She took one look at the man who would become her husband and immediately thought the worst. And honestly? Given what she saw, it’s hard to blame her.Claude Lemieux, the four-time Stanley Cup champion and one of hockey’s most feared competitors, was not exactly giving off warm, approachable energy the night his future wife first laid eyes on him.But the story Deborah Lemieux told about that moment, years later, reveals a side of the legendary winger that most people never got to see.Deborah and Claude crossed paths in New York City sometime in the mid-1990s, during his time suiting up for the New Jersey Devils. It was the kind of meeting that, on paper, should not have led anywhere good.In a February 2000 profile in The New York Times, Deborah described her husband in a way that would surprise anyone who only knew him from the ice. “He’s a big old bear,” she said. “People think he’s so tough. But he’s so easygoing.” But that’s not what she thought when they first met.

That portrait of Claude as a gentle, laid-back presence was a long way from the player the rest of the hockey world recognized.At the time, the hockey star was back with the Devils for a second stint in his then-15-year career, having been traded back from Colorado earlier that season, and his reputation on the ice was built on grit and a rare talent for getting under opponents’ skin.Wayne Gretzky counted him as a close friend, and they both went on to become legends. So did Scott Gomez, the star rookie Claude was mentoring at the time. He is now the coach of the Chicago Steel in the United States Hockey League