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CELPIP Practice Reading: Reading for Information ID: #63162 Easy Maurice Richard: the Rocket, the riot and the quarrels

Read the following passage.

A. A tomato struck Clarence Campbell in the face at the Montreal Forum on March 17, 1955, and seconds later a tear-gas bomb went off near him. Campbell, the president of the National Hockey League, had suspended Maurice Richard the day before for the rest of the season. In Boston on March 13, Richard had hit a linesman who held him from behind during a fight. The game was declared lost by Montreal, and outside, a crowd smashed windows and damaged stores on Sainte-Catherine Street. His radio statement the next morning cooled his fans' anger. The suspension also cost him his last chance at the scoring title, which went to his teammate Bernard Geoffrion.

B. Richard was born in Montreal in 1921, the eldest of eight children in a family of modest means. He studied to become a machinist, and for several summers he worked at the Angus Shops, where his father was a machinist too. With the Montreal Senior Canadiens he broke his wrist and then his ankle, and he played only a few games in two seasons. The army turned him down because of these injuries. In September 1942 he signed his first professional contract with the Montreal Canadiens. His teammate Raymond Getliffe, amazed by how quickly Richard got past him in practice, named him the Rocket.

C. During the war, in the season that began in 1944, Richard scored 50 goals in 50 games. Two seasons later he scored 45 goals and won the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player. He became captain in 1956, and in 1957, in a game against Chicago, he scored his 500th goal. He announced his retirement in September 1960, holding the league record of 544 career goals. He entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961, although players usually had to wait five years after they retired.

D. Richard's career also produced quarrels. With so many players away at war, some journalists took a dim view of his 50 goals, until his strong seasons after the war answered them. In the season that began in 1953, he wrote a column for the Montreal weekly Samedi-Dimanche and called one of Campbell's decisions unfair. Pressure from Campbell then made him stop. After retiring, Richard represented the Canadiens at social functions, but when his duties were reduced, he was paid only half his salary, despite an earlier promise. Around 1965 he left that role for good. Some scholars even argue that the 1955 riot was the prelude to the Quiet Revolution.

E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.

Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.

- 1.
Some reporters doubted how much his early goal totals were worth because of the war.

- 2.
Campbell himself made the decision to end the game at the Forum early.

- 3.
Someone threw food at the league's president during a game in Montreal.

- 4.
For a while he also had a newspaper job, writing for a paper that came out once a week.

- 5.
Because of broken bones, he was not accepted as a soldier.

- 6.
His famous nickname came from a teammate who was surprised by his speed.

- 7.
A teammate ended up with that season's crown for most points because Richard was not allowed to play.

- 8.
He joined the Hall of Fame sooner than players normally did.

- 9.
He stopped playing in 1960 because he felt worn out.

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