Rogatien Vachon was on his ranch, somewhere in Montana, when we told him the very bad news, despite ourselves.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
“What happened to Guy?” I didn’t know… I knew he was seriously ill, but I didn’t know. Looks like we’re losing a lot of our former players these days…”
In his corner of Montana, “with horses and chickens”, Rogatien Vachon no longer really thinks about hockey. He thinks of his children, his grandchildren, and hockey comes far behind, he who put away his goalie mask and his pads at the end of the 1981-1982 season. At home, news travels a little slower… including the news of the death of a national hero.
And yet, Vachon, who alternately wore the jersey of the Canadiens, the Kings, the Red Wings and the Bruins, found himself in the way of Guy Lafleur very often during his 16-season career in the National League. First, his departure from Montreal coincides with the arrival of Guy in the locker room of the mythical Forum, in 1971-1972. Then, it was with Lafleur that Vachon experienced one of his greatest triumphs, winning the Canada Cup in 1976.
But also, there’s this slight detail, which Vachon himself didn’t know until he was reminded of it: of all the goalkeepers outwitted by Guy Lafleur, he’s the one who has had to get a puck the most often. fillet. Because Lafleur has beaten Vachon 31 times in his career, more than any other goalie in the NHL.
” Oh yes ? OK… I didn’t know that! he answers. I don’t know Guy’s stats by heart, but I’m probably not the only goalie in the NHL to allow him goals! I think he scored against quite a few goalkeepers at the time.
“I don’t have any specific memories when I think back to Guy, but I do remember he was a good looking hockey player… He was a player that was exciting to watch, especially the way he skated with him. her long hair. Also, he had a really fantastic throw. »
It was fun to watch him play, sitting in front of the television… but as a goalkeeper, it was less fun to have to play against him! When he came at full speed on the right wing, I remember that it was not fun…
Rogatien Vachon
And what exactly made Guy Lafleur so successful? After all, you don’t score 31 goals against the same goalkeeper just by luck or chance…
At the end of the line, Rogatien Vachon pauses before attempting an answer.
“I think it’s thanks to his throwing… In those years, there weren’t so many players who were able to throw like him. It’s weird because Mike [Bossy] also left recently, and these two looked a lot alike on the ice. »
Like Mike, Guy had a big throw, but more importantly, a throw that was very accurate. I remember them very well, how easy they were to be able to reach the corners of the net, no matter where they were on the ice.
Rogatien Vachon
It should also be noted that during Guy Lafleur’s glory years, especially from the mid-1970s, Rogatien Vachon did not have the luxury of defending the net of a very talented team, because the Kings of the time didn’t scare anyone.
Come to think of it, that’s probably what Rogatien Vachon remembers from his clashes against the famous number 10: often, it ended badly for him and his team.
“Especially since at the time, the Forum was the worst place in the whole league for visitors… It was not fun to play there against Guy’s club, especially during the first five minutes of the game. We weren’t able to get out of our zone! »
Also, Rogatien Vachon had not seen Guy Lafleur for a while, because his life has been elsewhere for a while now. But he won’t forget it. “Guy was one of the good guys,” he says in conclusion.