A new passion makes Lafleur rebloom
Jun 21, 2005 12:45:36 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2005 12:45:36 GMT -5
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By CAMERON SMITH
Lafleur blooms brightly off the ice.
The year was 1979. The Montreal Canadiens were playing the Boston Bruins in the seventh and final game of the Stanley Cup semi-finals. Boston was ahead by a goal and with barely a minute left, Montreal was about to be eliminated.
Then, flying down the right wing with his mane of sandy hair streaming behind him, came Guy Lafleur — The Flower. Already he had set up two goals, and now he had the puck again, skating with a fury that is as fresh in my memory today as it was 26 years ago.
He shot and he scored. The Montreal Forum went wild. The game went into overtime, Montreal won 5-4, the Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup and The Flower received his fifth, and final, Stanley Cup ring.
He's still a hero in Quebec. In Montreal, even today, his sweater remains a top seller in souvenir shops.
I met Lafleur for the first time recently at a fire hall in Montreal, and I was surprised because he is six feet tall — much taller than I had imagined from watching him play on television.
And he has large, powerful hands that I'm sure could crack walnuts with no trouble. Maybe I thought he was smaller because he was so fast on the ice.
He still has longish hair, but not as long as in the old days, and it's greying slightly at the sides. His nose still bears a deep, angry looking scar. And, just as I remembered, his face was born to smile.
It seemed everyone wanted an autograph, even the burly firemen, young and old.
We started talking, and right off the bat, I was floored by his first comment.
"The work I do for the environment," he said, "is more important to me now than the five Stanley Cup rings."
I just stared at him. "How can that be?" I asked, when I could finally speak.
It's because the need for change is so great, he said. "When you look around the world, there are so many problems. I have to make people care about the future, about the quality of life. The future has to last forever, and it only will if people care what's going on."
To encourage people to care, Lafleur acts as a spokesman for the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. He was at the downtown Montreal fire hall to open a new depot for collecting used batteries. He travels across Canada for the recycling corporation spreading his message.
"What I do is only a very small portion of what needs to be done," he said. "But if enough people care about little things, big things happen.
"If you do damage," he continued, "it's a lot harder to repair than to prevent it in the first place. And when there's damage, sometimes there's no cure."
When he was playing hockey, he wasn't aware of environmental issues, he said. "Your only goal is to win the Stanley Cup. When your career is over, that's when you start to realize how many things are going on beyond sports.
"I hear people saying you have to enjoy life while you can. And they say you only live once."
He paused, and then added, "Yeah, but you have to live it right." And in that comment was all the passion he once brought to the ice.
"We have a chance as human beings to do something in our lives. Not being selfish, making things better."
That's how he used to play hockey, too — not being selfish. And he sure made things better for the Canadiens, for hockey, and for us, the fans.
He'll always be a star, of course. But now he's taken on an extra dimension, and it makes him shine even more brightly.
By CAMERON SMITH
Lafleur blooms brightly off the ice.
The year was 1979. The Montreal Canadiens were playing the Boston Bruins in the seventh and final game of the Stanley Cup semi-finals. Boston was ahead by a goal and with barely a minute left, Montreal was about to be eliminated.
Then, flying down the right wing with his mane of sandy hair streaming behind him, came Guy Lafleur — The Flower. Already he had set up two goals, and now he had the puck again, skating with a fury that is as fresh in my memory today as it was 26 years ago.
He shot and he scored. The Montreal Forum went wild. The game went into overtime, Montreal won 5-4, the Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup and The Flower received his fifth, and final, Stanley Cup ring.
He's still a hero in Quebec. In Montreal, even today, his sweater remains a top seller in souvenir shops.
I met Lafleur for the first time recently at a fire hall in Montreal, and I was surprised because he is six feet tall — much taller than I had imagined from watching him play on television.
And he has large, powerful hands that I'm sure could crack walnuts with no trouble. Maybe I thought he was smaller because he was so fast on the ice.
He still has longish hair, but not as long as in the old days, and it's greying slightly at the sides. His nose still bears a deep, angry looking scar. And, just as I remembered, his face was born to smile.
It seemed everyone wanted an autograph, even the burly firemen, young and old.
We started talking, and right off the bat, I was floored by his first comment.
"The work I do for the environment," he said, "is more important to me now than the five Stanley Cup rings."
I just stared at him. "How can that be?" I asked, when I could finally speak.
It's because the need for change is so great, he said. "When you look around the world, there are so many problems. I have to make people care about the future, about the quality of life. The future has to last forever, and it only will if people care what's going on."
To encourage people to care, Lafleur acts as a spokesman for the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. He was at the downtown Montreal fire hall to open a new depot for collecting used batteries. He travels across Canada for the recycling corporation spreading his message.
"What I do is only a very small portion of what needs to be done," he said. "But if enough people care about little things, big things happen.
"If you do damage," he continued, "it's a lot harder to repair than to prevent it in the first place. And when there's damage, sometimes there's no cure."
When he was playing hockey, he wasn't aware of environmental issues, he said. "Your only goal is to win the Stanley Cup. When your career is over, that's when you start to realize how many things are going on beyond sports.
"I hear people saying you have to enjoy life while you can. And they say you only live once."
He paused, and then added, "Yeah, but you have to live it right." And in that comment was all the passion he once brought to the ice.
"We have a chance as human beings to do something in our lives. Not being selfish, making things better."
That's how he used to play hockey, too — not being selfish. And he sure made things better for the Canadiens, for hockey, and for us, the fans.
He'll always be a star, of course. But now he's taken on an extra dimension, and it makes him shine even more brightly.