Laraque scared an entire European Team
This is one of those stories that you hear and might not believe it's true, but then when you realize the man behind the story is Georges Laraque it becomes more believable.
When the NHL locked out it's players in 2004-2005 many players headed overseas to stay sharp and that included Laraque. Laraque ended up on the Swedish third division playing for AIK where he scared the crap out of most of the league.
For the first time in Laraque's pro career he was a PPG player with 16 points in 16 games. But how did it happen?
In his very first game Laraque broke an opponents collarbone with a clean hit and it was history from there. Laraque was 6'4 and 245 lbs. was menacing enough but add in hits like the one he threw and players didn't want anything to do with Georges.
Laraque said the following in an interview with a Swedish paper:
«Of course I noticed that the Swedish players were afraid. Everyone were smaller than me and thought, �no fucking way' that I'm heading into the corner with that monster I got plenty of space on the ice.»
If that wasn't enough Laraque added the following story.
During the playoffs, AIK was hoping to enter Sweden's second division. Laraque went to the other teams' locker room and put a little fear into their opponents.
«I stood at the center of the locker room and stared them all down. Everyone was looking down at the floor, no one looked me in the eyes. On the ice no one came near me. They didn't want to die for trying to stop AIK.»
Laraque left after the season and returned to North America but it's clear he left a real impact.
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