I am gobsmacked that Gordie Howe averaged 45 minutes a game (at age 36, no less).
Has anyone ever come close to that over a season? I also didn't know they tracked those stats back then.
I think when people think of the toughest teams in hockey, obviously the first thought are the 1970's Broad Street Bullies. The Flyers under Freddy Shero made terrorizing brutality and institution. When we talk about the goon era of hockey we look at videos of the Flyers, it even bled into the 1972 Canada Russia Series, or even the shrill cry of "They're going home" when the Flyers brutalized the touring Russian hockey team.
But in this discussion we tend to forget about the Big Bad Bruins. But beyond the physical aspects of that team, they terrified opposing goalies and defensemen, In 1970-71 the Bruins scored 399 goals 108 more then the next best offensive team. Phil Esposito shattered the goal scoring record by hitting the twin 76 times, breaking the record by 18 goals. His 152 points shattered the old record by 26 points. Bobby Orr skated off with the Hart and the Norris again Orr set the NHL record for goals by defensemen with 37 and his 102 assists set a new record as well.
Boston's depth was breath taking, they had the leagues top 4 scorers, Johnny Bucyk had 116 points, Ken Hodge 105 points, the Bruins had 7 of the top 10 scorers, and were the odds on favorite to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions.
Boston was set to meet the Canadians in the first round of the playoffs, and the Canadians chances were somewhere between a snowballs chance in hell and me having a torrid love affair with Nancy Wilson of Heart.
The Canadians had missed the playoffs last year, and in December Claude Ruel resigned as coach and replaced with Al MacNeil (Flames fans remember him right? He was the first coach in Calgary Flames history and led the team to the Conference finals in year 1 ).
The Canadians had trouble scoring goals, but Sam Pollock moved the aquire Frank Mahovlich from Detroit but the Club was still terrible in goal. But Sam Pollock made the decision to elevate rookie goalie Ken Dryden from the American league, and Al McNeil played him through the stretch and into the playoffs.
At the same time McNeil was not exactly beloved by the Canadians francophone players. You see Al couldn't speak a lick of French and this rankled players like Henri Richard. This relationship got worse and more public as the season and playoffs went on.
The Bruins looked at the Canadians and sniffed, their fans and most fans thought the Bruins would run the Habs out of the ring, and it felt true when the Bruins pumped 3 goals past Dryden in game 1. In game 2 it got worse for the Habs as the bruins jumped 2 a 5-1 lead, but their over confidence played a huge part in what happened next. With the Bruins playing the role of fat cats, the Habs roared back to erased the deficit and win game 2 7-5.
Suddenly behind the brilliant goaltending of Dryden, the Habs forced a game 7 against the Bruins who were befuddled by Dryden who seemed all arms and legs and completely unflappable. In game 7 the Bruins seemed to be completely defeated and the Habs felt bullet proof behind their goaltender. The Habs pulled off the massive upset winning 4-2.
Dryden carried the Canadians to a Stanley Cup victory with a 7 game win over the Black Hawks in the finals. Dryden would go into win 5 cups in his short 7 year career and retired when he basically decided that he was over the whole hockey thing.
As for McNeil the Stanley Cup winning miracle man. During the playoffs Henri Richard did an interview proclaiming that he was incompetent, and tensions continued to rise between McNeil and the Francophone players. Even though Richard and McNeil hugged it out after winning the cup, they didn't repair their relationship and McNeil resigned and took the role of Head Coach in Atlanta's final year in Georgia.
Trivia
To save lives the NHL puts a limit of a half inch curve on hockey sticks due to the insanity of Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita who invented the banana curve.
The NHL screams "Here we grow again" and add Buffalo and Vancouver to the NHL family.
Vancouver and Buffalo are both placed in the Eastern Division while the hawks move to the West.
The Hall of fame inducts 4 new members, Babe Dye, Bill Gadsby, Tom Johnson and Bob LeBel.
NHL Amateur draft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_NHL_amateur_draft
NHL Expansion draft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_NHL_expansion_draft
The Bruins install a new head coach in Tom Johnson as Harry Sinden wants to focus on his GM duties.
The Canadians acquire Frank Mahovlich from the Wings for Mickey Redmond, Bill Collins, and Guy Charron.
Under newly hired coach Punch Imlach and lead by first round pick Gil Perreault who scores 37 points, the Sabres finish 5th in the East with 24 wins.
The Canucks led by coach Hal Laycoe finish 6th in the east. Tough guy Rosie Paiement scores 34 goals.
After a poor start the Blues fire Arbour and replace him with Scotty Bowman.
Bobby Clarke snears his way to 63 points and leads the flyers to a 3rd place finish.
Andy Bathgate comes out of retirement and scores 15 goals for the Pens who finish last in the West.
The Seals now known as the California Seals allow a league worst 320 goals and finish dead last in the league.
Chicago's Keith Magnuson leads the league in penalties with 291 minutes.
