Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s
With the Montreal Canadiens set to celebrate their 100th season as a hockey franchise, they’ve gone out of their way to make the year special for not only followers of the club, but also hockey fans in general.
To that end, the Canadiens have cornered the market on most special events happening during the 2008-09 National Hockey League season, with the notable exception of the outdoor game January 1st at Wrigley Field, though whispers continue that the Habs are interested in staging such a game at Olympic Stadium.
Part of their centenary celebrations includes the salute to their impressive roster of Hall-of-Fame players, and fourteen of those men have had their sweater number retired. The names are familiar to every hockey fan; Plante, Harvey, Beliveau, Geoffrion, Morenz, M. Richard, Lafleur, Moore, Cournoyer, H. Richard, Savard, Robinson, Gainey and Dryden.
Half of those retirement ceremonies have come in the past three years, as the Canadiens have made a conscious effort to reconnect to their glorious past.
Which is important to point out, as the team is often lauded for being the classiest when it comes to celebrating its past. The fact is, Montreal Canadiens pride had become somewhat frayed around the edges, as the team not only struggled on the ice, it also lost its way in the management suite and in the boardroom.
Despite the sizeable outcry when American businessman George Gillett took over ownership of the franchise, he has shown an understanding and appreciation of the Canadiens’ place within the cultural fabric of Montreal, the province of Quebec, the country of Canada, and most importantly, the history of hockey.
The Canadiens have successfully reconnected to their past, which at least now is not merely a smokescreen to cover up the fact that they’ve been dismal on the ice. That the Habs have been, mostly from the mid-90′s on, until the 2003 hiring of Bob Gainey as general manager, and their Eastern Conference first-place finish last season is proof that something is finally working.
The good folk of Montreal talk about the Stanley Cup drought that has persisted since 1993, which might rub the good folk of Chicago (1961), Toronto (1967), Boston (1972), and Philadelphia (1975) the wrong way, not to mention all the teams that have never won the Cup, but the standards in Montreal have always been a bit higher.
Those same good folk often point to the statistic that boasts Montreal has won at least one Stanley Cup in every decade. For example, Cups were captured in 1916, 1924, 1931, 1944, 1953, 1965, 1971, 1986 and 1993, so that’s nine straight decades of at least a taste of success.
Of note are those last two dates…1986 and 1993.
The 1986 Montreal team was an interesting mix of veterans (Larry Robinson, Mario Tremblay, Doug Soetart), players at-or-near the peak of their career (Bobby Smith, Mats Naslund) and a bunch of raw rookies, most of whom had won the Calder Cup with the Sherbrooke Canadiens the year before (Brian Skrudland, Stephane Richer, Patrick Roy).
In retrospect, the 1985-86 Montreal Canadiens were a very solid team, and their record that year reflects that…87 points…good enough for second place in the Adams Division, and seventh overall in the league.
Regardless, when they hoisted the Stanley Cup that season, it was regarded as a surprise, and still is. Newcomers like Claude Lemieux made their mark in those playoffs, but it was goaltender Patrick Roy that stole the headlines.
In his first full NHL season, Roy proved to be the money goalie a team usually needs in order to survive the post-season grind. For his efforts, Roy was given the Conn Smythe Trophy, the first of three he would win over his Hall-of-Fame career.
That Montreal team was a good team, but they don’t sniff the Final unless Roy stands on his head. One playoff game in particular, against the New York Rangers, best illustrated that point. The Rangers, a team that earned all of 78 regular season points, had dominated Montreal in the overtime, but were unable to slip anything past Roy, which bought Montreal enough time for Claude Lemieux to finally bury the winner.
The funny thing is, that team, with some changes, matured into an NHL powerhouse the next three seasons, but were tripped up each time.
The 1987 Habs lost to rookie goaltender Ron Hextall and the Flyers, the 1988 Habs (103 points) were the second best team that year, but were finally upended in the playoffs by the Boston Bruins. The 1989 edition of the team was even better (115 points), but fell in six games in the Stanley Cup Final to the best team in the regular season with 117 points, the Calgary Flames.
