You're Favourite Game Ever

[BTH]

The title says it all. Your favourite game you ever saw live or on TV.

I'd have to say mine was a Montreal-Detroit game a few years back. 1999 I think.

Any way, 17 seconds in it's 1-0 Detroit.

Second period. 2-0. 3-0. Some nice saves. In short: Detroit is dominating.

Third period. 3-1. 3-2. 5 minutes left or so and Zholtok delivers the nicest goal ever! He's in the crease, shoots but then puts his stick up and deflects his shot the other way:D.

The Habs fans are all happy that the games tied but then the Red Wings get a go-ahead goal with 2 minutes or so left. Theodore blocks a break-away. Habs come close. GOAL!!

The game is tied at 4 and we're going to overtime. Now the Habs are happy that they escaped with one point and go all out on the attack. The puck goes the other way. Shanahan, on a breakaway. Game over!

But that is the only game I can think of that I remember really enjoying.

I also liked watching the playoff series's between Ottawa and Toronto and also Dallas-Edmonton.

[Psycing]

I remember that game! It was certainly a good one.

The series against Boston where we came back from being down 3-1. Wow, I'll never forget everything from Kovalev's incident with his wrist getting slashed to game 7 where we put the Bruins out of their misery.

[BTH]

Oh ya, Kovalev really got me mad there!!!

Not only did he fake an injury he left the puck AND he skated into Souray who could have stopped the goal. Theo might have had it if he put some effort into it. And then right after the goal he's fine.

It was really depressing when my uncle (who doesn't know much about hockey) saw we were in the Conference Quarter-Finals.

"Oh, the Conference Quarter-Finals! They're doing well!"

"It's the first round."

"Oh, how are they doing?"

"They're down 3 games to 1. A game away form elimination."

"Well after we win this game it's only 3-2."

"We're losing."

But I kept saying we'd win over and over again to everyone (when it was 3-1) so I would have looked really bad if we had lost, hehe. Luckily, a little faith always pays off.

But I ate my words versus Tampa.

[TheBigRedC]

I liked the game 7(boston 04) where it was it was 1-0 I think(zedniik had first goal) and fround the emptinetter...he was amazing...The worst play of that series was when bergaron turtles as begin went to hit him and instaed(begin) went into the boards hard.

[Psycing]

Yea I remember that... Begin messed up his face. He actually returned to the line-up in the third period.

Gotta love him.

[Brett38]

New Years Eve, 1975... Soviets 3 vs Habs 3

or

1979 Semi Finals, Game 7, Boston 4 vs Habs 5 OT

(Cherry, too many men on the ice penalty and then Laluer scores to tie the game with just over a minute left. Lambert scores in overtime from Trembley and Houle.)

[Brett38]

My earlier post should read "Lafleur". Sorry for the spelling mistake. How dare I do that...ha!

[BTH]

Haha..

Funny story on that one:D

Before the game they interviewed Bégin and my mom marveled at his perfect teeth. Later in the game he flies into the boards and they take him off the ice. The commentator says: "He seems to have lost a few teeth."

Ironic.

And yeah it's nice to have a guy on your team that can get a few stitches and come back an hour later and dish out some pain. Maybe he knew it would be his last chance to get Bergeron back so he was anxious to get back on the ice.

That reminds me of a memorable moment between PJ Stock and Gino Odjick the previous Habs-Boston series (02). The game where Kyle McLaren nailed Zednik and the last 5 minutes were more like 20 minutes. There were fights every play. And Therrien got fined for the throat-slitting incident.

Well with 2 minutes left the Bruins coach thought it would be funny to play PJ Stock against our top line. Michel Therrien countered with Gino Odjick and told him to fight Stock. Before the face-off started and the ref had his back to them, Odjick started poking Stock in the eye (hehe, a beautiful instigating tactic) but Stock wasn't anxious to fight. Odjick followed him down the ice and continued to poke him in the eye and eventually started slashing him. Eventually it clicked into Stock's head that he was an enforcer and he shouldn't take shit from this guy. The gloves dropped and Gino gave the Stock the beating he deserved:-^! Oh I just love that guy. I'll never forget the time he gave someone a supplex in a fight. That's right he lifted him off his feet and flipped him over his head like a wrestler:D

[Edited on 2005/8/27 by Bulis_the_Habbie]

[shortcat1]

In 1971, the most surprising Stanley Cup win by an underdog took place.