Jacque Plante, now a Leaf leads the league with a 1.88 gaa.
In the East, the Habs upset the Bruins, while the Rangers beat the Leafs in 6 games.
In the West, Chicago rips the Flyers a new one with a sweep, The North Stars upset the Blues in 6 games.
The league debuts a new playoff format and the Habs face the Stars and beat then in 6 games, The Hawks and Rangers battle tooth and nail through 7 games, before the Hawks end it with a 4-2 win.
In the finals the Habs beat the Hawks in 7 games to win their 5th cup in the last 7 years.
Ken Dryden takes home the Conn Smythe trophy.
Phil Esposito wins the first Lester B. Pearson award, which goes to the leagues most outstanding player as voted on by the players.
Bobby Orr wins both the Hart and Norris Trophy.
Johnny Bucyk wins the Lady Byng.
Gil Perreault takes the Calder.
The Ranger's goaltending duo of Ed Giacomin and Gills Villemure win the Vezina.
Jean Ratelle wins the Masterton.
Quebec lead by Guy Lafleur wins the Memorial Cup.
Boston University wins the NCAA Championship beating Minnesota.
The Soviet Union smashes its way to its 9th straight World Championship.
Lets not cut bait here, the Bruins came into the 1971-72 season as an angry hockey team. After being upset in the first year of the playoffs last year, and failing to build on their cup victory the year before, the Bruins were out to avenge themselves on the NHL.
Behind Orr and Esposito who finished fist and second in scoring the Bruins burned the NHL to the ground and finished with a 54-13-11. Story wise the only story that could distract the Hockey world from the Bruins was the story of a proposed new professional hockey team calling itself the World Hockey Association.
The WHA had not actually created a schedule, but laid out a franchised circuit for 1972-73 and loudly announced that they would be freely raiding NHL Rosters and the bruins were the primary target, there were rumors of offers to Esposito and Green who were on expiring contracts.
It was interesting to note that the WHA made no such noise bout Orr, it was just assumed that Orr would never be leave Boston, and the WHA probably assumed that if they did manage to get Orr that Boston fan bases would start making boards with nails in them as a response.
On the NHL front the only team that was seen as a serious challenger to the Bruins were the Rangers, they were lead by the GAG (oh grow up, it stands for goal a game line) of Rod Gilbert, Vic Hadfield and Jean Ratelle. On the back end they had a great goalie in Ed Giacomin, and they had the league's second best blueliner in Brad Park.
While Park wasn't as flashy or as flamboyant on the ice as Orr, Park was a better body-checker, and a better stick handler, and every bit as creative as Orr on the rush. The problem though is that the Bruins were still the deeper club that could come at you in waves. The other problem was that the Rangers were a softer club, they could get intimidated. But despite that the Rangers finished in second place with a flashy 48-17-13 record. In the playoffs the Rangers disposed of the Canadians in the quarter finals and swept the Hawks in the semis. Boston bullied their way to the finals with easy series against the Leafs and the Blues.
The finals became a battle between Orr and Park. Orr dominated in the first two games of the finals, then Park took over and dominated a 5-2 win for the Rangers in game 3. Orr scored twice in game 4, Park was a key in a Rangers 3-2 win in game 5, but then Orr wrapped up the cup in game 6 by scoring a goal and assisting on another as the Buins won 3-0.
When the post season awards were announced, Park finished as the runner up to Orr for the Norris for the third straight year, Orr won his 5th straight Norris Trophy, 3rd straight Hart, and second career Conn Smythe award killing any debates between Ranger and Bruins fans over who was better.
Trivia
Because of the number of NHL brawls, the NHL installs a rule that ejects any player that joins a fight in progress.
The Hall of Fame inducts 5 new members, Busher Jackson, Gordon Roberts, Terry Sawchuk, Cooney Weiland and Arthur Wirtz.
In the Amateur Draft, the Canadians draft wonder kid Guy Lafleur with the first overall pick, Detroit grabs Marcel Dionne second.
The Bruins finish first in the league with a 54-13-11 record and improve on their offence from last year with 330 goals..
Boston's Phil Esposito leads the league in goals with 66 and points with 113.
Boston's Bobby Orr leads the NHL in assists with 80 and finished second in scoring with 117 points.
The Canadians say goodbye to Jean Beliveau as he retires, but welcome Scotty Bowman behind the bench.
Detroit in their first year without the retired Gordie Howe wastes 42 goals from Mickey Redmond and finishes 5th in the East.
The Sabre's welcome rookie Richard Martin who scores 44 goals playing on a line with Gil Perreault but the Sabres win a mere 16 games.
Vancouver wins 20 games and finishes last in the East.
Chicago behind a tough defence and lead by Bobby Hull and his 50 goals in his last year in Chicago take the West division with a 46-17-15 record allowing just 166 goals.
The Flyers hire Freddy "The Fog" Shero as their new coach, and Bobby Clarke scores 35 goals and 81 points, but the Flyers still miss the playoffs.
