33 Years Ago in Leafland; March 28, 1987

Spring of 1987. The Maple Leafs went on an improbable playoff run. They got to within a game of meeting the mighty Edmonton Oilers in the Campbell Conference Finals. I was a 15 year-old hockey mad kid enjoying the fortunes of my favourite team. What better time than now to look back at this memorable time of my youth and Leafs history.

"If we keep  playing like we did tonight, I can't see any team beating us." That was Leafs owner Harold Ballard excitedly saying after the Leafs surprising 4-2 home win over the Edmonton Oilers. 
Th win left the Leafs three points behind both Minnesota and Chicago with four games remaining. Gretzky said after,"We made mistakes that cost us the game. Leafs didn't make any." The Great One was held without a point at Maple Leaf Gardens for the first time in his career. He was even on for two Leaf goals. It was his second straight game without a point and even his coach Glen Sather was worrying," He was totally non-existent tonight and I don't know what's wrong. I've never seen him like this. It's probably the first time in Wayne's career that he's struggled like this. Gretzky confirmed that he had a tough time, "There was a lot of clutching and grabbing, but you have to expect that this time of year. The Great One would go on to post only two points in his remaining three games to limp to the season's end with two points in five games. He of course woke up come playoff time, topping the tournament with 34 points helping lead the Oilers to another Cup.

Andy Moog started in net for the Oilers but Sather replaced him with Grant Fuhr for the second period after what he called two "brutal" goals given up to Peter Ihnacak and Tom Fergus. Brophy singled out two of his players saying of Tom Fergus," That's the best game Fergus has played in a long while," and added "I give Courtnall marks for a great hob on right wing, especially after playing centre for most of his career."In conclusion he stated,"We tried to make sure one guy was back at all times and that nobody, like Gretzky or Kurri, got back of our net. I guess it worked. We shut down Gretzky pretty well."




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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

Played for Both Bruins & Blues, All-Time Team

Image
 Here's a fun thing I like to do every once in a while, assemble a squad of players who played for two distinct franchises. I did it for Leafs/Wings when they played in the Winter Classic a few years back. Also, I'm working on a squad of guys who played for both the Canucks and Leafs that includes such names as Vaive, Benning, Butcher and Kurtenbach. What follows is the all-time team of players who at some point in their careers, suited up for both of the 2019 Stanley Cup Finalists Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues. The fact that goaltender Hannu Toivonen is pictured at the top may seem a strange selection, but he is  the only retired player to play his entire career ONLY for Boston and St. Louis. Currently playing, David Backes has done the same, playing for only St.Louis and Boston. Toivonen came up with the Bruins in 2005/06 playing behind Tim Thomas and Andrew Raycroft, during the summer of 2007 he was dealt to the Blues for Carl Soderberg. He would back-up Manny Legace
Read more