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Post by Forum Ghost on Sept 21, 2006 19:23:12 GMT -5
Veteran winger Brian Savage announced his retirement Thursday after 12 NHL seasons. Savage, 35, played 647 regular-season games with the Montreal Canadiens, Phoenix Coyotes, St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers. During his career he had 192 goals and 167 assists. The Sudbury, Ont., native also was a member of the Canadian team that won a silver medal at the 1994 Lillehammer Games and played for Team Canada at the 1993 and 1999 world hockey championships. ''I was very fortunate to be able to play 12 years with some great players,'' said Savage. ''Having the chance to represent my country is something that I will not forget and the highlight of my career was playing in the 1994 Winter Olympic Games.'' Savage played college hockey at Miami of Ohio. He was picked 171st overall by Montreal in the 1991 draft and joined the Canadiens after the 1994 Olympics. During his seven seasons in Montreal, Savage and Saku Koivu became friends on and off the ice. ''Brian was always very easy for me to find on the ice and being a good goal-scorer he really knew where to be positioned,'' said Koivu. ''Off the ice, I think of Brian as more of a close friend than a former teammate.'' Savage missed most of the 1999-2000 season recovering from a serious neck injury suffered in a Nov. 20 game against Los Angeles. After stints in Phoenix and St. Louis, he ended his career in Philadelphia, where he had nine goals and five assists last season with the Flyers. The father of two sons always was active in the community . This June the 10th annual Brian Savage Charity Golf Classic raised more than $450,000 to help underprivileged children through the Ten Rainbows Children's Foundation in Sudbury. www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=178295&hubname=nhl |
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Post by franko on Sept 21, 2006 19:27:58 GMT -5
Only 12 years? Seems like so many more -- seems like ages ago that he left Montreal.
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Post by Forum Ghost on Sept 22, 2006 0:28:25 GMT -5
I wonder just how many of his 192 career goals were scored in the month of October?
;D
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Sept 22, 2006 0:38:47 GMT -5
Now I can stop waiting for his first 50 goal season.
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Sept 22, 2006 6:49:45 GMT -5
Now I can stop waiting for his first 50 goal season. LOL!!!! I'll remember him best as the guy who just skated around the ice and looked mean. Or, as the man who was continually paid for his "potential" during his tenure in Montreal. Cheers. |
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Sept 22, 2006 6:51:20 GMT -5
Only 12 years? Seems like so many more -- seems like ages ago that he left Montreal. I remember the CBC annoucers once saying, "... and how about that kid playing with Recchi and Turgeon ..." He had a pretty impressive debut if I remember right. Cheers. |
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Post by BadCompany on Sept 22, 2006 7:52:52 GMT -5
I remember the CBC annoucers once saying, "... and how about that kid playing with Recchi and Turgeon ..." He had a pretty impressive debut if I remember right. Cheers. I'll do you one better Dis... I remember one game, very early in his career, when Savage dropped the gloves against Craig MacTavish. It was ugly. MacTavish may have been old at that point, but he was still nasty, and he laid a whupping on Savage, who was, well, Brian Savage. Nonetheless, the announcers praised the courage of this young, skilled, up-and-comer, and said, "with that kind of attitude, he's going to be captain of the Montreal Canadiens one day..." |
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Sept 22, 2006 8:36:33 GMT -5
I remember the CBC annoucers once saying, "... and how about that kid playing with Recchi and Turgeon ..." He had a pretty impressive debut if I remember right. Cheers. I'll do you one better Dis... I remember one game, very early in his career, when Savage dropped the gloves against Craig MacTavish. It was ugly. MacTavish may have been old at that point, but he was still nasty, and he laid a whupping on Savage, who was, well, Brian Savage. Nonetheless, the announcers praised the courage of this young, skilled, up-and-comer, and said, "with that kind of attitude, he's going to be captain of the Montreal Canadiens one day..." I think had he came into the organization at any other point other than the mid-90's he would have done much, much better. However, while the Tremblay-looking Habs started out well, they disintigrated season by season until they hit rock bottom. Have to be fair to Savage I guess. Not too many players wearing a Habs uniform in those days made any kind of difference. In the early days of Tremblay's tenure they took on the personality of their coach. But, one thing after another happened and they eventually lost identity and chemistry. It was probably the lowest point in the club's history. I don't think Carbonneau would've ever let that happen. And I don't think it's any coincidence that the team started it's downward spiral when he left. Roy's departure just kept it going. As a result it might be reasonable to assume that Savage took a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. If I remember right, Tremblay removed Savage from the top line to balance out the scoring. Savage then found himself on the third line and the headlines read that he had to earn his way back to the top line. He sure didn't have a lot of help back then. Cheers. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2006 9:50:24 GMT -5
Am I the only one who liked Savage?
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Post by franko on Sept 22, 2006 10:30:52 GMT -5
Am I the only one who liked Savage? No. Though I do wish he'd given me more reason to like him past October. |
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Post by Cranky on Sept 24, 2006 14:47:06 GMT -5
with that kind of attitude, he's going to be captain of the Montreal Canadiens one day..." Oh yeah, that KIND of attitude got him where he is today. The fact that Salvage lasted that long in Montreal speaks of a weak team ratherthen his "great" contributions. I stillremember burning up my old VCR wondering if he and Rosie where actually SLOWING down before they made contact with anyone. And YES, he was letting up before making contact.  |
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Post by PTH on Sept 24, 2006 15:14:00 GMT -5
with that kind of attitude, he's going to be captain of the Montreal Canadiens one day..." Oh yeah, that KIND of attitude got him where he is today. The fact that Salvage lasted that long in Montreal speaks of a weak team ratherthen his "great" contributions. ... Well, Savage had some really nice qualities on his arrival, I've come to think that Tremblay really screwed up his development by making him a scoring winger rather than a 2-way scoring center (kind of like Yanic Perreault without the faceoff dominance but with decent skating and 2-way play). Savage had been advertised as a Mike-Ridley type 2-way center, and could've been a solution at that position... |
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Post by PTH on Sept 24, 2006 15:17:42 GMT -5
Only 12 years? Seems like so many more -- seems like ages ago that he left Montreal. I remember the CBC annoucers once saying, "... and how about that kid playing with Recchi and Turgeon ..." He had a pretty impressive debut if I remember right. Cheers. Which also shows how TV announcers don't know teams that well - Recchi and Turgeon joined the team after Savage did.... I think Savage was in his 3d NHL season when he got paired with those 2. |
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Sept 25, 2006 20:28:12 GMT -5
I remember the CBC annoucers once saying, "... and how about that kid playing with Recchi and Turgeon ..." He had a pretty impressive debut if I remember right. Cheers. Which also shows how TV announcers don't know teams that well - Recchi and Turgeon joined the team after Savage did.... I think Savage was in his 3d NHL season when he got paired with those 2. While I do remember the phrase very well, it's probably me, not CBC, making the error, PTH. I'm looking at all three player profiles on www.hockeydb.comI'm pretty sure Savage scored the bulk of his 12 goals when Turgeon came on the scene? It was near the end of the season and Turgeon arrived in Montreal by scoring 11 goals in 15 games before heading into the playoffs. I'm almost positive I heard this phrase during that stretch. As an aside, if [color=bluethe stats are any indication[/color][/url] I think Damphousse and Ruchinsky were the hottest one/two punch in the NHL. Cheers. |
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