HF Habs: A thread for the old fart that we are, 50 years old and counting, younger guy's feel free to chip in too

[Hansman]

Chico Resch was on 690 a few years ago talking about going to camp with the Habs., believe it would have been 1970 or 1971. The five other goaltenders in camp were Rogie Vachon, Ken Dryden, Phil Myre, Michel Plasse and Wayne Thomas so Chico was 6th on the depth chart. All 6 of those guys had NHL careers, two hall of famers. Chico had a nice long run with the Islanders. The Habs always seem to find quality netminders, a lot of legends have passed through the Habs net.

Many moons ago at the end of a game Chico Resch walked out to be interviewed by a female sportscaster.He was only wearing a white towel around his waist.When the interview was done Chico turned to walk back to his dressing room,the woman slapped him across the ass.Imagine that happening now ,peoples heads would explode.

 

[FerrisRox]

Many moons ago at the end of a game Chico Resch walked out to be interviewed by a female sportscaster.He was only wearing a white towel around his waist.When the interview was done Chico turned to walk back to his dressing room,the woman slapped him across the ass.Imagine that happening now ,peoples heads would explode.

To be fair, in the 70's, if your name was "Chico" there were different rules when it came to interacting with the ladies.

She was well within her rights, in that situation, to slap his ass.

 

[Habby4Life]

Habs were/are a religion in my house in Calgary.

Saturday night, dad, brother and I would watch La Soirée Du Hockey, never missed it.

Favorite habs moment as a kid, Dad and I were sitting in the right corner in 86 when Skrudland ended OT in 9 seconds. I was 15 at the time and never saw my dad that happy before. I’ll never forget that moment.

Other favorite moment, in 2016, I took Dad to MTL to see the habs leafs at the Molson center. He never been to MTL before. I surprised him, and told him the night before we were to leave, he had tears in his eyes. It was a great weekend.

 

[Scintillating10]

Team Canada got stuck with Rogie in the 1976 Canada Cup. He only lost one game 1-0.
With all the hall of famers on that team, it was Vachon who was named team MVP.

Vachon was good goalie also. We traded him for nil. I never understood why we couldn't get nothing for him.

 

[Lshap]

To be fair, in the 70's, if your name was "Chico" there were different rules when it came to interacting with the ladies.

She was well within her rights, in that situation, to slap his ass.

Yup, that name has quite the pedigree.

 

[Cournoyer12]

Habs were/are a religion in my house in Calgary.

Saturday night, dad, brother and I would watch La Soirée Du Hockey, never missed it.

Favorite habs moment as a kid, Dad and I were sitting in the right corner in 86 when Skrudland ended OT in 9 seconds. I was 15 at the time and never saw my dad that happy before. I’ll never forget that moment.

Other favorite moment, in 2016, I took Dad to MTL to see the habs leafs at the Molson center. He never been to MTL before. I surprised him, and told him the night before we were to leave, he had tears in his eyes. It was a great weekend.

You’re a great son!!!!!

 

[FerrisRox]

Vachon was good goalie also. We traded him for nil. I never understood why we couldn't get nothing for him.

It was such an odd trade because it reaped nothing, and yet the Canadiens dealt Vachon for four players.

Vachon, of course, had requested the trade, and had asked the Canadiens to move him somewhere he could be the starting net minder, so I had always assumed moving him to Los Angeles, in particular, was a bit of a favour, by why they took back the four, random, useless pieces that they did has never been clear.

 

[FerrisRox]

Favorite habs moment as a kid, Dad and I were sitting in the right corner in 86 when Skrudland ended OT in 9 seconds. I was 15 at the time and never saw my dad that happy before. I’ll never forget that moment.

My father missed that goal. He hadn't settled back into the couch yet. I was "allowed to stay up." It was a Sunday, and therefore a school day.

On one hand, of course, I was elated that the Canadiens had won the game, but on the other, I was disappointed because I had imagined a quadruple overtime classic that saw me staying up until the wee hours of the morning and that was snatched away before my father could find his way back to the couch.

 

[Scintillating10]

Habs were/are a religion in my house in Calgary.

Saturday night, dad, brother and I would watch La Soirée Du Hockey, never missed it.

Favorite habs moment as a kid, Dad and I were sitting in the right corner in 86 when Skrudland ended OT in 9 seconds. I was 15 at the time and never saw my dad that happy before. I’ll never forget that moment.

Other favorite moment, in 2016, I took Dad to MTL to see the habs leafs at the Molson center. He never been to MTL before. I surprised him, and told him the night before we were to leave, he had tears in his eyes. It was a great weekend.

Must been something when Skrudland scored you Montreal fan in Calgary

 

[Cournoyer12]

It was such an odd trade because it reaped nothing, and yet the Canadiens dealt Vachon for four players.

