More than thirty years after seeing him play the last game of his professional career on the ice at the Colisée, Quebec hockey fans have not forgotten the blonde demon
.
As luck would have it, the signing of the register of condolences, on the ExpoCité site, coincides with the holding, at the same place, of the Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec, the event that gave birth to the history of love between the famous number 10 and the supporters of the capital.
Guy Lafleur participated in the Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec three times with Rockland in 1962 and Thurso in 1963 and 1964. (Archives)
Photo: Quebec International Peewee Hockey Tournament
In 1962, the future Hockey Hall of Famer, then 10 years old, had won the title of player of the tournament.
Thank you
to his relatives
I saw Guy Lafleur play in the pee-wee tournament and it struck me immediately, he had so much vitality and all that. Then it was my adolescence. So [aux membres de sa famille] I write to them “thank you”. Me, my family, my father, comes from the area, here, then the Coliseum, it was part of their whole life. Several have left. So I write on their behalf
testified a lady who came to sign the register.
Political figures also wanted to come and offer their condolences to the relatives of the deceased. The Mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, the Leader of the Opposition at City Hall, Claude Villeneuve, Deputy Prime Minister Geneviève Guilbault as well as the deputies Sol Zanetti and Sylvain Lévesque went to Place Jean-Béliveau on Monday .
The condolence register has been installed near the Too Strong for the League public artwork, inaugurated in October 2021 to pay tribute to Guy Lafleur.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Colin Côté-Paulette
The tributes paid to the star of Thurso testify to the special relationship that Guy Lafleur maintained with the supporters of Quebec.
Memorial Cup
After having admired him at the pee-wee tournament in the early 60s, they will have the chance to see him in action a few years later, when he arrived with the Aces, but especially during his time with the Quebec Remparts, with which he won the Memorial Cup in 1971.
Guy Lafleur (left) led the Quebec Remparts to the Memorial Cup in 1971. (Archives)
Photo: QMJHL
In the summer of 1989, after a brilliant career with the Montreal Canadiens and a season with the Rangers from New York, after his first retirement, Guy Lafleur will return to Quebec City, where it all began, to play his last two seasons in the National Hockey League in a Nordiques uniform.
A great honor
It is a great honor for all Quebecers that he ended his career where he started. […] He did so much for Quebec, the Remparts, the Nordiques, even the pee-wee tournament
underlined an amateur of the first hour.
Guy Lafleur played 17 seasons in the NHL: 14 with the Montreal Canadiens, one with the New York Rangers and two with the Quebec Nordiques. (Archives)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Sophie Leclerc
Another fan recalled the respect Guy Lafleur commands, even from his opponents. He had an aura, that man, that made it impossible to hate him. Even if he wasn’t your favorite player […] I liked it, to see him play
he remembered.
The condolence book is open to the public Monday and Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fans can also write a testimonial on a website put online by the Government of Quebec. (New window).
Guy Lafleur’s national funeral will be celebrated Tuesday at the Marie-Reine-du-Monde Cathedral in Montreal.
With information from Colin Cote-Paulette
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca