Rest In Peace, Guy Lafleur!

Guy Lafleur succumbed to lung cancer yesterday in palliative care in a suburb of Montreal. He was 70. Lafleur was someone I have a great admiration for. I was studying in Montreal when Lafleur was playing for the Montreal Canadiens and I had watched many of his games in the National Hockey League (NHL) on television.

On nights when Lafleur was playing, I remember fellow university mates crowding around the televisions on the Sir George Williams campus in downtown Montreal , cheering for Lafleur. He was electrifying on the ice!

With his blond hair flowing in the days before players routinely wore helmets, Lafleur was known to fans as “the Flower.”  He was a magical right wing on the ice. He helped lead the Montreal Canadiens to five Stanley Cup titles and was the first player in NHL history to score at least 50 goals and 100 points in six consecutive seasons. His speed, skill and scoring has cemented his reputation as one of the greatest NHL players of all time.

Lafleur amassed 560 goals and 793 assists over 17 seasons, 14 of them with the Montreal Canadiens, one with the Rangers and two with the Quebec Nordiques. In the playoffs, he had 58 more goals and 76 assists.

He won the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in scoring three times, and the Hart Memorial Trophy twice, as the N.H.L.’s most valuable player. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988.

Rest in peace, Guy Lafleur!