The ovation lasted 9 minutes 15 seconds. And Michel Lacroix had to intervene to ask the spectators to observe a moment of silence.
It could have gone on all evening. The match had no meaning for the Canadian. It was only incidental to the homage that we paid to our beloved Guy.
It is to be hoped that the players of the current edition of the Canadiens have realized what the CH represents for Montrealers and Quebecers.
Fuel for Guy
The boys, you don’t play for just any team. You should consider yourself privileged to play in Montreal.
Your whining about taxes, taxes, winter, pressure, the omnipresence of the media, mosquitoes, Guy didn’t care like the year forty.
There were never enough big challenges for him. If you made a detour to Centenary Square before the match, you must have felt like you were attending a great mass.
You should immerse yourself in this culture. There are plenty of former players in the organization just waiting to pass it on to you.
The treasure of Michel Charette
Photo USA TODAY Sports
Before the game, this man came to place roses at the foot of the Blond Demon statue.
People lined up to stop in front of Guy’s statue and immortalize their visit with a photo.
Incognito, in front of the entrance to the dressing rooms, was Michel Charette, Detective Sergeant Bruno Gagné from the series District 31which ended the day before Guy left.
When I told him he’s been through his share of hardships lately, he gave me a look as if to say he didn’t understand.
“Oh! yes, there was Mike Bossy too, ”he said.
– In District 31 that’s over, that I told him.
“That’s true, but it’s not the same,” he replied.
An eminently sympathetic guy, the actor proudly wore the Canadiens jersey that Guy had signed on the logo.
It’s a memory he will never let go.
Guy was her childhood idol. He will never forget playing against him and several other hockey legends in a game shot for the movie Les Boys IV.
He met Guy on a few occasions and, like everyone who had this chance, he was charmed by the great simplicity of the man.
Everyone has their own memory
A few moments later, former Canadiens came to meet the journalists in the Bell Center interview room.
It looked like a conventum. Everyone was smiling and laughingly telling stories about Guy.
Some of them told me about their first meeting with Guy.
“I knew him when he was 18, there he broke records! launched Yvon Lambert with his usual verve.
“To scare the guards, he was aiming at their heads. »
Statistics indicate that Lafleur has taken 105 and 135 penalty minutes in his last two seasons with the Remparts.
That means he must have left the gloves on quite often.
“He could be mean, a dit Lambert.
“The opposing players spent their time kicking him. »
Extra sticks
Pierre Mondou was also 18 when he met Guy at the Modern Hockey School run by Gaston Marcotte and Charles Thiffault in Quebec.
The young color bearer of the Sparrowhawks of Sorel was impressed.
“To say that, a few years later, we were teammates with the Canadiens,” said Mondou.
“During matches abroad, each player was allowed to bring three sticks. Guy always asked for a dozen to give a few to amateurs. »
No more room for discomfort
Normand Dupont met Guy while playing with the Montreal Junior.
“We were training before the Canadiens at the Forum and, one day, Guy came up to me mechanically to shake my hand,” he said.
“At my third training camp, he was like, ‘Hey! the kid, you will stop being embarrassed”. »
Sergio Momesso was 14 when he first saw Lafleur.
“It was during a Stanley Cup parade,” he said.
“I made my way through the crowd to shake hands with him. A few years later, I skated with him at my first training camp with the Canadiens. »
