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2017-18 NHL Thread


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2 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

I HATE Habs fans booing their own players. Absolutely hate it. This fanbase has a long history of demonizing and scapegoating individual players and humiliating them in public. It's a cowardly form of mass bullying and is completely unacceptable - nobody should have to put up with that. These arseholes booed Saku Koivu FFS. They're a disgrace to the greatest hockey city on the planet.

100% agree.

Obviously is small segment of jackasses in the fan base that does such things but still I feel likewise.

Some games I definitely curse their poor play, seeming lack of effort, or lineup choices; but would save any booing/taunting for visiting players. 

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5 hours ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:

I guess you took it as an insult when I mentioned you as a Predators fan. I don’t like the Predators but I have nothing against you cheering them on. It wasn’t meant as an attack but when I read that Poile is the greatest out there and the Predators are so exciting from you and then you completely disregard the fact that the Habs have been the best Eastern Conference team over the past 15 years, when it’s something that is actually true, it’s clear that credit will be never be given. 

 

I don't think Poile is the greatest. Hasn't won a Cup yet. He's just consistent and has done a lot more good than bad, especially in recent years.

 

You think the Canadiens have been the best Eastern Conference team over the past 15 years? When Pittsburgh has won 3 Cups? Tampa a Cup and final? Boston a Cup and final? Really? Even if we go Canadian team in the East (which is what you probably meant), again, Montreal hasn't even made it to the Cup final. I value playoff results over anything else. Ottawa has been there. Montreal has not, and it's not like Ottawa has been at the bottom of the standings in the rest of the years. Meanwhile Montreal has twice: 2011-2012 and 2017-2018. Let me be clear, I got no love for Ottawa. If they got moved next year I wouldn't shed a tear. Move them to Hartford and give me the Whalers back (and force Vancouver to take their Whaler ripoff colours off and go back to the yellow)

 

Even if we go by regular season results, Ottawa has 599 wins to Montreal's 591, and 28 points more. If you go playoffs, it's 52 Ottawa wins to Montreal's 42. Ottawa's win percentage in the playoffs is .103. Montreal? .020. So your "true" is just, you know... your incorrect perspective.

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25 minutes ago, Machine of Loving Grace said:

 

I don't think Poile is the greatest. Hasn't won a Cup yet. He's just consistent and has done a lot more good than bad, especially in recent years.

 

You think the Canadiens have been the best Eastern Conference team over the past 15 years? When Pittsburgh has won 3 Cups? Tampa a Cup and final? Boston a Cup and final? Really? Even if we go Canadian team in the East (which is what you probably meant), again, Montreal hasn't even made it to the Cup final. I value playoff results over anything else. Ottawa has been there. Montreal has not, and it's not like Ottawa has been at the bottom of the standings in the rest of the years. Meanwhile Montreal has twice: 2011-2012 and 2017-2018. Let me be clear, I got no love for Ottawa. If they got moved next year I wouldn't shed a tear. Move them to Hartford and give me the Whalers back (and force Vancouver to take their Whaler ripoff colours off and go back to the yellow)

 

Even if we go by regular season results, Ottawa has 599 wins to Montreal's 591, and 28 points more. If you go playoffs, it's 52 Ottawa wins to Montreal's 42. Ottawa's win percentage in the playoffs is .103. Montreal? .020. So your "true" is just, you know... your incorrect perspective.

Best eastern conference Canadian team* which I had meant to put but was the topic of discussion anyway.

 

We can nitpick the stats any way we want but the bottom line was that I’ve watched 97% of the Habs games over the past 15 years and I generally had a consistent feeling that the Habs were the best Canadian team in the East and the Vancouver Canucks, the best Canadian team in the West. The fact remained that after that initial sentiment, the Habs had made the playoffs 10 of the past 15 years and the sens 9 times. The Sens had that cup final run but didn’t come close to competing in the final. They are always the Cinderella story when they do well, with hot streaks with people like Andrew Hammond. This is similar to how the Habs were the year we ran with Halak, but that was only one season. The year against the Rangers we had a legitimate shot, and then Price went down with injury. We’ve had solid wins other years as well and countless division titles. 

