Nostalgia thread

[Pfeifer]

With not much to talk about it got me thinking about my definition of the glory days in the NHL. So I ask what was your favorite time in the NHL and what were some of you defining moments as a fan. My earliest memories were Lanny McDonald drinking from the cup with that huge mustache. I remember watching Lemieux win back to back. One major difference was there was an identifiable star on most teams and it had a different feeling. I miss 90's style hockey.

[statquo]

Avs/Wings playoffs of the 90s were what hockey was about.

[Halladay]

Early 90's, Leafs had some elite teams. The great one himself slashes the hell outta Dougy Gilmour, Kerry Fraser "didn't see it". That was the Leafs last real cup chance. Go back and look at the replay...tell me Fraser didn't see it. This is legendary among Leafs fans. Guess who scored right after this happened?

[GibberSquad]

The Great One?

Or was that a rhetorical question? haha

[notoriousbig21]

Yea TOR was up 3-2 too right? Then went on to lose game 7. Wouldve been an epic TOR MTL Stanley Cup too.

I miss the NHL on FOX too. Laser puck...haha

[Pfeifer]

Fraser was the worst back then. He would get cussed out every time in Vancouver by the fans. Funny thing is he was the best ref in the NHL when he retired. I just loved that era, there was a real personality to the game. I think my favorite time as a fan was 94' cause I'm a Canucks fan, but the years prior and up until around 98' the NHL was prime. I loved watching guys like Scott Stevens, Doug Gilmour, Pat Lafontaine, Ray Bourque, Mike Modano, Joe Nieuendyke, Gary Roberts, Al MacInnes, Trevor Linden, Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Cam Neely, Larry Murphy, Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman, I could go on forever it seems. There is no way fans identify with this many stars today. Those were the days when the Canucks could miss the playoffs and I could watch everybody and enjoy it with stars everywhere.

I remember Domi elbowing Niedermeyer and Stevens going nuts in the box. The battles between Neely and Ulf were epic. Does anybody remember Dale Hunters elbow, I can't remember on who but it was nuts. Whoever mentioned the wings/avs series, that was prob one of the best rivalries ever in pro sports.

[statquo]

Fraser was the worst back then. He would get cussed out every time in Vancouver by the fans. Funny thing is he was the best ref in the NHL when he retired. I just loved that era, there was a real personality to the game. I think my favorite time as a fan was 94' cause I'm a Canucks fan, but the years prior and up until around 98' the NHL was prime. I loved watching guys like Scott Stevens, Doug Gilmour, Pat Lafontaine, Ray Bourque, Mike Modano, Joe Nieuendyke, Gary Roberts, Al MacInnes, Trevor Linden, Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Cam Neely, Larry Murphy, Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman, I could go on forever it seems. There is no way fans identify with this many stars today. Those were the days when the Canucks could miss the playoffs and I could watch everybody and enjoy it with stars everywhere.

I remember Domi elbowing Niedermeyer and Stevens going nuts in the box. The battles between Neely and Ulf were epic. Does anybody remember Dale Hunters elbow, I can't remember on who but it was nuts. Whoever mentioned the wings/avs series, that was prob one of the best rivalries ever in pro sports.

pavel bure's elbow on shane churla in the 94 playoffs is one of the worst i ever saw.

[ink]

Great thread idea Pfeifer. I go back about 10 years further, and my all time favourite series was when the Oilers broke through and finally stopped the Islanders' Stanley Cup streak. Not that I hated the Isles, just that I idolized Gretzky, Messier, Coffey, and co. IIRC that was the year BEFORE Gretzky obliterated every scoring record in the books. It was like a dream come true for a hockey fan growing up to see a player and a team seemingly score at will. I loved Sather's line when his team was criticized for playing no D. He just shrugged in his aloof way and said "they can't do much against us if we don't let them touch the puck".

Also on tape I've seen a lot of games from the 60s and there were some spectacular rivalries, especially the Black Hawks and the Leafs, or the Hawks and the Canadiens. Foster Hewitt on crackly old archival tapes saying "Hull over to Wharham, Wharhum to Mikita, Mikita to Hull, scores!!" I've seen a lot of old tape because of work.

[Halladay]

The Great One?

Or was that a rhetorical question? haha

Gretzky.

Yea TOR was up 3-2 too right? Then went on to lose game 7. Wouldve been an epic TOR MTL Stanley Cup too.

