The federal government plans to name the span that will replace the Champlain Bridge after hockey legend Maurice Richard, Montreal's La Presse newspaper is reporting.
The Rocket, as he was known, is said to be the first choice of federal Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel and was also the preferred choice among focus groups, according to the report.
The unconfirmed report suggests that the announcement will be made official on December 9, a date meant to honour Richard's sweater number.
Richard, a longtime resident of Ahuntsic, was born in 1921 and died in 2000. He played on eight Stanley Cup-winning teams for the Canadiens, the only NHL team he played on.
Richard scored 544 goals in 978 regular season games with the Habs from 1942 to 1960. He did not serve in World War II, having been deemed unfit for combat at age 18 and he enjoyed his famous 50-goals-in-50-game season in 1944-45.
The Rocket is considered not just a hockey icon but is also a seen as an important historical figure in Quebec where 115,000 people turned out to honour him at his funeral in 2000.
The ever-humble Richard told CTV Montreal in 1989 that he "wasn't a good skater" but had one irrefutable attribute.
“There were a lot of guys who never played in the NHL that could have played better than me, but I had more drive passing the blue line. That’s what gave me the chance to score more goals,” he said.
The six kilometre bridge is Canada's busiest span, serving about 160,000 crossings per day.
A group called the National Quebecer Movement (MNQ) denounced the proposal in a press release Saturday. “In all respect to the legacy of the hockey player and his impact on the collective imagination of Quebec, the historical importance of the founder of New France cannot be so easily erased from this central infrastructure,” wrote MNQ president Gilles Laporte.