By then, Roy was established as Montreal’s starting goaltender, and teamed up with backup Brian Hayward, the Canadiens had the stingiest defence and won a trio of Jennings Trophies.
As good as Roy was in the 1986 playoffs, the next season, he faltered enough in the post-season that Hayward took over, and was in net when the Canadiens edged their bitter rivals, the Quebec Nordiques, in a spirited series.
Roy was outplayed in 1988 by Reggie Lemelin of the Bruins, and the entire Montreal team were just a half-step behind the Flames in 1989.
As good as Roy had been in the regular season, he was unable to translate that into playoff success. Some critics pointed out that his impressive regular season numbers were somewhat artificially inflated, as he started almost every Montreal home game, while Brian “The Road Warrior” Hayward got the road starts.
The Legend of Saint Patrick has its roots in the 1986 playoffs, but it really took hold during the 1993 playoffs (and it was cemented during the 1994 playoff series loss against the Bruins, when Roy returned from the hospital, after he had appendicitis, and started the next game).
After the loss in the ’89 Cup Final, the Canadiens slipped a bit in the regular season, and for three straight years (1990-1992), were beat by the Bruins in the playoffs, including a four-game sweep in 1992.
By the time the 1993 playoffs rolled around, the Canadiens were once again not expected to challenge for the Cup. There were much stronger teams; Mario Lemieux and his Pittsburgh Penguins had 119 points to lead the league that year, and coming off two straight Stanley Cup wins, were picked by most pundits to make it three-in-a-row.
Montreal finished with 102 points that year, slightly inflated by it being an expansion year (the Lightning and Senators joined the league), but all teams benefited from that. Those 102 points were good enough for sixth best record in the league, so Montreal were hardly underdogs. For comparion sake, the Toronto Maple Leafs had 99 points that year, while the Los Angeles Kings racked up only 88. In anything, the fact the Kings made the Cup Final is more of a surprise.
All that being said, Montreal entered their first-round playoff matchup, with their friends the Quebec Nordiques, on a low note. They had not played all that well to end the season, and then dropped their first game against the Nords, blowing a lead late in the game, and then losing in overtime.
Overtime.
That would be the buzzword of the ’93 playoffs, and Montreal would not lose another overtime game that spring.
After dropping the second game to Quebec, the Canadiens rebounded to win the third match in overtime, and took the next three games to wrap up the series in six.
The five teams that finished in front of Montreal that season all experienced breakdowns in the postseason. Montreal took care of Quebec, Buffalo dispatched Boston in four (Mayday Mayday!), St. Louis upset Chicago in four, Toronto shocked Detroit by winning the seventh game in Detroit in overtime on a goal by Nikolai Borschevky, while only Pittsburgh made it through to the second round…
…where they lost to David Volek and the Islanders in overtime in Game Seven.
From round three on, Montreal had the best record of the teams still standing. But even then, they rode their overtime magic and the money goaltending of Patrick Roy all the way to the Stanley Cup. Most hockey fans either remember, or have seen the footage, of Roy winking at the Kings’ Tomas Sandstrom, after having once again stymied the L.A. attack.
The Canadiens’ magic continued in Game Two, thanks to the infamous stick measurement on Marty McSorley, and Eric Desjardins’ hat-trick. A couple of overtime goals by John LeClaire before he became John LeClaire, and a dominating home-win in Game Five garnered the Habs the 1993 Stanley Cup, and Patrick Roy his second Conn Smythe Award.
And from that moment on, the Myth began.
That the 1993 Canadiens were a poor team.
The late, great Jim Hunt once went on the Fan 590 in Toronto, talking about Roy being traded to the Colorado Avalanche, and said that the ’93 Habs were a “horrible team”. He wasn’t alone in that opinion. Somehow, it became fact.
Wrong.
