The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Probably best just to skip the 1981 Canada Cup recap

Funny you should ask.

1981 Canada Cup

Format: Same as 1976 except top 4 made semis and the final was changed to single game
Participants: Same as 1976
Locations: Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal, Ottawa

SF USSR 4 Czechoslovakia 1 (Ottawa)
SF Canada 4 USA 1 (Montreal)

Final USSR 8 Canada 1 (Montreal)

Okay, we're finally getting to tournaments that I remember watching. Some interesting vibes here, as the Russians were coming off a humiliating defeat in Lake Placid and Canada was transitioning from the Habs/Flyers 70s to the Isles/Oilers 80s. The top line was 20-year-old Wayne Gretzky centering Gilbert Perreault and Guy Lafleur! Canada's goaltending situation was also up in the air. With Ken Dryden retired and Tony Esposito now playing for Team USA, 2-time defending Cup champ and raging psychopath Billy Smith was the heir apparent between the pipes, but he got hurt in training camp, so Canada put their faith in a Blues goalie, hmmm...

Notes and Fun Facts:

- After sending their 2nd stringers in 1976 and losing to the USA in 1980, the Soviets were in a state of flux as well: 1970s stalwarts Mikhailov and Petrov were "retired" from international play and the iconic Kharlamov died in a car crash; it was time for the KLM Line (Krutov/Larionov/Makarov) to debut alongside their Green Unit D pairing of Slava Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov
- The post-Miracle Americans played well, losing to only Canada (twice) and the Soviets (7 players from the Lake Placid gold medalists played here)
- The final was 1-1 midway through the 2nd period before Canada imploded; you'll be unsurprised to learn that the Canadian media savaged Gretzky (who led the tourney in scoring with 12 points in 7 games and was coming off a league record 164 points in his sophomore NHL season) with the usual nonsense: he lacked "the will to win", etc.
- Mike Liut (8 goals allowed on 26 shots) never played internationally for Canada again
- The "founder" of the Summit Series and Canada Cup, NHLPA director and noted scumbag/crook Alan Eagleson (anyone unfamiliar should read up on him, one of the worst people in hockey history who was protected by decades by the Canadian old boys' club), in a display of poor sportsmanship, wouldn't allow the Soviets to take the Canada Cup trophy back to Russia; a group of embarrassed Canadian fans raised $10K to build a replica of the trophy to gift the Russians a few weeks later

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[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Canada got to trot out Mario pregame. We sent….Mike Richter. Boring!

I suppose Brett Hull would've made the best choice for trolling purposes.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

1984 Canada Cup

Format: Same as 1981 except the final was changed back to best-of-3
Participants: Same as 1981 except West Germany (!) replaced Finland
Locations: Halifax, Montreal, Calgary, London (Ontario), Vancouver, Edmonton, Buffalo

SF Sweden 9 USA 2 (Edmonton)
SF Canada 3 USSR 2 (OT) (Calgary)

Final G1 Canada 5 Sweden 2 (Calgary)
Final G2 Canada 6 Sweden 5 (Edmonton)

Canada wins 2-0

Probably the 2nd most dysfunctional Team Canada ever (after 2006). The team was dominated by Oilers (8!) and Islanders (4) who despised each other after a couple of hate-filled Stanley Cup Finals. Canada floundered to a 4th place finish in the round robin before flipping the switch just in time. The all-Oilers coaching staff hated Billy Smith so much that they snubbed him entirely, and then yanked around the threesome of Grant Fuhr, Pete Peeters, and Reggie Lemelin so much, you'd think Mike Keenan was behind the bench instead of Slats.

RR1 (W vs Germany): Fuhr
RR2 (T vs USA): Fuhr
RR3 (L vs SWE): Peeters
RR4 (W vs CZE): Lemelin
RR5 (L vs USSR): Lemelin
SF (W vs USSR): Peeters
F1 (W vs SWE): Peeters
F2 (W vs SWE): Peeters (replaced by Lemelin early in the 3rd after allowing 4 straight Swedish goals to turn a 6-1 laugher into a 6-5 nailbiter)

I'm gonna guess that this is the only international hockey tourney in which one team's 3 goalies all made at least 2 starts, nobody was replaced for injury reasons, and their team won!