In the quarter finals, Montreal went against the Boston Bruins who had Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and Johnny Bucyk (the last two (50 goal scorers), Ken Hodge, Wayne Cashman, Derek Sanderson among others with Gerry Cheevers in nets. This was a power house team.

Boston finished a million points ahead of Montreal during the regular season. Montreal (with rookie Ken Dryden behind the mask) eliminated them in seven games.

But the most fascinating game 7 for me was the one against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks had Bobby Hull, Dennis Hull, Stan Mikita among others with Tony Esposito in the nets.

Chicago finished way ahead of Montreal that year too. Again, with Ken Dryden in nets, the Canadiens pushed the Blackhawks to game 7. Playing at home, the Blackhawks had a 2-0 lead late in the second period.

Bobby Hull hit the crossbar with a shot that would have made it 3-0. Then Jacques Lemaire scored on a long shot to make it 2-1. Chicago was sure that this was the year they were going to win the Stanley Cup.

In the third period, Henri Richard scored to tie the game 2 - 2. With little time left, Richard rushes into the Chicago zone, shoots the puck, Esposito stops it but it rebounds out towards Richard.

Richard is struggling with a Chicago defender, falls on the ice and, to my amazement, slides into the net dragging the puck with him.

I screamed, jumped up and broke a ceiling light fixture.

NOW, HERE'S THE REALLY WILD PART. When they show the replay, I look closely to what happened (to enjoy the moment again) and I see.... Richard sliding towards the puck.... sticking out his arm.... trapping the puck with his arm and... bringing it with himself into the net. To my surprise, the goal counts!!! I'm sure that Richard cheated but he got away with it. It may not have been intentional, it may have been an automatic reaction thing but Richard lets the referee's and goal judge's decicion stand (why not?). Montreal goes on to blank the Blackhawks for the rest of the period, with Dryden making all sorts of ridiculous saves and finally, the Habs won the game and Stanley Cup.

The Canadiens team that year also included Jean Beliveau, Yvan Cournoyer, J. C. Tremblay, Frank Mahovlich, Peter Mahovlich, Jacques Lemaire, John Ferguson, Regean Houle, Serge Savard, Ralph Backstrom & Pierre Bouchard among others. Some pretty important historical names for the Canadiens.

Also of importance, is that this was the spring that Jean Beliveau retired and............. guess who came onto the team the next fall? I'll let you answer that.

:ghg: :ghg: :ghg:

[Edited on 2005/8/31 by shortcat1]

[Brett38]

1971 Playoffs!!!!!

I remember that one. Man was that great. Little Montreal beating the Mighty Bruins and then eliminating the Blackhawks. I certainly remember the long shot goal by Lemaire. I think it was around center ice. Little Henri was huge in that game. He only lasted about three years after and one more cup in '73.

[Leafs Suck]

Playoff games are too easy. Too many favs, Cup win in 93 comes to mind.

I'll just deal with regular season.

My three favs all include beating the Leafs.

-Tremblay's first game as coach. Game is tied 3-3 with seconds left, someone passes to Turgeon and he's alone in front of the net. He shoots it quickly past Potvin and the Habs win.

-That same year, Habs go into Toronto. Thibault makes 50 something saves and Vinny Damphousse scores a beauty goal to make it 3-1 Habs with a few minutes left.

-Last time we actually faced them. 4-3 win. Some beauty goals in that. Ribeiro's goal when he decked out Belfour, and Perreault's one hander.

[KoZed]

1993, SCF, LA vs MTL, Game 2, 3rd period. Kings are leading 1-0 in the series and 2-1 late in the 3rd period.

Habs are putting pressure but the Kings have a solid young defense (Blake, Sydor, Zhitnik, McSorley, Huddy) and Hrudey's doing a good job.

Habs mount some offense, Carbonneau & Brunet are doing good work along the boards in the Kings' territory. Then the play is stopped. Players are catching their breath and... Jacques Demers calls for the ref and asks for McSorley's stick to be measured.

As the refs mesure up the stick, everybody's scratching their heads. It looks like a desperate move, a big risk because if the stick is legal, the Habs are the ones getting a 2 mins penalty and that would seal the game for them.

Refs come back toward center ice. McSorley's stick is illegal. 2 mins PP for the Habs. Eric Desjardins scores with a slapshot from the point.

