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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Sept 12, 2007 9:43:07 GMT -5
Had to do it guys. Here's my top-5 all time faves:
#1 Closing of the Forum
Have it on VHS and it's being burned onto DVD for me by a friend. Bringing Guy Carbonneau onto the ice was a nice touch. However, I have never seen an ovation for an athlete like the one I saw for the Rocket that night and I probably never will see another one like it. The ovation lasted something like 6 1/2 minutes and the Rocket was moved to tears. As the camera panned the Hab's bench you could see the awe in many of the players' eyes. That night many, many people understood what it meant to be a Hab. Still a very emotional event even today.
#2 New Year's Eve '75 - Red Army/Canadiens
Probably the best game I've ever seen a Habs team play. The game was played only three years after the '72 series and the passion and hype was still alive and well, especially in Montreal. The passion for this game was real too. I remember the crowd erupting every time the Habs scored; you'd have thought they had just won the Cup. After the game there was a photo of the game's three stars; Tretriak/Pete Mahovlich/Cournoyer. After the game it was Mahovlich who apologized to the rest of Canada for not winning the game.
#3 Boston vs Montreal (game 7) May 10, 1979
Watching the game from the basement of my parents' house because I didn't want anyone around me if the Habs had lost. Don Cherry says even today that Lafleur's game-tying goal was the one that ended his career. Yet, what he only admits to nowadays is that there were 7 skaters on the ice, not 5. Then in the OT, it was Tremblay to Lambert, who was charging to the net ... Wayne Cashman once described it as "hockey 101."
#4 '93 Cup Championship
What a run! Ten OT victories. Stellar goaltending with a strong, mobile defence corps. The lineup was strewn with leaders; Carbonneau, Muller, Desjardins, Keane, LeClair and Roy. It also had an excellent blend of youth as well. Unfortuantely this was the basis for future championship teams as well and the team was split up far too soon. Roy literally stole games for us as he did in '86.
#5 The 70's Dynasty
The root motivation for my HabsRus handle. An awesome collection of players and coaches assembled by the late, great Sam Pollock. The team was built for the long haul from the goal, out. Ken Dryden was one of the best goaltenders of his day and it wasn't every team who could boast a back up like the late, Michel "Bunny" Larocque. When was the last time a team could boast three of the best defencemen in the business? The Big Three of Serge Savard, Larry Robinson and Guy Lapointe are still being compared to bluelines of today. Up front the team had such scoring juggernauts as Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Jacques Lemaire, Pete Mahovlich and, later, Pierre Larouche. And don't forget about Dutchy or Eddy Palchack either.
Cheers.
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Post by Doc Holliday on Sept 12, 2007 11:53:41 GMT -5
Of course all those cups were great moments for me, probably the best for a fans, so I'll just list my 5 best moments that does not include winning a cup 1- The firing of Rejean HouleI had come to believe that era would never end... In all honesty he was doing much better towards the end of his tenure but his early moves made him the worst GM in the HABS history and the one responsible for derailing this franchise. When the announcement was made, I felt like everything was possible again... 2- The Turgeon acquisition.One heck of an amazing trade. Muller was clearly on the decline and getting an offensive powerhouse for him was quite a coup. 3- The Kovalev acquisition.This came as a total shock since we hadn't acquire any top level player since the Serge Savard days. That move made me a Gainey believer for quite some time... 4- Draft day 2005The whole thing was so really exciting.... As teams were being named our chances of getting Crsoby were increasing.... When we made it to the top 5, I knew that even if we wouldn't be first, we'd pick a player that would have a lot of significance for the franchise. 5- Any wins we had over the Nords.Winning against the Nordiques was as good as sex, everytime.
