Posted at 9:15 a.m.
Like thousands of Quebecers, I mourn the death of Guy Lafleur. I mourn my youth.
During Maurice Richard’s funeral, I found myself in the crowd in front of the Notre-Dame church. There were hundreds of elderly people there, moved. Old couples held hands or hugged each other. A part of their past was disappearing. I then said to myself: this is how I will feel when Guy Lafleur is going to die. Twenty years later, here we are.
In 1971, I am a 14 year old teenager. My friends are into beer and girls, binge on Led Zeppelin. I listen to Gilbert Bécaud and I’m a fan of the Canadiens. I watch all the games, I listen to the radio games that aren’t televised, including overnight games in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Oakland. The walls of my bedroom are lined with photos and statistics.
That fall, we resign ourselves to Jean Béliveau’s retirement. But Guy Lafleur, the marvel of the Quebec Remparts (my hometown), is coming! Over 200 goals in two seasons with the Remparts. Expectations are sky high.
During his first game in Montreal, an exhibition game against the Boston Bruins, I was one of the thousands of fans who filled the old Forum – for an exhibition game! A standing room, behind the last row of bleachers. Lafleur didn’t break anything that night. It was before his punchy climbs on a pass from Larry Robinson, before his blond hair fluttering in the wind, before his lightning slap shot. Young Lafleur was looking for himself.
Guy Lafleur’s beginnings in Montreal were difficult. And that’s when we started to like it. The Blond Demon was human, after all. When he finally emerged, starting in the 1974-1975 season (53 goals), our admiration and enthusiasm were all the greater because he hadn’t had it easy. Lots of talent, yes. Lots of work too. But Ti-Guy was also very emotional. Sensitive to the fate cruelly inflicted on him by the coach Scotty Bowman. Sensitive to the immense expectations placed on him. Sensitive to all that life brought him good and less good.
Fans will always remember the rises of Lafleur on the right wing, catching defenders at fault, and lodging his lightning shot in a small skylight, low on the ice, to the left of the opposing goalkeeper. If the Rocket pulled us with all its might and determination, we would fly with Guy! Guy! Guy!
I didn’t want to meet my idol. I was terrified that he might disappoint me, in person. One day, after his final retirement, I had to do an interview with him; I no longer had a choice.
Like all those who had the chance to meet him, I fell in love. Although he had given hundreds of interviews and answered the same questions a thousand times, Lafleur had been unfailingly friendly. And generous: Number 10 didn’t have his tongue in his pocket, and that’s another reason we loved him.
“So, Mr. Lafleur, today’s hockey, what do you think?
– It’s boring. The players stay seated on their donut! »
Lafleur never sat on his donut. Regardless of the circumstances, he always skated faster than everyone else. And he lived fast, too. He was smoking. He drank (too much). He had marital problems. Then difficulties with his children. In short, he was like all of us.
Then Guy Lafleur’s sacred fire went out. In his last years with the Canadiens, he went back to skating a hundred miles an hour in all directions, in vain. He wanted to do too much, and did nothing. In conflict with coach Jacques Lemaire, he was unhappy. He multiplied controversial statements. At each part, we felt his pain. He was disappointing us, and he knew it.
Guy Lafleur retired on November 26, 1984. I was 27, he was 33. For me, professional hockey no longer held any interest.
PHOTO MICHEL GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Guy Lafleur and Réjean Tremblay in 1984
” Anne Marie ! Anne Marie ! Ti-Guy returns to the game! I woke up my wife at dawn one day in August 1988. In The Press, Réjean Tremblay announces that Guy Lafleur intends to return to the game. I can’t believe it. When the New York Rangers, led by Michel Bergeron, make him an offer, I hasten to buy a Rangers jersey. Number 10. Lafleur. My youth can continue a little longer.
This was before all NHL games were televised. It was necessary to follow the meetings of the Rangers on the radio, by tuning into a station of New York. Every time it was announced that “Lefleur” was on the ice, I put my ear to the little speaker on my radio.
He was no longer the player of the great years. But he brought his small contribution as a natural scorer, in important moments. Above all, one felt that he was perfectly happy with his lot. He had just proved that he was not a finished player. What a snub to the organization of the Canadian, who had not been able to manage the career of this gentle genius. Masterful snub when, on his return to the Forum on February 4, 1989, he scored two goals against his former team.
Guy finished his career with the Quebec Nordiques (for me, another jersey, number 10, Lafleur!).
In retirement, he continued to speak his mind. But despite his declarations as stunning as his slap shot, Lafleur was a great naïve. How many products has he awkwardly lent his name to, from yogurt to perfume to Revitive Circulation Booster? Nothing has diminished our affection for him.
During the Charlottetown Constitutional Accord referendum campaign in 1992, he was asked about the right to veto, and he got tangled up in an answer that was more about the right to vote. He was forgiven for getting involved in politics when he knew nothing about it. We forgave him everything.
Maurice Richard was adored. Jean Béliveau was respected. Guy Lafleur was loved. Also, today, we are not only losing the last Grand du Canadiens. We are losing a friend, a brother. And, many of us are getting quite old.
Thanks for everything, Guy.