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“Night after night, game after game, he would electrify us all with his skating, his control and his kick,” Red Fisher wrote in 2005.
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Stu Cowan • Montreal Herald
Publication date:
April 22, 2022 • 48 minutes ago • 7 minutes reading • 15 comments Guy Lafleur in action against the Boston Bruins at the Montreal Forum on November 30, 1983. Photo by RICHARD ARLESS JR / Montreal Gazette
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The Canadiens – and hockey fans – have unfortunately lost another legend.
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Hall of Fame member Guy Lafleur, 70, has died after battling lung cancer, his family said on Friday.
The Canadiens won a record 24 Stanley Cups and 59 players make up the ring of honor for the team at the Bell Center, but there are three legends that stand above all others: Jean Beliveau, Maurice (Rocket) Richard and Lafleur.
When the late, great Red Fisher wrote a series at the Montreal Gazette in 2005, ranking the top 10 players he watched during his own career in the Hall of Fame, Belivo was number 1, Richard was number 2. and Lafleur was number 3.
None of the three hockey players have ever had or will ever have a greater impact on the Canadiens franchise or the province of Quebec. They made the Canadiens the “Flying Frenchmen” and the best franchise in the NHL.
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“In his day, Lafleur was one of those rare talents who were men, even when he was a boy,” Fischer wrote of Lafleur. “He was a mix of everything that was good and great in hockey because of his speed, his thunderbolt and his good looks.
“Night after night, game after game, he will electrify us all with his skating, his control and his kick,” added Fisher, who died in 2018 at the age of 91 after covering Canadiens for 57 years. writing about 17 championships for the Stanley Cup teams and 15 players who will enter the Hall of Fame.
“Lafleur was born to wear CH,” Fisher continued. “What could be better?” A poor boy from a pulp and paper mill (Turso, Quebec), continuing the line of prominent French-Canadian superstars. He was accurate in time, brought as much fame to the sweater as any of the great players before or after it.
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“Most of all, he was a unique Lafleur. The flower. Delicate but indestructible. Lafleur pulled people from their seats more often than any player of his time.
Hall of Fame Guy Lafleur waves to the crowd as he steps on the ice during the Montreal Canadiens’ 100th anniversary celebrations in Montreal on December 4, 2009. Photo: ALAN MKINIS / The Gazette
“Like Richard before him, when Canadiens and Lafleur won, Quebec won. When Lafleur scored in a way only he could, Quebec scored. When Lafleur and Canadiens brought Stanley’s trophies five times in the spring, all of Quebec boarded their float as it moved past Ste. Catherine St. ”
Like Belivo and Richard, Lafleur somehow seemed invincible – until reality and cancer hit, and they didn’t. Belivo died in 2014 at the age of 83 in poor health after battling throat cancer, and Richard died at the age of 78 in 2000 from stomach cancer.
In October 2020, the Center hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) announced that during Lafleur’s subsequent meeting with doctors, it had been discovered that lung cancer had returned. Lafleur underwent successful quadruple bypass surgery at CHUM in September 2019 and two months later was back in the hospital to undergo surgery to remove the upper lobe of one of his lungs and to remove lymph nodes.
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The CHUM statement after Lafleur’s return from cancer said he wanted to continue his battle alone with his family.
Lafleur’s hockey journey began at the age of five on a slide built by his father in the family’s backyard in Turso, in the Outaouais district of western Quebec.
In his fantasy book The Game, Canadiens Hall of Fame goalkeeper Ken Dryden writes about how after school and on weekends Lafleur will play on the backyard slide with his friends, but on weekdays he hurries home from school. lunch to skate alone. for half an hour or more, working on your skills. In later years, Lafleur will sneak into the local arena through the back door on Saturday and Sunday mornings and skate alone from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. when the manager arrives.
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Dryden noted that what makes Lafleur really special is the fact that he never stops working on his skills on his own and that he often says, “Hockey is my life.” An hour before each Canadian training session at the Forum, Lafleur went out on the ice with a bucket of puck to be alone.
