Lafleur always 'very genuine' as mentor to Roy with Canadiens

Patrick Roy played only four NHL games against the late Guy Lafleur, beaten for three goals while playing for the Montreal Canadiens.

"Thank God I didn't face him more often," the Hall of Fame goalie said Friday, a few hours after having learned that Lafleur had died at age 70 following a 31-month battle with lung cancer.
Lafleur scored twice against Roy on Feb. 4, 1989 while with the New York Rangers, and once March 30, 1991 while the forward was with the Quebec Nordiques.
With a 14-year difference in their ages, Roy recalls arriving at his first Montreal Canadiens training camp in 1984, having been drafted in the third round (No. 51) by the Canadiens that year, and finding himself four seats from Lafleur in the dressing room.
RELATED: [Canadiens legend Lafleur dies at 70 | Lafleur remembered by teammates, opponents]
As it turned out, Roy would be the Canadiens' next great French-Canadian star, following Lafleur, who had followed Jean Beliveau, Maurice "The Rocket" Richard preceding them all.
"I'll be honest, I was intimidated," Roy said. "I mean, come on, you're watching this guy on TV every Saturday night and all of a sudden you're in the same dressing room? You're like, 'Wow.' He'd be dressed in less than 10 minutes, barely wearing shoulder pads. A lot of younger guys tried to copy him and be the way he was.
"Every Saturday night as a kid, I'd watch him play on TV then go in the hallway of my parents' house and we'd be Lafleur, Ken Dryden, all those guys. They were idols. Even more than idols, they were mentors to us. I felt that Guy had a huge impact and was a huge influence on a lot of people.
"I knew Guy was sick, we all knew that his days were numbered, but I guess you always think, 'It's Guy Lafleur. He's going to find a way to beat this.' But the news hit hard. It was very sad."
Roy, general manager and coach of Quebec of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, has a unique view of how Lafleur should be honored in the days ahead, both in the NHL and at other rinks. Not with a moment of silence, he said, but with rousing, roof-raising ovations in thanks for how the artistic forward nicknamed "Flower" had thrilled countless fans everywhere he played.
"I know that when someone passes away you like to have a moment of silence to honor the person and reflect on their life," Roy said. "But I feel that Guy Lafleur was such a legend, a person who made such a difference in the lives of so many people. He deserves a standing ovation. He deserves to hear people be loud and tell him how much they love and appreciate him and how much of an impact he had on them watching a game."
Roy recalls his brief time being around Lafleur in Montreal, the latter retiring from the Canadiens in late November 1984, and the positive impression the superstar forward left on him.
"Guy would talk to me, he was very genuine, very nice," Roy said. "Yvan Cournoyer (a 10-time Stanley Cup winner with the Canadiens) said recently that Guy was a very nice teammate. Yvan is bang on. Guy tried to help his teammates.
"My dad said today that Guy didn't wear a C or an A on his Canadiens jersey. He never complained about that, he didn't say a word about it. Guy was a very good team guy. The role he was playing on a line with Jacques Lemaire and Steve Shutt, they were dominant, and he was playing his role perfectly. Maybe he was a silent leader but he was a leader on that club, there's no doubt about it. The players had so much respect for him."

Roy had his last meaningful talk with Lafleur in the fall of 2020, just before Lafleur's lung cancer reappeared after a short time in remission.
"We sat down together in Quebec and it was a really fun talk," he said. "We opened our hearts about the game, how we felt. It was nice to have that conversation with him.
"He was true to himself. He'd speak his mind and stand behind his opinions. I love that kind of person because we're a bit the same that way. I respected that a lot about him."
He also respected Lafleur's loyalty to his roots. Lafleur played two seasons, 233 goals in 118 regular-season games, for the same Quebec team that Roy now manages and coaches.
"Guy was a phenomenal ambassador for the [Quebec] Remparts franchise," Roy said. "He was always available. What amazed me the most is that he always remembered where he came from, his roots, and he always had a lot of respect for that. Anytime the Remparts needed him, he was there. It was hard to have a better person than him to be an ambassador. And he's probably the best Remparts player of all time."