99 Red Winged Balloons: A hockey TL

[kinnikuniverse]

Prologue, part 2: The Negotiations​

Illitch: "Hello, wayne! This is mike Illitch, owner of the Detroit Red Wings...i'd like to have a discussion with you."

Gretzky stood there like a statue. Mike illitch, the man who turned little caesar from a small pizzeria in downtown detroit into a nationwide empire and, more importantly, the owner of the freaking red wings, was calling him!

"Wayne? Wayne, are you still there?"

Gretzky immediately snapped back into reality.

"Huh, y-yeah, sorry i...i didn't expect you calling me. In fact, i got so many questions burming in my mind right now!"

Illitch: "Hahaha, it's alright! We have all the time in the world!"

Gretzky: "Well, for starters, how did you get this number?"

"Well, i'm not one to beat around the bushes, so i'll go straight to the point. During the draft, Your boss, or rather, future former boss, Mr. Pocklington, talked with multiple suitors for a trade offer involving you, of which i was one of them. He said that he was willing to trade you in exchange for quite a hefty sum of money."

Wayne was not surprised. Pocklington's bank account was leaking like a sinking ship, so he would've definitely asked for a king's ransom.

Gretzky: "So he wants to sell me Straight up? Like soccer transfers? Is that legal here, in america?"

"No. obviously, he ain't gonna sell you just like that. This isn't babe ruth 2.0!" Illitch reassured gretzky in a lighthearte tone. Gretzky obviously knew that this trade would have a similar impact to the bambino's sale to the yankees. "He asked for players and draft picks as well, so as to make it look like it was a regular transaction. The price tag threw off almost all suitors, except me...and Mr. Mcnall."

"Yeah, i figured bruce would be interested." Wayne commented. Of course, his father told him about the kings's interest in him.

"I heard you two frequently talk to each other." Illitch insinuated.

Gretzky: "Yeah, we get along well. That's the beauty with living in L.A with janet: you get to meet all sorts of people in high places."

"Yeah, i figure..." illitch uttered. "...i bet you're also aware of his rise in the NHL Ranks?"

Gretzky: "Yeah, pretty fast rise in stature... though, there's something about him..."

Illitch: "What is it?"

Gretzky: "Well, i'm fully aware that the league wants to increase its popularity in america, and having me go to L.A would do wonders for that...and mcnall's stature as well."

Illitch: "Okay..."

Gretzky: "I love L.A. i feel like i've outgrown edmonton, that i would be happier living here with janet, you know, raising a family in peace and quiet, having our kids go to private school...it's just that...there's something wrong with Mcnall...i can't really pinpoint what, but everytime we talk, i get the impression that this guy is not trustworthy. No offense, but i feel like he's some sort of crook."

Illitch: "I see..."

Gretzky: "So yeah, i do lean towards L.A, but...yeah, not with that guy as owner."

"...well, i think the same way, wayne." Illitch responded. "Growing the game in the US, i'm definitely for it, but not with shady-looking guys like Mcnall running the show. I mean, you know what i've heard? That the NHL could potentially expand into warmer climate cities, like another team in california, in texas and even the carolinas and florida! Can you imagine? Hockey in miami? While american cities that have a long tradition of hockey, like milwaukee, portland and seattle gets the shortest straw? Come on, now!"

Gretzky: "Yeah...so, how did you get this number?"

Illitch cleared his throat.

"Well, for one, i got a call from Mr. Pocklington, where he told me that i managed to beat mcnall's offer, that mine was more attractive. After that, i managed, through my contacts, to find your father's number. I called and, after discussing the details of the trade, he gave me your honeymoon residence's number.

Gretzky: "Why are you calling this early? Cause it's, like, 8:30 AM here, in L.A."

Illitch: "So that i can reach you first before Our dear friend bruce, of course!"

Wayne was surprised at the sheer dedication of Illitch. He heard about how committed he is to not only little caesar and the red wings being successful, but the entire city of detroit, as well. Now, he realises that it wasn't just talk.

Gretzky: "So i'm gonna be a red wing, huh..."

"Only if that's what you really want." Illitch added.

Gretzky: "Oh, believe me, i definitely want to play for you guys! You know, gordie howe's team and and all."

Illitch: "Yes, of course!"

"But then, that means i won't be in L.A with janet..." he looked at his beautiful wife gardening.

Illitch: "There is a beautiful, quiet neighborhood north of detroit. You would be pretty comfy there."

Gretzky: "Yeah, so i've heard. bloomfield, right?"

Illitch: "Yup!"

Gretzky: "...but what if we have children? We are used to having attention on ourselves all the time, but if i go to detroit, everybody would recognise me, unlike in L.A, and i fear for my kids being bothered because of my fame...you know what i'm saying?"

Illitch: "don't worry, we'll make sure nobody bothers you!"

Wayne felt relieved. He felt sincerity in illitch's words.

"...so, who are the players involved in the deal?"

Illitch explains to wayne the trade in question.

Gretzky: "Oof, That's a steep price."


Illitch: "Yes, but if it's you i get in return, it's worth it."

Gretzky: "To you, maybe, but i don't want to go to detroit to lose myself in a bottomless pit."

An awkward silence filled the room. 10 seconds later, illitch began talking.

Illitch: "Listen, i know this is a hard decision for you. You're not just leaving edmonton. You're leaving a stanley cup-winning machine, friends, teammates that you grew up with and canada all behind. I know all about making tough decisions like that, believe me. Little caesar, like rome, wasn't built in one day without any blood, sweat and tears along the way. I had to make great risks to bring my little pizzeria out of the garden city mall and into all 50 states. At first, it was tough, really tough, and there were times where i thought about giving up, but i didn't. By coming to detroit, wayne, you will find it tough in the first few years...But you already knew that, don't you?"

Gretzky: "...yeah, i expect to play the waiting game."

Illitch: "Then i can assure you that, with the staff and scouting department we assembled at the joe, as well as the prospects we have, like Yzerman, chiasson, Graves and racine, your patience will evetually be rewarded. Together, we can bring this franchise not only back to where it belongs among the elite, but the city of detroit will reach a whole new level. You're not continuing gordie howe's legacy, nor do i want you to. I want you to forge your own legacy in detroit, that we forge our own legacy together!"

Wayne was moved by illitch's words. If there was any doubt in his mind, they were gone now. He will go to detroit.

Gretzky: "Alright...i'll call pocklington."

Illitch was smiling like crazy behind his phone.

Gretzky: "Oh, and one more thing, mr Illitch..."

"Yes?"

"...i'm not going anywhere without marty mcsorley and mike Krushelnyski."

"Hmm, yes, i understand...the NHL can be a very dangerous place if you don't protect your neck."

After saying their goodbyes to one another, wayne finally hung up the phone, taking in what had just happened. That's where janet cam back from the garden.

Janet: "Hey honey, i've watered the flowers while you were asl...are you alright? What's with that face?"

Wayne: Janet...i've made my decision.


TO BE CONTINUED...

 

[kinnikuniverse]

August 10th, 1988

"Hello there, Welcome to Sports Desk! I'm Michael Landsberg, and it is official: Wayne Gretzky says goodbye to both Edmonton and Canada. Last night,in front of a packed house at the edmonton Convention Centre, Oilers owner Peter Pocklington confirmed that Number 99 will join the Detroit Red wings in a blockbuster trade involving 6 players, three future first round draft picks and a whopping $15 million cheque.

The scenes at the convention centre was almost apocalyptic in tone, with pocklington looking distraught as he delivered the bad news and the great one himself drowing in tears as he said his final goodbyes to the country.

Hardcore Oilers fans, distraught by the news, would do what every sane man would do: burn effigies of Pocklington and gretzky's Jersey and a good old riot outside of the Northlands Colisseum. It even was a topic of debate in the national assembly, where our most prominent politicians were lashing out on pocklington selling out to the americans! Though some actually sane fans, while extremely disappointed, are nonetheless content that Wayne left for His favorite team from his childhood.

Wayne won't be alone in joining the hockey club of his idol, the great gordie howe: Mike krushelnyski and Gretzky's "bodyguard", marty mcsorley, will also move to the motor city as part of the deal, at gretzky's request, in exchange for the red wings's 1989, 1991 and 1993 First round draft picks, as well as three players: Centre adam oates, czech winger petr klima and the very promising joe murphy.

The three players heading edmonton's way.
​

Gretzky will be joining a young, promising team that made the western conference finals 2 years in a row, featuring young talents such as gerard gallant, bob probert, john ogrodnick, steve Chiasson and Steve Yzerman as well as recently acquired paul mclean from the st. Louis blues. Gretzky's arrival is already the most anticipated event in detroit, and red wings owner Mike Illitch hopes that such an Important acquisition will finally bring the club over the hump and get that much coveted stanley cup that's been missing in hockeytown for over 30 years.

FINAL TRADE:

TO EDMONTON
$15 million
1989, 1991 and 1993 1st round picks
C Adam oates
W Petr Klima
W Joe murphy

TO DETROIT
C Wayne Gretzky
D Marty Mcsorley
C Mike Krushelnyski

TO BE CONTINUED.

 

[kinnikuniverse]

October 6, 1988. The start of a new chapter

The Joe Louis Arena

"And now...making his debut for the red wings, Number 99...WAYNE GRETZKY!!"​

The joe louis arena roared as The home announcer put all of his energy into calling out the name of the man every 20,000 people paid to see in person. Some wings fans still couldn't believe what they were seeing. Team Jerseys with the number 99 were sold out way in advance. Gretzky's arrival, plus the two consecutive conference finals meant, that, For the first time since the girdie howe era, there was a real sense of hope, of incomparable hype behind the red wings, and the joe was full of it as their saviour steps onto the ice for the first time as a player for his childhood team.

The roar continued well beyond the first puck drop. Wayne was used to the crowd cheering for him in edmonton, but this deafening roar, coming from fans of the team he grew up dreaming to play for...his 7-year old self was screaming inside him. Of course, he kept a poker face, but you can bet your house that he found it really cool.

If the fans were going crazy at the sight of him wearing a red wing jersey, imagine him, walking around the joe louis arena, soaking in the applause and looking at the endless amount of division and championship banners of yore, with the numbers of the likes of lindsay, delvecchio, pronovost, Sawchuk and, of course, gordie howe, looking down on him, as if they were telling him that it is wayne's time to lead this franchise back to glory.

Then, he looked at the wings bench, and saw both jacques demers shouting instructions at him and his linemates gerard gallant and paul maclean...aswell as the young captain of the club, looking at him with scrutiny, as if he was envious of the attention he was getting.

And with a bit of reason, too, as steve yzerman seemed to be immediately ignored since gretzky arrived in detroit. While he did have the full trust of mr. Illitch and jacques demers and they promised that there will be no preferential treatments to anybody, Stevie Y still felt like a lion seeing a new male walking close by his pride. He was the cornerstone of the red wings, the youngest captain in NHL history at only 21 years of age, and he conteibuted massively to the wings's two consecutive conference finals. To see somebody else taking the spotlight, even if its freaking wayne gretzky, ruffled a few of his feathers.

Right from the start, during their first practice together, stevie made his presence felt by checking wayne hard on the boards during full-contact drills. Gretzky wasn't expecting this, but one look at stevie saw that he wasn't like any young player. He had that look on his face, the same eyes that he saw on his old friend mark messier.

He smiled. He got the message...and he delivered one of his own, taking advantage of stevie being too focused on making the perfect pass by stealing the puck from him before going to his favorite spot behind the net. Then, he intentionally tested stevie's defensive skills, deking him and delivering his trademark laser passes with no restraints. Eventually, he attempted a spinorama on stevie...but didn't expect the young british columbian to steal the puck from him! Looks like he'll have more fun than he thought!

Back to the present, the game against the los angeles kings started off pretty well, with wayne winning his first faceoff against young jimmy carson, rumoured to be part of the kings's failed trade attempt for the greta one. However, the game only toom 5 seconds for the first penalty to be called, as doug crossman tripped a charging paul maclean. This led to yzerman jumping on the ice and join wayne on the first power play of the game.

The two looked at each other, like two rivals attempting to indimidate each other...but, when the puck dropped, any animosity between them was gone, and they actually worked really well together, with stevie checking Dave taylor, getting the puck back and pass it to wayne, who scores his first goal as a red wing on his first shot attempt.

While the arena was erupting in happiness, the wings players congratulated each other on the play. Gretzky and yzerman only fist bumped each other, both with a faint smile on their faces.

Unfortunately for them, the wings would immediately concede two goals shortly after, one from Bernie Nichols and another from luc robitaille on a laser pass by dman Steve duchesne.

Gretzky's first game as a red wing ended up being a dramatic shoot-out, with wayne scoring a hat trick and assisting paul maclean's game-winning goal to have the wings win it 6-4.

While everybody in the arena went home hapoy and satisfied that their wings won the game, gretzky was feeling bittersweet. Sure, he's glad that he's in detroit, and the team had promising pieces, but there were some glaring issues. Glen hanlon's a nice guy, but he's not exactly a top goalie. And the less said about the defense, the better.

Illitch was right. The first few years are gonna be tough...

DETROIT RED WINGS LINE-UP 88-89

Gallant-Gretzky-Mclean
Ogrodnick-Yzerman-Burr
Probert-Krushelnyski-Barr
Graves-Chabot-kocur

Chiasson-zombo
Norwood-o'connell
Houda-mcsorley

Hanlon​

UP NEXT: 1988-1989 Season Report.

