Guy Lafleur “could have been elected mayor of Quebec”!

(Quebec) “Quebec marked Guy Lafleur and Guy Lafleur marked Quebec”, nicely summarized Friday the mayor Bruno Marchand.

Gabriel Beland
The Press

If the legendary hockey player had his best years in Montreal, it was indeed in the capital that he became a star, a recognized player, “adulated” even, who found in the Limoilou district a second mother, friends and a new home.

“People were only talking about Guy Lafleur in Quebec. He could have been elected mayor of the city! “says his former trio partner at the Remparts Michel Brière.

Guy Lafleur participated three years in a row in the Quebec pee-wee tournament, which had just been born. These three years, the Lafleur team won the tournament in its category. On February 6, 1964, The Press publishes an article with the title: “Performance of seven goals by Guy Lafleur”.

Quickly, the young prodigy from Outaouais made a name for himself in the capital. “Before the pee-wee tournament in Quebec, Lafleur was a good hockey player for Thurso. There, he arrives in a big tournament, he wows the crowds, there are 10,000 people in the Colosseum, ”says Marc Durand, author of the book Guy Lafleur, the birth of an idol.

The forward agrees to come and play his junior hockey in Quebec, first for the Aces, then for the Remparts. André Savard remembers his arrival in Quebec in 1969. He arrives from Amos and is surprised to see the enthusiasm around his trio partner.

“It didn’t take me long to realize that he was a great hockey player! he says.

The spectators also realize this: the matches regularly attract 10,000 people to the Colosseum.

Savard was particularly marked by an event during the 1969-1970 season. With two games remaining, Lafleur had 94 goals to his name. The media wondered if the young prodigy would cross the mark of 100 goals.

“The last game was away. Guy absolutely wanted to get to 100 goals at the Coliseum. So he had a game to get there. And he did. He scored six goals in one game. I will never forget that game, ever. For me, that’s Guy. Everything is here. »

Then the following year, the Remparts won the prestigious Memorial Cup in their second year of existence. The “Lafleur legend” was at its height in the capital.

Filet mignon and an “adoptive mother”

In Quebec, Guy Lafleur’s favorite place is the Limoilou district. Almost all the Remparts players live in this sector, including his two line partners.

“We were all in Limoilou. We didn’t have cars, we walked to practice,” recalls André Savard.

The players had adopted a restaurant, Le Cendrillon, on the 3^and Avenue (an establishment that no longer exists, although a namesake has since opened on the same street). “We had less money, we didn’t eat steaks,” notes Savard.

But Guy Lafleur, at 18 and 19, had become a sort of Cinderella ambassador. He ate for free. “He had a card for 100 free meals and he could invite people. When he had finished it, he had another one given to him,” recalls Michel Brière.

“Guy, we made him a sliced ​​filet mignon, he was the only customer who had that,” says former Cendrillon co-owner Jean-Guy Doyon, who often lent his Mustang to Lafleur for a walk. in Quebec.

A few minutes walk away was the player’s landlady. Eva Baribeau lived on boulevard Benoît-XV. “She was his second mother, as he called her. She died today, but for years, he always went to visit her when he was in Quebec, ”notes Marc Durand.

Even after being drafted by the Canadiens in 1971, Lafleur continued to visit Quebec. “For two years, he went back and forth, he went to the practices of the Canadian in Montreal and returned to Quebec at M^me Baribeau,” recalls Marc Durand.

Of course, there were the Nordic years, two seasons from 1989 to 1991. But the team was “awful” and it was above all “to close the loop”, notes Durand.

His successes in Quebec took place from 1966 to 1971, distant years that marked the capital and certainly the main interested party. Lafleur’s last public outing took place in Quebec City last October. Even if he was very ill, he had accepted the invitation of the Remparts and the QMJHL who wanted to honor him.

Mayor Bruno Marchand said Friday that Quebec would find a way to pay tribute to his adopted son. “What will be the best place to name in his honor?” We will have to find, talk to the family, but we will find. »