Patrice Brisebois

In the Canadiens' Bell Centre dressing room, Patrice Brisebois celebrates his return to the Canadiens in the summer of 2007.
Dave Sidaway, Gazette

NHL veteran Patrice Brisebois, twice a member of the Canadiens, will bring his 18-year NHL career to a close when he announces his retirement tonight at the Bell Centre.

Brisebois is to awarded the Jean Béliveau Trophy before the game in what surely will be an emotional moment for the Stanley Cup winner.

The Béliveau trophy committee, comprised of members of the Board of Directors of the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation, evaluates candidates according to the effort, enthusiasm, implication and time invested in both collective and personal initiatives. They are also evaluated on their commitment, leadership and financial assistance to the causes close to their heart.

Often the target of Bell Centre boobirds but a consummate pro who gave 100 per cent every shift, Brisebois played his 1,000th NHL game last March and retires with fond memories of his time with the Canadiens, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 1993. He was the Habs' Masterton Trophy nominee this past season.

A blast from the past: Canadiens defenceman Patrice Brisebois laces up his skates for the first day of 1995's training camp at the Montreal Forum.
John Mahoney, Gazette

• AUDIO: Brisebois learns of his nomination and discusses the Habs' next seven games

The news will only be announced Tuesday by the Canadiens and the National Hockey League, but veteran defenceman Patrice Brisebois is the Habs' 2008-09 nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

The annual prize is awarded to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Nominees from the 30 NHL cities are voted by local chapters of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association.

Previous Canadiens winners: forward Claude Provost in 1968, the first year the trophy was awarded; defenceman Serge Savard in 1979; and captain Saku Koivu in 2002.

The Masterton was introduced in 1968 to honour the memory of the Minnesota North Stars’ Bill Masterton, who gave much to hockey before he died Jan. 15, 1968 after having struck his head on the ice during a game.

Full story on Brisebois's nomination is here.

Patrice Brisebois on a 1993 Canadiens lineup card.

Tonight's game will mark the 1000th regular-season game for Habs defenceman Patrice Brisebois.

Brisebois began his NHL career with the Canadiens back on Jan. 27, 1991 in a game against the visiting Boston Bruins at the Montreal Forum.

Brisebois, who was wearing number 43 during his first tenure with the Canadiens from 1991 to 2004, also recorded his first NHL point in that game when he assisted on Shayne Corson’s goal at 12:19 of the second period.

One of only two players (with teammate Mathieu Schneider who is also in his second tour of duty) from the 1993 Stanley Cup are still with the Canadiens, Brisebois will be playing his 53rd game of the season on Saturday, his 887th regular season game in a Canadiens uniform. He spent two seasons in Colorado suiting up for 113 games with the Avalanches before returning as a free agent on Aug. 3, 2007.

Brisebois becomes the 11th player in franchise history to play his 1,000th NHL game in a Canadiens jersey after Henri Richard, Claude Provost, Frank Mahovlich, Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, Jean Béliveau, Stéphane Quintal, Roman Hamrlik, Bryan Smolinski and Alex Kovalev.

Stubbs reports from the Bell Centre:

Include Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien among those delighted to have seen Saturday’s instant rise of referee Marc Joannette’s orange-banded arm.

Canadiens defenceman Josh Gorges had barely hit the ice 3:50 into the second period when Joannette signalled the penalty, calling a charging major on Denis Gauthier and tacking on a game misconduct after the Los Angeles Kings rearguard had angled to the boards at high speed and left his feet to flagrantly elbow Gorges in the head.

Column continues here.

How do you spell relief?

OK, maybe not L-A-N-G. But no one is going to miss the Sundin soap opera, which dragged on way past its best-before date.

Let us rejoice. This was a good week for your Montreal Canadiens.

Patrick Roy, Robert Lang, Patrice Brisebois ... all good moves.

And to top it for the guy who signs the cheques, George Gillett was in the director's box at Anfield today, watching Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-1.

•  •  •

OK, I'm flip-flopping on Roy. When his number was first mooted as a retirement candidate, I thought Roy's method of leaving the team disqualified him for the honour.

I was wrong.