Gams goes in OT, the play goes back and forth, Roy frustrates Robitaille and Sandstrom, Hrudey does the same to LeClair and Bellows. Then Carbo, Brunet and Ronan go on the offense. Hrudey stops them. Puck goes to the point. Desjardins unleashs a slapshot that goes waaay wide, hits the glass behind the net, Brunet gets the loose puck, passes it back to Desjardins who was pinching in. Desjardins' gets the puck at the circles and rips a wrist shot past Hrudey.

Desjardins' 3rd goal of the game, Habs win in OT for the 8th or 9th straight time, ties the series 1-1 and wouldn't lose another game of the playoffs.

[Quebecois]

One game that comes to mind would have to be Game 3 of the Habs-Bruins from the 2002 playoffs. I actually missed the first 2 periods of the game at a job interview (i know, blasphemy, but i was younger and stupider.)

We were down 3-1 in with about 10 minutes left in the 3rd period. I arrived home and turned on the TV and not even 5 seconds after i turned on the TV, Audette scored to make it 3-2. Next it was Doug Gilmour's turn, making it 3-3. Finally the most memorable goal belonged to Saku Koivu. Just days after making his comeback, Koivu put the Habs ahead for good. Some fine work by Kilger along the boards led to Markov being able to dish one down low to Audette who hit Koivu out infront.

[KoZed]

Originally posted by Quebecois

One game that comes to mind would have to be Game 3 of the Habs-Bruins from the 2002 playoffs. I actually missed the first 2 periods of the game at a job interview (i know, blasphemy, but i was younger and stupider.)  

We were down 3-1 in with about 10 minutes left in the 3rd period. I arrived home and turned on the TV and not even 5 seconds after i turned on the TV, Audette scored to make it 3-2. Next it was Doug Gilmour's turn, making it 3-3. Finally the most memorable goal belonged to Saku Koivu. Just days after making his comeback, Koivu put the Habs ahead for good. Some fine work by Kilger along the boards led to Markov being able to dish one down low to Audette who hit Koivu out infront.

I remember that goal, that was one hell of a beauty. And Koivu jumping in the air along the boards with the crowd going nuts in the background, hehehehe.

[sakiqc]

I remember where I was for each of those Habs playoffs games. Alright, not those in the 70s and earlier .

In 1993 I saw Desjardins first 2 goals from the hospital waiting room’s TV, and heard the 3rd one in overtime from the radio car back home.

I watched the Boston-Montreal series in 2002 from the community TV on my dorm' floor at Montreal University. The whole tower was going crazy and we could hear people screaming through the air systems. All people were watching the games, even the French, Belgium, Germans and Italians. It was a great series and great memories (except the part where I failed most of the exams I had that week…)

But my favourite memory goes back to the first game I attended. Quebec-Montreal 1st game of the 1993 playoffs. Montreal was leading 2-0 in Quebec with 2 minutes to play. Nordiques makes it 2-1, then Hextall is pulled and Joe Sakic scores the tying goal with seconds left on the 3rd period. On overtime, Scott Young skate from center ice and goes behind Roy’s net then score a wraparound goal. That’s my favourite game involving the Habs (Of course I was a Nordiques fan)

When Nordiques left to Colorado I felt betrayed and never followed them. Montreal reminds me a lot of the Nordiques (not only because of the management). I used to hate the Canadiens defensive game during the Nordiques era. Quebec was an offensive team and exciting to listen. Canadiens’ struggles remind me a lot of the Nordiques years, even if Habs didn’t sink as low.

Playoffs hockey is so exciting. If I think about a regular season games, I gotta say that Saku’s 1st game on the same season he had cancer really impressed me. I liked Tremblay first game as head coach. I like first home games with the ceremonies. Talking of ceremonies, I have to remember Phx-Mtl game where Jacques Villeneuve was honoured after his F1 champ.

:ghg::hlogo:

[Edited on 2005-8-27 by sakiqc]

[BTH]

Speaking of ceremonies and Phx-Mtl....

Remember Berezin coming in, scoring the 10,000th Home Habs goal and then taking off.

That was kind of ironic. We've been waiting years and years for our top superstar to bury that one and for it to go down in history and then some guy comes in his first Habs game, scores, and then proves useless for the rest of the season. That trade ruined both teams. I liked Brian Savage.