EDIT: fixed some mistakes, as tomas sandstrom didn't join the kings until 1990. Also, stupid grammar errors.

 

[kinnikuniverse]

1988-1989 NHL SEASON REVIEW​

The season came and went and wayne gretzky, in his first season as a detroit red wings, put up not only amazing numbers as usual, scoring 54 goals and 115 assists for a total of 169 points, but also brought new american fans to the sport. ESPN saw a big rise in ratings following gretzky's move to the motor city and, while it would've been higher had he moved to L.A instead, there was still a big enough increase in attendance in the markets surrounding detroit that it generated talk among the NHL Board of directors about a potential future expansion...

As for the red wings as a whole, they finished top of the norris division, but not by much, recording only 88 pts. While the offense was stellar, with gretzky getting help from the likes of gerard gallant, paul maclean, steve yzerman and john ogrodnick, the defense and goaltending was less than stellar, and it would cost them in the first round of the playoffs as the chicago blackhawks, led by young jeremy roenick and denis savard, hammered on goalie glen halon to win the series in 6 games.

Jeremy roenick, america's flag bearer in hockey?​

The early exit was a a hard fall back to earth for the red wings, as they now realise that having wayne gretzky and a bevy of offensive punch isn't enough to win the stanley cup. You need a rock solid defense and a world class goalie. Both of which the franchise lacks.

Despite the bitterness of not acquiring gretzky, jimmy carson proves that keeping him was the right move.​

Meanwhile, in L.A, owner bruce mcnall, the day after the failed offer to acquire the great one, decided to inprovise and build the team around its young talents, sich as luc robitaille, steve duchesne and jimmy carson. The latter, free from the weight of expectations that he would've received if he was traded for gretzky, would continue where he left off in his rookie season, even going beyond that, as he would score his first ever 100 points season. His line with robitaille and john tonelli, as well as the second line of bernie nicholls, bobby carpenter and dave taylor, proving a potent 1-2 punch, while new netminder kelly hrudey finally brought some much needed stability in front of net in LA. The defense was, with the exception of undrafted young standout steve duchesne, not that talented, but they were solid and disciplined enough to get the job done.

The kings's season highlight was no doubt their stunning elimination of the reigning stanley cup champion edmonton oilers in 7 games on the back of a miraculous comeback from a 3-1 deficit to force game 7, where carson proves that he is one to watch, scoring a goal and assisting bernie nicholls and bobby Carpenter on the power play to advance the kings to the next round, where they faced the equally surprising vancouver canucks, who upset the heavily favored Calgary flames with a game 7 overtime goal by stan smyl.

Stan Smyl, vancouver's Game 7 hero​

The series went back and forth, the two teams trading blow for blow until game 7, where steve duchesne rips a cannonball from the point to score another winning goal in OT, and kelly hrudey holding the fort in a heroic effort to send the kings to an improbable conference final appearance, where they faced the blackhawks.

The kings's key players to their cinderella playoff run.​

Playing two consecutive 7-game series was taxing for the young and inexperienced kings, and chicago took advantage of that, with roenick, Denis savard, al secord, steve thomas and steve larmer ripping them apart like a predator to its prey as chicago sweeps their way to the stanley cup final, where they'll easily get beat by the montreal canadiens in 5 games, the habs winning their 24th stanley cup, their second in 3 years. With young players like stephane richer, claude lemieux, guy carbonneau, shayne corson, russ courtnall, chris chelios, petr svoboda, patrick roy and a plethora of top prospects coming in, Could this be the beginning of a new dynasty in Montreal?

Montreal canadiens, 1988-1989 stanley cup winners
​

1988-1989: Montreal Canadiens over Chicago Blackhawks 4-1


TO BE CONTINUED...

 

[kinnikuniverse]

Post #6: the 1989 NHL Entry Draft​

Wayne sat in his couch inside his residence at bloomfield, north of detroit as the 1989 NHL Draft was about to begin. He hoped that the red wings would adress their biggest needs in defense and goalies. With their frist round pick going to edmonton as part pf the trade that brought him in the motor city, the scouts needed to be on top of their game to find some hidden gems in the late rounds.

The first overall pick went to the quebec nordiques, who selected sweden's mats sundin, the first european ever to be drafted first overall. This shows how far the NHL has come towards accepting players from outside north america and treating them as equals. However, while swedes and fins have no troubke coming to america, eastern bloc players has always been tough to bring, due to the cold war. However, with the berlin wall crumbling, NHL clubs's efforts in defecting soviet and czechoslovak talent being more and more successful and the soviet union being on the verge of collapsing, we might be seeing the best russians and europeans come into the league at an alarming rate.

And that is what the red wings seemed to believe, at least, according o their draft picks. After selecting Center/defenseman Kris draper with their second round pick, Gretzky noticed that the red wings only selected europeans afterwards. Swedish defenseman nicklas lidstrom had shown some good, itelligent play while playing for vasteras in the swedish elite league, while sergei fedorov and vladimir konstantinov are both standouts on the soviet junior team that faced canada in the world juniors final in 1988. Fedorov was a very fast and skilled player, while konstatinov had sandpaper qualities to hin that is rare among Russian Players, and he showed his toughness by taking part in the huge brawl that ended the world juniors finals. While lidstrom would have no problem crossing the atlantic, the two russians would have to find a way to defect from their countries if they wanna join the red wings.

Despite the uncertainety surrounding the soviets, gretzky was glad that the team is actively trying to improve their defense.

Finally, with the 1st round pick that they acquired in the gretzky trade, the oilers select center mike sillinger.


DETROIT RED WINGS NOTABLE DRAFT PICKS

#32: C/D Kris Draper
#53: D Nicklas Lidstrom
#74: C/RW Sergei Fedorov
#221: D Vladimir Konstantinov

TO BE CONTINUED...

 

[kinnikuniverse]

1989-1990 season

The 1989-1990 season was the same old story for the detroit red wings. Wayne gretzky and steve yzerman led their potent offense, but their lackluster defense and goaltending would keep them from reaching their true potential. Not that the wings didn't try: they signed maple leafs legend borje salming as a free agent, and Quebecois defenseman Yves Racine had a solid rookie season paying alongside fellow quebecois steve chiasson. And thank goodness that gretzky prevented a lopsided trade for bernie federko in exchange for his linemate paul maclean from happening, as the right winger would once again reach the 40-goals mark playing alongside number 99.

To think he could've been traded for A rotting corpse disguising himself as bernie federko...​

But, unfortunately, same old song and dance. And worse, the entire team as awhoke seemed to regress. Salming was a shadow of his former self, and the team was only sabed by its offense, which carried it to the final playoff spot in the norris divisionwith 80 points, barely beating the Minnesota North Stars.

Once again, they faced the chicago blackhawks, and many experts expect roenick and company to rip apart the inexistent defense and goaltending of the wings...however, if there is one thing to remember, is to never count wayne gretzky and steve yzerman out. The two centres would lead their teammates to battle, making the series much tighter than it was supposed to be, even forcing a game 7. Unfortunately, their efforts would be in vain, as chicago has exactly what the red wings lacks: a top goalie, as young ed belfour would have a stellar game 7, only allowing 2 goals as the hawks ravages the wings 5-2 to advance to the second round.

Ed belfour, The blackhawks's rookie goalie sensation.​

The gretzky-Yzerman era is becoming extremely disappointing so far, and wayne is making his displeasure with what he has slightly more obvious. Mike illitch has to do something to remedy the situation, and quick...the week after the elimination, Illitch Fires both GM Jim Devellano and Coach Jacques Demers and hire outgoing Washington Capitals GM/Coach Bryan Murray for the same Jobs for next season.

The red wings's future boss.​

Speaking of the capitals, they managed to beat both the New Jersey Devils in the first round and the New york rangers in the second to reach the conference finals, where they will face...None other than The Hartford Whalers! That's right, ron francis, Ulf samuelsson and company managed to pull off two huge upsets, beating the Boston bruins in 6 games thank to a kevin dineen OT Goal in game 6 and defeating The Disappointing reigning champions Montreal in 5 games to reach the conference finals! Key to this incredible run is the acquisition of pat verbeek from the devils in exchange for sylvain turgeon, the right winger forming a dynamic duo with ron francis, scoring 41 goals in the season, and the experienced mike liut in goal, who is enjoying the best hockey of his career after his supposed trade to washington was cancelled. All of this, plus the solid defense led by ulf samuelsson and dave babych, would contribute to the whalers beating the heavily-favored capitals in 6 games!

Pat verbeek, Hartford's Ace in the hole.​

Meanwhile, out west, a similar cinderella story happened, as the winnipeg jets pulls a stunning sweep if the edmonton oilers with 3 straight OT wins. Dale hawerchuck, Thomas steen, Pat elynuik, Teppo numminen, Freddie olausson, brent ashton, Dave ellett and the red hot bob essensa would then carry their form through the second round, where they faced Jimmy carson los angeles Kings.

Owner bruce mcnall, sensing that he made the right choice in building the team around the big 4 of carson, Bobby Carpenter, Luc robitaille and steve duchesne, would make moves throughout the season to mimick last season's cinderella run, signing Montreal Veteran Larry robinson and acquiring Blues defenseman Brian Benning for a 1991 3rd round pick as well as making a big deadline deal sending longtime king bernie nicholls to the new york rangers in exchange for two young and talented Wingers: tomas sandstrom and Tony Granato.

Granato would fit right into the first line with robitaille and carson, sandstrom would develop a natural chemistry with carpenter and john tonelli on the 2nd line while benning would further solidify a defense already containing steve duchesne, robinson, doug crossman and Tim waters. All of this, Combined with kelly hrudey's goaltending and plenty of secondary scoring from sophomore martin Gelinas, Captain Dave taylor and bottom liners todd elik and bob kudelski, and the kings looks poised to come back to the conference finals. After beating the calgary flames in 6 games, they faced the winnipeg jets. While The kings had quality and depth on offense, the jets had better defense and a hot goalie in bob essensa, and winnipeg would win in 5 games to face the blackhawks.

Ed belfour may have had his breakout year, his lack of experience was cynically taken advantage of by the jets's offense, and they would chop the hawks down in 6 games to take on the hartford whalers!

​

Virtually nobody expected those two teams to square off in the cup final, yet here they are! They would treat hockey fans to one hell of a competitive, hard-hitting series, where skills and grit collided. Winnipeg would win game 1 in overtime thanks to teppo numinen, but hartford would answer back at the XL center in a 7-2 route. They would win game 3, but winnipeg would shut them out twice at the winnipeg arena to take the lead 3-2 in the series, bob essensa playing out of his mind.

Unfortunately, game 6 was where essensa would cool down, allowing 6 goals in a 6-2 win for hartford, and the whalers, using their superior stamina, would win game 7 4-0 to win their first ever stanley cup on home ice!

Ron francis received the conn smythe as the entire city of hartford played the brass bonanza on every speaker in the city. To this day, the 1989-1990 playoffs is considered one of the most entertaining palyoffs in NHL History.

Ron Francis for president?
​

1989-1990: Hartford Whalers over Winnipeg Jets 4-3

 

[kinnikuniverse]

The 1990 NHL Draft

The NHL draft is among us again, And, like last year's, it's not a deep talent pool.

Once again, the quebec nordiques selects first overall. Since they already have two future franchise centers in joe sakic and mats sundin, they would bolster their wing depth by selecting owen nolan. The vancouver caucks, selecting 2nd, chose petr nedved of czechozlovakia, while the 3rd overall pick goes to the philadelphia flyers, who would select center keith primeau. With the free agent signing of Edmonton's Jari Kurri, primeau will already have a ready-made partner for his NHL Debut.

The penguins were up next and, to no one's surprise, they would select Jaromir jagr with the 4th overall pick. Mike ricci, whom many considered to go 1st overall, would be selected 5th by the new york islanders, while the los angeles kings, needing help in defense, would select daryl sydor with the 6th pick. The minnesota north stars were next, and they selected derian hatcher, while Washington would select john slaney.

It was now the detroit red wings's turn with the 9th overall pick...but wait! The NHL President steps up to the podium...

"We have a trade to announce...the Detroit red wings trade the 9th overall pick in the 1990 NHL Draft and Center mike krushelnyski to the montreal canadiens...in exchange for defenseman chris chelios! The canadiens are now on the clock."

Yes, as in 1989 Norris trophy winner Chris Chelios!​

Wayne gretzky, who was present, couldn't believe what he just heard! As soon as he arrived, new GM/Coach bryan murray managed to acquire a norris trophy-calibre defenseman! He knew that montreal was looking to ship him out due to his seemingly bad behaviour off the ice, but for pocket change? Well, not exactly pocket change, but, with a lackluster draft Pool this year, sacrificing the 9th overall pick for a much needed upgrade a defense is very welcome. Plus, the habs have great depth in defense, with young players such as mathieu schneider, eric desjardins, sylvain lefevbre, petr svoboda, patrice brisebois and jean-jacques daigneault among others. Plus, the habs already got a new no.1 center in new jersey's kirk muller, acquired in exchange for the disgruntled claude lemieux, and they have a lot of depth on the wings with Mats Naslund, stephane richer, Shayne Corson, Mike Mcphee, Russ Courtnall, Andrew cassels and Mark Recchi, with youngsters mike keane and John Leclair on the verge of making the big club, so what they really need is a bottom 6 center and improve theirbcenter depth, which they did by acquiring muller and krushelnyski as well as picking bryan smolinski with the 9th overall pick.