 

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18 hours ago, Machine of Loving Grace said:

 

Move them to Hartford and give me the Whalers back (and force Vancouver to take their Whaler ripoff colours off and go back to the yellow)

 

 

I hated the Whalers when they were the Habs's nemesis in the 1980s, but I realized a while ago that I miss that franchise. Apart from having one of the best unis in hockey history, they seem to represent a less cynically 'corporate' era of the NHL in my mind. Great team name, too - based on the historic identity of the region, instead of foolish gimmicks (Ducks) or flashy, locally-irrelevant nonsense reflecting ownership's vanity projects (Golden Knights). And Hartford isn't a sexy glam city like Vegas or Seattle; it's more the kind of city that you associate with NHL expansion in the 1970s. Good throwback vibe. I'd love to see them back. But it won't happen.

 

As for Vancouver's uniforms, they never should have abandoned the "hockey stick" jersey in the first place. They've been condemned to uniform purgatory ever since. It's all corporate cynicism and no soul.

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11 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I hated the Whalers when they were the Habs's nemesis in the 1980s

 

 

I remember hating them with a passion back then as well.  I'd listen to the games on the radio (back before every game was available on TV), and hear Dick Irvin's call of Francis, Dineen, or Ferarro torching us for a big goal yet again...that accursed "Brass Bonanza" tune audible in the background.

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1 minute ago, sbhatt said:

 

 

I remember hating them with a passion back then as well.  I'd listen to the games on the radio (back before every game was available on TV), and hear Dick Irvin's call of Francis, Dineen, or Ferarro torching us for a big goal yet again...that accursed "Brass Bonanza" tune audible in the background.

 

F*CKING KEVIN DINEEN!! Loathed him like I loathed Lucic or Chara, back when those human turds were just snot-nosed punk kids. :angry: Ray Ferraro has grown on me, though, courtesy of his really excellent radio work. He's one of the very best commentators around IMHO, even if he doesn't work quite as well on TV.

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36 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

F*CKING KEVIN DINEEN!! Loathed him like I loathed Lucic or Chara, back when those human turds were just snot-nosed punk kids. :angry: Ray Ferraro has grown on me, though, courtesy of his really excellent radio work. He's one of the very best commentators around IMHO, even if he doesn't work quite as well on TV.

 

Don't forget the original Honey Badger Pat Verbeek

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2 hours ago, sbhatt said:

 

 

I remember hating them with a passion back then as well.  I'd listen to the games on the radio (back before every game was available on TV), and hear Dick Irvin's call of Francis, Dineen, or Ferarro torching us for a big goal yet again...that accursed "Brass Bonanza" tune audible in the background.

 

I hated but respected them when I was growing up in Joliette. 

 

The 80’s were lined with tough matches against Hartford. The brass bonanza was like nails to a chalk board for me but even that I miss. 

 

The greatest moment from the 86 cup win imo was the Claude Lemieux backhand over the shoulder of Mike Liut in game 7 of overtime of the Adams division finals.  Still gives me goosebumps. Here’s a link for all you youngsters.  

 

 

i would give the shirt of my back (and get season tickets) to have them back in Hartford seeing as to now I live 25 min away. 

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Sens vs Coyotes hope for a nice OT win by Sens.

Same for Kings over Hawks and Oil over Rangers.

 

Sitting with 6th pick at the moment, with Hawks and Wings only 2 points ahead.

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20 hours ago, Helmethead said:

 

I hated but respected them when I was growing up in Joliette. 

 

The 80’s were lined with tough matches against Hartford. The brass bonanza was like nails to a chalk board for me but even that I miss. 

 

The greatest moment from the 86 cup win imo was the Claude Lemieux backhand over the shoulder of Mike Liut in game 7 of overtime of the Adams division finals.  Still gives me goosebumps. Here’s a link for all you youngsters.  

 

 

i would give the shirt of my back (and get season tickets) to have them back in Hartford seeing as to now I live 25 min away. 

 

Classic stuff right there.  Look at that: no ads on the boards, players in gear that does not yet look like suits of armour :lol: No dreary TV time-outs and no horrible canned rock music blasting from the speakers either. This captures what I mean when I say that, in my mind anyway, the Whalers are kind of a symbol of the pre-super-rich, super-corporate, super-soulless Bettman NHL. Ah well.