Stats prove that. So does memory, which is suspect at best. But common sense also proves that.
The ’93 Canadiens would certainly have not won that Cup without Roy in net, but the very nature of hockey dictates that your goaltender had to be above-average in order to win.
Examine any of the rosters of the past forty Cup winning teams, and the goaltenders on those squads had to have been good, or there’s no parade.
Yes, you have the Roy’s and Cam Wards, and the 1971 Ken Dryden. But you also have to have a decent performance from the 1976-79 Dryden and Billy Smith during the Islanders’ run and Grant Fuhr/Andy Moog with the Oilers.
Any of those gentlemen slip up, and the very talented teams in front of them collapse like a house-of-cards. Just ask the Ottawa Senators during their time with Patrick Lalime in net. The most damning word in the English language, if, can be applied to the Sens, in particular if Lalime could have stopped a couple of beach ball shots lobbed his way by the Maple Leafs’ Joe Nieuwendyk.
But he didn’t, and a vastly superior team was bounced by Toronto. Again.
Your goaltender doesn’t have to stand on his head the entire time, but he’s got to be consistently good, and have flashes of brilliance.
Patrick Roy in 1986, and in particular 1993, was exactly that. That has led many to proclaim him the best goaltender of all-time, and his regular season stats bear that out.
Personally, Roy is in my Top Ten of all-time, but he’s behind Jacques Plante, Glenn Hall, Terry Sawchuk, Dominik Hasek, and my pick for best goaltender of all-time, Martin Brodeur.
Regardless, Roy is a blue chip Hockey Hall-of-Famer, and was given that honour in 2006. He won two more Stanley Cups with the Avalanche, and won his unprecedented third Conn Smythe Trophy in 2001. His number was retired by Colorado, but his greatest individual accomplishments were with Montreal. Roy’s three Vezina Trophies were won with the Canadiens. His legend, his myth, began in Montreal, and in this year of wall-to-wall Canadiens’ festivities, it would be folly for the team not to invite him to the party.
Of course, there was that messy public divorce back in December 1995 during a blowout loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Roy burnt his Jacques Cartier bridge by informing team president Ronald Corey that he would never again play for the Canadiens.
And he never did.
And the team slowly slid into mediocrity.
And many blamed Roy for that slide.
But, like most things, it isn’t that simple, nor is it true. A litany of bad management decisions, poor coaching, and poor drafting dropped Montreal into the second division, while at the same time, Roy and the Avalanche were winning a couple of Cups.
It’s been suggested by a number of parties that once the proud/arrogant Roy cooled down following that December 1995 game, he recanted his declaration. Montreal head coach, and former teammate, Mario Tremblay had never coddled Roy to the same degree that former skipper Jacques Demers had. That special treatment rhad ubbed some players, and media, the wrong way, but when a guy can walk the walk, such things tend to be overlooked somewhat.
Tremblay, the new sheriff-in-town, was having none of that, and Roy’s meltdown handed him the lever he needed to pry the legend loose.
Yet the Second Roy Myth persisted, even to this day; Patrick Roy quit on his team.
Many in the media, and some fans, still cling to this belief, to the point of objecting to the Canadiens’ announcement last week that they would retire Roy’s iconic number 33.
As if the Second Myth wasn’t enough, many of the dissenting chorus piled on by bringing up the unsavoury on-ice junior hockey incident this past spring involving his son attacking an opposing goaltender.
As if they retire sweater numbers, or put a player in the Hall-of-Fame, based on someone being a good guy.
No, they recognize and honour what happened on the ice. And with that, and only that criteria, the Montreal Canadiens had no choice but to acknowledge the contribution Patrick Roy made to the team, and to raise his number to the rafters along with the other legends.
To not do so would leave a large gaping hole in their 100th anniversary celebrations. Unlike Dave Keon and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canadiens and Roy were able to put the damage of the past behind them, and embrace their shared glory of yesteryear.
There really was no other choice.
Welcome home.
- Mick Kern
Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s
