MONTREAL - The son of hockey legend Guy Lafleur says he feels guilty his father is being dragged before the courts because of him.
Jean-Pierre Rancourt, who represents both Guy and Mark Lafleur, says Mark has told him that he is saddened that his father's good name is being dragged through the mud.
"He feels that he is responsible for his father's problem,'' Rancourt said following the elder Lafleur's arraignment Thursday on charges of giving contradictory testimony at son Mark's bail hearing last year.
"His father always offered him all of his help and now (Guy) is in trouble because of his efforts to help Mark,'' Rancourt said. "Mark feels responsible for this misfortune.''
Mark Lafleur is in a Montreal jail awaiting a preliminary hearing on March 12 and 13.
Rancourt says Guy Lafleur will likely opt for trial by judge and jury at his next court date March 5.
Lafleur, a 56-year-old hockey Hall of Famer, was not present for the brief hearing.
"He didn't want to be there,'' Rancourt said. "An accused is not obliged to be there so I do that for all my clients, its not only for him.''
Lafleur's son faces more than 20 charges including sexual assault of a minor and uttering threats.
The former Montreal Canadiens star first told the bail hearing that his son obeyed a court-ordered curfew while staying with his parents.
But he later admitted driving his son to hotels so he could spend the night with his 16-year-old girlfriend.
Rancourt says Guy Lafleur is still upset about how the charges were brought against him.
"Guy personally is very sad and very mad with the way the Crown elected to serve him with his appearance in court with an arrest warrant,'' Rancourt said.
Lafleur has mainly kept quiet since the warrant was issued, but he thanked fans for their support in his weekly newspaper column in Le Journal de Montreal last Sunday.
He wrote that he was keeping a positive attitude.
Rancourt says he is studying the evidence against Guy Lafleur and will return to court to have a date set for the preliminary hearing.
Guy Lafleur had 560 goals and 793 assists in 1,126 games with the Canadiens, New York Rangers and Quebec Nordiques. He won five Stanley Cups with the Canadiens.