The good news would keep coming for wayne and the red wings: Bryan murray would acquire new jersey's Paul Ysebaert for lee norwood and future considerations, with Ysebaert slotting in as the new 3rd line center along with shawn bur and swedish rookie johan garpenlov. The big one, however, was that both sergei fedorov and Vladimir Konstatinov, who traveled with the soviets for the goodwill games, managed to defect from the soviet union and arrived at the joe Louis arena to play in the NHL this season! Fedorov's arrival will certainly help the wings's wing depth, as john ogrodnick left in free agency to join the new york rangers. Gretzky, especially, can't wait to play alongside fedorov, as he is a big fan of his game.

Here's bow the wings will line up this season:

1990-1991 RED WINGS LINE-UP

Gallant-Gretzky-Fedorov
Graves-Yzerman-Maclean
Garpenlov-Ysebaert-Burr
Probert-Habscheid-Fedyk

Chiasson-Chelios
Racine-Konstantinov
Mcrimmon-Mcsorley/zombo

Cheveldae
Hanlon​

 

[kinnikuniverse]

1990-1991 Regular Season

​

The detroit red wings seems to have finally fouund hope. Strengthened massively by the acquistions of chris chelios and paul ysebaert as well as the russians sergei fedorov and Vladimir Konstantinov, wayne gretzky, steve Yzerman and Co. Had a really good regular season, shooting up to 3rd in the norris division standings, reaching the 90 points barrier for the first time since wayne gretzky arrived. Chelios and konstantinov gave a big dose of quality to the defense, coach bryan murray building a tight unit at the back, with homegrown talents steve chiasson and Yves Racine benefitting greatly from playing with their new teammates, Racine even racking up 47 assists.

But the breakout star of the wings was, no doubt about it, sergei fedorov. The russian was immediately put on gretzky's line, and the two had a mutual understanding of each other despite the language barrier, frequently switching positions and making beautiful criss-cross passes towards one another. It's as if gretzky found himself a new jari to play with!

Fedorov would become not only the first rookie to score 50 goals since calgary's joe nieuwendyk, but also the first rookie to score 100 Pts since Winnipeg's Dale Hawerchuk! Though sceptics believed that gretzky was helping him pad his stats...


It wasn't just the first line that was on fire, though. Adam graves would have his breakout season, scoring 35 goals alongside steve yzerman. Paul maclean was on his way to having another good season when he unfortunately suffered a torn rib cage during a game against buffalo, which would eventually put an end to his career. This forced shawn burr to fill in on the 2nd line, whEre he would complement Yzerman and Graves well. Paul ysebaert, meanwhile, would deliver a solid performance as the 3rd line center alongside johan garpenlov, shawn burr and, later, Todd Fedyk. Finally, at the trade deadline, the wings pulled off another coup, acquiring New york rangers goalie and detroit native john vanbiesbrouck and the rangers 1992 first round pick for doug houda, Joey Kocur and their own 1992 1st round pick.

Meanwhile, around the league, there were some massive news: For the first time since the NHL-WHA Merger, the league will expand to three teams, with The San Jose Sharks arriving in 1991, bringing hockey back to the bay area for the first time since the california seals left for cleveland, and Teams from ottawa and Milwaukee coming in for 1992. Ottawa, in particular, will ressurect the historic Senators Franchise that won multiple stanley cups in the roaring 20s, while milwaukee will call themselves the Admirals, after the successful minor league team of the same name.

The minnesota north stars, whom the gund brothers wanted to move to san jose before settling with an expansion team, Would then be bought by Harvey Ratner and Marv Wolfenson, the owners of the NBA's minnesota timberwolves, and as such will move into the brand new Target Center for the season.

The biggest on-ice story of the season remains denis savard's dispute with Chicago blackhawks coach Mike Keenan. Following disagreements with keenan's coaching, savard requested a trade. However, those plans went up in flames when the red wings hijacked a deal to send savard to montreal in exchange for chris chelios. After no suitors was found, the tensions between savard and keenan was such that savard sat the season out, in hopes of getting traded. Unfortnuately, no suitor was found, and savard made good on his promise and continued sitting out. This allowed him to recover from the injuries that he suffered in the past before, finally, Keenan and dollar bill wirtz waived him shortly before christmas. The winnipeg jets claimed him, with GM John Ferguson hoping for savard to take the load off of thomas steen and ray ferraro.

Denis savard's going through a tumultuous time in hos career.​

The move payed off for savard, and he played a more efficient role on the second line. Savard, as well as the defense led by freddie olausson, Teppo Numminen and new acquistion phil housley, would propulse the jets to the last playoff spot available in the smythe, barely beating the vancouver canucks by 3 points.

Meanwhile, the los angeles kings and the calgary flames were the class of the smythe division, with los angeles beating calgary for top spot by only 2 points. Jimmy carson has blossomed into an elite center, and his line with luc robitaille and tony granato struck fear in opposing defenses. Bobby carpenter and tomas sandstrom would have a new partner in russian dmitri khristich, the kings's 3rd round pick in 1988. Having defected from the soviet union, Khristich would prove a valuable asset on the second line.

Rob blake, yet another talented youngster in the kings's arsenal​

But the biggest addition on the roster was Rob blake. The kings's 2nd round pick in 1988 would fit right into the second defensive pairing alongside doug crossman, and he would put up a solid rookie season, scoring 46 points. With blake and khristich adding himself to the young core of robitaille, carson, carpenter, gelinas, duchesne and daryl sydor, the kings are set to be cup contenders in the next few years.

The most hated man in hockey​

The st. Louis blues made headlines when they signed washington's Top defenseman scott stevens in free agency. Joinging an already strong defense coupled with a free-scoring offense led by the hull and oates duo and rod brind'amour as well as secondary scoring from cliff ronning, geoff courtnall, bob bassen and dave lowry, as well as the breakout of curtis joseph, the blues finished top of the norris division with 113 pts.

​

With rick tocchet and jarri kurri surrounding 3rd overall pick keith primeau, as well as a lots of depth with pelle eklund, keith acton, murray craven and ron sutter and a tight unit at the back and ron hextall in front of net, the philadelphia flyers peeps out the new jersey devils for the last playoff spot in the patrick division.

Larry murphy, in his new colors​

The pittsburgh penguins made a big acquisition in larry murphy from the minnesota north stars. Jaromir jagr was every bit as advertised, forming a wild duo with mario lemieux. They attempted to acquire ron francis and ulf samuelsson at the trade deadline, but the whalers, fresh off a stanley cup win, considered both men off limit, with francis signing a lucrative contract extension. The pens were disappointed, but it's alright, they got john cullen and zarley zalapski. What could possibly go wrong?

As for the whalers, their stanley cup win galvanised the team, with the money coming in being especially welcomed ny the community-owned team. The whalers, already a solid team, became even better with the off-season acquisition of Dave Ellett from Winnipeg in exchange for second line center ray ferraro. This allowed prospect bobby holik to take that spot and make it his own, gelling well with scott young. Ellett joins an already well-established defensive unit featuring ulf samuelsson, Norm maciver, brad shaw and dave babych, whose long-term injury prompted the walers to acquire ellett.


NHL PLAYOFFS 1990-1991

Boston vs Hartford

Montreal vs Buffalo

Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia

NY Rangers vs Washington

Chicago vs minnesota

Detroit VS St. Louis

Los angeles vs Winnipeg

Calgary Vs Edmonton

TO BE CONTINUED​

 

[kinnikuniverse]

1990-1991 NHL Playoffs

The most exciting playoffs in sports are here, and some exciting action kept hockey fans on the edge of their seats.

In the eastern conference, boston and hartford engaged in yet another battle in the war for new england. Dave ellett scored 2 OT goals to bring hartford into the lead before the boston machine steamrolled them in the next 3 games. But then, ron francis, pat verbeek, scott young and bobby holik gave hartford hope in game 6, winning 4-2, but ray bourque, cam neely and co. Brought hartford down to earth and out of the playoffs with a dominant 4-1 game 7 win to face Montreal, who beat a determined but average sabres team.

Le magnifique returns to action.​

Meanwhile, mario lemieux came back just in time for the playoffs, where a hungry flyers team forced the pens to the limit, keith primeau showing his playoff credentials and jari kurri proving that he doesn't need gretzky to succeeed in the NHL. Unfortunately for the flyers, Jiri Hrdina would have a phenomenal game 7, and lemieux would bring the finishing touch in a 4-0 win to eliminate the flyers. They will face the washington capitals in the next round.

Private eyes are watching them, and they can't go for that.​

Meanwhile, out west, Brett hull, Scott stevens, rod brind'amour and adam oates faced the red wings of gretzky, fedorov and yzerman. It was a battle between not only two opposing trios in hull, oates and brind'amour against gretzky, yzerman and fedorov, but also a battle between two world class defensemen in stevens and chris chelios, with goalies john vanbiesbrouck and curtis joseph also being under scrutiny.

Beezer becomes the man in detroit's playoff run.​

The series went back and forth, with a game 7 to decide everything. Wayne gretzky took the opportunity to do what he does best: dominate. The 99 scored two goals and led the wings to a third period comeback to win game 7 4-3 and advance to the second round, facing the surprising minnesota north stars.

In the pacific, los angeles made short work of the winnipeg jets in 5 games to face the edmonton oilers.

Cam Neely scores the series-clinching power play goal.​

Boston and montreal would have a series for the ages, with New acquisition kirk muller opening the scoring in game 7 before dave christian would tie it up. Cam neely then scored a powerplay goal that would prove to be the series winner as the bruins head to the conference finals to face mario lemieux and the pens.

Out west, the wings swept the north stars in dominating fashion, while edmonton would survive a scare and win agaisnt the los angeles kings in 6 games, setting up a showdown between gretzly and messier in the conference final.

Freinds and teammates, now rivals.​

The atmosphere was electric for gretzky's return to edmonton, and the Oilers gave it all they got, but a brick wall stopped them...its name was john vanbiesbrouck. The detroit native showed why detroit were right in acquiring him from the rangers, as he would only concede 7 goals all series long, with steve yzerman, chris chelios, vladimir komstantinov, yves racine and sergei fedorov all contributing as the wings beat the oilers in 6 games to advance to their first stanley cup final under the gretzky era, their first final appearance since 1966. Who awaits them? None other than the penguins, who made short work of the bruins thamks to a breakout performance by jaromir jagr.

The dream match. Dollar signs are flooding the NHL offices.​

Gretzky vs lemieux for the stanley cup, the perfect scenario imagined by the NHL. Indeed, the 1991 stanley cup finals attracted unprecedented ratings for hockey on television, and the show delivered on all accounts. Everything was put on display: skills, team work, Grit, violence and exceptional goaltending from vanbiesbrouck and tom barasso. Game 1 was a dramatic shootout, Shawn burr scoring a dramatic late goal to win it 5-4 for the wings. Lemieux and jagr would dominate game 2, with lemieux scoring one of the greatest goals in hockey history, pushing away 4 defenders before slotting the puck past john vanbiesbrouck. gretzky and yzerman would fight back in a game 3 win for detroit. The pens would win game 4 5-3 and game 5 6-4. Back at the joe, john vanviesbrouck would give an amazing performance, shutting out the pens as gretzky and Chris Chelios would score the only goals in a defensive game 2-0 to force game 7.

Chelios, the Red Wings's game changer.​

In another instant classic, the wings drew first blood with yzerman debiating konstantinov's slapper. John Cullen would then get one back in the second period, before gretzky ties it up to end the period. The third was a stalemate until jaromir jagr, with 4 minutes left, delivers a nutmeg between Vladimir konstantinov's legs before breaking steve chiasson's ankle with a scintillating feint before scoring a wonderful goal with a backhander past vanbiesbrouck for the game winner! It was followed by the iconic celebration where jagr took off his glove and blew a kiss at the Pittsburg crowd going crazy inside the civic center.

That goal, pretty much.​

And just like that, after years of futility, Mario lemieux and the pittsburgh Penguins have won the stanley cup!

The Mullet game is strong with these two.
​

Gretzky and the wings were understandably disappointed at losing at the last hurdle, but they brought hope back to detroit. They genuinely feel that they are very close to winning that first cup since the gordie howe era.


1990-1991 Stanley Cup finals: Pittsburgh Penguins over Detroit Red Wings 4-3

 

[kinnikuniverse]

The 1991 NHL Draft​

The 1991 NHL Draft has arrived, and everybody had eyes for only one man: a 6'4 ft, 240 lbs center from london, ontario who can skate, hit and score goals at will. he plowed through the canadian junior Ranks like a knife through butter, and he is even called by the canadian national team for the world championships.

His name? Eric lindros.

Dubbed "the next one" by the media, lindros is seen as the future face of the NHL, and whoever selects him first overall will certainely become stanley cup contenders. The two last placed teams in the NHL last season, the quebec Nordiques and the toronto Maple Leafs, finished with thd same number of points, 46. This forced the league to determine the winner of the lindros sweepstakes via coin toss live at buffalo, where the draft was taking place.

When the day arrived, they proceeded immediately with the coin toss. Quebec called head, but it fell on tails, meaning the maple leafs will choose the london, ontario native, to the joy of all leafs fans and the lindros family.

