Monthly Archives: July 2009

1965 Montreal Vs. Chicago Game – Review

July 20, 2009   kevkev   No comments

1965 Montreal Vs. Chicago Game – Review

Adding a break in between the Aftermath, I’ve found time to re-emerge and write a review.

On my nose through the TV listings one evening, I noticed a rather unusual break in the baseball coverage on ESPN America.

This break was for a classic Stanley Cup challenge re-run, but not from the last decade, or even the last 2 decades. This game was from 1965.

To say that this game was a real blast from the past feels like an understatement. Firstly, it was incredibly weird to see no helmets on the players. Something I’m just not used to – being that the oldest thing I think Ive ever watched was a highlight reel from the 80′s.

The commentary was also in a completely different era, and it sounds very similar to what is now typically the stereotype of American sports commentary style.
I must admit that the commentary was also both a lot more descriptive but also more annoying. Perhaps its just because I am not accustomed to it.

The game play was fast, smooth, pretty much like hockey is now, though minus all this fancy new stuff such as edge jerseys and “RBK carbon nano sticks”.
The one major difference though, was that the game looked a lot more physical. The checks seemed to be a lot more full and there was a few “good old” punch ups.

The biggest issue I had really with this classic game, and definitely the one that stopped me watching the whole thing continuously versus little chunks (luckily I used the UK equivalent to Tivo here) was the the quality.
Yes, fristly before you even continue with the assumption that I’m being a complete prat, I am aware that it was in 1965.
Still, the black and white recording, complete with film scratches and dust particles (yes, there was tonnes) really ruined the experience for me and I think it’s this, that put me off the most.

Still, overall, It was certainly an interesting watch, and If I see future games I will record them so I can have a look at them, just because it’s amazing to see how hockey has evolved.

Final Conclusion

This was certainly a rare treat to be able to catch a 44 year old game on TV and I am glad to have watched it. The quality was a let down, being worse than I imagined, but it’s definitely better than nothing at all.
I cannot really rate this out of ten, mainly because it is a game on TV.
Still, if you see a classic game on, do check it out. You’ll be surprised if you’ve never seen one from this era.

Kev.

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The Aftermath – 2009 edition: Part 5

July 19, 2009   wildwing64   No comments

The 2008-09 NHL season is now finished. The Detroit Red Wings stormed through the playoffs only to meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final again. This time however, Pittsburgh returned the favour by ending Detroit’s defence of the Championship in their own city.

This six part series will consist of brief, but informal summaries of every team’s performance this season. Part 5 will cover the Northwest Division.

Calgary Flames

Final standings: 46W, 30L, 6OTL, 98 points, 2nd Northwest, 5th Western Conference, 10th NHL

This year’s Flames team had a few new faces as at the start they signed forward Todd Bertuzzi, and had eight young players make their NHL debuts. Calgary had a slow start in October before earning a 6 game winning streak that went into early November, which was just one of their more bumpy months. Fortunately for Calgary, a 10 game point streak in December through the beginning of January, and a similar 9 game streak in February provided the Flames with more points to hold onto to, before a very rough March and April over which they went 9-12-0, and eventually were able to hang onto the fifth seed. During the regular season, captain Jarome Ignila, for the second straight season, surpassed another of Theoren Fleury’s franchise records, beating his record of 830 points on the same night he scored his 400th goal against Tampa Bay. Come playoff time, the Flames had a very physical series against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Flames played well, but injuries to seven players eventually led to their defeat in game 6, making this the fourth consecutive season in which the Flames failed to make it past round one.

Colorado Avalanche

Final standings: 32W, 45L, 5OTL, 69 points, 5th Northwest, 15th Western Conference, 28th NHL

What the heck happened to the Avs this year? Last season they did well enough to make it as far as round 2 in the playoffs, and yet they somehow came off much, much worse this year, recording their worst season since they moved from Quebec. What didn’t help was the fact that long-time captain Joe Sakic was only able to play in 15 games this season due to an injury, and shortly after the season decided to end his career. The Avs have since, understandably, replaced their coaching staff and general manager, so they could either be a better team next season, or they’ll go into rebuilding… still, at least they did better than Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders in the league standings.

Edmonton Oilers

Final standings: 38W, 35L, 9OTL, 85 points, 4th Northwest, 11th Western Conference, 21st NHL

Prior to this season, the Oilers were sold to a new owner, Daryl Katz, for $200 million. The team also made a few personnel changes, and brought back the fan favourite royal blue and orange Cup-era jersey as an alternate. Edmonton started slowly this year, but then starting earning more wins in December and January. However, after a 6 game points streak in March, the Oilers played poorly for the final eleven games of the season (3-8-0), and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season, missing the playoffs by 6 points.

Minnesota Wild

Final standings: 40W, 33L, 9OTL, 89 points, 3rd Northwest, 9th Western Conference, 19th NHL

Even after winning the Northwest Division and making the playoffs last season, the Minnesota Wild were somehow unable to build on that success. Minnesota appeared to be having a good start over the first two months, but then went 4-9-1 in December, and despite playing fairly well for the rest of the year, they ended up narrowly missing the playoffs by just 2 points. This was due in part to a lack of scoring and offensive effort, and injuries to key players such as Marian Goborik, who played just 17 games for the Wild this season. After their regular season came to an end, head coach Jacques Lemaire, after being with the team since they were first formed in 2000, resigned, and general manager Doug Risebrough was given the sack. Former Penguins assistant GM Chuck Fletcher was hired as Risebrough’s replacement, and in turn he chose Todd Richards to be the team’s new head coach. Perhaps the Wild will be a very different team next season…

