Former Habs coach and Senator Jacques Demers released from hospital

By The Canadian Press

Senator and former Montreal Canadiens coach Jacques Demers is back at home after going to hospital Saturday.

His Senate office would only confirm that Demers, 72, returned home Sunday, but didn’t provide any details about the reason he went to hospital.

Several news organizations said Demers suffered his second stroke in the last six months but his wife told a Montreal newspaper that he was suffering from an infection.

“He’s fine,” Deborah Anderson told the Journal de Montreal. “Everything suggests that it is not a stroke, but an infection.”

She added that they didn’t want to take any risks given his earlier stroke back in April.

Demers was at the Canadiens’ home opener Tuesday night, smiling in a wheelchair while handing a torch to Captain Max Pacioretty to close out a pre-game ceremony.

Demers led the Canadiens to their last Stanley Cup in 1993. He also coached the Quebec Nordiques, the Detroit Red Wings and the St. Louis Blues.

Demers was appointed to the Senate in 2009 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but later left the Conservative caucus in December to sit as an Independent.

At the time, he said he was uncomfortable with some of the fallout from the Senate expenses scandal and didn’t like to have to vote the Conservative party line all the time.

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