The NHL and conservation non-profit Ducks Unlimited Canada are teaming up to tell stories of current and former NHL players and how access to community ponds and the outdoors helped shape their love for the sport. Today, a visit with goalie Rogie Vachon , who reflects on his youth playing outdoors on his parents’ farm in rural Palmarolle, Quebec. Vachon would win the Stanley Cup three times and the Vezina Trophy once with the Montreal Canadiens, then through much of the 1970s become the face of hockey in California with the Los Angeles Kings on his way to 2016 Hockey Hall of Fame election.

Until now, the best Rogie Vachon breakaway story has dated to Feb. 18, 1967, the Canadiens’ 21-year-old rookie goalie making his first NHL save on the first shot he faced in his maiden game, foiling D

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