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Former Canadiens coach Jacques Demers is back home after hospitalization

OTTAWA, Ontario -- Former Montreal Canadiens coach Jacques Demers is back at home after going to a hospital Saturday.

Demers' Senate office would only confirm that the 72-year-old Demers, a Canadian senator, was at home Sunday, but didn't provide any details about the reason he went to the hospital.

Demers had suffered a stroke in April, but he was at the Canadiens' home opener Tuesday night, smiling in a wheelchair while handing a torch to captain Max Pacioretty to close out a pregame ceremony.

Demers led the Canadiens to their last Stanley Cup in 1993. He also coached Quebec, Detroit, St. Louis and Tampa Bay in the NHL, as well as Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Quebec in the WHA.

Demers was appointed to the Senate in 2009 by then-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.