California represented by the Seals and Kings finish 6th and 7th in the West respectively.
Chicago's Tony Esposito sports the best gaa in 21 years with a stingy 1.77.
In the East Semis, Boston wrecks Toronto in 5 games, and the Rangers take out the cup champion Habs in 6 games.
In the West, Chicago sweeps Pittsburgh, and St Louis sneaks past Minnesota in 6 games.
The semifinals are a display in dominance as the Rangers sweep the Hawks and the Bruins sweep St. Louis outscoring them 28-8.
In the finals the Bruins beat the Rangers in 6 games as the bruins win their second cup in three years.
Bobby Orr wins the Conn Smythe on the back of 24 playoff points.
Bobby Orr takes home his 3rd straight Hart Trophy and 5th straight Norris Trophy.
Jean Ratelle of the Rangers takes home the Lady Byng and Lester B Pearson Award.
Tony Esposito and Garry Smith of the Hawks share the Vezina Trophy.
Ken Dryden in his first official year takes home the Calder Trophy and puts it on the shelf with his Conn Smythe Trophy from the year before.
Bobby Clarke a diabetic is given the Masterton Trophy.
The Cornwall Royals of the QMJHL featuring Richard Brodeur in goal capture the Memorial Cup.
Boston University defends its NCAA championship beating Cornwall int he finals.
The Soviets win the Olympic Gold medal in the Sapporo Japan Games.
Team USA featuring Mark Howe and Robbie Ftorek win the Silver medal.
The Canadians boycott the Olympic hockey tournament over the use of professional amateurs from the Eastern Bloc countries.
NOTE: McKenzie, Green, Tremblay, Fonteyne, Selby, Nesterenko, McDonald, Hicke and Paiement would continue their careers in the World Hockey Association.
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
This season could be called the season of trauma for the NHL and its fans. The NHL took two major hammer blows, one that would threaten the leagues existence, the other that would threaten the reputation of an entire hockey empire.
The first was the emergence of the World Hockey Association, the second was the fabulous but unexpected Summit series between the Soviet Union and Canada.
Days after the 1972 Stanley Cup final, agents for the WHA become combing through NHL rosters in an effort to sign players for the new 12 team circuit. The first hammer blow came in June when Bobby Hull signed a 10 year 2.75 million dollar contract to play for and coach the Winnipeg Jets. Suddenly the new league was on the front page of every newspaper, and the NHL owners suddenly dropped their cognac and cigars and took notice.
Hull's signing created a avalanche of stars leaving their teams for the big money of the WHA. Montreal's J.C. Trembley signed a hometown deal with the Quebec Nordiques. Gerry Cheevers left the Bruins to tend the pipes in Cleveland.
Panic set in across the NHL owners suite, and started a massive salary acceleration. The Ranger's panic signed their better better players to outlandish contracts. The Bruins the most frugal team in the league got hammered as Johnny McKenzie and Derek Sanderson signed with the Philadelphia Blazers. Ted Green left the Bruins to play for the New England Whalers. The New York Islanders who had just joined the league with the Atlanta Flames lost several players to the cross town New York Raiders.
Meanwhile the Team Canada was preparing for a 8 game series against the best of the Soviet Union. The series was to be split into 4 games in Canadians cities and 4 games in Russia.
while the Soviets had dominated international play, nobody expected them to be competitive against the super human like NHL players. One scout proclaimed that Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak couldn't pay goal after watching a practice (Tretiak had just gotten married and was more then likely worn out).
Ken Dryden proclaimed that if Canada didn't sweep the series "It would be a dark day for Canada".
The earth shook on September 7th and the sun dimmed over Canada as the Soviets came in and humiliated the Canadians 7-3 in Montreal, Canada rebounded with a 4-1 win. The third game was a 4-4 tie. But The Soviets put a licking on the Canadians 5-3 and were boo'd off of the ice in Vancouver.
Things didn't get much better in Russia. Canada jumped to a 3-0 lead in the 5th game only to see the Russians rally to a 5-4 win.
Trailing 3-1-1 in the series there were rumours of a parliamentary investigation into Canadian Hockey. the knives were out for the Canadians by papers across the country. The Soviets had shown a different style of hockey. A cohesive game built around 5 men units that emphasized creativity, skill, and discipline.
The NHL did find a way to rally, and adopted a almost us against the world attitude. They rallied to 2 straight wins, and in game 8 with the game tied, the Soviets declared that they were going to claim the series win. Alan Eagleson snapped and fired the bird seen around the world. Paul Henderson scored late (a goal that wasn't seen on Soviet TV due to an outage) with 34 seconds left. While Canadians celebrated and the NHL breathed a sigh of relief, they didn't realize that while the NHL had dominate teams, the Soviets were going to go on a dominate period of hockey that would rival any NHL dynasty.
Trivia
The World Hockey Association is founded by Dennis Murphy and American Basketball Association founder Gary Davidson.