 

Fun to hear the Blueberry going bananas, as well...back before he revealed himself to be a total and complete jerk-off as an arrogant and hopelessly unqualified head coach, who did as much as anyone to destroy the Habs as a serious, high-end organization.

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1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Classic stuff right there.  Look at that: no ads on the boards, players in gear that does not yet look like suits of armour :lol: No dreary TV time-outs and no horrible canned rock music blasting from the speakers either. This captures what I mean when I say that, in my mind anyway, the Whalers are kind of a symbol of the pre-super-rich, super-corporate, super-soulless Bettman NHL. Ah well.

 

Fun to hear the Blueberry going bananas, as well...back before he revealed himself to be a total and complete jerk-off as an arrogant and hopelessly unqualified head coach, who did as much as anyone to destroy the Habs as a serious, high-end organization.

If I remember correctly one year in the playoffs we played them it went to double OT and russ courtnall scored the winning goal.What a playoff series that was.

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40 minutes ago, Metallica said:

If I remember correctly one year in the playoffs we played them it went to double OT and russ courtnall scored the winning goal.What a playoff series that was.

 

I believe I remember that well. It was 1988, and we were supposed to be contenders, but had a terribly lacklustre playoff. We should have easily handled the Whalers but were driven deep. Then Stephane Richer was a one-man show against the Bruins until someone broke his hand on a brutal slash. That ended any chance we had, because although Richer was playing at a superstar level - the last time in his career he did so - everyone else seemed out of it. That slash was infuriating on a level with Justin Williams' eye-gouging of Koivu, who was similarly single-handedly winning the series for us before he got taken out. Grrr.

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Canadiens Whalers rivalry never gets mentioned in greatest games.  My wife bought me the 10 greatest games box set. There were 3 or so in there that I could have done wit out and replaced with a whalers playoff game or two.

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47 minutes ago, BCHabnut said:

Canadiens Whalers rivalry never gets mentioned in greatest games.  My wife bought me the 10 greatest games box set. There were 3 or so in there that I could have done wit out and replaced with a whalers playoff game or two.

 

There is no way in hell that Game 2 of the 1993 Finals - not just one of the greatest Habs' games, but one of the most dramatic NHL playoff games in history - should have been left off that collection. Inexcusable choice by ignorant fans.

 

 

1 hour ago, Commandant said:

The Russ Courtnall goal was 1992

 

We got swept in the next round by the Bruins.

 

Pat Burns got fired.  A bunch of trades were made.  And we won the cup a year later.

 

You are right. That said, the '88 and '92 playoffs were very similar. In both cases, the team had tuned out the coach and had internal issues, and the team's performance was utterly lacklustre despite being top-ranked contenders. But the changes made after 1992 were really something...within a couple of years, Serge Savard completely rebooted the team's top line. Good days.

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56 minutes ago, BCHabnut said:

Canadiens Whalers rivalry never gets mentioned in greatest games.  My wife bought me the 10 greatest games box set. There were 3 or so in there that I could have done wit out and replaced with a whalers playoff game or two.

The last number that at the forum game was a waste.  They should have just included the closing ceremonies.  There was also too much of an emphasis on more modern era games.  I would have preferred more games from the 70’s and as much as I’m not a fan of fighting the big brawl playoff games against the nordiques when there was hardly anyone left on the bench and the habs made an amazing comeback. Other thing I remember from that game was the fans serenading the nords “na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey goodbye.  I used to love that and hate that it’s been replaced by the lame ole ole song.

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9 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

There is no way in hell that Game 2 of the 1993 Finals - not just one of the greatest Habs' games, but one of the most dramatic NHL playoff games in history - should have been left off that collection. Inexcusable choice by ignorant fans.

 

There were e a lot of dumb choices on that box set.

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3 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

You are right. That said, the '88 and '92 playoffs were very similar. In both cases, the team had tuned out the coach and had internal issues, and the team's performance was utterly lacklustre despite being top-ranked contenders. But the changes made after 1992 were really something...within a couple of years, Serge Savard completely rebooted the team's top line. Good days.

