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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Jun 3, 2016 18:32:55 GMT -5
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Post by blny on Jun 3, 2016 19:57:18 GMT -5
Freely confess to having turned off the tv late in the third and prior to the McSorley penalty. I just didn't see them tying it up. I turned it back on to see the start of OT.
Such a remarkable season.
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Post by 24in93 on Jun 3, 2016 20:54:52 GMT -5
I remember nearly jumping through the ceiling in my friend's basement where we watched most of that playoffs. Great memories.
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Post by folatre on Jun 3, 2016 21:50:38 GMT -5
This group was smart and resourceful, talented and determined.
I forget, did Demers later said Montreal knew about the stick and waited for the moment to call or said it was simply out of the blue instinctual hunch?
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Post by Skilly on Jun 3, 2016 22:08:21 GMT -5
"Working Overtime"
Carbo told Demers that McSorley's stick looked illegal. The rumour / conspiracy theorist say the equipment manager in the Forum noticed in prior to the game.
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Post by Skilly on Jun 3, 2016 22:11:53 GMT -5
By Curtis Zupke - NHL.com Correspondent
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- First things first. Yes, Marty McSorley still has the stick.
Presumably it's somewhere in his house in cozy Hermosa Beach, near Los Angeles, but McSorley didn't divulge details.
"I have it," McSorley says.
Is it on display? Hidden away in a closet?
"I have it," McSorley said Sunday as laughter filled the room. Pressed further, he said, "It's not on display."
A few minutes earlier, McSorley completely let the air out of a conference room full of reporters, who were gun shy before McSorley piped up with, "Let's get the big elephant out of the room here."
It didn't take much prodding to get McSorley to talk about an incident that is forever etched in the minds of Los Angeles Kings fans. McSorley was penalized for using an illegally curved stick late in Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup Final; the Montreal Canadiens tied the game during the power play and won in overtime.
Montreal then won the next three games for its 24th Stanley Cup, while the Kings went 19 years before making it back to the Final until this season.
McSorley has been reluctant to talk about the episode at length, but earlier this week he did an in-depth interview with the Los Angeles Daily News and, after numerous media requests, sat down with a group of reporters Sunday at the Kings' practice facility.
McSorley mainly wanted to tell his side of arguably the most painful moment in Kings history.
Los Angeles, coming off an incredible Game 7 win in the Western Conference Finals against the Toronto Maple Leafs, was poised to take a 2-0 series lead against Montreal. It was leading 2-1, with fewer than two minutes remaining when Montreal coach Jacques Demers, in an effort to essentially salvage the series, asked officials to measure McSorley's stick.
The curve exceeded the maximum under NHL rules, and McSorley was sent to the penalty box. The Canadiens pulled goalie Patrick Roy for a 6-on-4 skating advantage, and Eric Desjardins tied it with 1:13 remaining. Desjardins scored 51 seconds into overtime and the series was tilted in Montreal's favor.
McSorley said that the Canadiens knew he had an illegal stick because they wheeled the Kings' stick rack into their locker room.
"I think that [former Kings coach] Barry Melrose, [former player] Luc Robitaille, [former trainer] Peter Demers, different guys, have basically said what happened: We all know that they pulled the stick rack into their locker room," McSorley said.
"That's honest and that's frank. Am I sitting here complaining? No. But that is what happened."
McSorley didn't want his comments to come across as a blast at o the Canadiens. He called new Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin a good friend. But he feels that, over the ensuing two decades, "there's been a degree of sensationalism, a big degree of sensationalism. And I don't think there's been a lot of honesty. Did I have an illegal stick? Yes, I did. Did I stand up after the fact and say, 'Listen, I had an illegal stick?' Yes I did."
The details tend to get lost. McSorley's penalty only allowed Montreal to tie the score. If the Kings scored in overtime the incident would have gone down as an interesting footnote. L.A. still got out of Montreal with the series tied 1-1, but the Canadiens won Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles, both in overtime.
