By AJAY BHARDWAJ, EDMONTON SUN - August 7, 2003

Edmonton Oilers coach Craig MacTavish manages tough-guy Georges Laraque's ice time, but Gillian Andries looks after his time off the ice. 

She has to. When it comes to a good cause, Laraque's just a guy who can't say no. 

"Most of the players calendar themselves," said Andries, executive director of the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation, an organization that co-ordinates charitable activities for the team. 

"Sometimes (Georges) would over-commit and say yes to three things at the same time. 

"Georges would do these things and not tell anyone, and we wouldn't find out until he turned up in the paper the next day." 

The 26-year-old Oilers enforcer visits schools to tell children to stay off drugs. 

He made an appearance at Monday Morning Magic, a private party that took special-needs children out to enjoy the Klondike Days midway on July 22. And he tells kids he meets to work hard to overcome obstacles and achieve their dreams. 

"I know that because of the position I'm in, people, especially kids, will listen to me," said Laraque yesterday as he prepared for a charity soccer game. 

"A lot of kids I talk to want to be athletes, even hockey players. So if I made all the right decisions, then they'll want to make the same decisions that I made." 

Laraque, who hasn't yet signed a contract for the upcoming season, said he's a different person off the ice. 

He has a skybox at Skyreach Centre where he brings underprivileged children to watch games, said Andries. He pays for their food while at the game. 

"When I retire, I want to be remembered as a guy who was there for the community," said the soft-spoken Laraque. 

"People say we make a lot of money and they're right. 

"But how do you get respect? When you give back to people instead of just collecting your paycheque and going home. 

"That really makes me feel good about the chance God is giving me to be in the NHL. I don't think I should be recognized for doing it." 

Back in April, Laraque, who was visiting friends in Calgary, drove home to see Jordon Klym, a hockey fan suffering from muscular dystrophy. 

Jordon's dying wish was to visit with a hockey star, said his mother, Sue. 

Doctors set up the meeting between Jordon, 19, and the hockey hero. 

"You know how big that is?" said Laraque, chairman of the Stollery Children's Foundation. "When you have (little time) to live and the person you want to see is not the president, it's not the Pope, it's me?" 

"It was just so important to Jordon," said Sue Klym. 

"And it just lifted his spirits amazingly, even if for just a short period of time." 

Jordon died in May. Laraque sent four T-shirts and an autographed jersey to Jordon's family afterwards, said Sue.

Sandra Sperounes - The Edmonton Journal 
Thursday, August 07, 2003

Hockey heavyweight Georges Laraque is taking a shot at the airwaves. 

Starting Saturday, the Edmonton Oiler will host his own program, The Georges Laraque Biggest Hits Radio Show, on Power 92.5 FM. The show, to feature a weekly countdown and entertainment news, will air Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and be repeated Sundays from 6 to 10 p.m. 

"I'm very excited," says the right winger. "It's another way I can be with the public. 

"I like joking around, I'm always smiling, I'm always in a good mood. I just can't wait. I have a lot of pressure, but it's fun pressure." 

Laraque isn't new to Power 92. In the past three years, Laraque has regularly serenaded listeners with his renditions of songs such as Jennifer Lopez's Jenny From The Block.

He also expects to croon a few tunes on his show, which he'll pre-record earlier in the week so it doesn't interfere with his hockey schedule. 

"I know I'm not a great singer and I've got a terrible voice," he says. "But if I can make people laugh, I'm all up for it." 

Laraque is also a huge fan of rap, but he won't be playing the latest from Jay-Z or 50 Cent. In June, Power 92 dropped rap from its playlist and now only plays adult-contemporary artists such as Matchbox Twenty and Michelle Branch. 

Still, Power's program director, James Stuart, says Laraque is a perfect fit with the station. 

"He's the most popular athlete in Edmonton and he's a tremendously outgoing, charismatic figure." 

The station says Laraque is the only active NHL player with his own weekly music show.

He doesn't have any aspirations to launch a music career, such as basketball star Shaquille O'Neal. 

"If I ever want to be bankrupt one day, it'll probably be a good idea," Laraque says with a laugh. "No. I don't think I have enough fans who would buy my album."

By ROBIN BROWNLEE, EDMONTON SUN
Saturday, September 20, 2003

CALGARY -- Imagine the plight of the bad guys in those senselessly violent and wildly successful Clint Eastwood B-flicks of the 1980s that had inspector Harry Callaghan teamed up with a sidekick bigger and badder than him. 

Don't like Dirty Harry twitching and waving that man-sized .44 in your face? Don't go for that, "Go ahead, make my day" bit? Fine. Take it up with his partner, the real bad-ass on the beat. 

Would you like to see that? Well, Edmonton Oilers coach Craig MacTavish would, and that's why he intends to play Raffi Torres on a line with Georges Laraque in pre-season - to see if they can be the physical one-two punch he's looking for. 

It's a tag team that could debut tonight when the Oilers face the Calgary Flames in the second pre-season meeting of the teams in 48 hours, although that hinges on Laraque's readiness to play. 

Sooner or later, though... 