Quebec will choose 3rd overall, because the brand new expansion franchise, the san jose sharks, has been granted the 2nd overall choice, where they select right winger pat faloon of the spokane chiefs. The nordiques were understandably disappointed, as lindros would've been their franchise saviour. Nonetheless, they filled their need in defense by selecting Scott niedermayer.

The new york islanders would end up selecting defenseman scott lachance with the 4th overall pick and the vamcouver canucks select Alek Stojanov with the 5th pick, leaving the philadelphia flyers to select swedish wonderkid peter forsberg 6th overall. Winnipeg, in need of a tough stay-at-home-defenseman in their quarterback-heavy defense, would select richard matvichuk with the 7th pick, leaving minnesota to select aaron ward.

New jersey, who resigned Brendan Shanahan after the St. Louis blues decided to stop going after the young left winger and keep scott stevens, would select brian rolston with the 9th overall pick, while edmonton, using the second of the pick from the gretzky trade, would pick martin lapointe 10th overall. The hartford whalers would select forsberg teammate markus naslund with the 11th pick, while the los angeles kings would select defensman phillipe boucher with the 12th overall pick. Buffalo selects brent bilodeau, washington selects tyler wright, the new york rangers, who acquired Mark messier and Jeff beukeboom of edmonton and signed free agent adam graves from detroit, would select alexei kovalev, while the stanley cup champions pittsburgh penguins would select glen murray to fill their wing depth. The last notable choice in the 1st round is Montreal choosing martin rucinsky with the 17th pick. The red wings only notable choice is goalie chris osgood in the third round.


NHL DRAFT ROUND 1 ROUNDUP

1: C Eric Lindros - toronto
2: RW pat falloon - San Jose
3: D Scott niedermayer - Quebec
4: D Scott Lachance - Islanders
5: RW Alek Stojanov - Vancouver
6: C/RW Peter Forsberg - Philly
7: D Richard Matvichuk - Winnipeg
8: D Aaron Ward - Minnesota
9: RW Brian rolston - New Jersey
10: RW Martin lapointe - Edmonton
11: LW Markus Naslund - Hartford
12: D Phillipe Boucher - Los Angeles
13: D Brent Bilodeau - Buffalo
14: C Tyler Wright - Washington
15: W Alexei Kovalev - New York
16: RW Glen Murray - Pittsburgh
17: LW Martin Rucinski - Montreal
18: RW Nicklas Sunblad - Calgary
19: C Dean Mcammond - Edmonton
20: C Pat Peake - Washington
21: LW Patrick Poulin - Chicago

1991 1992 RED WINGS LINE UP

Ysebaert-Gretzky-Fedorov
Burr-Yzerman-Sheppard
Gallant-Draper-Miller
Probert-Habscheid-Fedyk

Racine-Chelios
Chiasson-konstantinov
Lidstrom-Mcrimmon/Mcsorley

Vanbiesbrouck
Cheveldae

 

[kinnikuniverse]

The 1991 1992 NHL season saw many storylines take shape. First off, hockey returned to the bay area for the first time since 1976, with the san jose sharks playing in front of packed crowds at the cow palace. Unfortunately for them, it was the only positive thing (that, plus doug wilson's slap shot and the play of youngsters pat falloon, ray whitney and sandis ozolinsh), as the sharks would finish at the bottom of the satndings, typical for an expansion team...

But the league was all about the revitalised new york rangers under coach roger neilson and new superstar mark messier. The former oilers captain sat madison square garden on fire, turning a good rangers team into a presidents trophy winner. He isnt alone, however, as talented youngsters such as Tony Amonte, Darren Turcotte and Doug Weight scored aplenty as well, while mike richter, who became the starting goalie following the john vanbiesbrouck trade, repayed roger neilson's faith by delivering solid performances in front of net. the team would also benefit from the arrival of two russians: Center Sergei Nemchinov and defenseman sergei Zubov, who posted really good numbers offensively, while mark tinordi covered the defensive side for him.

The future is now for the rangers​

The other players who arrived along with messier, oilers teammate jeff beukeboom and former red wing adam graves, also contributed. Beukeboom solidified the first pairing, allowing brian leech to break out as the league's premier offensive defenseman, winning the norris trophy. Graves, meanwhile, would have his own breakout season on the first line with messier and amonte, registering 59 points, while veteran goalscorer mike gartner lighted up the red light as usual on the 2nd line with weight and john ogrodnick.


In other news around the league, Jari Kurri was traded to the los angeles kings in exchange for steve duchesne. This move came in as a way to improve scoring on a kings team that saw its offense dry up. Plus, it allowed to make way for the more defensively responsible brian benning and rookie daryl sydor alongside rob blake and veteran doug crossman and newly acquired charlie huddy.

Kurri in his new uniform​

The move was very successful for the kings, as kurri reinvigorated the first line, jimmy carson and luc robitaille coming back to form just in time for the kings to finish on top of the smythe once again. With former 1st liner tony granato rounding up the 2nd line alongside tomas sandstrom and dimitri Kristich and bobby carpenter anchoring martin gelinas and captain dave taylor on the 3rd line, L.A now has a ton of depth up front. Add to that the tightened defense and kelly hrudey's steady presence in front of net, and the kings has got what it takes to make a deep run in the playoffs and are even among the favorites to come out of the west and into the stanley cup final!

Despite losing kurri, the flyers filled their need for a power play quarterback in duchesne, the quebecois partnering up with terry carkner and feeding the puck to rick tocchet and keith primeau, who looks like a stud in his sophomore season in the NHL. Despite their presence and ron hextall's solid play,as well as depth pieces like murray craven, patrick juhlin and scott mellanby, the flyers would miss the playoffs.

Meanwhile, in toronto, with harold ballard finally dead and eric lindros coming, new GM Cliff Fletcher pulled out all the stops in building a competitive club for the next one's arrival. In two mega trades, the leafs would add the likes of Doug Gilmour, ric natress and jamie macoun of the calgary flames for gary leeman and scraps as well as edmonton's grant fuhr and Glenn Anderson in exchange for eddie olczyk and scott Thorton.

the three symbols of hope and dreams for the maple leafs.​

Gilmour anchoring captain wendell clark and ex-soviet nikolai borchesvky became one of the best lines in the NHL, and Young french canadian left winger vincent damphousse would breakout with glenn anderson and brian bradley flanking him. With those big acquisitions, the leafs would make the playoffs, edging out the minnesota north stars for the last available spot in the norris.

The buffalo sabres, meanwhile, has had enough with 1987 1st overall pick pierre turgeon, and he would be traded to the new york islanders along with defenseman uwe krupp in exchange for the disgruntled pat lafontaine, whose contract negotiations with the isles ended up in disaster, especially when the isles traded longtime captain brent sutter to the chicago blackhawks.

On his new team, Lafontaine and dale hawerchuk formed one of the best 1-2 center punches in the league, the st. Louis native forming great chemistry with dave andreychuk and alexander mogliny, the young russian winger finally cracking the 50-goals barrier for the first tiem in his NHL Career.

Few peoplw thought that the reigning champions pittsburgh penguins would become even better when the season started. They would be proven wrong, as none other than Scotty Bowman became the new head coach following cup winning coach bob johnson being diagnosed with cancer. While they didn't finish on top of the conference or division, the team played a lot better defensively, and they looked poised for a repeat.


The hartford whalers's season saw some much needed youth stepping up to help ron francis, pat verbeek and kevin dineen. Czech bobby holik looks like a selke trophy winner in the making, while scott young would blossom into a top 6 goalscorer, thanks in part to the playmaking of quarterback-turned-two-way defenseman dave ellet and yet another unexpected bloomer: Center/left winger Andrew Cassels, acquired from montreal for a 2nd rounder. While the defense was once again rock solid thanks to ulf samuelsson, ellet's conversion to a more defensive game as well as norm maciver and veteran dave babych, Goalie Mike Liut unfortunately has age caught up to him. Despite this, the whalers make the playoffs.

Out west, the red wings, boosted by free agent signing ray sheppard, would finisht top of the conference with 102 points. What makes it even more remarkable is that wayne gretzky was out for much of the season,leaving sergei Fedorov all alone as the no.1 center. Eager to prove that he doesn't need gretzky, Fedorov would light up the league, reacing almost 90 points on his own and finishing a distant 2nd in the leaue MVP standings to mark messier. Across the lineup, steve yzerman would not be overshadowed by gretzky and his russian teammate, scoring 103 points for the season. Meanwhile, The defense would see young swede niklas lidstrom gradually climb the depth chart to eventually play alongside star d-man chris chelios. The two immediately clicked, forming one of the most promising defensive pair in the league, while vladdy konstantinov, steve chiasson and yves racines continued their development and marty mcsorley held up his own as a punishing stay-at-home defenseman. Finally, john vanbiesbrouck would have a stellar year in front of net, earning himself a nomination for the vezina trophy.

Young Lidstrom is turning heads at the joe.​

Their norris rivals, the st. Louis blues, would finish in a very distant second place in the norris. Hull and oates continued to unleash hell, oates getting a meaty contract extension at the trade deadline, while rod brind'amour continued his development, many experts predicting that brind'amour will be one of the league's premier two-way players in the future. Secondary scoring was a plenty for the blues, with the second line of cliff ronning, geoff courtnall and nelson emerson carrying a good portion of the offensive load off of hull and oates's backs, while captain scott stevens continued staking his claim as the NHL's best defenseman.

Meanwhile, the blackhawks, led by jeremy roenick, steve larmer, steve smith, new acquisition brent sutter and ed belfour, finished in third, 4 points behind the blues.

The winnipeg jets finished in fourth place. Key to its good season was its center depth, with ray ferraro, denis savard and thomas steen winning faceoffs and scoring goals, especially thanks to the defense, led by quarterbacks freddie olausson and phil housley. Ferraro, in particular, had a breakout season, scoring 40 goals and 40 assists. The main unit, which consists of ferraro, rookie keith tkachuck, pat elynuik and defensemen phil housley and teppo numinen, contributed much to the jets's goalscoring ways. Their main weakness, however, was goaltending, as bob essensa, who was so hot for them during the 1990 run to the stanley cup finals, hit a massive cold streak and was brought back to earth. To remedy the goalie situation, the jets traded highly promising prospect stéphane beauregard to the chicago blaclhawks in exchange for czech Dominik hasek, who found himself stuck on the bench behind Ed belfour in the windy city.


1992 NHL PLAYOFFS

ADAMS
Montreal vs Hartford
Boston vs buffalo

CAMPBELL
NY Rangers vs New Jersey
Washington vs Pittsburgh

NORRIS
Detroit Vs Toronto
St. Louis vs Chicago

SMYTHE
Vancouver vs Winnipeg
Los Angeles vs Edmonton

 

[kinnikuniverse]

The most exciting and unpredictable playoffs in sports are back! Who will survive the war and come away with the ultimate prize: lord stanley's cup? Let's find out!



The montreal canadiens, as usual, looked really strong during the season. The departure of chris chelios to detroit was not felt in the slightest, and young talent such as matheiu schneider, eric desjardins and sylvain lefevbre all stepped up to join petr svoboda as the new leaders of the habs defense. Kirk muller, acquired from new jersey in exchange for claude lemieux last season, slotted in nicely into the team as its new top center, and his partnership with mark recchi and shayne corson was a fruitful one.

However, in game one against ron francis's hartford whalers, it would be 4th liner gilbert dionne who would steal the show, scoring the only two goals of the game to give the habs the win. Patrick roy was his usual stellar self in front of net, shuting out the whalers and stoning francis, pat verbeek, kevin dineen and scott young and making 32 saves. Game 2 would be even more one sided, as the habs dominated on home ice, winning 5-2.

Game 3 at the XL Center in hartford would see an inversed score, as francis galvanised the team to a 5-2 win over the french canadians. Dave ellett opened the scoring for hartford in the 2nd period with a cannon of a slap shot from the slot, which opened the floodgates for the whalers. A short-handed goal by andrew cassels turned the tide to hartford, with francis scoring, cassels with his second and a power play goal by scott young in the third sealing the deal. Game 4 would see the whalers being in control the entire game, with penalties costing the habs as yvon corriveau and scott young scored both on PP Goals and bobby holik sealed it with an empty netter to tie the series 2-2.

Game 5 at the forum would be crucial for the habs. They started off really poorly, with young, corriveau and cassels opening the scoring with 3 unanswered goals, 1 short-handed and 2 on the powerplay. Head coach pat burns, who was far from happy with his team's performance, made ajustements that would pay off big time, as the habs would score 4 unanswered goals in an incredible come back! The third period was all habs from now on, as john leclair and shayne corson would end up scoring their first goals of the playoffs to seal the deal, with scott young's second goal at 3 minutes of the 3rd being the only consolation goal for the whalers.

In hartford, the pressure was on for the whalers, and they would have to answer with intensity and physicality. That's exactly what they did, as ulf samulesson, kevin dineen and francis led the team to play a very defensive game agaisnt the habs, with bodies flying all around the arena. The scoring would open with norm maciver beating patrick roy following an excellent screening job by bobby holik, only for the habs to answer right back with a quick wristshot by Stéphane Richer. The game would end up in over time.

In the stanley cup playoffs, it is very likely that some random grinder becomes the unexpected hero for his team. That's exactly what happened with yvon corriveau, the hartford 4th liner would beat patrick roy on a rebound to give the whalers the crucial OT Win and force a game 7 at the forum.