After scoring 604 goals for the Black Hawks in 15 seasons. Bobby Hull signs with the Winnipeg Jets.
Among NHL'ers that signed with the AHL are Boston's Gerry Cheevers, John Mackenzie and Derek Sanderson. Chicago's Andre Lacroix and Montreal's JC Trembley.
The NHL adds the New York Islanders and Atlanta Flames. Atlanta joins the West Division, the Islanders join the East.
The Islanders user their number 1 pick to draft Billy Harris .
The Hall of Fame inducts 5 new members, Jean Beliveau, Bernie Geoffrion, Hap Holmes, Gordie Howe and Hooley Smith.
Boston's Johnny Bucyk scores his 1000th point on November 9th.
On November 22, Pittsburgh scores 5 goals in 2 minutes and 7 seconds against St Louis.
On Jan 28th Detroit's Henry Boucha scores a goal 6 seconds into a game against the Canadians to set a new NHL record.
On Feb 13, 1973 Frank Mahovlich scores his 1000th point, on March 21 he notches his 500th goal.
Montreal finishes in first place in the East with a 52-10-16 record on the back of Ken Dryden's league leading 2.26 gaa.
Phil Esposito of the Bruins leads the league with 55 goals and 75 assists to win the triple crown.
Mickey Redmond becomes the first Red Wing to score 50 points.
The Islanders begin to steal Rangers fans but have a miserable first year winning 12 games.
In the West Chicago takes first place. They also debut the MPH line of Dennis Hull, Jim Pappin and Pit Martin.
Stan Mikita puts up 83 points in 57 games and scores his 1000th point on Oct 15th.
The Atlanta Flames hire Bernie Geoffrion to coach. They are lead by Bobby Leiter with 26 goals and get yeoman goaltending from Phil Myre and Daniel Bouchard but still finish second last in the West.
Philadelphia ushers in the Broad Street Bully era as they have 4 players in the top 5 for Penalty Minutes. Dave "The Hammer" Schultz tops the league with 259 minutes leads the way but is closely followed by Bob "Hound Dog" Kelly, Andre "Moose" Dupont and Don "Big Bird" Saleski.
Twelve teams compete in the WHA including New England, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Ottawa, Quebec, and New York in the East. Winnipeg, Houston, L.A, Alberta, Minnesota and Chicago form the West.
The New England Whalers take the East.
Bobby Hull powers the Jets to the West Division crown while scoring 51 goals.
In the WHA semifinals, New England harpoons Cleveland in 5 and Winnipeg ejects Houston in 4 games.
The New England Whalers becomes the first WHA Champions beating the Jets in 5 games.
Andre Lacroix wins the WHA scoring title with 124 points.
In the NHL playoffs Montreal defeats Buffalo in 6 games, while the Rangers destroy the weakened Bruins in 6 in the East. In the West Chicago beats St Louis in 5 and the Flyers beat up the North Stars in 6 games.
Montreal eliminates the Flyers in 5 games in the semi finals, while Chicago upsets the Rangers in 5 games.
The Canadians beat the Hawks in 6 high scoring games to capture their 17th Stanley Cup.
Yvan Cournoyer scores 25 points in the playoffs and takes the Conn Smythe.
Bobby Clarke takes home the Hart Trophy and the Lester B Pearson Award.
Buffalo's Gil Perrault takes the Lady Byng.
Ken Dryden wins the Vezina.
The Ranger's Steve Vickers scores 30 goals and wins the Calder.
Bobby Orr takes his 6th Norris Trophy.
Pittsburgh's Lowell Macdonald wins the Masterton.
Walter Bush Jr who bought NHL hockey to Minnesota accepts the Lester Patrick Trophy.
The Toronto Marlboros ride their smooth rich flavor to a Memorial Cup.
Future Flames coach and all around good guy Bob Johnson leads Minnesota to the NCAA Championship.
Ok, before I dive into this I have an admission. I grew up in Winnipeg, and while my Dad took me into see Bobby Hull with the Jets, and I had two of his banana curved hockey sticks, and he tousled a young Captains head and called him kid on the way to the ice. I grew up a Flyers fans, long before the Flames came to town, I was Orange and Black through and through. When I played hockey, I wanted to be Bobby Clarke, I was so happy when I was young when I got a front tooth knocked out playing hockey because I could grin with the gap tooth. I dreamed of being skilled like Bobby and be a on the edge jerk like Bobby. Unfortunately, I didn't have the skills. My first real memory is watching Bobby cradling the Cup like a Baby. I also have an admission. I was a huge fan of Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, I loved the Flyers brand of mayhem and blood shed.
When you look at the Flyer's their rise was nothing short of amazing. From the expansion basement the Flyers emerged as one of the most dangerous teams in the league by 1973. They were also the most hated team in the league, and teams also grudgingly respected them, they had to, if they didn't the Flyers would beat it into them. They were also a team staffed by colorful stars and crazy characters, they were the Big Bad Bruins dialed to 11.
