Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
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The night 34 years ago the NHL changed for good
Just an excellent reminiscing by Kevin Kurz of the Athletic.
Game 6 Wales CF, Flyers/Canadiens
All hell breaks loose before the game...no officials on the ice to stop it. Claude Lemieux right in the middle of it all of course. Ed Hospodar was suspended for the entirety of the rest of the playoffs.
Dave Brown and Chris Nilan scrapped for what felt like 15 minutes.
Pure and utter chaos.
Quote:
A glance at the box score of Game 6 of the Wales Conference finals on May 14, 1987, when Philadelphia advanced to the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-3 win over Montreal, doesn’t reveal anything extraordinary. Rick Tocchet’s third-period goal broke a 3-3 tie, and eventual Conn Smythe-winning goalie Ron Hextall made 29 saves to help the Flyers advance.
What happened before the game, though, has resonated for more than three decades.
“The National Hockey League sank to a new low last night, and that’s an (extreme) low indeed,” wrote Philadelphia Inquirer sports editor Frank Dolson. “Those were major hockey league players out there making a mockery of their sport.”
Don Cherry, the acerbic Canadian broadcaster, said at the time: “I don’t mind the odd brawl, but I didn’t like that.”
Claude Lemieux, Canadiens forward: Shayne Corson and I liked to stay on the ice late and have a long warmup, and I was always the last guy to get off. It was kind of a superstition thing — flip a puck in the empty net. And that was our routine.
Mark Howe, Flyers defenseman: The whole thing started because of superstition.
Lemieux: This thing had picked up and became I guess somewhat important where (Canadiens captain) Bob Gainey had said to me and Corson, “You guys, don’t mess around out there. Just come off the ice and once they leave, you can go about your superstition.” Something like that. And so we decided we were going to hide behind the curtain, which is what we did. We saw them leave and we asked the security guard, “Are they gone?” And he’s like, “Yeah.”
Dave Poulin, Flyers captain: They were hiding like little kids behind their curtain, so our guys hid like little kids behind our curtain, and they went out to meet them.
Lemieux: (Hospodar) was a tough guy, but I flipped him over and I’m on top of him like, “What are you doing?” And then Chico was like, “What’s going on? What are you guys doing?” And I’m like, “What are you guys doing?” Then it was too late, and I saw, oh my gosh, all the players are coming on the ice, and it was over.
Nilan: (Flyers defenseman Kjell) Samuelsson is kind of looking at me. I know he’s a big guy, it’s not like I was scared of Kjell Samuelsson because he was big. That didn’t bother me at all. Am I going to waste my time fighting this guy, who doesn’t fight? I knew this wasn’t it. Sure enough, both dressing rooms started trickling out, and then I saw big Brownie obviously come out with no jersey on. And, OK, here we go.
Morganti: Dave Brown was the king. He was the best fighter I ever saw.
Brown: I always took my jersey off to cool off after warmups or in between periods. I had it off, and I thought, why should I put it back on if we’re going back out there to fight? I just put my elbow pads on, if I fall down. We went to look for whoever we had to match up with, and I knew Nilan was my guy, because he was their tough guy, so I went and looked for him.
Nilan: We went at it. Then we grabbed, and then we’d go again. At one time we’re swinging away, and I went to my knees and got back up, and then we both rested again. He was leaning on my shoulder, he had his head in behind my head, by my ear. And he goes, “Have you had enough?” And I said “Nope,” and I just ####ing hauled off and threw another shot, and off we went again.
Brown: I think that started leading to where we are now. It was another factor that (reduced) fighting. Before that, we used to brawl probably three or four times a year. I think they knew at some point that they were going to have to stop the brawls if they were going to be able to show this on national TV. They didn’t want to have that kind of reputation, because they didn’t think they could grow the game, probably — and they’re probably right.
I witnessed several bench-clearing brawls between the Flames and Oilers in that era, up close from the stands. No doubt getting that stuff out of the game was necessary to grow TV audiences. However, as a live spectacle it was pretty amazing.
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
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Dad took me to a Calgary Centennials game in the 70s - I think the opposition was Victoria Cougars. They had a huge brawl in the warm-ups and the game was cancelled.
Poulin: In the little washroom in Montreal in the old Forum, (Hospodar) is shaving and he’s actually showered and his hair is combed perfectly. He looks like a little schoolboy angel. And I walk back in, and he asks, “Poulie, I’m just double-checking, I’m not in the lineup, right?” I said, “You weren’t in the lineup before the game, Eddie, you didn’t work your way into it.”
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Dad took me to a Calgary Centennials game in the 70s - I think the opposition was Victoria Cougars. They had a huge brawl in the warm-ups and the game was cancelled.
My dad was at a London Knights game in the 70s when the players climbed into the stands and started beating on people. He was subpoenaed to appear at the trial as a witness.
The screenplay for Slapshot was written by a sports reporter and almost everything in the movie was inspired by real events.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
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My dad was at a London Knights game in the 70s when the players climbed into the stands and started beating on people. He was subpoenaed to appear at the trial as a witness.
IIRC, I saw the Sutter twins go after fans at a Wranglers game.
Not disagreeing but he was one of the best fighters the game has ever seen.
One tough son of a bitch. Him and Tim Hunter went a few times, with Tim holding his own.
timbit likely has some stories about Brownie.
Brown broke Stu Grimson’s face when Stu came into the league. Brown used to have one sleeve of his jersey altered so it was so right opponents couldn’t grab it. Some other guys made theirs so loose it didn’t matter, they could still swing even if the sleeve was being gripped.
IIRC, I saw the Sutter twins go after fans at a Wranglers game.
Hahahahaha, my maternal grandfather told me stories of the antics the Sutter brothers would get up to. He despised them all, thought the whole family was dirty. He couldn't stand Grace (the family matriarch); the way he told it she'd damn near start throwing fists at anyone in the stands who dared say anything negative about her boys.
Years ago I was part of the WHL officials mentoring program and got to follow around a linesman before a Hitmen game. This included being on the ice in warms up in case anything started up. I asked him what I should do if a fight broke out and was told bluntly to get the hell off the ice as fast as possible. /cool story
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Last edited by FireGilbert; 06-16-2021 at 08:54 PM.
Brown broke Stu Grimson’s face when Stu came into the league. Brown used to have one sleeve of his jersey altered so it was so right opponents couldn’t grab it. Some other guys made theirs so loose it didn’t matter, they could still swing even if the sleeve was being gripped.
Stu had beaten Brown in the previous game, but broke a bone in his right hand.
He should not have been dressed for that game. Unfair advantage that Brown took advantage of...
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The night 34 years ago the NHL changed for good