"I'm just looking to have a solid game," said Torres, who has looked like a bull waiting to bust out of the chute in the first week of training camp. "Playing against your own guys is one thing ..." 

Torres, 21, will play his first game as an Oiler tonight since being acquired from the New York Islanders with Brad Isbister March 11 at the NHL's trading deadline. 

Laraque is pencilled in on right wing with Torres and centre J. J. Hunter for an encore of Thursday's 3-3 tie with the Flames, but he will be a game-time decision because of a tender groin. 

"It's not like I'm going to go out there and be an idiot and hopeful he sticks up for me," Torres said of playing with Laraque. "I still feel like you have to stand up for your own stuff. 

"What we can do is go out and bang and make sure guys have their heads up. We can play hard." 

Torres, drafted fifth overall by New York in 2000, got everyone's attention last spring with his physical play in the playoffs with the Hamilton Bulldogs. He skates like the wind and hits like a runaway train. Opposing teams often have a problem with that. 

And while the 215-pound redhead doesn't need anybody to fight his battles, MacTavish's decision to team Torres with the NHL's reigning heavyweight champ didn't come with a flip of a coin. 

"He's exactly what we need," vice-president of hockey operations Kevin Prendergast says of Torres. "You have to know when he's on the ice. He doesn't go around you, he goes through you. 

"He's going to play in a physical way. Being that kind of player, there are going to be guys looking for him. Playing with Georges, that's going to give him a little more room because now he's got a 250-pounder coming with him. 

The way Raffi plays is going to be what keeps Georges in the game." 

MacTavish, looking for more consistency from Laraque and intent on having the Oilers play a more aggressive, puck-pursuit style than last season, is banking on it. 

"The one problem Georges has had over the years is he's had a problem with the initiation aspect of it," MacTavish said. "He's always been a guy who has no problem going in and closing the deal. He has no problem reacting to something that's happened on the ice. He'll take care of business like nobody else in the game. 

"Where he's had trouble before is trying initiate that contact and have opposition react to what he's doing. We feel with Raffi, he can be the initiator of a lot of that stuff and that gets Georges into it emotionally early in the game." 

That works for Laraque. 

"When you're a fourth line, you're an energy line," Laraque said. "He'll be physical. He's not going to have any problems because of the way he plays. I'll be there." 

MR. MEDIA 

Laraque, who hosts a radio show in Edmonton, took over play-by-play from Hall-of-Famer Rod Phillips on 630 CHED in the last two minutes of the first period in Thursday's 3-3 tie with the Flames. 

HOW WAS LARAQUE? 

Let's just say The Skipper's job isn't in jeopardy, although Laraque's hockey version of Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, 

"Peter (Sarno) passes the puck to Pisani. Pisani passes the puck to Peter," was good stuff. 

By the way, when Laraque's name was pencilled in on the lineup sheet for tonight's game, he was listed as "Rick Dees."

By ROBIN BROWNLEE, EDMONTON SUN
Thursday, October 2, 2003
  
He's not all the way back, but maybe big Georges Laraque gave Edmonton Oilers coach Craig MacTavish a glimpse of what's to come against the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday. 

The hulking tough guy certainly gave Vancouver's Bryan Allen an up-close look at the knuckles of his left hand in a 4-2 loss to the Canucks in his return to the lineup. 

And while there's work to do before Gentleman Georges will be able to put a miserable 2002-03 season permanently in the rear-view mirror, his rambunctious outing, including three minors to go with his manhandling of Allen, is a good sign. 

"You just want to get ready for that first game," said Laraque, who had an assist to go with 11 penalty minutes. "I was a little bit rusty, but it's fun to be back." 

Laraque, 26, had been slowed by a strained groin going into the game at G.M. Place and had seen action in just one of four pre-season games before Tuesday. 

That's not the kind of start he was looking for after an injury-plagued campaign in which he missed 18 games with a bad wrist, a lacerated elbow and had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Then, of course, there was a car wreck early in the season, a collision in which he escaped serious injury, but that clearly shook him up. 

"I know the way I have to play," said Laraque, who had 14 fights and 110 penalty minutes but managed just 13 points after having 29 points two seasons earlier. "The main thing for me this year is not being unlucky and not having so many injuries." 

MacTavish has made it known he expects Laraque to be a more dominant force - he wants him to initiate rather than just retaliate in terms of imposing his physical will. 

He expects Laraque to be a factor even when the gloves stay on, which is something the six-foot-three, 245-pound right-winger hasn't managed with consistency. 

"You have to show us early," MacTavish said. "We've got a lot of depth at forward. You have to prove to us and show us early in the hockey game that you're into it, otherwise there are other guys who are going to take your ice time. 

"I thought he played very well (Tuesday) for his first pre-season game in a while. He'll get up to speed. I thought he threatened offensively. I thought it was a pretty good performance." 

For Laraque, who signed a three-year contract worth $4.1 million Sept. 11, the trick now is to pick up where he left off, rather than where he started. 

"I just want to play the same way I did in the playoffs (against Dallas)," Laraque said. "If I'm healthy, I'll be able to. If I can play like that all year, I can be a big contributor."