The Flyers went 30-16-12 in 1973-74, then to put an emphasis on it, they thumped the Bruins in the finals to win their first cup in 6 games. With that win they became the first non original post expansion team to win the cup. The Flyers were more then a goon team, from Bobby Clarke to Bill Barber to Rich McLeish, the Flyers could put the puck in the net, while Bernie Parent would keep the puck out. To their bombastic owner and their brilliant coach Fred Shero, the flyers had it all and weren't afraid to show it on the ice.
More then anything the Flyers were built for brutality, Freddy Shero was fond of saying "If you keep the opposition on the ice they can't score", and the Flyers were good at it wracking up 1760 minutes in penalties, almost 400 minutes more then the next team. But they were willing to do it because they had the best penalty kill in the league and the NHL's best goalie as Bernie Parent won the Conn Smythe and the Vezina.
But beyond the scoring the Flyers had a different kind of pop in the lineup. Dave Schultz set a record of 348 minutes in penalties, but he also provided offence scoring 20 goals in his rookie year.
What went on was organized and legalized mayhem "Pro Sports" Shero said "the strong survive and the weak fall by the wayside"
Hockey purists denounced the flyers as goons, enemies called them phonies, but the Flyers didn't care, their system of destruction was scientific and designed by Shero and for two years the Flyers dominated the NHL.
But lets be honest, the purists could sniff, their critics could call them phonies, the NHL could warn the Flyers that they were skating on thin ice. But the Flyers made the league money, they were the must-see team. They sold out arenas from LA to Montreal and in between, and they won winning the cup in 1973-74 and 1974-75. Years earlier Conn Smythe created the golden rule of hockey "If you can’t beat em in the alley, you can't beat em on the ice". The Flyers embodied that.
Trivia
The Hall of fame inducts 5, Doug Harvey, Chick Rayner and Tommy Smith among them.
With the first pick in the amateur draft the Islanders grab Denis Potvin from Ottalwa of the OHA.
Gordie Howe ends his retirement and joins his sons Mark and Marty in Houston.
Montreal's goalie Ken Dryden retires for a year to act as a law clerk in order to earn his law degree, he's paid minimum wage.
Vancouver's Wayne Maki dies of Brain cancer at the age of 29.
Buffalo's Tim Horton, a 24 year veteran dies in a car crash.
A team of WHA All-Stars take on the Soviet Union in a 8 games summit series. Canada is lead by Bobby Hull who scores 7 goals in the tournament, however the Soviets win the series 4-3-1.
Montreal's Henri Richard scores his 1,000th point on December 20th.
Phil Esposito scores his 1000th point on Feb 15th
The Bruins win the East Division with a 52-17-9 record and score a breath taking 349 goals.
Phil Esposito leads the league in goals with 68 and points with 145 for the fourth straight year.
Without Ken Dryden, the Habs depend on the goaltending of Wayne Tomas,Bunny Larocque and Michel Plasse.
Alex Delvecchio becomes the coach of the Red Wings who finish 6th in the East.
The New York Islanders hire Al Arbour as their coach but finish last in the Easst.
In the West the Broad Street Bullies finish first with a 50-16-2 record.
Bernie Parent of the Flyers leads the league with a 1.89 gaa, an NHL record 57 wins and 12 shutouts.
Rookie Tom Lysiak leads the Flames in scoring with 64 and leads he Flames to the playoffs with 74 points.
The St Louis Blues miss the playoffs for the first time since they entered the league.
The Flyers Dave "The Hammer" Schultz leads the league with 348 penalty minutes.
In the WHA the New England Whalers win their second straight Eastern Division title.
The Toronto (Formerly Ottawa) Toros join the WHA while Philadelphia drops out.
Cleveland cruises to third place in the East on the strength of Ralph Backstroms 33 goals, Chicago finishes in 4th place. Jacques Plante takes over the Nordiques and misses the playoffs, New Jersey (Formerly New York) teeters near extinction and finish last.
In the West Houston finishes in first as the Howe Line of Mark, and Marty and Gordie score 99 goals. The Minnesota Saints with the best offence in the league finish in second. Edmonton edges out Winnipeg for third place and Vancouver finishes in 5th place.
Mike Walton leads the league in scoring with 117 points.
In the WHA playoffs, Houston sweeps Winnipeg 4-0 and beats Minnesota 4-2. Chicago squeeks by New Jersey in 7 and Toronto in 7. The WHA finals are never in doubt as Houston crushes New England in 4 games outscoring them 22-9.
In the NHL playoffs, the Bruins sweep Toronto, while the Rangers take out Montreal in the East. In the West, Chicago beats LA, and the Flyers engage in a wild series with Atlanta eliminating them.
In the semi finals, the Bruins rebound from a 2-1 deficit against Chicago to win in 6 games. The Flyers eke by the Rangers in 7 games.