Vancouver Canucks

Final standings: 45W, 27L, 10OTL, 100 points, 1st Northwest, 3rd Western Conference, 7th NHL

Prior to this season, the Canucks lost two key veterans, long-time captain Markus Nasland and Brendan Morrison to free agency, and promising young defenseman Luc Bourdon to death: he was killed in a motorcycle accident, and the team paid tribute to him in their season opener against Calgary. Despite finishing as the worst team in the Northwest last season, the Canucks managed to greatly improve on their previous season’s lacklustre record: they began with a good start over the first two months, before underperforming through December (6-7-1) and January (2-5-5), and then playing solid hockey for the rest of the season, winning the Division championship and making the playoffs for the first time since 2007. In the first round, they swept the St. Louis Blues, and then advanced to the next roundto face the Chicago Blackhawks. The Nucks’ ball would soon stop rolling as they lost in 6 games.

Coming up next in the sixth and final part will be the Pacific Division.

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The Aftermath – 2009 edition: Part 4

July 16, 2009   wildwing64   No comments

The 2008-09 NHL season is now finished. The Detroit Red Wings stormed through the playoffs only to meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final again. This time however, Pittsburgh returned the favour by ending Detroit’s defence of the Championship in their own city.

This six part series will consist of brief, but informal summaries of every team’s performance this season. Part 4 will begin coverage of the Western Conference with the Central Division.

Chicago Blackhawks

Final standings: 46W, 24L, 12OTL, 104 points, 2nd Central, 4th Western Conference, 6th NHL

New owner Rocky Wirtz’s brief rebuilding of his Chicago Blackhawks seems to have paid off. Looking to improve on their fairly good season last year, the Hawks immediately fired head coach Denis Savard after just 4 games, and replaced him with Joel Quenneville, who would lead Chicago as they had one of their best seasons in years, earning 16 more points than their previous season, and making the playoffs for the first time since 2002. This year, Chicago hosted the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, home of MLB’s Chicago Cubs, where they played against long-time rivals the Detroit Red Wings, losing to them 6-4. When they playoffs came around, the Blackhawks beat the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks in 6 games in the first and second rounds, before running out of steam and losing to Detroit in 5 in the Conference Finals, ironically much like the last time Chicago made it that far in 1995.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Final standings: 41W, 31L, 10OTL, 92 points, 4th Central, 7th Western Conference, 16th NHL

Last year, the Blue Jackets had their most successful season, winning 80 points which was, at the time, the most in franchise history. After failing to make the playoffs, Columbus fans were in for a pleasant surprise this year as their Blue Jackets, despite a slow start in October, played very good hockey for the rest of the season, keeping well away from the bottom of the league standings and earned a playoff berth for the first time ever, meaning that all 30 of the NHL’s currently active teams have made the playoffs at least once. Their first taste of the postseason, sadly, didn’t last very long as the inexperienced Blue Jackets lost to division rivals Detroit, being swept.

Detroit Red Wings

Final standings: 51W, 21L, 10OTL, 112 points, 1st Central, 1st Western Conference, 3rd NHL

Entering this season as the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Detroit Red Wings had a slightly more disappointing overall record than last year, earning 3 points less and also not winning the President’s Trophy for the second consecutive season. They visited Wrigley Field in Chicago to play their long-time rivals the Blackhawks, where the Wings won 6-4. As ever, Detroit had a consistently winning season, with only two slumps: a 6 game stretch (0-4-2) through the end of January and beginning of February, and a 10 game slump (3-6-1) through the end of March and into April. The Wings went on to make the playoffs for the 18th consecutive season: in the first round, they swept playoff newbies Columbus, then played a tough seven game series against playoff rivals Anaheim in the second round, and then defeated Chicago in 5 games in the Conference Finals. In the Stanley Cup Final, they met the Pittsburgh Penguins, who they had previously met in the Final last season, making this event the first in 25 years in which the Cup finalists from the previous season had met in back-to-back Finals. The Red Wings, however, could not hold onto the Cup as Pittsburgh defeated them in Detroit in game 7, making the Wings the first NHL team in 38 years to lose a Game 7 at home.

Nashville Predators

Final standings: 40W, 34L, 8OTL, 88 points, 5th Central, 10th Western Conference, 20th NHL

This year was the Nashville Predators’ 10th season of play (but due to the lockout that cancelled the 2004-05 season, the 10 year anniversary patches were worn on their jerseys last season instead). Sadly, it wasn’t really worth remembering as the Preds failed to make any real improvements over last season’s record and playoff berth. They played mediocre hockey for the first four months, but then somehow, they started playing much, much better through February and March, but they soon failed to qualify for the playoffs, missing out on the number 8 spot by just 3 points, making them the only team from the Central Division to miss the postseason.

St. Louis Blues

Final standings: 41W, 31L, 19OTL, 92 points, 3rd Central, 6th Western Conference, 15th NHL

Here is another pleasant surprise from the Central Division in the form of the St. Louis Blues, who this year made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. They greatly improved on their record by shooting right up in the standings, and earning 13 more points. Expectations were low early on due to injuries to key players such as Erik Johnson, Andy McDonald and goaltender Manny Legace, as well as shoddy play during December (4-10-1). However, things began to look good for the Blues by the time the New Year came, as they played much better hockey for the rest of the season. Their playoff run would unfortunately be very brief, as they were swept by the Vancouver Canucks in the first round.

Coming up next in Part 5 will be the Northwest Division.

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