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Post by CentreHice on Sept 12, 2007 15:23:54 GMT -5
So many top moments....I agree with all of the above....so I'll add some others. 1. Sunday afternoon, Apr. 18, 1971. Game 7 quarterfinals in the Boston Garden. The game was on NBC...and Dan Kelly was calling it. The Bruins had rewritten the record book, and were looking for the second consecuvtive Cup. I still have the Game Summary in my scrapbook. Boston took a 1-0 lead on Ken Hodge's goal. Frank Mahovlich tied it...and Reggie Houle put us up 2-1 before the period ended. J.C. Tremblay made it 3-1 in the second period. About 10 seconds into the third period, Bobby Orr lost the puck in his skates near centre ice. Lemaire poked it free and went in on a 2-on-0 with the Big M. Lemaire to Mahovlich for a wide open net tap in. 4-1 at 0:14. Bucyk made it 4-2 at 1:02....but that was it. What an upset.....started with the 7-5 comeback in Game 2. Bruins outshot the Habs 48-34 in that game. Dryden was unbelievable. And so it continued on to an unexpected Cup. 2. 1976 FinalsBeating the Flyers in 4 straight for the 76 Cup. Sure, Parent was injured and the Habs enjoyed facing Wayne Stephenson....but the Canadiens were simply better in all areas, including physical play. The Habs could not be intimidated....not even by the Broadstreet Bullies. After two years of thuggery....hockey regained its class. 3. April 29, 2002.Theo's performance in Game 6 vs. Boston. No play-by-play as the CBC crews were on strike. Made it all the better. I've never heard a crowd roar for 60 minutes. Outshot 35-18. Joe Thornton's double-minor for highsticking Souray with 1:09 left in the third sealed a 2-1 win and the series. 4. Saturday, March 25, 2006.Kovalev Levels TuckerNuff said. 5. Tie. Two huge moments from the Cup run of 1986.a. May 5, 1986. Game 3, Round 3 in Madison Square Garden. Habs were up 2-0 in the series. Patrick Roy was spectacular....and Claude Lemieux provided the OT winner to put the Habs up 3-0. Lemieux's 7th Game OT winner vs. Hartford in the 2nd round is right up there too. b. May 18, 1986. Game 2, Finals in Calgary. Flames up 1-0 in games. McPhee to Skrudland at 9 seconds into OT to end it. Calgary didn't win another game.
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Post by Skilly on Sept 12, 2007 21:45:47 GMT -5
It would have to be a top ten for me ....
#10 - #1 ... all those OT goals in 93 baby!!! Sweet!!!
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Post by Andrew on Sept 13, 2007 0:32:56 GMT -5
It would have to be a top ten for me .... #10 - #1 ... all those OT goals in 93 baby!!! Sweet!!! Definitely. The Desjardins hat trick in game two of the finals was probably the most exciting of them all.
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Post by CentreHice on Sept 13, 2007 8:42:10 GMT -5
Road to the 93 CupAll 10 OT goals are on this one. 1. Game 3 in Montreal: Damphousse (reviewed, went in off Gusarov's skate....whew!)2. Game 5 in Quebec: Muller 3. Game 2 in Montreal: Carbonneau 4. Game 3 in Buffalo: (can't tell who that was...RH shot from the point....although it may have been tipped in front, as the LH Hab skating away from Fuhr points to himself) 5. Game 4 in Buffalo: Muller 6. Game 2 in Montreal: Lebeau (Healy still hasn't seen it)7. Game 3 in Long Island: Carbonneau 8. Game 2 in Montreal: Desjardins 9. Game 3 in L.A.: Leclair 10. Game 4 in L.A.: Leclair Most OT wins in one playoff year. The Habs also own the record for most OT losses in one playoff year. 4 in 1951. Every game of the finals against Toronto went to OT. Habs lost the series 4-1 on the Bill Barilko goal. Every time I see a replay of that goal, I can't figure out why Gerry McNeil remained down for so long on the play. Looks as if he had the Aebischer gene. Trivia: Who passed the puck out to Barilko from behind the net?
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Post by habernac on Sept 13, 2007 9:28:32 GMT -5
1. 93 Stanley Cup. This was Roy's defining moment as a player. The brilliant wink captured by the camerman as he robbed Sandstrom. "I'm going to Disney's Land!" A great team effort as well. Leclair, Desjardins et al.
2. Last game at the Forum. I was there. It was only my second ever game (the first was the last HNIC broadcast 2 days earlier). I cried with everyone in the building as we cheered ourselves hoarse for the Rocket.
3. One of my earlier hockey memories: Lafleur's tying goal in '79. He's my all time favourite player. My Dad has seen them all play and none compare to the excitement he could bring.
4. Saku Koivu coming out after chemotherapy had removed his hair. I was bawling in front of my TV. He has a heart as big as he is.
5. The 93 All Star game. Hearing Claude Mouton's voice crack as he announced Patrick Roy to the cheering crowd. Makes my arm hair stand on end when I think about it. I'm very glad we hired an announcer who sounds similar, Claude was the best in the business.
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Post by Skilly on Sept 13, 2007 9:43:12 GMT -5
4. Game 3 in Buffalo: (can't tell who that was...RH shot from the point....although it may have been tipped in front, as the LH Hab skating away from Fuhr points to himself) This goal disgusted me at the time ... celebrate the goal, there was no need to go showing off. The fool who wanted the credit was Gilbert Dionne - didn't like him much after that. Given the way today's athlete's act, it was tame, but I remember thinkingn to myself back then that it wasnt very classy.
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Post by SiR on Sept 13, 2007 10:14:24 GMT -5
My personal Top 5:
I'll base this solely on feats I've witnessed so this will have to exclude the 70s dynasty unfortunately, although my father told me so much about it I feel like I was there anyway.