Bernie Parent is perfect in game 6 pitching a 1-0 shutout as the Flyers win their first Stanley Cup.
Rick MacLeish leads all skaters in playoff scoring with 13 goals and 22 points.
Bernie Parent throws 2 shutouts and a 2.02 playoff gaa to take the Conn Smythe.
Phil Esposito wins his second Hart Trophy.
Boston's Johnny Bucyk wins the Lady Byng.
Bernie Parent and Tony Esposito share the Vezina Trophy.
Dennis Potvin slips past Tom Lysiak of Atlanta to take the Calder.
Bobby Orr wins the Norris Trophy for the 7th straight.
Phil Esposito wins the Lester B Pearson.
Henri Richard wins the Masterton Trophy.
Alex Delvicchio shares the Lester Patrick Trophy.
Philadelphia Fred Shero wins the first Jack Adams awards.
He originally played left wing. He played a little on defence beginning in the late '70s, but didn't convert full-time until after the Whalers joined the NHL in 1979.
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When the New York Islanders entered the NHL in 1972-73 they were instantly immersed in a cross town rival in the New York Rangers. This wasn't a friendly rivalry or an on ice rivalry, this was all about the elder NHL franchise putting the screws to their younger brother.
When the Islanders entered it came with a significant franchise fee. Then the Rangers milked the Islanders for millions to cover territorial and and television indemnity. Islanders owner Ray Roe resented being bilked but he had no choice but to pay. (For anyone that believes that there will be a second franchise in Toronto. The Leafs would literally kill that in the grave by making it unaffordable).
The rivalry was further aggravated by the Ranger's dominance. In the early 70's the Rangers were one of the most powerful clubs in the NHL and they took great joy in trashing the Islanders at both the Nassau Coliseum and Madison Square Gardens.
Things began to change though in 1974-75, the Islanders made the playoffs for the first time, and fate would have it that they would face their cross town rivals in a best of 3 series.
Most experts and even Islander fans expected this to be a short but painful series for the upstarts, but something funny happened on the way to Broadway.
Game 1 followed the expected script, after 2 periods the Rangers were up 2-0, but goals by Bill Harris and Jean Potvin evened the scales. Then with 6 minutes remaining Big Clark Gilles fired a puck off of the Rangers goal post and into the net and the Islanders had one of their biggest wins in their short history.
Game 2 at Nassau was nasty, both in terms of penalties and on the score board as the Rangers mopped the ice with the Islanders and beat them 8-3. In game 3 in the Gardens the plucky upstarts roared out to a 3-0 lead and the Rangers fans seemed ready to riot.
But the Ranger's to their credit chipped back into the game on two goals by Bill Fairbairn. Then with 17 seconds last Steve Vickers beat Billy Smith to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Sudden Death Overtime was really sudden as the Islanders scored off of the opening faceoff on a deflection by Denis Potvin and the Islanders were suddenly the toast of New York and the Rangers and their fans were stunned.
The Islanders went into the second round and took on the Pens. The Islanders fell behind 3-0, but completed the rare comeback from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Pens. They then moved on to take on the Champion Flyers. Once again the Islanders lost the first 3 games, but rallied back to tie the series before the Flyers eliminated them with a 4-1 beating in game 7.
For the Flyers they went on to beat Buffalo in 6 games to win their second straight cup. For the Islanders their ascension to become one of the greatest dynasties in the NHL was just around the corner.
Trivia
The NHL expands again welcoming the Kansas City Scouts and the Washington Capitals.
The NHL Realigns to 4 divisions and two conferences. The Patrick and Smythe Division in the West in the Clarence Campbell Division and the Norris and Adam Divisions make up the Wales Conference.
The Hall of Fame inducts 6 including players Billy Butch, Ace Coulter, Tom Dunderdale and Dickie Moore.
The NHL introduces a 2 minute penalty for players who do not proceed immediately to the Penalty Box.
The Capitals take Greg Joly with the number 1 pick who becomes one of the greatest draft flops in NHL History.
The Flyers dominate the Patrick Division racking up 113 points.
The Vancouver Canucks win the Smythe Division with 83 points.
Montreal wins the Norris Division with 113 points.
Buffalo wins the Adams Division with 113 points.
Bernie Parent of the Flyers leads all goalies with 44 wins and a 2.03 gaa.
The Rangers trade Vic Hadfield to Pittsburgh, sign Derek Sanderson and name Gille Villemure as their starter.
Bernie Geoffrion steps down as the coach in Atlanta, while rookie Eric Vail scores 39 goals.
The Scouts are dreadful and win just 15 games, but they get 26 goals from rookie Wilf Paiement.
Ken Dryden returns to Montreal after a year of making minimum wage as a Law Clerk and wins 47 games.
Guy Lafleur emerges as a star as he scores 52 goals and 119 while looking so good.
The Washington Capitals set NHL records for losses, longest losing streak (17), longest road losing streak (37 games) and goals against (446) as they finish with a dreadful 8-67-5 record.
