story by jim o'brien
“He was so handsome
and charming.” —Cindi Larouche
Pierre LarouchE—
From Mario
to Sid the Kid
he view from the deck at the rear of Pierre
Larouche’s home in Mt. Lebanon is spectacular
in the spring. The sylvan setting is full of fruit
trees and shrubs, and they are sprinkled with
pink, white and yellow flowers. “You don’t even
know you’re in Pittsburgh,” says Larouche.

He and his wife, Cindi, are comfortable here. Cindi grew up
in Dormont. She met Pierre when he was a young player with
the Penguins. He was 20, and she was a few years older. “We
met in Shadyside, and I was smitten with him right from the
start,” she says with a smile. “I was the ‘older woman,’ and I
took advantage of his youth. He was so handsome and charm-
ing and fun.”
He still is. He has a few more nicks and scratches on his
mug than he did when they met, but Larouche still has that
devilish smile. That’s why he is perfect for his role as a goodwill
ambassador for the Penguins. He represents the team well at
fundraisers and autograph signings. He’s a scratch golfer, has
picked up some good prize money on the celebrity golf tour
and escorts sponsors and well-heeled customers of the Penguins
on golf junkets.

He’s Mario’s man—a close friend of the Hall of Fame hockey
star who wiped out most of Larouche’s amateur and Penguins’
scoring records. Like Larouche, Mario once lived in Mt.

Lebanon, and is among many star players, including Stanley
Cup championship teammate Jaromir Jagr, who have called
Mt. Lebanon home.

Larouche was one of the great scorers in the history of the
National Hockey League. He was the No. 1 draft choice of the
40 mtl • april 2009
Penguins in the 1974 amateur draft. He scored 53 goals with
Pittsburgh in 1975-76 and 50 with the Montreal Canadiens in
1979-80. He was the first player to score 50 goals for two dif-
ferent NHL teams.

At the time he was with the Penguins, he was the young-
est player to hit the 50-goal plateau. Wayne Gretzky broke
his record in 1980. Now 53, he played for the Penguins,
Canadiens, Hartford Whalers and New York Rangers.

He could skate and score with the best of them. He had a
good time doing it, and they called him “Lucky Pierre.” The
name still fits him as snugly as his hockey skates.

The view from Lemieux’s owner’s box above Mellon Arena
is a good one, too. Pierre and Cindi often can be found there.

Cindi's the tougher of the two, he concedes. She has survived
two cancer scares and remains vigilant about her health. “It’s
always there,” she says, then smiles so a visitor won’t get too
serious. At one of the early Stanley Cup playoff games last year, Pierre
Larouche was shown on TV in that box at Mellon Arena. The
Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger was a guest that night, as were two
future Baseball Hall of Fame pitchers, Tom Glavine and John
Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves. They all play in those celebrity
golf outings around the country. The outstanding sports stars
live the good life.

I visited the Larouche home on a cold, dank spring day, but
they brightened the occasion with their friendly spirit, and easy
conversation. “We’ve got a lot of talented young players, and a
mix of solid veterans,” said Larouche of the Penguins, lauding
the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and