Notes and Fun Facts:

- Speaking of goalies, Czechoslovakia's #1 starter was 19-year-old Dominik Hasek!
- NYI legend Bryan Trottier switched allegiances from Team Canada to Team USA only a month before the tournament began
- Trottier was replaced on the Canadian roster by QUE legend Peter Stastny (!!) who had defected from the Czechs; he'd later go on to play for Team Slovakia in the mid-90s, becoming the only player to suit up for 3 different national teams
- The Canada/USSR semi-final is best remembered for a very rare defensive gem by Paul Coffey in OT (8:15 in the video below) leading to the winner moments later (thanks in part to John Tonelli just grabbing two Soviet players and dragging them to the ice), but check out Sergei Makarov turning Larry Robinson into a statue at 3:30


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[slickdtc]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Notes and Fun Facts:

- Speaking of goalies, Czechoslovakia's #1 starter was 19-year-old Dominik Hasek!

Wow! This just struck me that the goalie on NES Ice Hockey for Team Czechoslovakia would indeed be Hasek. My brother always chose Team Czechoslovakia and as kids we loved to say the name. No wonder he was whooping our asses.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Worried after that first tough goal, but tied it up quickly and then pulled away in the 3rd. Great first game of a sprint of a tourney.

Off day today and then doubleheader tomorrow. They were saying during the game last night the tournament is over before it starts, so you really can’t have any bad games. The result of SWE/FIN will be a nice boost to the excitement for CAN/USA at night. I didn’t realize with the 3-points system how crucial a straight win is.

The 3-2-1 standing definitely impacts a lot.

If Canada loses to the US in regulation, their fate is out of their hands because Sweden beating Finland and US in regulation will then put them ahead of Canada even if Canada beats Finland.

If the US loses to Canada tonight in regulation, then their game vs Sweden likely determines 2nd place unless Canada loses to Finland.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

If Canada loses to the US in regulation, their fate is out of their hands because Sweden beating Finland and US in regulation will then put them ahead of Canada even if Canada beats Finland.

Today's result means that Canada's fate remains in its own hands even with a regulation loss tonight. USA can clinch a spot in the final with a regulation win tonight, but all 4 teams will remain alive going into Monday's games, which is a big plus for the tourney.

Full credit to the Finns. This is one of their weaker best-on-best squads (particularly D and G), yet they rarely fail to punch above their weight.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Today's result means that Canada's fate remains in its own hands even with a regulation loss tonight. USA can clinch a spot in the final with a regulation win tonight, but all 4 teams will remain alive going into Monday's games, which is a big plus for the tourney.

Full credit to the Finns. This is one of their weaker best-on-best squads (particularly D and G), yet they rarely fail to punch above their weight.

Now...USA wins in regulation and they get 6 points and automatically make the finals. Do they put their foot off the gas in that final game knowing it means nothing and obviously guys don't want to get hurt knowing there's only 1 game left to care about before going back to the NHL.

Canada wins in regulation, they have 5 points, USA has 3, Finland has 2, Sweden has 2, so Canada could still miss the finals.

USA wins in OT, they have 5, Canada 3, Finland 2, Sweden 2. USA could still miss.

Canada wins in OT, they have 4, USA has 4, Finland has 2, Sweden has 2.

Probably another reason the NHL hates the 3-2-1 system. Adds so many more scenarios and possibilities that gets harder for GMs to predict and coaches to coach for, especially late in the season.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Probably another reason the NHL hates the 3-2-1 system. Adds so many more scenarios and possibilities that gets harder for GMs to predict and coaches to coach for, especially late in the season.

I think it's simply a case of a 3-2-1 creating more separation between teams (or at least the perception of separation). The NHL would be happy if all 32 teams were tied in the standings with a day left in the season.

