33 Years Ago in Leafland; March 27, 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.
As with most young hockey fans in the early 1980's, Wayne Gretzky was my hero, still is really. So whenever Gretz and the Oilers came to Maple Leaf Gardens it was extra special, also it was usually on a Saturday night for the Hockey Night in Canada game. This Saturday night at the end of March 1987 seemed to be the last bit of joy a Leaf fan would get out of this difficult season. Making the playoffs seemed improbable, as did the prospects of defeating the first-place overall Oilers.
Coach Brophy however, had appeared to calm down from the previous day's anger and theatrics and even seemed a tiny bit optimistic. James Christie of the Globe and Mail wrote before the Leafs match with Edmonton on Saturday, March 28, "The anger had gone from Maple Leaf Gardens yesterday and in it's place was hope. Hope, slim as it may be, is all the Toronto Maple Leafs have left in their last grab at a playoff berth." 
Coach John Brophy hopefully said, "If we beat Edmonton, then we'd be back to a three-point difference with four games left."He continued, analyzing the Oilers recent play, "They've had a different kind of road trip. They played loose against New Jersey (a 7-6 win), but went into Hartford and beat them. Then, they lost 4-1 in Boston Garden Thursday. That's a tough rink to get going in if they come at you. I hope they're not in too ugly a mood. Of course, Edmonton plays well, whether they're in an ugly mood or not."

 Brophy noted that the Bruins had success in shutting down Wayne Gretzky utilizing Centre Steve Kasper. Dan Daoust will be assigned the task for the Leafs, centring his wingers Mark Osborne and Wendel Clark. Russ Courtnall will remain on right wing with Tom Fergus and Vincent Damphousse and the top line of Rick Vaive, Peter Ihnacak and Steve Thomas remains intact.
Time for the Saturday night fun.

Comments

Bilko said…
Edmonton and Calgary were so dominate in these 80s years,just look at the standings.

That 1987 year i really like the Oilers second line, Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson and Kent Nilsson
May 10, 2021 at 5:45 AM
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