MONTREAL -- Guy Lapointe would have loved nothing better than to celebrate his 72nd birthday on Wednesday with a steak dinner and all the trimmings. But the Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman says he'd happily settle for a bowl of soup broth.
Lapointe is 18 days past an intense five weeks of treatment for a cancer under his tongue, which was diagnosed in mid-December. For seven weeks, beginning in mid-January, he underwent 35 sessions of radiation with three chemotherapy sessions, spaced at the beginning, middle and end of the radiation.
"I've lost 30 pounds, I'm down to about 225. I needed to lose some weight, but I can think of easier ways," Lapointe said Wednesday, his legendary sense of humor intact even if his laugh was neither as deep nor as loud as usual.
Pointu (his nickname is the translation of his surname into French) was a member of the Montreal Canadiens' famed Big Three on defense during the 1970s with Serge Savard and Larry Robinson. Lapointe was a rock on the blue line, a fine rusher and puck-handler whose hands were so soft that coach Scotty Bowman sometimes deployed him as a forward on Montreal's power play.
Lapointe won the Stanley Cup six times with Montreal, and six times was in the top five in voting for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman. He was the runner-up to Boston Bruins icon Bobby Orr in 1972-73.
His career of 884 regular-season and 123 Stanley Cup Playoff games ran from 1968-69 to 1983-84, with his first 777 NHL games and 112 playoff games with the Canadiens. He finished his career by playing with the St. Louis Blues (62 games) and Boston Bruins (45), and his No. 5 was retired by the Canadiens on Nov. 8, 2014, joining the No. 18 of Savard and No. 19 of Robinson.
He also was a stalwart on the blue line for Canada in the 1972 Summit Series, the eight-game series pitting an NHL all-star team against one from the Soviet Union.
Lapointe wept on the ice at Bell Centre during his 2014 jersey retirement, and he's shed a few tears in recent weeks. He has been buoyed by his wife, Louise, during his Canadiens celebration and during his cancer treatment.
"Louise is a wonderful lady," he said. "I've been frustrated with this (cancer), not being able to do the things I've wanted to, but she's been very patient. She's unbelievable. When we're done with this, Louise can be a nurse without ever having gone to school to get her license."
Lapointe says he's often felt like he's been gargling razor blades, "and even when I swallow, it feels like I've got knives in my throat. That's been the toughest part, but it's slowly improving."
He figures he had his last solid meal about five weeks ago. He's getting his nourishment through a feeding tube, though he says he can drink water, "which is a positive.
"I have no idea when I'll be able to eat again," he said. "Everybody's different. Some birthday (broth) would be nice tonight; I'll see if I can swallow that. I tried the other day to eat a bit of chicken noodle soup, but two little noodles got stuck in my throat for about three hours.
"I can't tell you how good a steak would be," he said, laughing again, almost salivating at the thought, "but I think I'm very far away from that. I'm just looking forward to being able to eat so I can gain a bit of weight and get some strength back."
For now, he's dealing with the side effects from the chemotherapy and radiation.
"I can feel nauseous, sick, and some days I don't talk as much as I'd like to because my voice is raw," he said. "I have some blisters on my tongue, and when I talk it hurts because it rubs the inside of my cheek."
With his immune system compromised and the threat of contracting the coronavirus very real, Lapointe says he gets out of the house just long enough to wander into his yard to get some fresh air. He has a follow-up appointment with a doctor scheduled for Friday, but thinks that might be postponed given COVID-19 and his fragile health.
One of the great practical jokers in NHL history, Lapointe won't tip his hand about anything he might have lined up for his doctors when he's finally back to full strength. For now, as always, he sees his glass as being half full.
"I feel sometimes like I'm in a heavyweight fight but it's three against one," Lapointe said. "It's unfair, maybe, but I can tell you this: I'm not going down."
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