Scott Radley: Hamilton Bulldogs owner Michael Andlauer is also part-owner of the Montreal Canadiens. How he got there is quite a story
If the Montreal Canadiens end up claiming the Stanley Cup sometime in the next couple weeks, Michael Andlauer won't just be sipping champagne from the enormous mug, he'll be getting his name etched in silver on the big chalice.
If it happens, he can thank a torn labrum in his hip.
The story of how the longtime Burlington resident ended up being part-owner of the Habs begins around Easter 2009 in a Colorado medical clinic. Years of playing goalie in beer leagues had wrecked his hip and it was time for a repair. Four people were on the docket for surgery that day. There was baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez, former Maple Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala, an Olympic figure skater and him.
The truth is, that group is essentially irrelevant to our story, just a cool side note. What is relevant is who had an ownership stake in the clinic. That would be George Gillett, who, at that time, owned the Canadiens.
The two men already knew each other pretty well since Andlauer owned the Hamilton Bulldogs which was the farm team for Gillett's NHL squad. So, after being stitched back together, Andlauer and his wife had dinner with Gillett and his wife at their Vail home where the conversation eventually turned to business.
I have to sell the Golden Jewel," Andlauer recalls being told ruefully.
A couple years before, Gillett had bought Liverpool FC, the English Premier League soccer club. Cash was now needed so the Canadiens were to be auctioned off. If Andlauer wanted in ...
Thanks for thinking of me," Andlauer told him. But, pun intended, I'm in a different league."
The 56-year-old has done very, very well in business. His medical transportation company is delivering COVID-19 vaccines in Ontario. Even back then, things were good financially. He would've loved to buy the Habs outright and it seemed clear Gillet was trying to feel out his interest. But the half-billion-dollar-or-more price tag was out of his range.
Yet, within a month, pretty much every person considering buying the team had been in touch. They were all looking to put together a group. Whether it was because he owned the farm team or - more likely Andlauer believes - because Gillett recommended him, he was a wanted man.
This was stunning to him.
Growing up poor with his single mother in the Montreal suburb of Notre Dame de Grace, he often went hungry. He's told the story of how breakfasts were puff cereal bought in bulk bags with powdered milk and there were times the two of them stretched lentil and pork tail soup for a week for dinners.
But he loved hockey. More particularly, he loved the Habs.
He'd listen to every game on the radio. What TV he was allowed to watch consisted of Montreal games on Saturday night. He had a paper route and would take a few cents of his earnings to buy Hockey Digest so he could devour and memorize the stats and details about the players.
One Christmas, his mom got him the best gift ever: A Canadiens' sweater that he wore every day to play hockey at the park across the street.
I put No. 10 on the back of my jersey in white hockey tape," Andlauer says.
The dream wasn't to play for the team. That was crazy. It wasn't even to go to games. He went to the Forum once to see the Canadiens play the New York Rangers when a friend gave his mom tickets but that was it. Just meeting Guy Lafleur - the man behind that No. 10 - would be enough.
What about owning the team?
No," he says. Not at all."
Stupid question, really. The idea was ludicrous. Laughably unfathomable. Yet, years later, here he was with people asking him to do just that. Asking him.
When Geoff Molson (of the Molson beer family) reached out, he finally decided to jump on board. The group's bid for something in the high $500s" won the day.
Andlauer won't specify the exact amount or what his percentage of the ownership is. It's a private company and he isn't allowed to divulge that information, he says. But it's significant enough that he's the franchise's alternate governor.
The experience has been incredible. He now watches home games from his seats just behind the net (except during the playoffs when he's watched from the owner's box because his usual spot is tarped off). He's going to bring his mom to Game 3 when the finals return to Montreal. And yes, he's met Guy Lafleur. Many times.
But, has he allowed himself to imagine lifting the Stanley Cup? Drinking from it? Being on a truck driving through the streets of Montreal in a massive championship parade?
No," he says.
He's won an Ontario Hockey League Championship and an American Hockey League title. He knows what winning is like. And his team has shocked everyone to make it to the finals this year, taking him on an unforgettable ride. So why not?
Even for a guy who's had every far-fetched dream come true, how do you possibly dream that big?
Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com