Guy Lafleur Remembered At Funeral As Having ‘Time For Anyone And Everyone’
03.05.2022 - 20:43
/ etcanada.com
Guy Lafleur, a Montreal Canadiens legend, is being honoured for his life and illustrious career at a national funeral, where hockey greats and family members paid homage to the generosity, ambition and passion he embodied until the day he died.
Serge Savard, Lafleur’s friend and former teammate, said that even though the hockey icon was the league’s top scorer and best player, Lafleur always put the team first.
“He was a team guy. He never felt bigger than the team,” Savard said outside the church. “He was a great, humble superstar.”
A crowd, with no shortage of Lafleur’s emblematic #10 jerseys, gathered outside the Mary Queen of the World Cathedral. They lined up along René-Lévesque Boulevard in the city’s downtown core, where the ceremony began at 11 a.m.
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Fans chanted “Guy, Guy, Guy” as the procession made its way from the Bell Centre, with a line of cars flanked by police officers. Lafleur’s casket, draped in a Canadiens flag, was carefully brought up the steps for a last goodbye.
The five-time Stanley Cup winner died from lung cancer on April 22 at the age of 70.
Hockey hall of famers Yvon Cournoyer, Larry Robinson, Guy Carbonneau and Patrick Roy were among the first to pay tribute to the Habs legend.
Robinson, his former teammate, recalled Lafleur telling him to “Play every game as if it is your last one.”
“Nobody embodied that philosophy better than Guy,” Robinson said. “Not only did he play each game to the fullest, he tried to live his life to the fullest off the ice as well.”
Though he was known for his skills, Canadiens owner Geoff Molson described Lafleur as someone who had “time for anyone and