Back to the point

There was some celestial harmony when Danny Gallivan would say back to the point and Lapointe fires and scoreesssss. It seems that Guy Lapointe was always there. You see him in the grainy videos of the 71 stunning Cup win where the habs eliminated the Bruins and Hawks. He was there in the four straight cups in the late seventies. He was prominent in game 7 versus the bruins in 1979. Savard and Robinson that night had had better days. He was there in 1972 giving the Russian the choke sign in game 1 and playing a strong role in Canada's win in Russia. He was there in that famous game versus the Red Army on New Year's eve in 1975. He played with Jean Beliveau and JC Tremblay. He played with Guy Lafleur and Larry Robinson.

Yes he was there and everyone expected Guy to have an error-free fast skating offensive game with a good hip check every once and awhile. If Guy Lapointe should be remembered for anything it was that he was consistently very good, game in game out almost every shift. I remember Danny Gallivan would proudly mention Guy was the son of a fireman and a native Montrealer.  Guy had blazing speed and a wicked accurate shot. He rarely made errors in his own end and could get physical when needed. I kept a score in my head of how many times Guy failed to keep the puck in the opposing end at the point. The times were few and Guy seemed embarrassed when he failed to do so. Unfortunately, during his career Lapointe's peers were Bobby Orr and Brad Park not to mention Serge Savard and Larry Robinson. As well, the habs teams in the 70's may have been one of the greatest teams in history. Therefore with the plethora of great players Guy may have been underappreciated. 

Lapointe still holds the record for most goals in a season by a habs defenceman. Sheldon Souray came close and P K might break it someday but some 40 years later Guy still holds the record. Guy's speed on the ice helped the habs play that uptempo game and retain their nickname as the Flying Frenchmen. You knew when Guy went to the opposing corner or in front of the opposing goalie it was time for a habs goal.

Something that may be forgotten was that Savard and Robinson were a duo and almost always played together. As one of the big three Guy was forced to play with lesser talents like Pierre Bouchard, Brian Engblom, and Bill Nyrop. None of these players accomplished much once they left the habs. A bit like Markov all the defencemen that played with Lapointe seemed to be much better beside Guy than with another partner.

We have all read stories of Guy as the prankster a little like Bergy during his career. Haha he shook Pierre Trudeau's hand with Vaseline all over his hand. Guy was a cool customer and relaxed everyone with his practical jokes.

Guy suffered a serious eye injury at the end of his career. He also had an infection that seemed to take forever to cure. All of a sudden Guy wasn't there and you could tell that the habs were not the same. They sorely missed his consistent stellar play. Unfortunately for Guy he decided to join the Bruins at the end of his career a sacrilegious mistake. 

This brings me to the reason for this blog. I think it is a slight that this Hall of Famer does not have his number retired. Six Stanley cups, all those Vezinas earned by the goalies, his offensive production, Guy was a winner and a big part of those cup wins. Yes he has number 5 the same as the Boomer, but Pocket shares number 16 with Elmer Lach and Dickie Moore and the Roadrunner share number 12. It is really inexcusable that Guy Lapointe does not have his number retired.

http://youtu.be/nNERHHO1GSw