Four-time Stanley Cup winner Claude Lemieux’s death at age 60, on Thursday, May 28, is even more shocking because he was part of a public ceremony in Montreal days beforehand.
The Montreal Canadiens have had franchise legends carry in a torch before a game to fire up the crowd during their run to the Eastern Conference finals.
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It was Lemieux’s turn on Monday, May 25, before Game 3 of the conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes. He was cheered as he slowly carried the torch into the arena, raised the torch and pumped his fist.
Lemieux achieved legendary status with the Canadiens during the 1986 playoffs when the rookie scored 10 goals, including four game-winners, to help Montreal win its first Stanley Cup championship since 1979.
The 1983 second-round pick had played only 19 NHL regular-season games to that point and only 10 that season, scoring once.
He would go on to establish himself as an NHL agitator and clutch playoff scorer, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP with the New Jersey Devils in 1995. He won two Stanley Cups with New Jersey, one with the Colorado Avalanche and one with the Canadiens.
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Claude Lemieux cause of death
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said a family member found the body shortly before 3:30 a.m. in the rear warehouse of the Andros Home furniture showroom, reports the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The sheriff’s office said the man presumed to be Lemieux was found after he failed to return to his home. Sheriff’s investigators secured the store as detectives from PBSO’s Violent Crimes Division gathered evidence.
State business records list Lemieux as the registered agent for Andros Home, which incorporated in 2022.
The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office told USA TODAY Sports in response to an open records request that “all public records you have requested for Claude Lemieux are exempt from public records as specified under SB 474 – FS 406.135. (2) (c).”
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The Florida statute cited by the medical examiner’s office was enacted in 2024 and exempts photos, videos, audio recordings and autopsy reports related to suicide victims from general public records requests.
Contributing: Jesse Yomtov, Palm Beach Post, Mark Giannotto
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Claude Lemieux took part in Canadiens torch ceremony days before death
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