Guy Lafleur, a five-time Stanley Cup champion for the Montreal Canadiens and a hockey star in Quebec well before his NHL career, has died. He was 70 years old.
The reason for death was unknown at the time. Lafleur, on the other hand, struggled with health concerns in his later years. He had quadruple bypass heart surgery in September 2019, followed by lung surgery two months later.
Then, in October 2020, he was diagnosed with lung cancer again. For decades, Lafleur — dubbed “The Flower” – scored with seeming ease at all levels of hockey, establishing himself as one of the sport’s most flashy superstars.
His distinctive long blond hair streaming behind him as he ran up the ice before unleashing one of his patented thunderous slapshots frequently enthralled viewers.
At an international peewee hockey tournament in Quebec City when he was ten years old, there was already evidence that Lafleur was a generational talent, skating circles past kids three years his senior.
Lafleur was a member of the Quebec Jr. Aces and Quebec Remparts in junior hockey. In two seasons and two playoffs with the Remparts, he scored 465 points and led the club to the Memorial Cup triumph in 1971.
Lafleur established a regular-season record of 130 goals in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League that year, which was later surpassed by another French hockey prodigy, Mario Lemieux (133), in the 1983-84 season.
