Where have all the flowers gone ?

 Long time passing.

Where have all the flowers gone ?

Long time ago (Pete Seeger)

i had the good fortune of seeing the great Guy Lafleur fly up and down the ice at Madison Square Garden many a times.....blond hair flowing behind him as he accelerated up the ice, that intoxicating Red Sweater...he was a step ahead and level above everyone else on the ice.....he was hated, but not by me......even when he beat the Rangers in the 1979 finals....my admiration and respect for him and the rest of the Habs just grew.

I went to Montreal with the NY Ranger fan club in late January early February of 1985....I remember the feeling of awe that i felt walking inside the Forum for the first time. We had standing room only tickets and gravitated to the upper tier and stood behind the last row of seated patrons......conveniently the Molson Stand was right next to us......I sipped my beer and stared at the Banners of Champions and Retired Legends. I do not consciously remember thinking about Guy Lafleur that night , but i am sure the recently retired icon was on my mind and mentioned in my toasts.........Two things i do remember from that night.....St Johns & Chris Mullin had defeated #1 Georgetown earlier Saturday afternoon, thus becoming the Top team in the Nation, and the two thousand Ranger fan club members started the famous "We ARE.....St Johns" chant during the pregame.....and i am not sure how many of the frogs knew what it was in reference to.........also towards the end of pre game warmup the Pride of Staten Island....Nicky "Octogon Head" Fotiu grabbed all the leftover pucks after the rest of the Rangers headed back to the locker room and as he did at MSG he starting tossing them to the fans.....but almost all the Ranger fans were in the rafters.......and so of course Nicky Began firing pucks towards the roof.....us Rangers fans went wild , howling with delight....and of course most of the pucks fell short of the standing room rafters and came flying down towards the expensive seats as dangerous projectiles.... good clean fun......Rangers played well.....lost a close game....3-2....i had to look it up......i also was curious when exactly Guy retired......two months earlier he asked for trade and HC Jacques Lemairre and GM Serge Savard said No way...and so around Nov 24 1984 he hung up the skates.......it would have been nice to see him just once on forum ice in a white sweater.........of course he came out of retirement a few years later to join the Rangers and then Nordiques....but he looked like a fish out of water without his Montreal Sweater.

Guy Lafeur died on Friday at the age of 70.....he had 5 bypass surgeries in his late 50's and smoked like a chimney and suffered from Lung disease, but at one time he was the greatest hockey player on earth and he raised the Cup 5 times ( 4 straight at one stretch) He scored one of the most memorable goals in League history . In game 7 of the NHL Semifinals his Canadiens were trailing 3-1 in the 3rd period  at home against the hated Bruins......a trip to the finals and a date with the Rangers awaited the winners.... .....Montreal tied it 3-3...but Boston answered with just 4 minutes to go....taking the lead on a Rick Middleton goal.....and then while killing the clock,  Boston was called for too many men on the ice....the Habs power play went to work  ......with just over a minute to play Jacques lemairre streaked over the blue line and left a drop pass for GUY..........he one timed a bullet over Gille Gilberts' right shoulder.......and Gilbert fell backwards slowly with his goal stick extended ...as if he were shot with by a snipers rifle...and in some ways he was.....,,,Yvon Lambert scored in OT and the rest is history.....they would beat the Rangers in 5 tough games......Dryden and Lemairre retired after the season, and  the Habs have only won 1 cup since that season...43 years ago this May...........i'm glad i lived it, i am glad i saw it......and again, i wouldn't trade my time of the planet for any other era....

Soldiers have gone to graveyards, everyone

Oh, When will you ever learn?

Oh, When will you ever learn?