11 years old in Osoyoos BC and delivering the Penticton herald and Star Weekly (remember that!) on weekends.
I always remember the Star Weekly cover of a young Guy Lafluer in a Remparts jersy on a swing set! He scored a then unheard of 130 goals for the Remparts. They didn't just put anyone on that cover and a pre pro Lafluer was already that big a deal.
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11 years old in Osoyoos BC and delivering the Penticton herald and Star Weekly (remember that!) on weekends.
I always remember the Star Weekly cover of a young Guy Lafluer in a Remparts jersy on a swing set! He scored a then unheard of 130 goals for the Remparts. They didn't just put anyone on that cover and a pre pro Lafluer was already that big a deal.
Found this:
Spoiler!
Would've been just after he was drafted and before his first NHL training camp.
And rocking the red maple leaf!
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Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
Exp:
Growing up I was a huge Bruins fan and had a strong dislike for the Habs. I still remember Jacques Lemaire doing a drop pass to Lafleur who then fired it past Bruins goalie Gilles Gilbert to tie the game with over a minute left to send it into OT. Yvon Lambert scores in OT to send the Habs off to the finals to face the Rangers. One of Lafleur's most famous playoff goals.
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Last edited by Dion; 04-22-2022 at 06:45 PM.
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My mother-in-law mentioned today that women would practically fall out of the viewing boxes and the stands just to get close to "Le Démon Blond", from what she saw when she was the Spectrum watching LaFleur in 1977.
That's oddly specific, I think she might have been one of them
Great story on how Sam Pollock maneuvered to select Lafleur
Quote:
Pollock wasn’t sure whether he was going to draft Lafleur with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1971 draft, but he did know that he wanted the pick. He was torn between Lafleur, who had been on everyone’s radar since he starred at the Quebec Peewee tournament, and Marcel Dionne, a native of Drummondville who won back-to-back OHA scoring titles with the St. Catharines Black Hawks.
Pollock thought his best chance of getting the No. 1 selection was a trade with the California Golden Seals. He gave up a first-round pick in 1970 (10th overall) and minor-league forward Ernie Hicke to acquire the Golden Seals’ first-round pick in 1971 and defenceman François Lacombe, who never played for the Canadiens, but did appear in 440 games with the Quebec Nordiques.
As Pollock expected, the Golden Seals were bad, but the Los Angeles Kings were even worse. By midseason, the Kings were in danger of dropping behind California. The Kings had traded their No. 1 pick to Boston and Pollock’s only option was to make Los Angeles better. He accomplished that by trading 33-year-old Ralph Backstrom to the Kings for Gord Labossiere and Ray Fortin. They would never play for the Canadiens, but Pollock wasn’t interested in the return.
Growing up I was a huge Bruins fan and had a strong dislike for the Habs. I still remember Jacques Lemaire doing a drop pass to Lafleur who then fired it past Bruins goalie Gilles Gilbert to tie the game with over a minute left to send it into OT. Yvon Lambert scores in OT to send the Habs off to the finals to face the Rangers. One of Lafleur's most famous playoff goals.
Such a great clip with some of my all time favorite players. Middleton, Ratelle and Park.
Like you I favored the Bruins and this one was heartbreaking as a kid.
RIP to the Flower, a true legend of the game. One of the very greatest to ever lace them up.
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obviously it was a different era, and teams had different imperatives (ice a winning lineup, what's a first round draft pick? etc) but man the California teams were bad at this
the Seals could have drafted Reggie Leach at 3 OV in 1970 but instead that pick had been long since farmed off to Boston (although the Seals then got him anyways I think a few years later). Kings could have picked at 5 in 1970 but flipped that pick too to the Habs (Habs made a bad pick but Sittler was still on the table)
then again in 71 the Kings and Seals are drooling all over themselves making stupid deals with the Habs and totally botch the Lafleur draft
meanwhile there seemed to be a tiny number of teams actually intent on improving through the draft- the Habs already the cream of the crop walk away from 70 and 71 with Lafleur, Robinson, Lefley, Wilson, Arnason. the sabres with Perreault, Martin, Hajt, Ramsay, Deadmarsh. The Leafs with Sittler, Thompson, Kehoe, Low. The Bruins Leach, MacLeish, Bouchard, O'Reilly
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Ken Dryden’s new book on Scotty Bowman does an even deeper dive.
With so many of the new teams struggling to stay afloat financially, Sam Pollock effectively ran the league. His team was the most organized and most profitable business. The Leafs started their disarray after Conn Smythe’s death & the subsequent Ballard era.
So many Montreal acolytes were running franchises around the league, including Cliff Fletcher in Atlanta. It’s easy to see how Sam had many strings that could and would enable Sam to manipulate deals to the Canadians favour.
I didn’t start watching hockey until the late 80s, so my memories are of his “comeback” years with the Rangers and Nordiques. He made an impression on a group of St. Albert kids with his helmetless head and long hair, streaking down the wing. Someone was always Guy Lafleur in our street hockey games. He was a living legend and even without knowing exactly what he had accomplished with the Habs, it was obvious to a bunch of oblivious prairie teenagers that he was a living legend.
Just saw a clip of the 10 minute standing ovation for him. Wow, says a lot about that franchise and what it means to Quebecers. I saw a quick cut of someone with tears in their eyes. They were wearing a mask, was that Cournoyer?
Just devastating. I was on vacation last week when it happened. Watched a ton of tributes. Sucks that it happened so close to Mike Bossy (but very fitting).
He is the reason I watch hockey. We all fought over the #10 as kids. If you were ever lucky enough to meet him, you were in for a treat as he was a nice off the ice as he was great on it. Just a stand up human being.
RIP, Guy.
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My first hockey game I watched ever was Flames vs Canadiens, Flames won I think it was 5-2, and it was Lafleur's last game at the Dome with Montreal. I did see him at the Dome live as a Ranger a couple years later, he will be missed.
Save the Corral!!
