My favourite player of all time. An absolute hero of a player. Off ice, I remember as a child that some young kid was stabbed and left for dead in an alley in Calgary.
The child was wearing his favourite Canadiens jersey at the time. Lafleur arranged for him to come to Montreal to watch a game when he had recovered.
Lafleur said afterward that he was really nervous because he promised the kid a goal before the game.
He scored two.
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Guy is the reason I love hockey. He played an oldtimers game in Ft McMurray when I was a teenager, my Dad got to play him. He scored one from centre ice that game. Got to meet him after the game, he couldn't have been nicer. The handshake of iron, big smile, we talked for 10 minutes or so, got a few autographs. He signed with the Rangers not long after so we got to see a few more years of him.
Best of luck, Flower, we're all rooting for you!
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I was never a huge Habs fan, but I loved watching the Flower play. One of the all time greats and the image of him skating with his fair flowing is indelible. In fact, I have a photo of that very thing hanging in my study.
The other lasting image I have of Lafleur is that of him kneeling at Beliveau's casket. Hard to keep the eyes dry for that one.
Best of luck Guy.
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An indelible moment from my childhood was Danny Gallivan saying "Lafleur streaking down right wing" followed by my dad yelling "Guy, put some clothes on".
I was lucky enough to meet Guy Lafleur in about 1992. Other than the fact that the man is pure class, the thing that I remember is the size of his hands - they were like catcher's mitts.
A genuine legend. Good luck, Flower.
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Exp:
I loathed the Canadiens as a child which for me was a painful way to exist as they always won. Always.
The respect i had for the players though was through the roof. LaFleur, Belliveau and Robinson elite among many for me. Rocket was before my time, but is hockey royalty.
So reading the surgery was successful was awesome to see and brought out this old beauty on twitter from about 20 or so years ago IIRC.
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I remember going to his last game at the Saddledome when he was with Quebec.
I don't know if he had already announced he was going to retire at the end of the year or if everyone just assumed he was. Either way, the crowd was really buzzing for a game between one of the top teams in the game against the absolute worst (this was the third year in a row that the Nordiques finished 21st overall and would eventually pick Lindros first overall).
The Flames outshot the Nordiques 59-22. Each team took the lead in the game on three separate occasions. The game was tied at 7 with less than 4 minutes left and ended in a 10-8 Flames win. Both Fleury and Sundin had hat tricks.
Through all that, Lafleur didn't get a single point.
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Turn up the good, turn down the suck!
I loathed the Canadiens as a child which for me was a painful way to exist as they always won. Always.
The respect i had for the players though was through the roof. LaFleur, Belliveau and Robinson elite among many for me. Rocket was before my time, but is hockey royalty.
So reading the surgery was successful was awesome to see and brought out this old beauty on twitter from about 20 or so years ago IIRC.
I was lucky enough to meet everyone in that picture. The Rocket was my first autograph, 1978 I think. Met Guy in 1987 and Robinson and Beliveau 7 years ago here in Calgary. Jean was especially awesome. Personalized a picture for my Dad's birthday, his signature was absolutely perfect.
NHL legend Guy Lafleur to undergo quadruple bypass heart surgery