I miss the NHL on FOX too. Laser puck...haha

Yup, the Leafs were pretty damn good that year and was up 3-2 in the series IIRC. They had L.A on the ropes. The Leafs had some stacked teams prior to the last lockout as well but never came as close as those teams 20 years ago. The laser puck was awful lol. Awful but funny. The comet tail it had behind it was extremely distracting. It was playing Wayne Gretzkys video game on N64.

Fraser was the worst back then. He would get cussed out every time in Vancouver by the fans. Funny thing is he was the best ref in the NHL when he retired. I just loved that era, there was a real personality to the game. I think my favorite time as a fan was 94' cause I'm a Canucks fan, but the years prior and up until around 98' the NHL was prime. I loved watching guys like Scott Stevens, Doug Gilmour, Pat Lafontaine, Ray Bourque, Mike Modano, Joe Nieuendyke, Gary Roberts, Al MacInnes, Trevor Linden, Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Cam Neely, Larry Murphy, Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman, I could go on forever it seems. There is no way fans identify with this many stars today. Those were the days when the Canucks could miss the playoffs and I could watch everybody and enjoy it with stars everywhere.

I remember Domi elbowing Niedermeyer and Stevens going nuts in the box. The battles between Neely and Ulf were epic. Does anybody remember Dale Hunters elbow, I can't remember on who but it was nuts. Whoever mentioned the wings/avs series, that was prob one of the best rivalries ever in pro sports.

Even if Fraser was great 99.9% of the time, that one single missed inside call defined him in Leafs nation. Domi got Niedermayer pretty damn good but he got Ulf way,way worse when Tie was on the NYR. That sucker punch was brutal. Had he done that today the suspension would have been a whole season. Hunter and C.Lemieux were notorious for that crap too, Lemieux was the best at it, he'd cheapshot someone then immediately turtle.

[Pfeifer]

Lemieux on Draper I believe but Claude Lemieux was a hell of a hockey player too.

I remember Teemu Selanne could light up the whole arena with his attitude. I believe he had 72 goals or something like that and the hat trick when he shot the glove was awesome.

Alexander Mogilny is one of the great forgotten players. When he was in buffalo and his first few years in Vancouver he was amazing.

Phil Housley was one of the best skaters I ever saw, such a smart defenceman.

I'm interested to see what you guys think of Trevor Linden as a player. Personally I think he was a great leader and for a few years a very good player. Leaving Vancouver was so bad for his career and he wasn't the same till he came back.

[Pfeifer]

pavel bure's elbow on shane churla in the 94 playoffs is one of the worst i ever saw.

Also Peca on Selanne i think, was nasty. Right in the middle of the ice.

[Halladay]

Remember when Grezkys daughter was a cute and innocent young girl? now she's just a **** lol.

[KingsnQueens7]

Fraser was the worst back then. He would get cussed out every time in Vancouver by the fans. Funny thing is he was the best ref in the NHL when he retired. I just loved that era, there was a real personality to the game. I think my favorite time as a fan was 94' cause I'm a Canucks fan, but the years prior and up until around 98' the NHL was prime. I loved watching guys like Scott Stevens, Doug Gilmour, Pat Lafontaine, Ray Bourque, Mike Modano, Joe Nieuendyke, Gary Roberts, Al MacInnes, Trevor Linden, Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Cam Neely, Larry Murphy, Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman, I could go on forever it seems. There is no way fans identify with this many stars today. Those were the days when the Canucks could miss the playoffs and I could watch everybody and enjoy it with stars everywhere.

I remember Domi elbowing Niedermeyer and Stevens going nuts in the box. The battles between Neely and Ulf were epic. Does anybody remember Dale Hunters elbow, I can't remember on who but it was nuts. Whoever mentioned the wings/avs series, that was prob one of the best rivalries ever in pro sports.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko7op...eature=related happens at 0:49. Dale hunter is on my shitlist for that. Also, why would his team sick up for him after something like that? It was dirty, and a low thing to do. Hunter did not have to do that and I will always remember him for that.

[Pfeifer]

Anybody remember Felix Potvin going toe to toe with Hextall? I thought Felix actually won that fight.

[Bramaca]

My nostalgia moment has less to do with actual game play. My favorite memory is collecting O-Pee-Chee hockey cards. I think the first real season I collected was 87' (?), it was the year that had Luc Robitaille's rookie card. And there was a cardboard card case that you could order (don't remember where from) and it looked like a locker. When you opened it up there was a slot for each team with their name beside and the teams were grouped into their divisions and conferences (Smythe Division, etc.). Trading cards at lunchtime trying to get the whole set.

Really miss being a kid.