[Tony_]

Originally posted by ap79

1993, SCF, LA vs MTL, Game 2, 3rd period. Kings are leading 1-0 in the series and 2-1 late in the 3rd period.  

Habs are putting pressure but the Kings have a solid young defense (Blake, Sydor, Zhitnik, McSorley, Huddy) and Hrudey's doing a good job.

Habs mount some offense, Carbonneau & Brunet are doing good work along the boards in the Kings' territory. Then the play is stopped. Players are catching their breath and... Jacques Demers calls for the ref and asks for McSorley's stick to be measured.

As the refs mesure up the stick, everybody's scratching their heads. It looks like a desperate move, a big risk because if the stick is legal, the Habs are the ones getting a 2 mins penalty and that would seal the game for them.

Refs come back toward center ice. McSorley's stick is illegal. 2 mins PP for the Habs. Eric Desjardins scores with a slapshot from the point.  

Gams goes in OT, the play goes back and forth, Roy frustrates Robitaille and Sandstrom, Hrudey does the same to LeClair and Bellows. Then Carbo, Brunet and Ronan go on the offense. Hrudey stops them. Puck goes to the point. Desjardins unleashs a slapshot that goes waaay wide, hits the glass behind the net, Brunet gets the loose puck, passes it back to Desjardins who was pinching in. Desjardins' gets the puck at the circles and rips a wrist shot past Hrudey.

Desjardins' 3rd goal of the game, Habs win in OT for the 8th or 9th straight time, ties the series 1-1 and wouldn't lose another game of the playoffs.

Did you ever hear the controversy around this a few years ago? Supposebly one guy who was working with the Habs came clean and said that he was ordered to check out every equipment and stuff that the Kings brought in the Forum at the time. So supposebly they knew about Marty's illegal stick all along and were waiting on a right time to call the penalty.

[Quebecois]

<i>Did you ever hear the controversy around this a few years ago? Supposebly one guy who was working with the Habs came clean and said that he was ordered to check out every equipment and stuff that the Kings brought in the Forum at the time. So supposebly they knew about Marty's illegal stick all along and were waiting on a right time to call the penalty.</i>

I thought it was Muller and Carbonneau who had seen Mcsorley's stick and had told Demers about it.

[Leafs Suck]

That was a BS story made up by Barry Melrose. That cry baby is still whining about it.

[MAK]

that june 9th 1993...

my grandma died that morning and she was a true habs fan surrounded by bruins fans.

so seeing my favourite team win the cup..against gretzky...

that has to be my best game ever

[Peter Puck]

I'm going to limit myself to regular season games. This is going back a ways - early seventies or late sixties. The Habs are playing the leafs and its a great game with lots of fast skating and exciting chances but no goals. It was a fabulous game with each team going all out. As the game come to an end the Leafs ice the puck and it looks like the game is over ... but Savard (I think) hustles all the way back and touches the puck with 5 seconds left. The habs's centre wins the draw back to the point and Savard blasts home the winning goal with 2 seconds left in the game! :-^:-^

I'll never forget that game.

edit: grammar

[Edited on 2005/8/27 by Peter Puck]

[Edited on 2005/8/28 by Peter Puck]

[Howie_Morenz]

I loved the outdoor game against Edmonton with all the older oilers there and the Great Ones daughter singing. Jose with the toque on top his mask was classic and of course the win. All of a sudden other teams wanted to try this but yet to see them follow through. I'm going to buy that classic this weekend if I can find it.

[shortcat1]

Still no one has given a shot at who started for the Canadiens the fall after Jean Beliveau retired in 1971 (re the article I wrote on page 1.

The answer is easy, really.

:ghg::ghg::ghg:

[Dutch_Habs_Fan]

Last game in the Boston-Montreal serie in 2002. The game after Zednik was hurt bad. They won (and it was the first game i saw on tv live , cuz i was in the states) the series that game. I remember the best Theo save ever. Blind behind his back he keeps the puck out with his stick....

[Prime Minister Koivu]

I have been thinking about this since this thread was started.

1986, Roy was standing on his head against Calgary in the cup final. It was overtime and Roy was insane. I remember a scramble in front of the net, it must have been 10 shots. Hasek style saves, no reason or rhyme to them just brilliant save after save. I was jumping around the room like a monkey.

I was a habs fan then but not die hard. From that moment on, I blead red, white and blue.

And yes, the Habs won.