What happened?

Some athletes burst upon the scene like a meteor but they disappear just as soon like a falling star. However, their impact would be felt for decades later. Some of their records become incomprehensible to understand considering the era they played in. They are still held in awe by those that saw them play. Finally there is the lingering what if controversy as to how they would have done if their career had achieved its full lifespan. Number 4 Bobby Orr what more is there to say? The famous quote by Serge Savard pretty well sums it up, “there are stars, then there are superstars, then there is Bobby Orr.” Bobby Orr is only in 11th place all-time for most points by a defenceman. Chris Chelios who is in 10th place has 33 more points than Orr. Chelios has almost played 1,000 more games than Orr. Bobby Orr only played 9 full seasons in the NHL. Before Bobby Orr there was only one defenceman that had scored 20 goals in a season. Orr was the first to score more than 40 goals...

Well I have had a great summer except when I think of the miserable state of the habs franchise. At least my memories have not faded of better times like the spring of 1971. As the 1970 -1971 hockey playoffs got under way, people were grudgingly accepting the Beatles had really broken up (but for how long), Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were already dead, and Jim Morrison had a few months to live. In Quebec, the October 1970 crisis was over, James Cross survived but Pierre Laporte had been assassinated. Pierre Trudeau, Robert Bourassa and Jean Drapeau were our political leaders. Richard Nixon was waging secret bombing campaigns in Southeast Asia to bring about his peace with honor. Filming of the Godfather had begun and George C Scott had refused the Oscar for best actor for Patton the best movie that year.  Roberto Clemente was leading the Pirates to the World Series and he would be dead a year later. Kareem Abdul Jabbar was centering the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA championship. M...

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 ev...