 

In 91-92, Damphousse was 17th for all forwards in scoring. Bellows was 40th. Damphousse was early mid 20s, Bellows was mid late 20s.

 

The equivalent of that would be if this summer, Bergevin acquired Mikael Granlund and Mats Zuccarello and didn't have to give up his top three scoring forwards (Muller, Savard, Lebeau in 92, so Pacioretty, Radulov, and Galchenyuk in 2017) to do it.

 

The Damphousse and Bellows trades deserve more respect in hockey history. They got Edmonton and Minnesota's best players in a single summer.

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It might not last even a few hours, but the Florida Panthers are now in the final Eastern conference wildcard spot, and they have games in hand. 

 

I did not see that coming back in January.

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4 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

The last number that at the forum game was a waste.  They should have just included the closing ceremonies.  There was also too much of an emphasis on more modern era games.  I would have preferred more games from the 70’s and as much as I’m not a fan of fighting the big brawl playoff games against the nordiques when there was hardly anyone left on the bench and the habs made an amazing comeback. Other thing I remember from that game was the fans serenading the nords “na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey goodbye.  I used to love that and hate that it’s been replaced by the lame ole ole song.

 

Well, Game 2 of the '93 Finals is the most glaring omission imaginable if you ask me. Game 7 against Chicago in '71 is another clear candidate. And what, nothing happened before 1960 - ?

 

The inclusion of the Forum-closing game, the big comeback against the Rags, and the first Winter Classic, were the obvious candidates to be jettisoned in favour of much more meaningful, historic games. But damn, Game 2, that just kills me.

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6 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Well, Game 2 of the '93 Finals is the most glaring omission imaginable if you ask me. Game 7 against Chicago in '71 is another clear candidate. And what, nothing happened before 1960 - ?

 

The inclusion of the Forum-closing game, the big comeback against the Rags, and the first Winter Classic, were the obvious candidates to be jettisoned in favour of much more meaningful, historic games. But damn, Game 2, that just kills me.

 

There isn't a lot of footage available for pre-1960 games. 

 

TV networks didn't realize that there would be demand for this.  No one anticipated a market to re-air the games.  No one knew things like Beta/VHS, and later DVD/Blue-Ray players would come to pass either.  They didn't see any reason to keep the stuff. 

 

The recordings of full games often weren't preserved.  They just weren't kept in storage.  

 

That's an issue for any team doing these things. 

As well a lot of HNIC in those days started in the 2nd period.  They didn't even show the first period, just starting midway through the game.   Midweek games also weren't covered at all. 

When we talk about these types of box sets, that's a limiting factor on the real early footage.   Doesn't excuse the choices made on later games, but early stuff, it might not have been available. 

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1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Well, Game 2 of the '93 Finals is the most glaring omission imaginable if you ask me. Game 7 against Chicago in '71 is another clear candidate. And what, nothing happened before 1960 - ?

 

The inclusion of the Forum-closing game, the big comeback against the Rags, and the first Winter Classic, were the obvious candidates to be jettisoned in favour of much more meaningful, historic games. But damn, Game 2, that just kills me.

From what I’ve read CBC lost the recordings of the 71 game.  Back when they had the first lockout/Strike in the 90’s the CBC aired old classic games and had polls based on requests on which games to play.  I had requested the 71 game and if I recall at the time they had said that they had no footage remaining of that game and I had read somewhere that there was only partial footage remaining from a USA broadcast that was very poor quality.  There was also fog in that game that made the quality seem even worse.

 

7 or 8 years ago when we had cable from Shaw, I had the Quebec playoff game recorded on my PVR. Unfortunately, I lost it when we switched to Telus.

 

the atmosphere in that game was unreal, an amazing comeback, almost everyone fighting- including the hunter brothers squaring off.  And I felt goosebumps when close to the end of the game the fans serenaded the nords, with the “NA Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, hey hey hey goodbye” song.  Brought back a lot of good memories when we had a team that was fun to watch and the amazing atmosphere in the greatest rink in the world.  I also remember it from the “Penny” from heaven run against the Bruins.  I used to love that song and never figured out why they switched to that lame soccer “Ole Ole” song.

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