The player who ranks No. 27 on the Chicago Wolves Top 40 countdown, presented by Jewel-Osco, averaged more than one point per game during his two seasons in a Wolves uniform.
When the Wolves signed Cory Larose prior to the 2004-05 season, the 29-year-old Campbellton, New Brunswick, native already had four great seasons at the University of Maine and four excellent professional seasons under his belt. He even appeared in seven games for the New York Rangers in 2003-04.
But Larose’s pair of seasons with the Wolves represented the most prolific years of his career. In 2004-05, his 26 goals and 63 points ranked second on the squad as the Wolves rolled all the way to the 2005 Calder Cup Finals. During the playoffs, he paced the Wolves with six goals and shared the team lead with 12 points.
After spending the 2005-06 season playing for the Langnau Tigers in the Swiss-A League, Larose returned to Chicago for 2006-07 and became a key cog in the Wolves’ goal-scoring machine. Led by AHL MVP Darren Haydar, Rookie of the Year Brett Sterling, All-Star center Jason Krog and Larose, the Wolves led the league with 4.14 goals per game. They also set the franchise record for goals per game that likely will never be touched.
Larose racked up 22 goals (fourth on the team) and a career-high 61 assists (second to Haydar) for a team that rolled up 101 points during the year. The Wolves romped through the first two rounds of the playoffs before falling to Hamilton (and future Hall of Fame goaltender Carey Price) in the Western Conference Finals.
Larose finished with 48 goals and 98 assists in 143 regular-season games for the Wolves. He continued to play professionally for four more seasons — traveling to Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria — before hanging up his skates in 2011.
Want to enjoy more of the countdown?
No. 40: Gage Quinney
No. 39: Tim Breslin
No. 38: Nathan Oystrick
No. 37: Ben Simon
No. 36: Curtis McKenzie
No. 35: Kamil Piros
No. 34: Mark Mancari
No. 33: Simon Gamache
No. 32: Guy Larose
No. 31: Wade Megan
No. 30: Shane Harper
No. 29: Michael Davies
No. 28: Karl Stewart