In one of the great game 7s in NHL playoffs history, the habs's mathieu schneider opened the scoring on the power play, with game 1 hero gilbert dionne making it 2-0 at 11 minutes of the 1st period. The 2nd would see a former hab take over the game, as andrew cassels would dominate on the ice, scoring a goal and assisting his linemate and fellow rookie geoff sanderson to tie the game up and force overtime.

Unfortunately for ronnie franchise and his friends, despite a valiant effort, they would crumble at the worst possible moment as russ courtnall would send the habs to the adams final with a beautiful backhand. The habs will face their dreaded rivals in the boston bruins, who themselves survived a tense 7-game series against the lafontaine-hawerchuk-mogilny-amdreychuk buffalo sabres.

In fact, 7-game series was the trend in these playoffs, as both the presidents trophy winners new york rangers and the reigning champs Pittsburgh penguins would beat the new jersey devils and washington capitals in similar fashion.

Out west, it was the same, as the detroit red wings of wayne gretzky, steve yzerman, sergei fedorov, chris chelios and co. Would find in the toronto maple leafs a tougher than expected opponent, doug gilmour and wendel clark carrying the leafs to a game 7, where the great one would do what he does best: dominate, scroing two goals and 2 assists on both fedorov and the game-winner from ray sheppard on the powerplay to bring detroit to the division finals against the hull and oates and stevens st. Louis blues, who made quick work of the chicago blackhawks in a 6-game upset.

Speaking of upsets, the winnipeg jets of denis savard and ray ferraro upsets the vancouver canucks of linden, nedved and superstar pavel bure, largely thanks to the star-making performance of czech goalie dominik hasek, who literally stole the series from the canucks. Winnipeg will face the los angeles kings in the smythe finals, the kings having made short work of edmonton in 5 games.


In the division finals, the boston bruins would make short work of the habs, sweeping them and returning to the conference finals for the second straight year. Meanwhile, the young rangers will be put to the test against the pittsburgh penguins. In a closely fought contest, game 1 would go to pittsburgh 3-2. In game two, the rangers took over as rookie mike richter only concedes two goals in a 4-2 win.

Game three would be the most dramatic game in the playoffs so far, as the rangers and pittsburgh would combine for ten goals each heading into over time. There, kris king would score the winner to have the rangers lead 2-1.

Game 4 would once again go into overtime at the igloo. Richter would perform heroics throughout OT, blocking and making some breathtaking saves to hold the fort. Finally, young stéphane matteau caight a rebounding puck and buried it into tom barasso's net to give the rangers a massive 3-1 series lead!

Back at MSG, messier and the rangers looked to crush lemieux and jagr's dreams of a repeat. After jagr scored the onyl goal in the first period, darren turcotte would score on a powerplay, followed shortly after by mike gartner with a wicked writshot pass barasso at the start of the third. Jagr would then tie it up with 5 minutes remaining, but newcomer sergei zubov would become the hero for the rangers, blasting a slap shot to the top right corner in the last minute of the period to send the ramgers to the conference finals and do the unthinkable, beating the penguins 4-1 in the series!

Out west, a very physical series awaited the detroit red wings and the st. Louis blues. Both star studded teams, carrying names such as gretzky, yzerman, fedorov, Chelios and vanbiesbrouck for the wings and oates, hull, brind'amour, stevens and joseph for the blues. Game 1 went the red wings way, with vladdy konstantinov's pass finding paul ysebaert all alone to score the game winner in a 3-2 win.

Game 2 and 3, however, would see the blues dominate. Hull and oates combined for 10 points total, hull scoring 5 goals and oates assiting on 4 of them plus scoring one of his own, while the secondary scoring of geoff courtnall, cliff ronning, nelson emerson, brind'amour and defenseman jeff brown would also contribute to win game 2 5-2 and game 3 6-4. Game 4, however, would find steve yzerman scoring a hat trick in a 3-0 win to tie up the series.

A brutal defensive game at the joe awauted game 5, with john vanbiesbrouck and curtis joseph each delivering stellar performances. Combined with both teams defenses cancelling each other's offenses, and the game would end in a rare 0-0 after 3 period, forcing overtime.

Curtis joseph must have drank virgins blood or something, as he protected his net like he was a man possesed, stopping gretzky and co. At every chance. Finally, Courtnall recuperates the puck along the boards, manages to scoop it to gino cavallini, who beats out lidstrom and passes it to deadline day acquisition Stéphane Quintal (acquired from boston in exchange for sergio momesso and a 1993 3rd round pick) in the slot, the big, burly defenseman from quebec firing away and scoring the overtime winner!

Game 6 would be the glory day of the blues, as despite gretzky and yzerman's best efforts, a demoralised red wings team got shafted hard by st. Louis, vanbiesbrouck letting in 4 goals as the blues wins 4-2 and moves on to the western conference finals!

In the smythe division finals, the winnipeg jets was all about one thing: dominik hasek. The czech goalie is having a breakout performance in the playoffs, and he continued that dominant run against los angeles. Phil housley, teppo numinen, freddie olausson, denis savard, ray ferraro and rookie keith tkachuk also contributed, but hasek was definitely the team's most valuable player, as the winnipeg jets managed to defeat the los angeles kings in 6 closely fought games to head back to the conference finals for the first time since 1990!

This was a hard blow for a kings team that looked like favorites to reach the stanley cup final throughout the season. Part of the problem was the defense, which contained veterans that were declining somewhat and youngsters who were just too green for the playoffs. The kings front office need to do something in the offseason if they want to bring the cup to california and stop underachieving...

CONFERENCE FINALS

EAST
New York Rangers vs Boston Bruins

WEST
St. Louis Blues vs Winnipeg Jets.

Who will make it to the stanley cup?

 

[kinnikuniverse]

1992 NHL CONFERENCE FINALS​

We are in the final 4 of the NHL playoffs, featuring two teams looking to end their stanley cup drough on one side, and two teams looking to win their first ever cup on the other.

In the east, the new york rangers, looking to end over 50 years of misery, takes on the boston bruins of ray bourque and cam neely, who goes to the conference finals for the second year in a row.

Game 1 at madison square garden would set the tone for the rest of the series, as bodies were flying all over the arena. It would be adam graves who opened the scoring at 11:00 of the first period with a wristshot off a rebound to beat andy moog. Rookie joe juneau would answer back for the bruins in period 2, followed by peter douris.

The third period would see the bruins crumble, however, as the rangers would score 4 unanswered goals, including two by mark messier and one each for stéphane matteau and tony amonte, as the rangers win 5-2.

Game two would see a high-scoring affair where cam neely saves the bruins by scoring a hat trick, craig janney scoring a hat trick of assists as well as the bruins wins a tight contest 5-4 as they head to the boston garden.

At the garden, the bruins clearly had home advantage, as they would score 3 unanswered goals right from the start. The second would then see the rangers score 4 unanswered, with adam graves and darren turcotte each getting 2 goals and Defenseman brian leetch getting one as well.

And the goals kept on coming, as messier, amonte and sergei nemchinov would score goals, while cam neely would complete yet another hat trick right before graves completes his on an empty netter as the rangers register a statement win 8-5.

Game 4 would see mike richter deliver an incredible performance, keeping his team in the game as it was scoreless after 2. Then, Sergio momesso, acquired in exchange for stéphane quintal, woukd finally open the scoring at the 6th minute of the 3rd, but the rags kept on fighting until the breakthrough by tony amonte, who scores on a wrister following a lateral pass by messier. Finally, Mike Gartner would score the game winner on a powerplay to give the ramgers a 2-1 win and the chance to seal off the series at home at MSG.

In front of an awesome crowd and an electrifying atmosphere, the rangers would finish the job in style, with tony amonte scoring a hat trick as the rangers put the final nail in the coffin 4-1 and eliminates the bruins in 5 games to reach the stanley cup final for the first time since 1979!

Out west, few expected the winnipeg jets, who were essentially riding the wave of hot goalie dominik hasek, to stand a chance against the hull and oates st. Louis blues. What they didn't expect, however, was a series for the ages.

The jets would prove their doubters wrong by beating the blues 5-2 at st. Louis, hasek stoning brett hull the team's many scorers as ray ferraro, dave mcllwain, denis savard and phil housley gave the win to winnipeg.

Game 2, however, would see hull, ronning, geoff courtnall and free agent signing and former jet dave christian get their revenge as hasek suffered a poor night, the blues winning 4-0.

At winnipeg, the jets would bounce right back, winning 6-4 in a high scoring game that saw yoing keith tkachuk scoring the last two goals of the jets. The same thing would happen again in game 4 as winnipeg wins in OT 5-4 after a goal from brent ashton.

Game 5 would see st. Louis dominates, brett hull scoring a hat trick and rod brind'amour scoring two in a 7-3 win.

With their lives on the line, game 6 would be cruciial for the blues. And they answered with brio. Scott stevens played one heck of a game, earning himself the first star after a stellar defensive peroformance and assisting on cliff ronning, adam oates and nelson emerson's goals as well as scori g one himself as the blues would force a game 7 by the score of 4-2.

Everybody in the winnipeg arena prayed for a miracle, as they felt that the momentum shifted towards st. Louis's favour. Only a brick wall can stop them...

...and its name is dominik hasek.

The czech would be on fire, offering one of his trademark dominant performances, stopping almost every puck coming his way as the jets took first blood thanks to ray ferraro.

However, gino cavallini would tie it up at the second to make it 1-1. The third period would see a goaltending duel for the ages, as hasek and joseph matched each other move for move.

Finally, the breakthrough came...from freddie olausson, who rips one from the blue line to beat joseph, who was blinded by a great screening job by luciano borsato to make it 2-1 with only 3 minutes remaining in the game!

Try as they might, the offensive powerhouse of the blues was simply no match for the dominator as hasek holds the fort and bring the jets to its second stanley cup final in 3 years!

Nobody expected that. Many thought the jets couldn't recover from losing dale hawerchuk. Yet here they are, going to the cup finals, where the new york rangers awaits!

As for the St. Louis Blues, this was simply unacceptable. Such a talented group of players, well drilled by daryl sutter and featuring some of the game's brightest stars, and they lost to a hot goalie and a team based almost exclusively on offense! They have nothing but themselves to blame as their legacy of failure continues...

STANLEY CUP FINALS

New York Rangers vs Winnipeg Jets

TEAM LINE-UPS

RANGERS

Graves-Messier-Amonte
Ogrodnick-Weight-Gartner
Matteau-Nemchinov-Erixon
King-Turcotte-Kocur/Domi

Leetch-Beukeboom
Tinordi-Zubov
Cirella-Patrick

Richter
Laforest


WINNIPEG

Tkachuk-Ferraro-Elynuik
Ashton-Savard-McLlwain
Borsato-Steen-Macdermid
Eagles-Barnes-Shannon

Housley-Numminen
Olausson-Carlysle
Cronin-Mantha

Hasek
Essensa
​

Who will win the cup? (Most likely the rangers, but you never know with hasek in net...)

 

[kinnikuniverse]

It all comes down to this.

Two teams, each with distinctly different goals, all vying for the same prize:lord stanley's cup.

The new york rangers, led by mark messier and a collection of fine young talent, looking to end a 50-year curse.

The winnipeg jets, the ultimate underdogs from mid-canada, carried by its swashbuckling offense and a beast from the east in front of net.

Who will lift the cup? Let's find out!


Game 1 at madison square garden was contested in a boiling atmospehere. Manhatan was roaring to life, they expect nothing but a stanley cup. Will 50 years of failire be wiped away?

At least, it won't be easy for the blueshirts, as dominik hasek, the star of these stanley cup playoffs, continued on his insane form as he stopped the rangers offense throughout the first period, with mike richter doing the same, albeit he also received help from his defense, which was better organised than the jets's.

The second period, however, would see john ogrodnick beat hasek with a deviation on a sergei zubov shot. This was the goal the rangers needed, and they would score one more via tony amonte on a cross ice pass by messier.

The third would see hasek get his focus back and return to dominant form, not letting a single goal in as phil housley scored the jets first goal with 13 minutes remaining. The jets then bolbarded .ike richter, the young american eating rubber after rubber.

Then, the big moment came with 34 minutes remaining when messier was called 2 minutes for holding denis savard in a controversial call, the rangers captain clearly showing his displeasure to kerry fraser. On the following powerplay, savard buries it with a tap in from a diagonal pass by housley to tie the game up!

From then on, both teams threw bombs at each pther, hasek and richter standing tall and proud as they forced the game to go to overtime.

In OT, a very close call for new york as amonte had an open net, yet somehow, hasek stretches his limbs like he's monkey D. Luffy and somehow stones amonte, with randy carlysle clearing the puck, which was caught by denis savard on a breakaway, but richter brilliantly reads his feint and stones him!

Tkachuk and Beukeboom collide on the board, but the burly tkachuk absorbed the hit and kicks the puck towards olaussson, who passes to carlysle, who shoots, Elynuik deviates and scores! The winnipeg jets wins game 1 at MSG in overtime.

This was tough for the rags, but messier and roger neilson gathered their men and whipped them to focus on the next game. Returning to MSG taking their opponents seriously, the rangers would be merciless, messier, gartner and nemchinov scoring tongive the rangers a 3-0 win and tie up the series.

At winnipeg, ray ferraro would score a brace in the first period, but that only woke up mr. Messier. The captain would then take over, scoring two unanswered and assisting adam graves in the third as the rangers win game 3 3-2.

