The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

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...

Mike Liut (8 goals allowed on 26 shots) never played internationally for Canada again

Hmmm indeed.

[bhurst99]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

NHL owners watching all the hits on their millionaire players can't be happy. Lol

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[slickdtc]

The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Monster, clean hits… can’t remember seeing so many guys going parallel to the ice in the first period lol

Hellebuyck is rock solid. Binnington not great on the goal but he’s had some big stops.

Felt like USA defense needed more snarl. Our forwards are covered there with the Tkachuk bros, I was concerned about McAvoy but the hit totally redeemed himself

Cheers boys! This is HOCKEY

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Going in to this it felt like the typical "fans and media are hyping it up like crazy and care about this rivalry more than the players who'll treat it like just another game".

Glad that wasn't the case at all.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Going in to this it felt like the typical "fans and media are hyping it up like crazy and care about this rivalry more than the players who'll treat it like just another game".

Glad that wasn't the case at all.

Yeah, I know a lot of people who felt this way, mostly on the 40-and-under side. It was an insane take IMO - when's the last time anyone sleepwalked through best-on-best? Even the gimmick teams in 2016 gave a sh**.

I just wish the politics weren't hanging overhead. We would've gotten 95% of the intensity/atmosphere without it anyway.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

"See you Thursday?" he asked uncertainly, glancing nervously in Kevin Lankinen's direction

[bhurst99]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Great defensive performance by USA. Canada had few grade A scoring chances. I thought we were lucky not to give up one or two more goals.

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[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

USA: clinched a spot in the final

Canada: clinches a spot in the final with a regulation win over Finland
OR an OT/SO win over Finland AND Sweden doesn't beat USA in regulation

Finland: clinches a spot in the final with a regulation win over Canada
OR an OT/SO win over Canada AND Sweden doesn't beat USA in regulation

Sweden: clinches a spot in the final with a regulation win over USA
AND Canada/Finland ends in OT/SO

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Slavin is a monster

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

A shame that the Sweden/USA game doesn't come first. If Canada and Finland played on Monday knowing that the game reaching OT would eliminate both of them, what happens if they're tied late in regulation? Do BOTH teams pull their goalies?

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

A shame that the Sweden/USA game doesn't come first. If Canada and Finland played on Monday knowing that the game reaching OT would eliminate both of them, what happens if they're tied late in regulation? Do BOTH teams pull their goalies?

That would've been the best ending to a game ever.

Double empty net and its really a matter of next goal wins. Empty net game winner would be fun to see (technically it happens more often than you think, but this would be the actual go ahead game winning goal).

[pietasterp]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

That was highly entertaining. Highly competitive, with a dash of jingoism and hate is a recipe for viewing dynamite. Our boy Larkin rep'ing the 313 with the game winner is the icing on the cake.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Finland has a chance to do something very funny.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

1987 Canada Cup

Format: Same as 1984
Participants: Same as 1984 except Finland subbed back in for West Germany
Locations: Calgary, Hamilton, Regina, Halifax, Sydney (Nova Scotia), Montreal, Hartford

SF USSR 4 Sweden 2 (Hamilton)
SF Canada 5 Czechoslovakia 3 (Montreal)

Final G1 USSR 6 Canada 5 (OT) (Montreal)
Final G2 Canada 6 USSR 5 (2OT) (Hamilton)
Final G3 Canada 6 USSR 5 (Hamilton)

Canada wins 2-1

For my generation (I was 15 at the time), this was a combination of the '72 Summit Series and the 1992 Dream Team. An utterly absurd level of offensive talent. Canada's PP1 featured Wayne Gretzky (26) between Mark Messier (26) and Mario Lemieux (21) with Ray Bourque (26) and Paul Coffey (26) - at the time of their retirement (Mario was the last in 2005), they ranked 1st, 2nd, 7th, 9th, and 10th on the NHL's all-time scoring list with a combined 9577 regular season points. The Green Unit of Larionov/Krutov/Makarov/Fetisov/Kasatonov were also in their prime (all were between 26-29).

The best-of-3 final was storybook stuff.

Game 1: Canada fell behind 4-1 early, rallied with 2 goals in the last 5 minutes of the 3rd for a 5-4 lead, only for the Soviets to tie it late and then win on an unstoppable wrister under the bar (6:45 of the 1st video)

Game 2: A candidate for the most exciting game ever played, Canada withstood another late tying goal by the Russians, finally winning in double OT on Mario's hat trick goal and Gretzky's 5th assist of the night (how did this game go scoreless for 30 minutes of OT??) (8:00 of the 2nd video)

Game 3: Canada fell behind 3-0 in the opening 10 minutes, [I]again[/] rallied for a 5-4 lead only for the Russians to again tie it late, but this one didn't reach OT (7:40 of the 3rd video)

Notes and Fun Facts:

- Gretzky led the tournament with 3 goals and 18 assists in 9 games; Lemieux had 11 goals and 7 assists
- Even though at least one of Gretzky and Lemieux played in 8 consecutive best-on-best tourneys over two decades (81/84/87/91 Canada Cup, 96/04 World Cup, 98/02 Olympics), 1987 was the one and only time they played together
- Imagine a time when Sydney, Nova Scotia (rink capacity 4500) and Regina, Saskatchewan (rink capacity 5500) could host best-on-best games and a non-NHL city (Hamilton) could host the final - cities like these are lucky if they get to host a World Juniors once every 10-20 years

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[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

1991 Canada Cup

Format: Same as 1987
Participants: Same as 1987
Locations: Toronto, Saskatoon, Hamilton, Montreal, Quebec City, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago

SF USA 7 Finland 3 (Hamilton)
SF Canada 4 Sweden 0 (Toronto)

Final G1 Canada 4 USA 1 (Montreal)
Final G2 Canada 4 USA 2 (Hamilton)

Canada wins 2-0

This tournament was weird. Ray Bourque refused to play. Patrick Roy (clearly the best goalie in the NHL) was snubbed for Sean Burke! Steve Yzerman (coming off seasons of 102, 155, 127, 108 points) was snubbed for the likes of Shayne Corson, Russ Courtnall, and 18-year-old yet-to-play-an-NHL-game Eric Lindros!!

And yet this was probably Canada's easiest best-on-best win. With the Soviets fading (along with the Soviet Union) and the Americans not quite ready for prime time, Canada didn't have much competition, and the tourney was a bit of a dud as a result. The most memorable moment wasn't a goal or save - it was Gary Suter's cheap shot on Gretzky, a back injury that lingered over the rest of his career, and the Big Bang of Canada/USA hockey hatred.

Notes and Fun Facts:

- This was the time of peak Lindros "Next One" hype, the hockey equivalent of '89 Batman combined with The Phantom Menace. (I still have his worthless insert cards from the 1st Score set somewhere in a box). But he played pretty well! 5 points in 8 games, and an absolute unit on the ice, blowing up Ulf Samuelsson and knocking him out of the tourney
- As mentioned, turmoil at home submarined the Russians. With Fedorov already having defected to the US during the Goodwill Games the previous year, Bure, Mogilny, and Konstantinov were left cooling their heels in Moscow just in case
- In addition to the USA beginning to establish themselves as Canada's primary rival, this tourney was the origin of the "pesky Finns" as Finland's surprising performance here carried over to the World Championships (they'd never won a medal of any colour at the WHC until the early 90s and have been podium threats ever since)

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