1.Cup run of '93.
I watched every single game with my best friend in his parents' basement. We were nervous wrecks in the Nords series and for every OT game (which was pretty much every game). We went to the Forum for Game 4 of the finals to watch the game on the big screens. There must have been 20,000 people packed into the Forum. The eruption from the crowd when Leclair potted the winner was enormous. It put us on the cusp of winning the Cup and at that moment I and everyone else in the place knew it was ours. We all poured out onto Atwater and celebrated properly(non-riot style). My friend has since passed away so this run holds an extra special place in my memory bank.
2.Cup in '86.
This is the year I truly began watching hockey and the Habs. My dad brought me to my first ever hockey game at the Forum in round 3 against the Rangers, game 2. I remember watching the game 7 OT against Hartford with my heart in my throat. Because I knew if the Habs lost, those tickets my dad had sitting on his dresser that I'd stare at for hours on end would be useless. When Lemieux potted the winner off a backhand I hit the roof. It was way passed my bed time too. I sat center ice last row of the reds and watched my heroes play. They smoked the Rangers 6-2 in that game. Carbo had a pair of goals and wasn't wearing a helmet for the first half of the game. He got hit pretty hard into the boards in the 2nd and left briefly only to return in the third donning a helmet. I recently saw an interview where he mentions that game and that being the last time he didn't wear a helmet. He was the first star and when he came out onto the ice I swear he waved at me. I was 8 so I told all my friends he did wave at me. The rest was history against the Flames. I remember calling CJAD and answering a trivia question after that series about Skrudland's OT goal in game 2. I think they asked how many seconds it took. I won a pair of WWF wrestling tickets as a result. Not a bad year for an 8 year old.
3. The Cup run of '89.
Even though they came up just short of the prize, that team was stacked. 2nd overall in the league behind only Calgary, the winners. Too bad they couldn't pull it off, but it was an exciting run. Who could forget the Hextall/Chelios fiasco?
4. Courtnall for Kordic
I remember I was so excited when this trade was announced. Who was the idiot Leaf GM at the time? Stellick? What a moron. Courtnall instantly became my favourite Hab. His speed and shot were incredible. Ultimately he was traded for Bellows who panned out well for the '93 Cup so overall it worked out great.
5. Any Leafs/Habs tilt.
Now living in the GTA, so these games hold extra meaning. All my co-workers are Leaf fans and my desk has a good share of Hab memorabilia so it's like a little oasis in the sea of blue and white. I look forward to these games more than any other in the season and dread when the Habs lose these games. But it's bittersweet when they win them. I got to attend a game at the Bell Center last year between these two. I sat right in front of Jean Béliveau, two rows behind the Habs bench (good connections). It was awesome being that close and chatting up Béliveau occasionally. That was possibly Samsonov's only good game of the year, he scored twice and added one in the shootout in a losing cause. But what an experience it was for me. I filled my digital camera with some great shots. Close ups of pretty much every player on the bench. I have a good one of Markov and Komi standing for the national anthem.
Those are my personal faves.
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Sept 13, 2007 10:54:16 GMT -5
My personal Top 5: I'll base this solely on feats I've witnessed so this will have to exclude the 70s dynasty unfortunately, although my father told me so much about it I feel like I was there anyway. I tell some of my younger students that they were ripped off not having experienced the 70's. The best hockey team in the world was in Montreal and Toronto had Ballard. But the country was only starting to develop an identity. Stub-nosed beer bottles, Saturday Night Fever, Peter Frampton and bell-bottomed pants. We had 60's throw-backs, baby-boomer experimenters mixed in with a very conservative crowd. It seemed everyone got in trouble for everything. In fact, our society was still growing. A few months after the Habs won this Cup, Mrs Dis and I moved to Germany (August of '86). We came back only once in five years. I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to listen to the game on AM radio. As I was getting into my car to go to work a few weeks later I noticed a Calgary Flames Stanley Cup sticker on my back window right next to my "CH". It was my neighbour one street over and she was from Calgary. I kept it on. I remember Leaf coach, John Brophy, thinking he had landed the next Bob Probert. And I remember Russ Courtnall saying that he learned more about hockey in only two weeks with Montreal than he had during his entire tenure with Toronto. The Houle years were hard for me especially when we played the Leafs. They had our number for several years and everyone on both sides knew it. We have both fans here at work and the bravado is pretty good. But, the on-ice rivalry is still a personal one. At least the Leafs take that way. Sorry to hear about your friend. Cheers.
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Post by SiR on Sept 13, 2007 11:57:47 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about your friend. Cheers. Thanks, appreciate that.
