Gilbert Delorme remembers Guy Lafleur as a former Canadian… but he also remembers him as a Former Canadian!
Posted at 3:59 p.m.
“When I arrived in the National League in 1981, I played with Guy for three years with the Canadiens, remembers the former defender. But later, with the Anciens Canadiens, I had to play with Guy for 20 years. And that’s when I really saw what he meant to the world…”
During our conversation on this Friday of national mourning, Delorme, now a radio commentator at 91.9 Sports in Montreal, will utter the word “monument” at least 20 times when speaking of his former teammate, whose fragility he knew. for several weeks already.
“I myself had my little episode of health [un AVC], and Guy called me right after, at the end of January, he adds. He wasn’t doing too well, but he still bothered to call me… and that’s when he told me that he was sick of his cancer treatments, and that he had chosen to stop everything. He told me he was going to have to gain weight, because he had lost too much…”
But before coming to this sad end, Guy Lafleur had spent his retirement years bringing in crowds… still as a hockey player!
“I think he finished his career with the Anciens Canadiens around 2010, he must have been close to 60… Towards the end with the rest of us, I remember he had pain in his knees, pain in his back, but he wanted to play the same, because he had his pride. He had trouble walking, it was getting harder and harder for him.
“After that, when he retired from playing with the Elders, he stayed with us as a coach. But he wasn’t really coaching, because he could spend the whole game signing deals! People came to see him to have their picture taken, to get him to sign cards or sticks, and he spent the game doing that, while the rest of us changed the lines ourselves. It didn’t matter, and Guy didn’t even have time to open the bench door; there were always people to come and see him and talk to him. He was the same. You could meet him for the first time in your life, and after ten minutes you thought he was your best friend. That was it, Guy Lafleur. »
This popularity was not only palpable in Quebec arenas; according to Gilbert Delorme, Guy Lafleur provoked these waves of love almost everywhere he went. “It was in the United States too, in all of Canada, especially in the west of the country,” he adds. When we introduced the Alumni to the crowd, he was always the most applauded, the popular, even though he hadn’t played in the NHL since 1991. Often, we signed autographs before or after the games, and the line in front of him was quite a bit longer than the line in front of us! »
Gilbert Delorme will always remember Guy Lafleur for two reasons in particular. In the summer of 1981, just before the opening of training camps, it was Lafleur who had integrated him into the team during the traditional summer ball rounds. Then, in 2010 and in the middle of the Bell Centre, the number 10 had played what would prove to be his last game with the Old Canadians.
Once again, it was he who received the most applause.
“We had played against the Legends of the NHL and I remember the reception of the public, concluded Delorme. It was special because we felt he was tired, but he wanted to be there. Stars exist in all sports. But good guys? There aren’t that many, and he was one. »