Lafleur lies in state at Bell Centre, fans mourn Canadiens legend

MONTREAL --Guy Lafleur was known as a man of the people.

So it was only fitting that thousands of people streamed through Bell Centre on Sunday to pay respects to the NHL legend who died April 22 at the age of 70 after a nearly three-year battle with cancer.
"I came to see Guy, to thank him for everything we experienced through him," Jocelyn Godard, 51, from Montreal said. "The dreams of little kids when we played hockey, the Saturday nights spent watching him, every slash and check he endured, the advice he had for kids at hockey schools.
"He was a source of inspiration for thousands and thousands of young Quebecers like me, so the least I could do was to come [and] spend 10 hours waiting in line to pay my respects to No. 10."
Godard and Stephane Malenfant, 61, from the Montreal suburb of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, arrived at 2 a.m. ET to stake their place at the front of the line.
Richard Langlois, 50, drove two hours from Sherbrooke. He fondly remembers playing against Lafleur in Mont-Laurier in 1998 and will never forget dining with him after.
"Like everybody is saying, he's a simple guy and when you're with him, you're the most important person when you talk to him. And that's what's incredible with this guy, a big star and it doesn't look like it when you talk to him," Langlois said. "He would greet you and make you feel like you're the most special person in the world.
"That's Guy Lafleur."
Lafleur's body lay in state on Sunday at the current home of the Canadiens. Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, he was selected first overall by Montreal in the 1971 NHL Draft and played a pivotal role in the franchise's five Stanley Cup championships (1973, 1976-79). He spent the first 14 of his 17 NHL seasons with the Canadiens before playing for the New York Rangers for one and the Quebec Nordiques for the final two.
Canadiens alumni Yvon Lambert and Rejean Houle were uplifted by the magnitude of the display of affection for their teammate.
"What's happening outside is incredible," Lambert said. "That's Guy Lafleur's life. The generosity, the kindness that he showed, that was something else. You see that today, and you'll see that again tomorrow and Tuesday. The organization has done a great job. The presence in the Bell Centre is incredible. It's beautiful, it's remarkable."
"It's Guy Lafleur!" Houle interjected.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs forwards Wendel Clark and Rick Vaive, Doug Gilmour, who played for the Maple Leafs and Canadiens, and former NHLer and current Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan also paid their respects.
"I think it's two organizations (the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs) that are fierce rivals on the ice, have been since the NHL started, but there's a deep, deep level of respect, not just for the Canadiens but for Guy himself," Shanahan said. "And all four of us had an opportunity to play against him and there's a tremendous amount of rivalry and competition and history between the Leafs and Montreal, but behind it all is respect."

Seated behind Lafleur's casket, which was fittingly adorned with flowers, was his family, and watching over him was the Stanley Cup. Alongside the Cup were several NHL trophies, including the Art Ross, which Lafleur won three times as the NHL's leading scorer, and the Hart Trophy, which he won twice as the League's most valuable player.
His retired No. 10 banner, which normally resides in the rafters, was lowered and illuminated, flanked by banners displaying images of the Thurso, Quebec, native.
At one point, a member of the Lafleur family took photos of three individuals paying their respects wearing yellow Thurso pee-wee hockey jerseys with Lafleur and the No. 4 on the back, evoking his childhood hockey team.
"The image I have of Guy Lafleur is when he would go down the right wing, (take a) slap shot and (score a) goal," Quebec premier Francois Legault said. "He would say what was on his mind and that would get him in trouble from time to time, that happens to me, too. 'What you see is what you get,' that was Guy Lafleur, and I think that authenticity is something that made him loved by all Quebecers."
Legault and Montreal mayor Valerie Plante were among a number of dignitaries in attendance. Plante thanked the Lafleur family for opening their hearts to allow Montrealers and Quebecers from across the province to pay tribute to the hockey legend. Lafleur will lie in state again on Monday before a state funeral is held at Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral on Tuesday.
"It's very beautiful, it's touching, and it shows how much Guy Lafleur was loved," Plante said. "I've spoken to a lot of citizens over the past few days and a lot of people wrote about how proud we were of Guy Lafleur. He was a proud man, he was a very proud hockey player, very talented, and he brought a lot of that pride to Quebecers that we all need.
"Losing him is sad but he definitely touched a lot of people with his generosity, his authenticity, his passion, and of course, his talent."