McSorley came to the Kings from the Edmonton Oilers as an ancillary piece in the Wayne Gretzky trade in 1988 because Gretzky wanted to retain McSorley as a bodyguard. McSorley's game wasn't pretty. He wasn't a great skater and the puck always seemed to be on its edge when he shot it. But he was smart and tough, and his hard work and willingness to defend his teammates endeared him to Kings fans.
The incident made him a polarizing figure, though, as many L.A. fans blame him for the Kings losing their first shot at the Cup. McSorley said he doesn't have an issue with the fans but he told the Daily News that he does get irritated when they bring up the stick, even in a joking fashion.
He wants them to know what he claims is the complete story. Without comment from members of the 1993 Canadiens, his accusation is just that – an accusation. But McSorley is adamant.
"Would they have called somebody else?" McSorley said. "I think, probably. Because they knew – there were numerous guys. I think we treated it at that time at almost like [former baseball player] George Brett's [illegal] pine tar [bat]. To make a call like that is really, really gutsy. To find out later that they knew, and how they knew, was really, really disappointing.
"I think you have to ask the fans, 'If Marty wasn't on the ice, would they have called somebody else?' They would kind of go, 'I never thought [about] that.'"
As McSorley talked, the Kings were practicing below. McSorley works as an analyst in Canada and he said he thoroughly appreciates breaking down this Kings team. He would much rather talk about the current Kings than the stick incident, but after two decades – and numerous text message requests directed at his wife – McSorley wanted to get it out there.
If the Kings did win the Stanley Cup it would mean "a great deal" to McSorley in the bigger picture. The Gretzky era in Los Angeles facilitated the expansion to Anaheim, San Jose and the southwest.
"It kind of validates to people outside of L.A. how strong hockey is in Los Angeles right now," McSorley said. "I mean, the number of kids that are playing, the quality of the minor hockey that is played. And that doesn't happen overnight. That happens over a long period of time."
Does McSorley feel that Cup would absolve him of the illegal stick?
"I don't think I need anything to be absolved from."
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Post by Skilly on Jun 3, 2016 22:17:20 GMT -5
The Canadiens side of the story ,... from Canadiens.com website (Our History)
On June 2, 1993, the Canadiens hosted the Los Angeles Kings in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals at the Forum.
After winning the opening game, Wayne Gretzky and Co., holding a slim 2-1 lead on the scoreboard, are just two minutes away from grabbing a 2-0 series advantage.
Deciding to go for broke, head coach Jacques Demers followed captain Guy Carbonneau’s advice and asked that the curve on the stick of Kings defenseman Marty McSorley be measured. The decision paid off. Referee Kerry Fraser confirmed the Habs’ suspicions and sent McSorley to the box for use of an illegal stick.
The Canadiens’ lone goal scorer in the game, Eric Desjardins takes full advantage of the penalty, netting the tying goal with 1:13 left in regulation to force overtime.
The first extra frame is barely a minute old when Desjardins, with some help from Benoit Brunet and Ed Ronan, beats Kelly Hrudey a third time to complete the Canadiens’ comeback and even up the series before it headed to Los Angeles.
At the same time, Desjardins became the first - and to this day, the only - rearguard in NHL history to score a hat trick in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Only eight defensemen had ever potted three in a playoff series before him, but none had ever done it in the Finals.
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Post by blny on Jun 3, 2016 22:32:41 GMT -5
I recall Demers speaking around the time. He openly stated that he had his players and coaches looking for that sort of thing. He never admitted that training staff went snooping, but players were taking notes during the game. Of all the guys to have an illegal stick too.
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Post by CentreHice on Jun 4, 2016 10:07:15 GMT -5
In a YouTube highlight video of the entire series, Barry Melrose says that, in the same situation, he wouldn't have called for a stick measurement on the Habs.
In other words, it was a cheap way to tie it...
Rules, Barry…rules…it's not as if that's the one and only time it was used.
Demers also pulled Roy to make it a 6-on-4. Gutsy all the way around, if you ask me. If the stick had been legal, the Habs would've been penalized.
And if the Habs' staff really did examine certain blades…well, it's the Stanley Cup Finals, boys…nice to have an ace up the sleeve. It's not as if they tampered with the sticks.