On the other hand, I bet the majority of GM's would welcome a 3-2-1 format so they could crow about having a "100-point season" (without mentioning that they finished 23rd in the standings). 27/32 teams would've finished with 100+ points in 23/24 (123 points being the lowest point total for a playoff team). If you're wondering what the standings would've looked like, the only change in playoff seeding would've been Winnipeg and Dallas swapping places (with the proviso that teams might play differently if they knew that regulation wins were worth 3 points, of course).

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

I think it's simply a case of a 3-2-1 creating more separation between teams (or at least the perception of separation). The NHL would be happy if all 32 teams were tied in the standings with a day left in the season.

On the other hand, I bet the majority of GM's would welcome a 3-2-1 format so they could crow about having a "100-point season" (without mentioning that they finished 23rd in the standings). 27/32 teams would've finished with 100+ points in 23/24 (123 points being the lowest point total for a playoff team). If you're wondering what the standings would've looked like, the only change in playoff seeding would've been Winnipeg and Dallas swapping places (with the proviso that teams might play differently if they knew that regulation wins were worth 3 points, of course).

That's what I was saying at first, and that has been confirmed by Brian Burke in the past too.

One team being at 120 points and another at 70pts looks bad. Like you said, the NHL would love teams being close.

It's also why the loser point makes the standings look better than they are.

The NBA, you know you're not good if you're 35-47.

In the NHL, that becomes 35-35-12 which doesn't look as bad and equals 82pts in 82 games. That's also why the loser point will never go away.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

1979 Challenge Cup

NHL All-Stars 4 USSR 2 (New York)
USSR 5 NHL All-Stars 4 (New York)
USSR 6 NHL All-Stars 0 (New York)

USSR wins 2-1

Rendez-vous '87

NHL All-Stars 4 USSR 3 (Quebec City)
USSR 5 NHL All-Stars 3 (Quebec City)

These two miniseries were a forebear to the 4 Nations Face-Off, as they replaced the All-Star Game and were meant to tee up the 1979 Canada Cup (which was postponed to 1981 due to Hockey Canada squabbling and the Russian invasion of Afghanistan) and the 1987 Canada Cup respectively. These were stacked, full-power rosters and the games were taken seriously, so I feel safe in calling them "best-on-best adjacent".

News and Fun Facts:

- The rosters of the 1979 and 1987 NHL All-Star Teams displayed the growing prominence of international players (the NHL was essentially a Canadian house league until the mid-70s)
- 1979 roster: 23 Canadians, 3 Swedes
- 1987 roster: 17 Canadians, 4 Americans, 2 Swedes, 2 Finns
- From Wikipedia, regarding the Challenge Cup:

In the United States, Game 2, which was held on a Saturday afternoon, was shown on CBS as part of CBS Sports Spectacular. The network refused to expand CBS Sports Spectacular to carry the game in full so instead, the show came on during the second intermission, showed taped highlights of the first two periods, and then showed the final period live. The lead-in to Sports Spectacular was The World's Strongest Man....The network, the show and their sponsors had a problem with the rink board advertising that the NHL sold at Madison Square Garden, and refused to allow them to be shown on television. As a result, CBS viewers were unable to see the far boards above the yellow kickplate, and could only see players' skates when the play moved to that side of the ice. Games 1 and 3 were shown on the NHL Network, where the advertising was no problem.

Am I imagining things, or is the MSG organ playing the Binary Sunset theme from Star Wars between 0:38-0:53 in this 1st clip?

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[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

USA sends out Michelle Kwan to introduce them.

Canada sends out GSP.

No contest.

Don't think I've heard Montreal boo something (in this case the anthem) this much since Shawn Michaels.

[bhurst99]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Holy cow a fight off the face off.



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[bhurst99]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

A second fight! Wow

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[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Holy cow a fight off the face off.



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A second fight! Wow

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GSP was there in the opening, don't think even he's ever gotten as loud a reaction as these fights got.

Can we just have these two for the gold medal too. Sorry Finland,Sweden, this needs to happen.

[bhurst99]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Great hit on McDavid.

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