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Post by Boston_Habs on Sept 13, 2007 12:11:17 GMT -5
Most memorable moments on the ice:
1. Claude Lemieux's OT goal in Game 7 against Hartford in 1986. Lost in the frenzy of the moment is how great a goal it was - a backhand that went over the shouler of Mike Liut and hit the top part of the mesh. We rolled to the Cup from that point on but that was as close as we came to getting ousted.
2. Guy Lafleur's rocket past Gilles Gilbert in the "too many men on the ice game". As much as Bruins fans remember that game in disgust, it was actually sweet justice. The Habs skated all over the Bruins that night, just total domination, but were almost done in by some great saves from Gilbert and an absolutely PUTRID night from Ken Dryden. The winning goal in OT was more of the same... Mario Tremblay showing great speed to the outside and the feeding a perfect cross-ice pass to Yvon Lambert for the winner. If memory serves, Bowman decided to start Bunny Larocque in the Finals against the Rangers before he got hurt.
3. Ron Hextall rushing Chris Chelios in the 1989 conference finals. Besides the Nordiques, the Flyers were a tough advesary in the late 80s. Yes Chelly delivered a dirty blow on Brian Propp but it was great seeing the Habs win the series in Philly and then Hextall losing it and skating to the blueline to take down Chelios.
4. Eric Desjardins' tying goal in Game 2 in 1993. All those OT goals were great but that was the biggest goal of the entire playoff season. We were a minute away from being down 2-0 going back to LA. Don't know if we could have pulled that out.
5. Brian Skrudland's OT goal in Game 2 in 1986. A loss here wouldn't have been deadly but that goal swung the momentum in the series and the rest is history.
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Post by franko on Sept 13, 2007 12:37:36 GMT -5
5. Brian Skrudland's OT goal in Game 2 in 1986. A loss here wouldn't have been deadly but that goal swung the momentum in the series and the rest is history. This was a really sweet goal for two reasons: as you said, it swung the series, and I lived close to Calgary at the time and they knew that the end was near after that.
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Sept 13, 2007 13:48:11 GMT -5
Most memorable moments on the ice: 1. Claude Lemieux's OT goal in Game 7 against Hartford in 1986. Lost in the frenzy of the moment is how great a goal it was - a backhand that went over the shouler of Mike Liut and hit the top part of the mesh. We rolled to the Cup from that point on but that was as close as we came to getting ousted. I was living in Charlottetown at the time and mad because I had to go on course in Summerside later on. I knew I'd miss a lot of the playoffs. Had forgotten about Dryden. The only worst games I ever seen him play were against the Russians. Cashman and Middleton scored goals I thought were stoppable. What I remember from that was the energy leading up to the OT winner. Desjardins was on a mission pure and simple. His first shot sailed over Hrudy's head; the pass came back to him and he didn't miss the second one. The Forum exploded and Bob Cole's "DES-JAR-DINS!!!!" call was memorable. Was on course in Summerside, PEI when this happened. I really didn't want to stay up too late because it was a physically demanding course and remember the relief I felt when the puck went in. Cheers.
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Post by GNick99 on Dec 10, 2010 15:59:10 GMT -5
So many top moments....I agree with all of the above....so I'll add some others. 1. Sunday afternoon, Apr. 18, 1971. Game 7 quarterfinals in the Boston Garden. The game was on NBC...and Dan Kelly was calling it. The Bruins had rewritten the record book, and were looking for the second consecuvtive Cup. I still have the Game Summary in my scrapbook. Boston took a 1-0 lead on Ken Hodge's goal. Frank Mahovlich tied it...and Reggie Houle put us up 2-1 before the period ended. J.C. Tremblay made it 3-1 in the second period. About 10 seconds into the third period, Bobby Orr lost the puck in his skates near centre ice. Lemaire poked it free and went in on a 2-on-0 with the Big M. Lemaire to Mahovlich for a wide open net tap in. 4-1 at 0:14. Bucyk made it 4-2 at 1:02....but that was it. What an upset.....started with the 7-5 comeback in Game 2. Bruins outshot the Habs 48-34 in that game. Dryden was unbelievable. And so it continued on to an unexpected Cup. This would be one of mine also....another from same year was when Lemaire scored from center ice in Chicago Stadium against Tony O. It was Game 7 and we were down 2 zip at the time. You could just feel the game change at that point
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Post by Tankdriver on Dec 10, 2010 16:48:20 GMT -5
Too many to list or create a fav. 5, but some others that weren't mentioned:
a. The 100 year game vs. Boston - seeing Roy come out on the ice with the jersey was totally awesome and the crowd being hot all night (cammy going wow after his hat trick.)
b. Every retirement ceremony but boom-boom's was very emotional considering the passing away of his life the day before.
c. All star game in Montreal with Kovy taking it in the shoot-out....what pressure ;-)
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