RED FISHER, the chronicler and the "conscience of Montreal hockey whose career touched seven decades, died on Friday at age 91," according to Michael Farber in a special to the MONTREAL GAZETTE. Fisher started on the Canadiens beat in '55 in the "era of train travel and finished it" in '12 when "reporters tweeted the lines at morning skates." Fisher "received one of Canada’s highest civilian honours" in December when he was named a "member of the Order of Canada." Hockey HOFer KEN DRYDEN said, "He was the best of his time, and his time lasted a very long time.” Although he was prominent on "Hockey Night in Canada" with The Fisher Report and "worked as a colour analyst on Canadiens broadcasts, Fisher was better known for the written than the spoken word" (MONTREAL GAZETTE, 1/20). USA TODAY's Kevin Allen noted Fisher "covered 43 of the last 45 Stanley Cup Finals" and was "one of the legends of the game." Everyone in hockey "knows his name and status" (USATODAY.com, 1/19). In Montreal, Jack Todd writes under the header, "The Great Red Fisher Had No Equal" (MONTREAL GAZETTE, 1/22).
LARGER THAN LIFE: The CP's Bill Beacon noted Fisher was a "larger than life character who broke major stories and covered the biggest events in hockey." Former broadcaster RON REUSCH said, “Everyone respected him. He basically ran the media here." Fisher upon retiring in '12 "appeared to be fed up with the modern media world of tight controls on access to players and rumours floated daily on social media." NHL Commissioner GARY BETTMAN said Fisher was "unrivalled in hockey journalism." He added, "Red's words were important because nobody knew the game or the players or the executives better." Long before analytics, Fisher "collected his own statistics, which he mostly kept to himself" (CP, 1/19). In Montreal, Stu Cowan wrote Fisher "touched people of all ages." Canadiens Owner GEOFF MOLSON said, "Red has been through three generations of our family. ... Something I'll always remember is how honest he was" (MONTREAL GAZETTE, 1/21). THE HOCKEY NEWS' Ken Campbell wrote if anyone in the hockey writing industry "deserves to be referred to as a legend, there are probably only two men who fit that profile." Campbell: "One of them is [MSG Networks hockey analyst] STAN FISCHLER. The other is Red Fisher, a hockey writer who set the bar so ridiculously high for beat writers" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 1/19). NBCSPORTS.com's Scott Billeck noted Fisher's death "sent shockwaves" through the NHL community (NBCSPORTS.com, 1/19).
TWITTER REAX: The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun: "One of my treasured moments was in 2005 when Red Fisher pulled me aside and told me he enjoyed my coverage of the NHL lockout. I was shocked he knew who I even was. My knees almost gave. His nod of approval meant so much to me. Absolute legend." The Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons: "Red Fisher was wonderfully cranky, occasionally ill tempered, and often intimidating but he had the best understanding of hockey and the best ways of explaining hockey people and their hockey lives than any journalist I've ever known." NHL.com's Dave Stubbs: "#Habs @HockeyHallFame icon @19LarryRobinson, laughing tonight: "Red congratulated me on one of my Norris trophies. He said, 'Nice going, Larry, but I didn't vote for you.' I said, 'That's OK, Red... I didn't need your vote.' He loved that." #RIPRedFisher."