Game 4 would see only defensemen score goals. First, phil housley scored on a wrister in the first, then at the end of the period, brian leetch would bury it behind hasek with a powerful slap shot.

The second would be scoreless, with hasek and richter staying solid throughout. The third would finally see James Patrick rush towards the net to recuperate a backhand pass by amonte and wrist it pass hasek for the game winner! The rangers now leads 3-1 in the series!

Back at MSG, everybody thought the curse was gonna be over, that new york would finally see another stanley cup...but the jets would answer back, winning 5-0 with denis savard playing his best game for the jets, as if the savard of the 80s was back, scoring a hat trick and assisting on keith tkachuk and ray ferraro's PP goal and dominik hasek shutting out the rangers.

Game 6 was crucial for the rangers. No more chokes, no more collapses. That was the motto for rangers faithful and the players. First blood was drawn by the rags with mike gartner's top corner at the end of the first. However, the garden would suddenly go quiet as freddie olausson and dave mcllwain would score two quick goals in answer at the second. The rest of the period would go silent as hasek was still in god mode.

That is, until 2 minutes left, where sergei zubov delivered a suicide pass to mark messier leaving the penalty box, finding himself on a breakaway, faces hasek, feints...scores! The rangers ties it up! Captain Marvelous has done it!

Messier and MSG celebrating after the tying goal​

That goal brought MSG to life and completely revitalised the rangers. The third period would be all rangers, as they outshot the jets by 15 shots, yet hasek saved every single one of them. Mike richter would play the hero, stoning Denis savard on a breakaway in the dying seconds of the period as the game goes into overtime.

A massive hit by mark tinordi on Ray Ferraro allowed sergei zubov to pick up the puck amd move up the ice, facing hasek...before giving the puck to tony amonte who wrists it...and Scores! Manhatan is running wild as finally, for the first time in over 50 years, the new york rangers are stanley cup champions in a 3-2 OT win! 1940 is history!


As Mark messier and his teammates moved around the ice with lord stanley's mug in hand, the jets came back home disappointed, yet proud of the improbable run to the final that they just pulled off. They have nothing to be ashamed about. In fact, with a certain prospect from Finland incoming, the future is looking bright for hasek and the winnipeg Jets!

1940 is history!
​

Stanley Cup Winners ITTL
1989: Montreal Canadiens over chicago blackhawks 4-1
1990: Hartford Whalers over Winnipeg Jets 4-3
1991: Pittsburgh Penguins over Detroit Red Wings 4-3
1992: New York Rangers over Winnipeg Jets 4-2

Alright, that's it for this one! See you next time, at the 1992 NHL Draft!

 

[kinnikuniverse]

Two new teams enter the league this year, the ottawa senators and the milwaukee admirals. The two expansion teams will therefore pick first and second in the draft, as per league custom.

The admirals wins both the coin toss and the 1st overall pick, and they would select czech defensman roman hamrlik, while the sens would select alexei yashin.

The third overall pick belongs to the san jose sharks, who selects their top pick on their draft board, defenseman mike rathje.

Quebec is up next...but wait! The NHL comissioner steps up to the podium...

"We have a trade to announce...The Winnipeg Jets sends center Ray ferraro and the 17th overall pick to the Quebec Nordiques in exchange for the 4th overall pick! The jets are now on the clock..."

An unexpected move by the jets, as they sent their top scorer to Quebec, the nords acquiring some much needed depth at center to give joe sakic and mats sundin some rest. With the 4th overall pick, the winniepg jets selects defenseman darius kasparaitis. GM john Ferguson knew that the jets lost the finals to the new york rangers in part because Hasek was left on his ow one too many times, and the team's best d-men were all offensive minded quarterbacks. Sure, trading Ray Ferraro sucks, but sacrifices had to be made in order to improve the team, and with tough defensive d-men kasparaitis and 1991 1st round pick richard matvichuk ready for NHL Hockey and the two best young europeans in Teemu Selanee and center Alexei Zhamnov joining the roster, ferguson felt that the trade was worth it.

The Jets's young guns​

Other than that, the islanders, who had the 5th overall pick, would take todd warriner, while the Philadelphia Flyers would take cory stillman with the 6th pick. Nothing changes apart from the 17th pick, which now belongs to quebec, who selects defeseman Jason Smith. The pick after that, the devils pick sergei bautin and the pittsburgh penguins pick martin straka.

The detroit red wings, who switched picks with the new york rangers as part of the john vanbiesbrouck trade, would pick dead last in the first round. They woudl select winger Kirk Maltby.

The jets's second round pick would end up being boris mironov, while the momtreal canadiens would pick pavel bure's brother valeri. The canucks would pick michael peca, while the red wings would pick Darren Mccarthy, with the rangers picking defenseman matthias norstrom.

The only other notable picks are:

4th round: Toronto picks D Robert Svehla, Minnesota picks RW jere lehtinen

5th RND: San Jose picks Magnus Ragnarsson, Vancouver picks D Adrian Aucoin

9th RND: Milwaukee picks G Nikolai Khabibulin

OFF-SEASON NEWS

The biggest news of the off-season is, of course, the arrival of eric lindros in Toronto. The next one's arrival at training camp provoked a media frenzy the likes of which toronto and the hockey world has never seen before. With lindros, wendel clark and doug gilmour, leafs fans have hope that they will become stanley cup contenders for years to come.

Dat Mustache tho...​

The good news would keep coming for the leafs. Canadiens head coach pat burns, who lost his players and the fans due to his strict defensive style and constant eliminations at the hands of boston, would leave the team and become the leafs head coach. At his suggestion, the leafs would then acquire one of his favorite players from montreal, Shayne corson, along with brent gilchrist and future considerations, in exchange for vincent damphousse. The quebecois isn't really a pat burns type of player, so this trade came as no surprise.

The canadiens, meanwhile, would not stop at only getting damphousse. They would later trade russ courtnall to Minnesota in exchange for veteran goalscorer Brian Bellows, and they would also hire a new coach in former blues and red wings skipper Jacques Demers. In demers, GM serge savard is hoping to implement more offense, with damphousse and bellows added to the team alongside established top 6 guys like kirk muller, mark recchi and stéphane richer, the habs seems to be gunning for just that.

Other moves around the league includes the hartford whalers bolstering their defense and goaltending by trading top prospect bobby holik to the new jersey devils for Eric Weinrich and Sean Burke. Burke will becone the team's new starter following mike liut's retirement, while weinrich brigs some more depth to a defense that already contains dave ellett, Ulf Samuelsson, Norm Maciver and dave babych. On offense, Swedish league top scorer Markus Naslund comes to the league, and he will be paired with ron francis and pat verbeek on the first line, with geoff sanderson, andrew cassels and scott young on the second.

Finally, we have our first big deal of the season, as Paul Coffey, who has been the leading defenseman for the pittsburgh oenguins, is traded to the los angeles kings in exchange for brian benning. The move came as the kings needed proven cup winners to partner their young stars. He won't be the only former oiler joining the team, however, as marty mcsorley joins from detroit in exchange for draft picks to solidify the bottom pairing.

Speaking of the red wings, they replaced marty mcsorley with longtime flyers anchor Mark Howe in free agency. The son of gordie howe brings some much needed veteran leadership on the team. Bryan murray was not done, however, as he acquired Washington capitals winger Dino Ciccarelli in exchange for Kevin Miller. Ciccarelli will play on the first line with wayne gretzky and sergei Fedorov.

Finally, another russian joins the team. Young Vyacheslav Kozlov, who shined in the 1992 Olympics for the former USSR Team, will join countrymen fedorov and vladdy konstantinov, and play on steve yzerman's line.

The only other notable off-season move was former st. Louis blues assistant captain gino Cavallini joining the young and promising quebec nordiques as a free agent.

DETROIT RED WINGS 1992 1993 ROSTER

Ciccarelli-Gretzky-Fedorov
Kozlov-Yzerman-Sheppard
Ysebaert-Burr-Drake
Probert-Draper-Gallant/Kennedy

Lidstrom-Chelios
Chiasson-Konstantinov
Racine-Howe

Vanbiesbrouck
Cheveldae​

 

[kinnikuniverse]

The 1992 1993 NHL Season saw the league being on national TV in the US For the first tiem since the early 80s, with ESPN having signed a lucrative deal to broadcast hockey games on each of its channels, with Gary Thorne and Bill Clement hosting the games.

As part of the continued push towards more visibility in the US, The NHL Organised a couple of games hosted on neutral sites across canada and the US, in order to gauge which city might be good places for expansion or franchise relocations.

Across 15 different cities, The NHL's top clubs played in front of varying crowd sizes. Saskatoon, in saskatchewan, and indianapolis, indiana, attracted the lowest attendance, not even making 10,000. Cities located in the sun belt, such as oklahoma city, miami, orlando, atlanta and dallas, attracted somewhat decent crowds, around 12,000. Phoenix, arizona, kansas city, missouri and sacramento, california, brought in almost 13.000+, while the higest attendances belonged to Hamilton, ontario, Denver, Colorado, Seattle, Washington and, surprisingly enough, Cleveland, Ohio.

While the last 4 cities aren't anything new, since they had hockey teams from various leagues, including the NHL, in the past, Cleveland was especially eyecatching, since the richfield colisseum is 30 minutes from downtown cleveland and the barons's NHL incarnation was a total failure. Hamilton had the highest attendance, but whether or not the toronto Maple leafs would allow a third team in Ontario is another matter entirely. Denver and Seattle seems like the most likely destinations for expansion or relocations, while cleveland is a distant third in expansion/relocation choice, with many doubts surrounding a new team in ohio.


Back to on-ice action, it was a season where scoring was king. Almost all teams in the league scored over 300 goals, with Wayne gretzky's detroit red wings barely beating mario lemieux's pittsburgh penguins with 369 to 367. In fact, scoring was so absurd that Washington's Kevin Hatcher scored 34 goals...yes, you read that right, 34!

maybe it's the mullet...​

Almost every division had tight title races, with only the penguins dominating the patrick division, in part thanks to an NHL record 15-game winning streak. The pens are looking like favorites to win it all, and they are motivated to avenge their loss to the new york rangers. With added depth at forward with czechs martin straka and robert lang as well as shawn mceachern, mario, jagr and kevin stevens won't be alone in their quest for a second cup.

Another game, another ass-whoopin'​

Speaking of the reigning stanley cup champions, they had a post-cup hangover that season, the team struggling to find its groove for much of the season. Roger Neilson was thought to be given the axe, but Mark Messier, who was convinced of neilson's coaching ability following the cup win, gave his support to the innovative genius, and the rags would find their focus and enter a heated race for the last playoff spots in the patrick with the flyers, devils and the surprising new york islanders led by pierre turgeon and mike ricci.

The hangover is real​

The flyers would benefit from a great season by its defense. Ron hextall would have one of his best seasons in front of net, while steve duchesne would be the main playmaker of the flyers, and his partners in the d-corps terry carkner, garry galley and draft pick dmitri Yushkevich would hold the blue line. Rick tocchet would have a 50-goal season for the first time in his career, largely helped by keith primeau and duchesne as well as deadline day acquisition Kevin Dineen, who left hartford after finding himself stuck on the third line. Hartford got some much needed Center depth in Murray Craven in return. On the back of those performances, The Flyers would barely beat the New Jersey Devils and the rangers for the last spot available in the patrick.

Despite barely missing the playoffs, The New York rangers extended head coach Roger Neilson, and they also confirmed their fate in the younger players, giving extensions to tony amonte, doug weight, Sergei Zubov and Darren Turcotte.

The devils have missed the playoffs, and star Brendan shanahan is becoming more and more vocal about his unhapiness in the meadowlands...

is Shanny on the way out of Joisey?​

Speaking of the deadline, many big deals would take place. Apart from the aformentioned dineen-for-craven deal, The Toronto Maple Leafs, who saw themselves having an extraordinary season, challenging the red wings for first place in the norris for much of the season, would acquire buffalo's Dave Andreychuk in exchange for Grant Fuhr. The stanley cup-winning goalie found was caught using drugs and was subsequently suspended. During that time, a young quebecois goalie named Felix Potvin would emerge as an NHL starter, rendering fuhr obsolete, and the leafs gets some much needed help on the top 6.

Speaking of the top 6, it is led by Captain Wendel Clark and their incredible 1-2 punch at center of Doug Gilmour and no.1 pick Eric Lindros. The next one would live up to the hype, scoring 51 goals in his first season in the league and forming one of the most feared lines in hockey with Clark and russian Nikolai borchesvky. Gilmour would more than homd his own, not letting lindros overshadow him as he registered 125 points. Andreychuk arriving gave gilmour a much needed partner in crime, as shayne corson was relegated to third line checking duties by pat burns.

Lindros lives up to the hype and then some...​

The leafs and red wings would trade the lead in the norris until the final day of the season, where a red wings win over toronto sealed 1st place for hockeytown in a much anticipated showdown between gretzky and lindros. The chicago Blackhawks would secure third palce, while Hull, oates, Brind'amour and stevens's st. Louis blues would barely beat the plucky minnesota North stars for 4th place.


In the adams division, the story of the day was the incredible rise to the playoffs of the Quebec Nordiques. Having missed out on Eric lindros, the nords would have a blessing in disguise, as Scott Niedermayer would turn heads for his solid play in his rookie year, forming a very promising 1st pairing with adam foote. In net, Stéphane Fiset would prove himself to be reliable, if unspectacular.

