Quebec renames highway for Montreal Canadiens legend Guy Lafleur
Posted May 4, 2023 2:00 pm.
Last Updated May 4, 2023 2:03 pm.
Quebec is renaming a provincial highway for late Montreal Canadiens legend Guy Lafleur.
Highway 50, an east-west route in the greater Montreal area, will now be known as Autoroute Guy-Lafleur.
Martin Lafleur, son of hockey legend Guy Lafleur, speaks during a ceremony naming a provincial highway after his father, Thursday, May 4, 2023 in Thurso, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The highway passes through the hockey great’s hometown of Thurso, in western Quebec.
Lafleur died in April 2022 at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer.
Premier Francois Legault made the announcement today in Thurso alongside Lafleur’s family.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault announces Highway 50 will be named after hockey legend Guy Lafleur during an official ceremony, Thursday, May 4, 2023 in Thurso, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Calling Lafleur not only an excellent player, but elegant on the ice, Legault said that instilling a sense of pride was Lafleur’s biggest gift to Quebecers.
“The most important thing about him for Quebecers,” he said, “was that he was a one of us and he made us proud to be Quebecers. The league’s number one player was a Quebecer.”
Nicknamed “The Flower” and “le Demon Blond,” Lafleur won five Stanley Cups in his Hall of Fame career.
“I have two sons, a 29-year-old and a 30-year-old,” Legault said, “who love watching hockey, and they haven’t seen a Stanley Cup win [for the Canadiens] in their lifetime.”
-With files from the Canadian Press
