Thoughts for Guy Lafleur

It was a moment of joy, like any book launch. Cournoyer, Lapointe, Tremblay, Houle, Savard, Bouchard… Everyone pulled the pipe during the many photo sessions with Yvon Lambert, the hero of the day.

Guillaume Lefrançois
Press

His biography, A glorious in the heart of the dynasty, written by David Arsenault and published by Hurtubise, was officially launched this Wednesday afternoon.

“We annoyed him a lot in the past,” Serge Savard reminded himself. We got together, Guy Lapointe and I, and we left after Yvon. Sometimes he was tired in training, so we would wake him up! ”

But of this group which formed the great dynasty of the 1970s, there was a great absentee: Guy Lafleur, detained at home for health reasons.

Absent, but not forgotten. Lambert had also reserved a passage of his touching speech for him. “Continue to prove to us that you will always remain a number 1, in life as in illness,” he told his old sidekick.

” It’s going to be hard ”

The more the years go by, the more health becomes an essential subject when we meet this generation of players, the one from the time when we could nickname them “the Glorious” without the slightest sarcasm.

There is Lafleur, who is battling recurrent lung cancer. There’s also Lapointe, in remission from another damn cancer. From the throat, in his case. There is Yvon Lambert himself, who suffered from colon cancer and who revealed in the book that he had also received treatment for skin and prostate cancer in recent months.

“It makes you think”, admitted Yvan Cournoyer, himself in resplendent form two weeks before his 78^e birthday.

But Lafleur’s last public appearance, when his statue was unveiled in Quebec City last month, shocked Cournoyer.

“We talk to him a lot, but it’s going to be hard. He finds it difficult to breathe a little. We’re going to wait… We’re going one week at a time. ”

On the one hand, Cournoyer worries about his friend. On the other hand, he doesn’t want to tire him out. “I don’t talk to Martin, his son anymore. I don’t always want to disturb him. I’ve had back problems before… People call you, ‟How are you? How are you ?” I want to leave him alone for a bit. ”

This appearance of Lafleur in Quebec had also challenged Lapointe. “He looked tired, a little. Knowing Guy’s great generosity, he is not able to say no to his audience, he is so grateful. I am not surprised that he accepted. Maybe he should take a little time off to rest, but knowing him is the real Guy Lafleur. ”

Serge Savard was trying to see things on the bright side. “My wife had an operation for esophageal cancer, it is one of the most difficult operations. It’s been five years, she had an exam two weeks ago and she still doesn’t have cancer. We heal a lot of people. Lapointe is doing a lot better than when I saw him a year or two ago! ”

Lapointe is better

Because yes, the news from Guy Lapointe is encouraging. He has been in remission from tongue cancer for a year. “Pointu” must also pass a follow-up exam on Friday. “I think it’s okay, I feel good, but just thinking about it, it’s stressful a bit,” he admits.

Lapointe has not lost any of his bonhomie, even if he can no longer express it as fluently as before. Sometimes he has to slow down to say each word.

“There are good days and bad days. Some days I have difficulty speaking because I have lost half of my tongue functioning, he notes. I’m limited in what I can eat, can’t eat steak, hamburger, good stuff like that! I mainly eat soups, sauces, it has to be crushed, cut into small pieces, so that I can swallow it. ”

Things that you miss? “I am lucky, at least the cancer is gone. I accept the consequences, I have to live with it, ”he says.

A united group

There are many reunion opportunities for this group that made Quebec vibrate more than 40 years ago.

“There is the Salon des Anciens at the Bell Center, the Alumni Tournament, golf tournaments, the launch of my book two years ago,” says Savard. We have lots of opportunities to meet. The other time, we went to dinner with Guy for his 70’s^e birthday. These are all things that if I lived in St. Louis, if someone else was in Vancouver, would not happen. ”

This time, Lambert brought together all these beautiful people.

“Yvon was a very strong guy physically, probably the best player in the corners in the NHL, and I’m not saying that because we are at his launch!” Added Savard. He was the one going around the corner, the other guy was coming, Yvon was working with his skates and he was coming out with the puck. ”

Everyone has their link with them. Lucien Deblois never even played with Lambert in the NHL, but “maybe 500 old-timers games with him,” he calculates.

Cournoyer? “When we beat Philadelphia in four in the final in 1976, Yvon was my roommate. They had put two tough together! He laughs.

“Yvon was really part of our group in the 1970s. He was there for the four Cups,” said Savard. He had scored about fifty goals with Halifax. You happened, you had Lafleur, Lemaire and Shutt. You were on the second line, you had Pete Mahovlich, and there you were on the third line. It was a third line, but the guys had been stars in the junior. Mario Tremblay, in the junior, people compared him to Maurice Richard. It was one of the best third lines in the NHL.

“Yvon joined the group and he was part of the family. It was the trademark of our team, we hung out a lot. ”