No athlete has embodied the soul of a city and the spirit of its people as Richard did in the 1940s and '50s in Montreal. The Rocket's triumphs were the people's triumphs. In a match the previous Sunday, Richard had twice viciously slashed his nemesis, Hal Laycoe of the Boston Bruins, and then assaulted a linesman. Richard was then suspended for the remaining regular season. Richard had led the Canadiens to three Stanley Cups and had scored 50 goals in 50 games, but he had never won a scoring title and was on the brink of his first. The Richard Riot is generally considered the first explosion of French-Canadian nationalism, the beginning of a social and political dynamic that shapes Canada to this day.