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Post by blny on Jun 4, 2016 10:22:55 GMT -5
In a YouTube highlight video of the entire series, Barry Melrose says that, in the same situation, he wouldn't have called for a stick measurement on the Habs. In other words, it was a cheap way to tie it... Rules, Barry…rules…it's not as if that's the one and only time it was used. Demers also pulled Roy to make it a 6-on-4. Gutsy all the way around, if you ask me. If the stick had been legal, the Habs would've been penalized. And if the Habs' staff really did examine certain blades…well, it's the Stanley Cup Finals, boys…nice to have an ace up the sleeve. It's not as if they tampered with the sticks. CBC featured the comments in the following game. In one of the few instances where I agreed with Cherry, he tore a strip off Melrose. "He was candy-assed when he played ..." Melrose is a putz. |
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Post by Skilly on Jun 4, 2016 12:52:59 GMT -5
In a YouTube highlight video of the entire series, Barry Melrose says that, in the same situation, he wouldn't have called for a stick measurement on the Habs. In other words, it was a cheap way to tie it... Rules, Barry…rules…it's not as if that's the one and only time it was used. Demers also pulled Roy to make it a 6-on-4. Gutsy all the way around, if you ask me. If the stick had been legal, the Habs would've been penalized. And if the Habs' staff really did examine certain blades…well, it's the Stanley Cup Finals, boys…nice to have an ace up the sleeve. It's not as if they tampered with the sticks. No they weren't tampered with, just allegedly taken into the Habs dressing room and measured. If true, it is kinda sketchy. We'd certainly not like it if the shoe was on the other foot. That's why I chose to believe it was Carbo who noticed it during the game, and informed Demers. (Never mind how he took notice of a dman's blade ... I'll say when he slid to block a shot, lol) |
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Post by jkr on Jun 4, 2016 13:23:47 GMT -5
In a YouTube highlight video of the entire series, Barry Melrose says that, in the same situation, he wouldn't have called for a stick measurement on the Habs. In other words, it was a cheap way to tie it... Rules, Barry…rules…it's not as if that's the one and only time it was used. Demers also pulled Roy to make it a 6-on-4. Gutsy all the way around, if you ask me. If the stick had been legal, the Habs would've been penalized. And if the Habs' staff really did examine certain blades…well, it's the Stanley Cup Finals, boys…nice to have an ace up the sleeve. It's not as if they tampered with the sticks. I've heard this from Melrose before & to me it spells loser. A coach's job is to put his team in a position to win & Demers did that & did it within the rules. If you have a legal chance to win a SCF game & you pass it up because you don't like the optics then you don't deserve to coach in the NHL. Look at it the other way. If I heard this crap from Demers I'd be pretty damn angry. |
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Jun 4, 2016 14:03:45 GMT -5
In a YouTube highlight video of the entire series, Barry Melrose says that, in the same situation, he wouldn't have called for a stick measurement on the Habs. In other words, In other words, what a crock ... he's trying to tell us that as a professional he wouldn't use every rule, every advantage (legal or otherwise) to win ... man, that's like listening to Lars Eller say he didn't know they were officially eliminated ... I found Melrose to be more of a rock star than anything else ... I'd probably counter with, "so, how did you make it into the final, anyway" ... because THAT was criminal ... Gretzky with the uncalled high-stick that would have given Toronto a 5-minute advantage ... that could have been a Toronto/Montreal final in '93 ... that's what I'd say to the rock star ... Cheers. |
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Post by blny on Jun 4, 2016 15:44:04 GMT -5
I'd never heard about Montreal removing sticks from the Kings rack and measuring. The Kings responded to the event by putting towels over the blades. If Montreal had done anything more than just look, I think they'd have done more than just put towels down.
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Post by franko on Jun 4, 2016 18:27:40 GMT -5
You gotta figure if that had happened we'da heard about it at least as often as the missed high sticking call.
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Jun 4, 2016 19:26:37 GMT -5
I remember it being described in a documentary ... it got around the Montreal bench that McSorley was using an illegal stick and Jacques Demers made the decision to check it out ... the controversy starts around the 11:00-minute mark ... McSorley is interviewed at the end of the game ... |
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