But the star of the show in quebec was the offense. With an incredible center depth of Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin and ray ferraro, the emergence of former eastern bloc talents such as alexei gusarov, andrei kovalenko, valeri kamensky and Peter Bondra as well as the grit of veterans gino cavallini and Nordiques Icon Michel Goulet and young power forward Owen Nolan, the nords would score almost at will, and they would finish a mear 3 points behind boston for 2nd place in the adams, where they will face their dreaded rivals, the montreal canadiens, who managed to bounce back after a poor start highlighted by a humiliating loss to the expansion ottawa senators.

The last playoff spot of the adams was hotly contested between the hartford whalers of ron francis, ulf samuelsson, scott young, andrew cassels, geoff sanderson, dave ellett, eric weinrich and markus naslund and the buffalo sabres of mogilny, hawerchuk and lafontaine. Boosted by grant fuhr's acquisition, the Sabres had the advantage heading into the final month of the season. However, an unfortunate 4-game losing streak would see buffalo get out of the playoffs by a mear 2 points over the whalers, who won their last game against the milwaukee admirals to get in.

Ronnie Franchise is back in the playoffs.​

Speaking of the Admirals, they had a relatively decent season for an expansion team. Key to that is the surprisingly solid defense of roman Hamrlik, bob beers, shawn chambers and doug crossman and an unexpected breakout season by former leafs center Brian Bradley, who scored 42 goals and 44 assists!

The Smythe division was all about one flashy rookie: Young Teemu Selanne of Finland. The young rookie would tear the roof down in winnipeg, as he would record a historic 76-goals season, the most by a rookie in NHL History. He isn't alone in Winnipeg, as the Jets benefited from Dominik Hasek's excellent follow-up campaign in front of net, A revitalised Denis Savard playing alongside Selanne, the eclosion of Keith Tkachuk and a lot of depth with Young guys like Alexei Zhamnov, darrin shannon, evgeny davydov, Luciano Borsato, stu Barnes and Shjon Podein, veterans like thomas steen and Pat Elynuik and a defense led by the Housley-Numminen-olausson trio solidified by the gritty and tough Richard Matvichuk and Darius Kasparaitis. The latter turned heads in the NHL, albeit due to his fearlessness, frequently delivering big hits and getting in the face of the game's biggest stars, as highlighted by a controversial hit on Mario Lemieux that led to a bench-clearing brawl. That Fearlessness galvanised the Jets, and they would finish second in the Smythe behind the vancouver canucks of linden, nedved, larionov and Bure.

Still One of the best goal celebrations of all time.​

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Kings would finish in 4th, but the 5th placed edmonton oilers were so far behind that they were in no danger of missing the playoffs. Jimmy Carson would continue being one of the top centers in The league, feeding the puck to Luc Robitaille, who had his best season yet with 63 goals, and jari kurri, who would register 87 points in his best season since leaving edmonton. With Dmitri kristich, tomas sandstrom, tony granato, captain dave taylor as well as martin gelinas handling the secondary scoring duties, bobby carpenter a more than capable 3rd line two-way center and a defense led by their youngsters rob blake, daryl sydor and rookie alexei zhitnik surrounded by cup winners paul coffey, charlie huddy and marty mcsorley, The kings firmly believes that this year is their year, that they will finally bring the cup to california!

It's cup or bust for L.A​

1993 NHL PLAYOFFS

ADAMS
Boston vs Hartford
Quebec vs Montreal

PATRICK
NY Islanders vs Washington
Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia

NORRIS
Detroit vs St. Louis
Toronto vs Chicago

SMYTHE
Vancouver vs Los Angeles
Winnipeg vs Calgary

Who will win and advance to the conference finals?

 

[kinnikuniverse]

​

The best playoffs in sports are back! The stanley cup celebrates its 100th anniversary. This year, almost every series can go one way or the other. Who will survive and lift lord stanley? Let's find out!


EASTERN CONFERENCE

ADAMS SEMI-FINALS

BOSTON BRUINS VS HARTFORD WHALERS

The battle of new england is renewed, the boston bruins looking to finally give raymond bourque and cam neely the stanley cup, while the hartford whalers set their sights towards going to the conference finals.

Game 1 would start with hartford gaining an early advantage, with free agent signing randy cunneyworth and ron francis opening the scoring in the first. Ths second would see boston tie it up thanks to joe juneau and cam neely, but Markus Naslund would make his mark by scoring his first ever NHL Playoff goal at 5 seconds remaining in the period to make it 3-2 hartford.

Naslund would then score his second on a pass by pat verbeek, beating andy moog with a top netter to make it 4-2. This was where cam neely would take over, as he scored his second, then assisted Steve Heinze on the power play to tie it up 4-4 and send game 1 into overtime!

OT would be intense, as bodies flew everywhere in the boston garden and andy moog and sean burke were imperial. Finally, the game winner would come from antoher swede, michael nylander, who buries the puck in the back of the bruins net on a breakaway to qin game 1 for hartford!

Game 2 would see total domination by the whalers. Francis would score on a shorthamded goal, then scott young adds one on the power play. Naslund and Andrew Cassels would complete the scoring as sean burke stops the bruins's 34 shots on goal as bartford wins 4-0.

Game 3 at hartford would see Pat verbeek open the score on a power play, followed by murray craven, before ray bourque gets one back for the bruins.

In the third period, bob sweeney ties it up, only for andrew cassels to score almost immediately after...which was followed by cam neely tieing it up again and forcing the game into overtime, where murray craven would endear himself to the citizens of hartford and score on a power play to give hartford an unexpected 3-0 lead in the series!

In a boling hot XL Center, game 4 would be absolutely insane. Cam neely would open the scoring with a beautiful feint to beat sean burke, but scott young ties it up for the home team on the power play, only for joe juneau to give boston the lead again 5 minutes later, with peter douris and Stephen leach adding it up to make it 4-1 after one. At the start of the second, Dave Poulin would make it 5-1 to shut up the hartford crowd. Immediately after, Dave ellett would pass it to markus naslund, who immediatley finds ron francis, the captain burying it to make it 5-2. Pat verbeek would make it 5-3.

What would follow is one of the most insane periods in NHL Playoffs history. Scott Young would make it 5-4 after Eric Weinrich blocked a shot by poulin, which led to Andrew cassels picking it up and passing it to geoff sanderson who passed it to young on a 2v1 to beat andy moog. After that, hartford bombarded moog with shot after shot, only for murray craven to pass it to randy cunneyworth, who buries it to tie the game 5-5, forcing overtime!

As Francis gets tripped up by Douris, He managed to pass it to markus naslund, who delivers a beautiful deke on ray bourque, rounds the keeper and scores, sending the XL Center into a frenzy! Hartford sweeps the bruins! Unbelievable!



QUEBEC NORDIQUES VS MONTREAL CANADIENS

Meanwhile, at the colisée in quebec, the nordiques hosts their fierce provincial rivals, the montreal canadiens,in what looks to be a heated and intense series, typical of these sworn enemies.


Game 1 would see the habs draw first blood from 4th liner gilbert dionne. After that, there was a lot of physicality and defense, the scoring staying there until Brian Bellows made it 2-0 habs.

The third period would see montreal collapse in the last 2 minutes as Ray Ferraro would score on a power play and captain joe sakic would tie it up with inly one minute rmaining in the game to force overtime!

In OT, both patrick roy and stephane fiset would play unvelievably to keep their teams into the game. Eventually, Peter Bondra would score the OT winner on a tired roy to give game 1 to quebec.

Game 2 would see complete domination by the nordiques. Curtis leschysyn would score on the power play followed by two goals from peter bondra, with Claude lapointe scoring the final nordiques goal to win it 4-1, brian bellows scoring the only goal for the canadiens.

At the forum, the habs needs to answer. Game 3 started badly for them, with mats sundin scoring after only 1 minute into the game. In the second, kirk muller ties it up with a power play goal. After a tense third period, the game remaine tied and we went to overtime.

Stephane lebeau redirected a flying puck into the nords net, but the video review showed that lebeau was high sticking before the play. Later on, Kirk Muller attempted a pass to mark recchi, but the puck hit alexie gusarov's skate and entered the net! Just like that, the habs win game 3 in overtime on an own goal!

Game 4 was high octane action from beginning to end. Vincent damphousse opened the scoring on a power play goal after 5 minutes, but peter bondra woudl tie it up 4 minutes later.

The second would see 1991 1st round pick martin rucinsky give back the lead to the habs. However, joe sakic would tie it up at the end of the period.

The hero of the day would be 4th liner benoit brunet, who would do a beautiful wrap-around to beat stéphane fiset for the game winning goal as the habs unexpectedly tie up the series!

Game 5 had lots of twists and turns. Mike keane would open the scoring for the habs in the first. The second would see a quick flurry of goals by the nordiques's joe sakic and mats sundin. The habs would tie it up, however, when vincent damphousse one-timed a pass from mark recchi. Defenseman eric desjardins would give the habs the lead, but mere seconds after, owen nolan ties the game.

In the third, mats sundin scores his second of the game to give the nords a 4-3 lead. The nords defense would try to hold on, locking each and every shot...but 4th liner Gilbert dionne, who was the hero for the habs in their series agaisnt hartford last year, would do his magic again and score the tieing goal to force overtime!

Patrick roy would be unstoppable in front of net, robbing sundin, Goulet and kamensky of clear cut chances. That lacknof finishing and nervousness would cost the nords, in the end,as kirk muller would intercept a poor pass by niedermayer and score a wicked wristshot pass stephane fiset to win it in overtime!


From then on, the momentum shifted, as the nords came to the forum completely demoralised, and the habs cynically took advantage of that, completely destroying the young nordiques 6-2, with 4th liner paul dipietro scoring a hat trick and stéphane richer scoring his first goal of the playoffs to seal a huge upset by the habs!

PATRICK SEMI-FINALS
The patrick would see the pittsburgh penguins comfortably beating the philadelphia flyers 4-1, with their only defeat being a hotly contested game 4 where the flyers won 4-3.

The washington-islanders series, however, would be one for the ages, as the isles would win 3 straight overtime games to upset the capitals in 6 games. A huge point of controversy was the dirty hit by dale hunter on pierre turgeon while the latter was celebrating. This led to a bench-clearing brawl at the nasseau colisseum.

Young mike ricci would be the hero of the islanders, scoring 2 OT winners and carrying turgeon's burden. The pens awaits in the next round. Can the isles pull it off, once again?

NORRIS SEMI-FINALS

The detroit red wing sand the St. Louis blues face off in a very competitive series. While the wings would eventually sweep the blues as revenge for their upset loss last season, alm the games were competitive and ended with only a one goal difference, with wayne gretzky delivering a killer pass to nicklas lidstrom, who fires it pass curtis joseph to win game 4 in overtime 4-3 and complete the sweep, the hull, oates, brind'amour and stevens blues once again massively underachieving.

The toronto maple leafs, back to the playoffs for the first time since the late 80s, would not pull their punches, eric lindros and doug gilmour dominating agaisnt the chicago blackhawks as the leafs swept them with eery ease. Detroit vs toronto. Gretzky vs lindros. The norris final looks very promising!

SMYTHE SEMI-FINALS

The winnipeg jets and the calgary flames faced off in the first smythe semi-final. Winnipeg would win game 1 6-3 on the back of a teemu selanne hat trick, while calgary would answer back with heavy 9-4 and 5-2 wins in games 2 and 3.

Back in winnipeg, dominik hasek, who got rocked in the last two games, would find his focus, putting out the flames in a 3-0 shutout. The jets offense would then take over, winnipeg winning games 5 and 6 9-2 to eliminate calgary in 6. Teemu selanne and denis savard where the top scorers for the jets, scoring a whopping ten goals between them in the series, with keith tkachuk not far behind them, scoring 4 goals, tied with phil housley.

The vancouver canucks and the los angeles kings would also take part in a shootout of their own, an incredible 41 goals were scored in total. After trailing 3-1 in the series, jimmy carson would carry the kings to an incredible comeback, martin gelinas scoring two straight overtime goals to force a game 7, where carson, robitaille and kurri dominated, the kings's first line scoring all 4 goals in a 4-0 route as the canucks blew a 3-1 series lead to L.A! Now that is humiliating!

DIVISION FINALS

ADAMS
Hartford Whalers vs Montreal Canadiens

PATRICK
Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Islanders

NORRIS
Detroit Red Wings vs Toronto Maple Leafs

SMYTHE
Winnipeg Jets vs Los Angeles Kings


Who will win and advance to the conference finals??

 

[kinnikuniverse]

ADAMS FINAL
Hartford Whalers vs Montreal Canadiens

The habs and the whalers once again meet in the playoffs, hartford looking to avenge their 7-game loss to the francophones. Game 1, however, would start with stéphane richer opening the scoring for montreal on a powerplay goal.

One minute later, Scott young would tie it up with a wristshot pass patrick roy's legs. Roy would then stop all shot attempts by the whalers, while the habs defense, led by petr svoboda, Mathieu schneider, eric desjardins and sylvain lefevbre, would hold the fort. Lefevbre would poke check randy cunneyworth and pass it to vincent damphousse, who lobs it to a charging kirk muller, who buries the puck pass sean burke on a powerplay goal to give back the lead to the canadiens.

In the second, the habs would continue in their good run of form as 4th line center Paul Dipietro would score his 4th goal of the playoffs. Hartford would get one back thanks to ron francis, and finally tie the game two minutes later thanks to geoff sanderson.

