught the first guy takes the body and the second guy takes the puck.”
Despite being known as a “physical” player, Perreault said he never got seriously injured playing hockey.
He did, however, get hurt playing baseball. It was at a game in Leduc, a windy day, Perreault recalls, when he collided with second baseman Larry Mitchell, broke a couple of Mitchell’s ribs, and separated his own shoulder.
That injury cost him a chance to join the Chicago Blackhawks training camp.
The Blackhawks’ head coach said to Perreault: “[You must not] think much of your hockey career to play for a team like St. Albert.”
Perreault said the experience “turned him off” the NHL.
Instead of fighting for a career in the highest ranks of professional hockey, he was happy to go on playing with the Comets.
“It was a joy to play for the Comets,” he said. “It was like a big family. And our fans were, of course in St. Albert, the greatest fans. We had a following, and they followed us on road trips and everything.”
His most exciting moment with the Comets happened when the Polish national team stopped into town looking for a match.
In the book, Reid describes the 1976 game between the Comets and the Polish team through descriptions in the Edmonton Journal:
“The rink only had seats on one side of the building, and they were packed with the rest of the fans surrounding the ice on the other side of the barn. Bodies were everywhere, as further evidenced by the Journal’s account of the night: ‘A freelance photographer had his foot go through the concession area ceiling while attempting to balance along roofing beams while reaching his catwalk seat.’”
Unfortunately, the Polish team won 9-3.
Reid said he hopes that the book inspires hockey fans to “get off the couch” and go watch their local junior teams.
“You don’t have to be on Hockey Night in Canada playing on a Saturday night to make a huge impact on the game,” he said. “You don’t have to play in the NHL to be considered a legend by those who watched you… There might be an eight, nine, (or) 10-year-old kid watching who thinks you’re as cool as Connor McDavid.”
“I’m sure there were kids who watched the St. Albert Comets who thought Richie Perreault was just as cool as Darryl Sittler or the guys who were playing for the Oilers ... and I think the book kind of proves that he was.”
Still active in the St. Albert sports world, Perreault hasn’t lost his cool.
“I’ve had a few teams phone me and say, ‘Richie, you’re too young to quit playing.’ So I think I’m going to go back and play this year,” he said.
If you’re lucky, you might catch him playing at Servus Place, or an outdoor rink near you.
