Earlier this month, to mark the anniversary of Guy Lafleur’s 1,000th point with the Montreal Canadiens, Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette tweeted a photo of a newspaper story from 1981.
The photo under the headline features Lafleur on the Canadiens’ bench waving to fans at the old Montreal Forum after reaching the milestone.
It’s a great image – shot by award-winning, now-retired photographer Doug Ball of The Canadian Press – but what’s more remarkable is who’s in the background. The fan cheering in a black sport coat is a 15-year-old Mario Lemieux, who was a Midget AAA star in Quebec at the time.
On Wednesday, Stubbs wrote about how he managed to get a hold of a high quality version of the photo and tells the story of how Lemieux ended up with those incredible front-row seats.
Lemieux and Lafleur have many things in common: both francophone hockey legends to come out of the QMJHL, both first-overall draft picks, both Stanley Cup champions, both inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. They now also share this photo.
