Flyers, Rangers, 40 Years Since the Last Game Seven


Dorhoefer Puts Flyers In Cup Finals read the Associated Press headline in May 6, 1974. This game was the last time the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers played a game seven, until this evening. After sweeping the Atlanta Flames, the victory put the Flyers into their first ever Stanley Cup final against the Boston Bruins. The Rangers had beaten Montreal in six games before bowing out almost 40 years ago today.

In 1973/74 Gary Dornhoefer was a 30 year old veteran among up and coming stars Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber and Rick MacLeish. In this seventh game the Rangers Bill Fairbairn opened the scoring before MacLeish tied it at one with just over five minutes remaining in the first period. The goal was amazingly the 11th in 11 playoff games for MacLeish who would end up with 13 in 17 games overall. Orest Kindrachuk put the Flyers ahead for good early in the second before Dornhoefer made it 3-1. Steve Vickers made it 3-1 early in the third ahead of Dornhoefer's eventual game-winner nine minutes into the final frame. Pete Stemkowski made it a tense final five minutes for Philly but Conn Smythe Trophy winner Bernie Parent shut the door for the Flyers who out-shot New York and Eddie Giacomin by 46 to 34.

The Flyers would of course go on to beat Boston 4 games to 2 to take their first Cup. Dornhoefer played four more seasons in Philadelphia before retiring in 1978 with 202 career goals in 725 games. He moved into broadcasting and was a colour commentator for Hockey Night in Canada from 1978 to 1986.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WHA Ottawa Civics, The Two Week Franchise

Image
Tom Earl, Daryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Gary MacGregor, Garry Swain "Please let the fans make up their own minds," Henry Feller told a press gathering. "Let them decide if they want pro hockey here. We have to average 7,000 or 8,000 in the remaining 19 home games for a break-even point." Feller was a director of the Founders Club who had interest in buying the WHA's Denver Spurs club. Ivan Mullinex, owner of the Spurs had brought his team to Ottawa in an attempt to drum up interest and save his investment. The date was January 2, 1976 and Mullinex was in debt to a Denver bank to the tune of $1 million dollars. This same day, the newly christened Civics lost their first game under the new moniker by a score of 2-1 at Cincinnati. Star of the team, Ralph Backstrom said after the game, "Our first official notice of the move hit us when we entered the Cincinnati rink and the names on the big scoreboard read: Stingers and Civics. Until that moment we were un
Read more

Team Canada 1972, What Might have Been

Image
Guy Lafleur, if he had played in the 72 Summit Series "No way. Can you imagine what our fans would say if we allowed Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to play for Canada in that series and either...suffered an injury that might prevent them from playing with us for a year or more?" This was the concern of Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins as quoted on April 20, 1972. After being speculated and discussed since February 1972 at the Olympics in Sapporo Japan, the series was set to go. Early on however, controversy stirred as to who exactly would be representing Canada. Bruins GM, Milt Schmidt agreed with his boss saying, "My only interest would be to see the Russians play the Bruins for the world championship...or whatever team wins the Stanley Cup." In the Vancouver Sun a few days later, the legendary Jim Coleman responds to the American naysayers suggesting that Team Canada should be made up strictly of players from Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal
Read more

Ron Hextall and the stolen Conn Smythe Trophy

Image
Ron Hextall did not deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1987....there, I said it. I recently caught game seven of the '87 finals on ESPN Classic, where the Oilers beat the Flyers 3-1. Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy to the disdain and boos of the Northlands Coliseum. Hextall was (and remains) the fourth player to win the trophy in a losing cause. Even as a teenager following these playoffs as they happened, I thought this was an injustice. Upon further inspection, I believe he only won because he was a rookie, and was the "sexy" pick as opposed to the proper pick. When looking at his numbers, it's hard to figure why he won. Hextall finished with 15 wins, 11 losses and a GAA of 2.77. Oilers, Grant Fuhr went 14 and 5 with an average of 2.46. I realize that stats cannot tell the whole story, but even if we dig further the award doesn't seem justified. His .908 Save Pct was the same as Fuhr's and tied for third behind Ken Wregget and Kelly Hrudey. Also,
Read more