In Buffalo the French Connection comprised of Rick MArtin, Gil Perreault and Rene Robert score 131 goals and the Sabres set an NHL record with 6 30 goal scorers.
Don Cherry steps behind the bench in Boston. Phil Esposito leads the league with 61 goals while Bobby Orr leads the league with 135 points. This is the last glory year for Bobby Orr as his knees begin to give out and he only plays 36 games in the next 3 season and ends his career in Chicago.
The Seals edge closer to extinction and win just 19 games.
On Dec 22, Phil Esposito scores his 500th goal.
Philadelphia's Dave Schultz sets a new record with 472 penalty minutes.
The WHA realigns into 3 divisions, The Canadian, Western and Eastern.
Gordie Howe and his sons lead Houston to the Western Division Crown.
The Quebec Nordiques take the Canadian Division.
The New England Whalers take the Eastern Division.
Bobby Hull forms a line with Anders Hedbery and Ulf Nilsson as Hull scores 77 goals for the Jets.
Andrei Lacriox leads all scorers in the WHA with 157 points.
In the Playoffs Houston beats Cleveland and San Diego to reach the WHA Finals.
The Quebec Nordiques reach the finals by beating Phoenix and Minnesota.
Houston sweeps Quebec 4-0 outscoring them 20-7 to win their second straight Avco Trophy.
In the NHL opening round Toronto beats LA 2-1, Chicago takes out Boston 2-1, The Penguins oust St Louis 2-0, The Islanders upset the Rangers 2-1.
In the Quarterfinals the Flyers brutalize the Leafs 4-0, Buffalo beats Chicago 4-1, The Habs beat the Canucks 4-1 and the Islanders beat Pittsburgh 4-3.
In the Semi Finals The Sabers shock Montreal in 6 and the Flyers edge by the Islanders 4-3.
The Flyers beat the Sabers in 6 for their second straight cup as Bob "Hound Dog" Kelly scores 11 seconds into the third period and Bernie Parent is perfect in a 2-0 shutout.
Bernie Parent wins his second straight Smythe Trophy.
Bobby Clarke wins the Hart Trophy.
Atlanta rookie Eric Vail wins the Calder Trophy.
Bobby Orr sets a record for consecutive trophies with his 8th straight Norris Trophy, Orr also takes the Lester B Pearson Award.
Don Luce of Buffalo wins the Masterton.
Kings coach Bob Pulford wins the Jack Adams award.
Lead by OHA scoring leader Bruce Boudreau, the Tornton Marlies smoke their competition and win the Memorial Cup.
Regina Goalie Ed Staniowski is the first winner of the Canadian Major Junior Player of the Year Award.
Michigan Tech nerds their way to the NCAA Championship stomping on Minnesota.
By this point Hockey Purists cringed at the success of the Broad Street Bullies and were depressed at the thought of the Flyers winning a third straight cup and enshrining themselves into dynasty status.
NHL officials secretly hoped that another club would beat the league's villians at their own game, and this triggered what would be an arms race among NHL franchise as they searched for goons over players.
Nobody believed that the Canadians would be the team to beat the Flyers, frankly the Flyers had beaten the stylish Canadians into submission with Dave "The Hammer" Schultz leading the way.
Jacques Lemaire noted that the Flyers would start early beating up the Canadians in exhibition games to set the tone for the season, but in 1975-76 the Canadians joined the arms race bringing up goons like Flenn Goldup, Rich Chartraw and Sean Shanahan in the exhibition game and they stood up to the Flyers.
The Canadians continued to be a highly skilled team but they had found some bite and refused to be intimidated. When trouble would erupt the Canadians would flex their muscle using big skilled players like Larry Robinson who weren't afraid to stand up and brawl.
During the season the Canadians dominated the Norris Division running up a 58-11-11 record and excelled in every phase of the game. Guy LaFleur led the league with 125 points, Ken Dryden won the Vezina again. The Canadians went into the playoffs on a high and had no trouble getting past the Black Hawks then whipping the Islanders in 5 games.
Over in the Patrick the Flyers took first place with a 51-13-16 mark. Bobby Clarke led the league with 89 assists and won the Hart Trophy. His team mates continued to supply the mayhem. But in the playoffs the Flyers struggled against the Leafs in a 7 game series, then went against the Big Bad Bruins in 5 physical games. But the Flyers were clearly worn down.
The Stanley Cup finals was framed as a battle of good against evil, style against goonery. The Canadians took both of their home games to open the Finals. Then went to Philadelphia and refused to be intimidated. Even Kate Smith couldn't change the Flyers fortunes as the Canadians skated the Flyers into the ice to complete the sweep.
Most of the hockey fans outside of Philly and the NHL's public relations office were over the moon that the Habs had won and made the Flyers style obsolete. Little did anyone realize that this started the rise of one of the greatest dynasty's in NHL history.
Trivia
The Hall of fame inducts 7 players including George Armstrong, Ace Bailey, Gordie Drillon, Glenn Hall and Pierre Pilote.