“When you play as a child, you don’t have time to study or study anything,” Dryden recalled Lafleur telling him when asked to explain the undisputed direction of his life. “After 15 or 20 years, what else do I know?”
Dryden recalled in his book: “Once (head coach Scotty Bowman) remarked to me that Guy Lafleur seems obsessed with always doing better; that although he was a good team player, being the best player in the league was more responsible and that for him nothing less than a goal scorer was not enough. “
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The Canadians selected Lafleur as the No. 1 overall pick in the 1971 NHL Draft, but it took three full seasons before he really blossomed into the Flower. Lafleur earned a second nickname, Le Démon Blond, after dropping his helmet early in his career and allowing his hair to flow as he descended the ice. After scoring 29, 28 and 21 goals in his first three seasons with the Canadiens, Lafleur erupted with 53 in the 1974-75 season and added 66 assists. It was the first of six consecutive seasons with 50 goals, including a career-high 60 in 1977-78. Lafleur won the Art Ross trophy as the NHL’s top scorer for three consecutive seasons, starting in 1975-76, and no Canadian player has won it since. Lafleur will help Canadiens win five Stanley Cups between 1973 and 1979 by chanting “Guy!” Guy! Person!” fill the forum.
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As a youth star of Quebec Rempars, Lafleur is No. 4 in Belivo’s honor, posting 130-79-209 in 62 games in 1970-71 before joining the Canadiens next season. Belivo retired after the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1971, and Lafleur hoped to be No. 4 in Montreal.
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January 25, 2005 – Guy Lafleur at Cannes Gary Bromley. For the 10 greatest Canadian series of Red Fisher. (March 1979-GAZETTE-FILES-Mac Juster) SPORTS-Chute request Guy Lafleur invades Canucks goalkeeper Gary Bromley during a forum match in March 1979 jpg
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Guy Lafleur v Bruins on November 30, 1983. Credit: Richard Arles Jr. / Montreal Gazette Photo by RICHARD ARLESS JR / MON
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January 25, 2005 – (LR) Ryan Walter, Guy Lafleur, Gilbert Delorme and Bobby Smith celebrate Lafleur’s draw on November 19, 1983. For Red Fisher’s 10 Greatest Canadian Series. 1983-GAZETTE-FILES-John Mahoney) SPORTS-Chute Request Canadiens’ (left) Ryan Walter, Guy Lafleur, Gilbert delorme and Bobby Smith celebrate Lafleur’s goal in 1983. Photo: JOHN MAHONEY / MON
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MONTREAL, QUEBE, SEPTEMBER 5, 2006 – 70s superstar Peter Dala Riva (left) poses with Guy Lafleur at the Montreal Canadiens’ annual pre-season golf tournament in Laval on Tuesday, September 5, 2006. They also played for Aloutes. Canaadiens. NEWSPAPER PICTURE BY IAN BARRETT Representative: Pat Hickey Sports 19722 Photo by Ian Barrett / Ian Barrett
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MONTREAL, QUE .; NOVEMBER 02, 2009 – Former Canadian Hall of Fame member Guy Lafleur speaks at the presentation of a film about his life at the L’Astral Theater in Montreal on Monday, November 2, 2009. The film Il Était Une Fois is also available on DVD. Photo by FIL CARPENTER / Newspaper
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Former Canadian star Guy Lafleur has signed a T-shirt to a young fan at the Fourth Annual Celebrity Breakfast in the Golden Age of Sports, a charity event featuring many stars from a variety of sports, where Lafleur was a guest of honor. Montreal, April 6, 2008 Photo by Vincenzo D’Alto / Photo by Vincenzo D’Alto
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Former Montreal Canadiens greats Guy Lafleur (right) and Jean Bilivo stand at the Montreal Canadiens Centennial Plaza at the opening of the square on Thursday, December 4, 2008. The event was part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the legendary hockey club. To the left is a sculpture by BÈliveay, and to the right is a sculpture by Lafleur. Photo by John Kenny / PON PON
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Former Montreal Canadiens star Guy Lafleur stands next to a sculpture of himself in …
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