MONTREAL, QC. — Is it possible for someone to love every single aspect of his or her job? Can a job really be completely stress-free? Or are there always those unfavorable responsibilities that come along with a prominent position in the workforce? According to the distinguishable personality that is Michel Lacroix, the Canadiens main public address announcer, all parts of the job are enjoyable and rewarding. With that said, Lacroix’s favorite part of the job is being able to welcome Habs fans into the Bell Centre on a nightly basis during the hockey season:

“My favorite part of the job is to be in touch with our fans. It’s really fun to sit down in the penalty box and say every game ‘Hey…we’re welcoming 21 thousand two hundred and seventy-three people in here. Let’s all have fun, and hope that our team will win at the end of the game with a powerful performance by our goalie and the rest of the team.’”

Although the 60-year-old Montreal native is extremely passionate about his duties with the Montreal Canadiens, he never actually saw himself doing an announcing job when he was growing up: “I thought about being a reporter, but maybe in newspapers or magazines. I never thought that I’d be working in the radio or TV business, much less being the announcer for the Montreal Canadiens. But basically, when I was writing stories right and left, people told me that indeed I had a good voice and that I should give it a try in radio and that’s what I did back in the ’70’s at CKAC at the time. And from radio I went to TV and did both for a while and eventually jumped on the wagon with the Montreal Canadiens and also did announcements for the Olympic games. And from then on, it’s been go go go!”

By acquiring degrees in both sports management and communication studies from Université du Québec à Montréal, Lacroix has the necessary academic qualifications. Nevertheless, he maintains that constant listening while growing up, and focusing on the pronunciations of names have helped him to develop his own unique style: “I listened a lot to what they were doing in both French and English on the radio and TV at the time. Listening to CBC and listening to BBC, to the American broadcasters and I basically picked up a few things right and left. And I guess this helped me develop my own style. Also, the fact that we need to work in French and in English makes things indeed a little different than what they would do at Wimbledon or the US Open at other venues. But going from French to English I had to develop my own style I’d say. To listen to the pronunciations of names is also very important so we can get the proper pronunciations of all the athletes.”

During our lengthy conversation, Lacroix spoke about specific games that were most enjoyable for him to work: “ Of course our last game at the Montreal Forum and our first game at the Molson Centre were magic moments, and in 1979 when Yvon Lambert scored our winning goal.” When asked what he needs to do to prepare on a game day, Lacroix laughed and spoke about his daily routine: “I just get up in the morning, have a smile on my face and I say ‘Okay, let’s do it again!’” The laughing persisted when asked which players are his favorites to announce at the Bell Centre or at the forum previously: “There are names that are fun to announce when doing hockey for the Montreal Canadiens. Larry Robinson was one, [Alex] Kovalev I had fun with, and Saku [Koivu.] On the current team, [Alex] Galchenyuk is actually a fun name to announce. Of course top players like [Brian] Gionta and [Carey] Price you’ll always have a tendency to put a lot of muscle into the pronunciation. Basically what we’re trying to do is please the crowd and please the athlete. But basically, if you please the athlete, you’ll definitely please the crowd.”

Lacroix was very candid when giving his opinion about the 2013 edition of the Montreal Canadiens. He believes the club has a strong foundation and is confident that the team is in good hands with Marc Bergevin at the helm: “I think we have a very good team. Marc Bergevin did a very fine job and so did the coaching staff in our half season. We all know, and Marc definitely knows and is well aware of the things they have to do in order to get the team in a better position next year. But by focusing on young players, and our draft choices the way Chicago did when Marc was in Chicago I think is a very fine and worthy avenue for the upcoming seasons and it paid off I think with guys like [Alex] Galchenyuk, [Brendan] Gallagher, and Jarred Tinordi. So our young players will enable us to get better performances in the coming seasons and that is what Marc is really looking for I guess.”

As our conversation came to a close, Lacroix made the acknowledgement that working his first Stanley Cup finals at the Bell Centre would be a very special experience for him. He remembers working those games at the Montreal Forum, but concedes that the ambience at a newer venue would be that much more electric: “It would be absolutely crazy! Just like the way the fans reacted when we won against Boston in 2008 or against Washington and Pittsburgh in 2010. Our fans went absolutely crazy and I think that when we do reach the Stanley Cup finals again our fans will know exactly what to do. I personally think that we’ve got the greatest fans in the world in Montreal. They know the game, they care for their team, they care for their players and when they see that we’ll be able to reach the Stanley Cup finals, believe me, they’ll be behind the team 24 hours a day and for a long time for sure.”