The Stanley Cup Champions trade up for the first pick in the draft and pick future Calgary Flames fan favourite Mel Bridgeman.
Marcel Dionne demands a trade from the Red Wings and gets traded to the Kings for Dan Maloney, Terry Harper and a pick.
The Rangers retool which includes selling Ed Giacomin to the Wings.
On Oct 30th John Bucyk of the Bruins joins the expanding 500 goal club.
In one of the biggest trades in NHL history on Nov 7th, the Rangers trade Jean Ratelle and Brad Park to the Bruins for Phil Esposito.
On Feb 7th Toronto's Darryl Sittler sets an NHL record when he scores 6 goals and 10 points in an 11-4 route of the Bruins.
Bernie Parent of the Flyers suffers a back injury and Wayne Stephenson takes over and wins 40 games.
The Flames finish in third place in the Patrick Division lead by a 34 goal performance by Curt Bennett and 82 points from Tom Lysiak.
Phil Esposito scores just 35 goals and 83 points for the Rangers.
The Hawks win the Smythe division with a 32-30-17 record.
The Canucks finish in 2nd place in the Smythe led by Phil Maloney's 37 goals.
Kansas finishes last in the Smythe with a pathetic 12 win season but lead the league in coaching changes.
The Canadians take the Norris Division.
Montreal's Ken Dryden leads the NHL in wins with 42 and a 2.03 gaa.
Detroit fails to make the playoffs for the 6th straight year.
Milt Schmidt goes 3-28-5 coaching the Capitals, he's replaced by Tommy McVie who goes 8-31-5.
Buffalo wins the Adam's division as goalie Gilles Gilbert sets a NHL record 17 straight games.
The Flyers Reggie Leach leads the league with 61 goals.
Guy Lafleur of the Canadians leads all scorers with 125 points.
Steve Durbano skates with the Pens and the Scouts and leads the league with 370 PIM. He then releases a dove at center ice and yells "Peace".
In the WHA Minnesota and Denver fold. Vancouver moves to Calgary and renames themselves the Cowboys. Cinncinnati enters the league as Chicago exits the league.
Winnipeg wins the Canadian Division as Hull, Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg combine for 141 points and 342 points.
Indianapolis takes the East Division with a 35-39-6 record.
Houston leads the league, Gordie Howe puts up 102 points at the age of 47.
Marc Tardiff of Quebec leads the league with 71 goals, he leads the league with 147 points.
The Calgary Cowboys and Quebec Nordique engage in a vicious brawl in their quarterfinals matchup, after Cowboy Rick Jodzio injures Quebec Star Marc Tardiff. A 20 minute brawl ensues that brings the Police and spectators onto the ice. Cowboys coach Joe Crozier was banned for the rest of the series, and Jodzio banned from the league, but he returned next season.
After beating Edmonto 5-0 and Calgary 4-1 the Jets sweep Houston to win the Avco Cup.
In the opening round of the playoffs, Buffalo beats St Louis 2-1, Toronto beats the Pens 2-1, The Isles beat the Canucks 2-0 and LA sweeps the Flames 2-0.
In the quarterfinals the Bruins beat the Kings 4-3 while Philly beats the Leafs 4-3. The Habs sweep Chicago and the Isles take out the Sabres in 6 games.
In the semi's the Habs crush the Islanders in 5 andthe Flyers thrash the Bruins in 5.
The Stanley Cup finals is a clash of styles between the skilled Canadians and the mongol horde from Philly.
The Canadians win their 18th cup when they sweep the Flyers.
Reg Leatch wins the Conn Smythe trophy after scoring 19 playoff goals.
Bobby Clark wins his third and last Hart Trophy.
Boston's Jean Ratelle wins the Lady Byng.
Ken Dryden wins the Vezina.
Islanders rookie Bryan Trottier edges his team mate goalie Chico Resch for the Calder.
Denis Potvin wins the Norris, ending the reign of Bobby Orr.
Brad Gilbert wins the Masterton, while Stan Mikita receives the Lester Patrick.
The Soviet Red Army team tours NHL playing 4 games, one of the greatest hockey games ever played was the New Years eve 3-3 tie against the Canadians. The Flyers save the NHL and hand the Red Army their first defeat by beating them up on the ice and the score board 4-1. the Red Army protests the rough play of the Flyers by walking off of the ice.
The Soviet Wings team plays 4 games, losing one game 12-6 to the Sabres.
Guy Lafleur receives the peer voted Lester B. Pearson.
Don Cherry wins the Jack Adam's trophy.
The Soviets win their 5th straight Olympic Gold medal.
Canada opts to boycott for the second straight Olympics to protest the use of "Professionals" skating for Eastern Bloc countries.
Hamilton wins the Memorial Cup.
Peter Lee of Ottawa is named the CMJL player of the league.
Minnesota wins the NCAA title beating Michigan Tech.