Finally, vincent damphousse would score the game winning goal to win game 1 for the habs.

In game 2, damphousse would score first for montreal on the power play, but Hartford would tie it up after only 30 seconds thanks to a Norm Maciver slap shot. Late in the period, Andrew Cassels would score a power play goal to give hartford the lead after 1.

In the second, kirk muller ties it up on a pp goal of his own before damphousse give the habs the lead 3 minutes later. Dave ellett would tie the game up mere seconds into the third period, and hartford would hold the fort to force the game into overtime.

Unfortunately, that strategy would backfire on them, as habs captain guy carbonneau would score on a rebound to win game 2.

Game 3 would take place at the XL Center. Kirk muller opens the scorig after only 14 seconds. Ten minutes later, vincent damphousse scores on a power play to make it 2-0 habs after one. The whalers would come back at the end of the second with goals by dave ellett and Eric Weinrich. Guy carbonneau would give the lead back to the habs woth a short-handed goal. Ronnie franchise, however, would save the whalers again, scoring with 10 minutes remaining to force overtime again, where gilbert dionne would score the game winner to give the habs a 3-0 series lead!

In a boiling hot XL Center, hartford scores first, with dave ellett burying a pass from scott young. Later on, Lyle Odelein, subbibg for patrice brisebois, would tie it up for the habs.

The second period was all habs, as vincent damphousse and sylvain lefevbre would make it 3-1 montreal.

Ron francis rallied his troops in the third, scoring on a powerplay goal to bring the XL Center and the team alive. Form then on, the whalers bombarded patrick roy, the habs goalie being imperial in front of net...until he let in an uncharacteristically soft goal from michael Nylander to have hartford force overtime!

And once again, the habs win in overtime thanks to captain kirk. The montreal canadiens sweeps the hartford whalers and are back to the conference finals for the first time since their 24th stanley cup in 1989!

PATRICK DIVISION FINALS
Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Islanders

Well, holy moly, no one saw it coming! Not even mario, jagr and certainly not scotty bowman!

Against all odds, the new york Islanders beat the heavily-favorited pittsburgh penguins in 7 games to advance to their first conference finals since 1984! Mike Ricci (who did a phenomenal job shadowing lemieux), pierre turgeon, steve thomas and derek king have certainly become household names in long island! So monumental is this upset that, almost as soon as the day after came, there were rumours that mario wanted out of pittsburgh! Of course, le magnifique immediately refuted these silly claims, claiming that series loss was just a fluke...and the upset loss against the rangers in 92, what about it?

Anyways, the islanders will face the montreal canadiens (who no doubt breathed a sigh of relief after learning of the pens being eliminated!) I the eastern conference finals.

NORRIS DIVISION FINALS
Deteoit Red Wings vs Toronto Maple leafs.

This was the most anticipated matchup in the playoffs. Detroit vs toronto, two teams looking to end years of misery and pain.

More importantly, it was wayne gretzky, the great one, against the next one, Eric Lindros.

Game 1 would start with Wings captain steve yzerman opening the scori g after 5 minutes. Eric lindros would make his mark at 10 minutes in the period, scoring after shaking off a big hit by chris chelios and feinting felix potvin to tie up the game.

The second period would start with ray sheppard giving back the lead to detroit on a power play goal via a great pass by wayne gretzky. From then on, the wings dominated the rest of the game, winning it 6-3. Game two ended in a similar result for detroit.

Game 3 would see toronto get one back, with two goals from dave andreychuk in the first, a power play goal by wendel clark in the second and a rob pearson empty netter to seal a 4-2 win. Andrey chuck would once again be the hero in game 4, scoring two goals and assiting eric lindros on the power play as the leafs tie up the series.

Bck at the joe louis arena, the leafs would force overtime after wayne gretzky completely destroyed them all game long, and 4th liner mike foligno would score an incredible overtime winner to have the leafs lead 3-2!

At the maple leaf garden, however, gretzky, yzerman and co. Would not go down easily, as they would dominate the leafs 7-3 thanks to a hat trick of goals from dino ciccarelli and a hat trick of assits for wayne gretzky.

The pivotal game 7 at the joe louis arena was a thriller. Glen anderosn and bob rouse would give the elafs a 2-0 lead,but the wings entire 3rd line of pual ysebaert, shawn burr and dallas drake would carry the team on their shoulders, scoring 3 quick goals to give the wings the lead geading into the third period. That's where, with only three minutes remaining in the game, doug gilmour would tie it up to force overtime, where eric lindros would take over, looking like a man among men as he delivered a great pass to nikolai borchevsky, who buries it in the back of the net to win the game and the series for toronto!

This gretzky vs lindros series delivered on the hype, with both men shining bright. Lindros surprised many by scoring more assits than goals, no doubt he is taking in the influence of the team-first mentality of coach pat burns and linemate wendel clark.

SMYTHE DIVISION FINALS
It was a rather low-scoring affair int he smythe division finals, no doubt thaks to the jets's dominik hasek and the kings's kelly hrudey playing out of their minds throughout the series. Los angeles would take games 1 and 2, but a teemu selanne hat trick would win game 3 for winnipeg. The kings would strike back in winnipeg, winning game 4 3-1 and lead 3-1 in the series. The jets would tae game 5 in overtime thanks to selanne and denis savard, but alas, hasek and the Jets ran out of steam in game six, as martin gelinas continued being clutch as he scored the game winner in overtime to have the kings move on to their first conference finals since the miracle run of 1989!

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Montreal Canadiens vs New York Islanders

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Los Angeles Kings!

Who will advance to the 100th Stanley cup finals?

 

[kinnikuniverse]

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

Montreal Canadiens vs New York Islanders

Game 1 was dominated by the habs at home 4-1, with two goals by john leclair and one from Brian Bellows on a power play being key.

Game 2 would be much tighter. The isles's pierre turgeon would open the scoring on a power play goal. Afterwards, stephane richer and paul dipietro would give the habs the lead.

Steve thomas and david volek would give the lead back to long islands before dipietro would save the habs and tie it up to force overtime, where stéphan Lebeau would score on a rebound in the second OT to win the game for the canadiens.

In a low scoring game 3, turgeon would once again open the scoring in the second. Bith patrick roy and glen healy played marvelously in front of goal,but alas, vincent damphousse woudl tie it up late in the third to force overtime. Captain guy carbonneau would score as the habs lead 3-0.

Despite a crushing 4-1 win at the nasseau colisseum, the isles couldnt bring the habs down, as the french canadian club would tear them down limb from limb in game 5 by a score of 5-2 to head to their first stanley cup final since 1989!



WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Los Angeles Kings

Eric lindros would open the scoring late in the first period of game 1. After that, it was all maple leafs from there, with glenn anderson and doug gilmour adding their names to the scoresheet as the leafs win game 1 4-1. L.A would get one back in game 2, winning 3-2 thanks to an inspired performance by their second line of Tony Granato, Dmitri Kristich and Tomas Sandstrom. The kings would later take game 3 at home 4-2.

The leafs would strike back in game 4 with a 4-2 win of their own. The leafs would then win game 5 in ot thanks to glen anderson on a pass by Eric Lindros.

Game 6 would be one of the all-time great playoff games in NHL History. Glen anderson opens the scoring after only 57 seconds. Tony granato would tie it up at the end of the first, but wendel clark would give the lead back to toronto from a pass by lindros.

What followed would be disastrous: three consecutive power play goals, all scored by L.A. it was all doom and gloom for leafs fans both at home in the garden and those who traveled to the los angeles forum.

Wendel clark would not be denied.

At the tail end of the game, the captain would prove why he has the C, scoring a dramatic goal with two minutes remaining to complete his hat trick and send the game to overtime!

Overtime started and the tension was already at its peak. Cross checks, big hits, the coaches barry melrose and pat burns looking to rip each other's heads off, the crowd chanting obscenities, this atmosphere would break any who doesn't have the mental fortitude to withstand it all.

If you thought the tension was high,wait until what happened next.

As they were battling on the board, wendel clark lost the puck to tomas sandstrom, who quickly passed it to jimmy carson,who was about to fly out of his own zone when, siddenly, Eric lindros lifted his stick and hit carson right in his throat, knocking him down.

No penalty was called by referee Kerry Fraser.

The crowd in the L.A forum erupted in Pure Rage, and as Kerry forced play to stop once Carson hit the ice in pain, Everybody went after each other's throats. And i mean everybody! Players, Coaches, Assistant coaches, even fans! The only people who didn't went after one another were the goalies, who retreated to the sidelines, witnessingt his sorry spectacle. After several minutes of fighting, the officials calmed everything down and play restarted.

There, Doug Gilmour would pass it to Eric Lindros, who wrists it pass a tired kelly hrudey to send the maple leafs to the stanley cup finals, provoking the ire of the L.A Kings and their fans. Some Kings fans even rioted outside of the forums.

To canada, the whole incident didn't matter, as the two most storied franchises in hockey history will meet in the 100th stanley cup final! Montreal vs toronto. Quenec vs Ontario. Who is gonna come out of here victorious?

100TH STANLEY CUP FINAL

Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs.

Who will win the stanley cup?

 

[kinnikuniverse]

It is time for the biggest event in the hockey world: the 100th stanley cup final!

And who else to play for it but the national hockey league's most storied franchises?

The montreal canadiens are looking for their 3rd stanley cup since 1986, which would be their 25th, a league record.

The maple leafs, meanwhile, look to put an end to the dreadful harold ballard era and eneter a new age of prosperity and dominance, led by stars such as wendel clark, doug gilmour and the next on, eric lindros.

The series was one for the ages, if only from a canadian marketing and business point of view: the 1993 stanley cup final has got the entire country on hold, literally every citizen were glued to the CBC to watch this once in a lifetime event. To this day, the 93 cup final remaisn the highest-rated sports event in canadian history.

As for the on-ice action? Let's find out!

Game 1 took place at the garden, and the atmosphere was electric. The sold-out crowd forgot about the lack of air conditioning, being too enamored with their leafs to care. When eric lindros, wendel clark and gilmour took the ice in the pre-game ceremomies, a deafening roar engulped the arena, almost causing an earthquake, it seems. Of course, when the canadiens took the ice, massive boos and insults were immediately targetted at them. Its as if the series reignited some old and bitter feelings between the two major populations of canada...

And that energy was used by the leafs to galvanise themselves, as the stars of the game were the first line of wendel clark, eric lindros and nikolai borchevsky. All three scored all the goals for the leafs, with clark scoring a brace as the habs were simply outmatched physically and skillwise in a 4-1 rout.

the leafs celebrating clark's second goal​

Coach Jacques Demers was very clear: the habs needed to win at the garden if the habs would have any chance at beating toronto. Game 2 would see patrick roy be his usual imperial self, but Felix potvin, who grew up idolising roy, would match him move for move, frustrating the habs offense with amazing saves.

It would be montreal who'll draw first blood, however, as eric desjardins received a pass from partner sylvain lefevbre and blast the puck past potvin, who was blinded by mike keane's effective screening. In The second period, however, pat burns, no doubt eager to beat his former team, would keep his team's heads up, and it would pay off, as Shayne Corson, acquired in exchange for vincent damphousse, would tie the game up by catching a rebound.

The third period was all leafs, as the garden's roar was once again deafening, and it became even louder as mike foligno scored the goal that would give the leafs the lead. The score would stay still at 2-1, the habs seemingly being shut down by pat burns's stiffening defensive style. It looked like the leafs will head into the forum leading 2-0 in the cup finals...

...that is, until Jacques Demers attempted a huge gamble.

Demers leading his troops​

The habs coach asked for the referees to check on the stick of leafs defenseman todd gill, believing it to be illegal. After much measuring and analysis, it was determined that, indeed, gill's stick was illegal, and the habs would obtain a power play late in the game, much to leafs fans and pat burns's displeasure!


The ensuing powerplay would be legendary. Fielding doug gilmour and dave andreychuk against the first PP line of damphousse, carbonneau and richer, the leafs tried hanging on for dear life, the crowd cheering loudly for their team.

And then, the garden went silent as Carbonneau caught Gilmour with his head down, trying to carry the puck out of his zone, and deliver a massive hit on the leafs center, knocking him out cold.

From there, damphousse grabbed the puck back and backpassed it to a charging desjardins, who feints felix potvin and scores the tying goal with only 2 minutes remaining in the game!

​

From there, patrick roy and the habs defense would hold the fort to force overtime!

If you thought carbonneau was done, then you were wrong, as during overtime, he noticed that eric lindros often played with his head down, as he did during his junior days. This wouldn't be sustainable playing agaisnt the hard hitting men of the NHL, And carbonneau cynically took advantage of that, knocking out lindros with another massive hit at center ice, prompting a bench-clearing brawl.

Old, repressed feelings between anglos and francos ignited at the garden as both teams brawled for almost 30 minutes straight before tempers went down as they watched eric lindros struggle to get up on his feet after the carbonneau hit.

Finally, play resumed, with both teams still hitting each other hard when, after rounding the net, Mark Recchi passed it to eric desjardins, who shoots...and scores! Eric desjardins with the game-winning hat trick in overtime!!

The garden went quiet. You could hear a pin drop on the floor.

The montreal canadiens ties the series 1-1, and many people felt that they will head into the forum with the momentum shifting in their favour...

TO BE CONTINUED