Vachon, of course, had requested the trade, and had asked the Canadiens to move him somewhere he could be the starting net minder, so I had always assumed moving him to Los Angeles, in particular, was a bit of a favour, by why they took back the four, random, useless pieces that they did has never been clear.

Tugging at my memory hear, Big Bird would later credit Noel Price for mentoring him in his time with the Vougaquers, excuse my public school spelling! Price was a chip in that trade so some good came from it.

 

[Chili]

What a decade for hockey the 1970`s was. The NHL must have finally realized the growing desire for cities to have teams and expanded by 6 teams in 1967 and 6 more in the early 1970`s. That still left room for the WHA to form and stick around for years.

When Bobby Hull signed on the dotted line it gave the new league instant credibility and a major gate attraction. It also changed the NHL pay scales as star players had a new lucrative option to bargain with. The Habs ended up losing Marc Tardif, JC Tremblay, Rejean Houle (who later came back) and eventually Frank Mahovlich among others. Thankfully Guy Lafleur stuck around!

The 1972 Summit Series also had a major impact on hockey, as players started taking training much more seriously. And European stars started coming over to play in the NHL and WHA. It was fun to have two major leagues to follow.

The first Canada Cup in 1976 was a great tournament, a chance for the first time to see the best players of several countries faceoff which the Olympic amateur status rules had prevented.

It was an incredible 10 years of evolution for the game. And back in the NHL, the Habs ruled with 6 Cups in the decade.

 

[Habs10Habs]

Kind of like 98. No Lemieux, Sakic or Karyia.

It's hard to believe that 98 Nagano was 26 years ago.

 

[1909]

Vachon was good goalie also. We traded him for nil. I never understood why we couldn't get nothing for him.

Habs have also traded Tony Esposito for not much. And the season after, (1969-1970) Habs did not make the Playoffs (with Vachon in net). First time since at least 20 years. Fortunately, a guy named Ken Dryden emerged the following season (1970-71) after been acquired from the Bruins.

 

[Hansman]

To be fair, in the 70's, if your name was "Chico" there were different rules when it came to interacting with the ladies.

She was well within her rights, in that situation, to slap his ass.

You are thinking of Rico,Rico Sauve....lol

 

[Scintillating10]

What a decade for hockey the 1970`s was. The NHL must have finally realized the growing desire for cities to have teams and expanded by 6 teams in 1967 and 6 more in the early 1970`s. That still left room for the WHA to form and stick around for years.

When Bobby Hull signed on the dotted line it gave the new league instant credibility and a major gate attraction. It also changed the NHL pay scales as star players had a new lucrative option to bargain with. The Habs ended up losing Marc Tardif, JC Tremblay, Rejean Houle (who later came back) and eventually Frank Mahovlich among others. Thankfully Guy Lafleur stuck around!

The 1972 Summit Series also had a major impact on hockey, as players started taking training much more seriously. And European stars started coming over to play in the NHL and WHA. It was fun to have two major leagues to follow.

The first Canada Cup in 1976 was a great tournament, a chance for the first time to see the best players of several countries faceoff which the Olympic amateur status rules had prevented.

It was an incredible 10 years of evolution for the game. And back in the NHL, the Habs ruled with 6 Cups in the decade.

A lot character in game then. No helmets, goalies no mask. It was tough game

 

[LaP]

Many moons ago at the end of a game Chico Resch walked out to be interviewed by a female sportscaster.He was only wearing a white towel around his waist.When the interview was done Chico turned to walk back to his dressing room,the woman slapped him across the ass.Imagine that happening now ,peoples heads would explode.

Society changes over time. The 1900 were different than the 1850. The 1950 were different than 1900. The 2k were different than 1950. And the society keeps changing now. As old farts let's no do like our parents and let the kids decide which type of society they want to create, It will be their not ours we'll be dead I remember when i was young the witch hunt against metal and video games. That was something ...

 

[habbubba]

It'a crazy that's there's no consistency to the location of the CH logo within the blue stripe. Look at Cournoyer's sweater, Lemaire's and Lapointe's. The CH is way high in the stripe, but then look at the player right behind Savard, and his logo is the proper placement.

If I ever need to find a needle in a haystack, I'm calling you, that's some attention to detail.

 

[habbubba]

As someone who went to his first NHL game in the 1950s and who has closely watched all the great stars from Howe/Richard to Orr /Esposito/ to Perreault / Lafleur to Gretzky / Coffey to Lemieux/ Jagr to Crosby / Ovechkin and now McDavid / MacKinnon, I can say conclusively that the players of today are, in general, far, far superior to their predecessors.. They’re bigger, stronger, faster and in better condition. They are simply better athletes. That point was first driven home in the 1972 Summit Series, when the Russian professional athletes almost beat our Professional hockey players. The game today is played at a much higher level and a greater pace. Just take a look at Montreal’s defence in the mid-1960’s Ted Harris, Terry Harper, J.C. Tremblay, Jean Guy Talbot etc. none of them could crack any current NHL roster: they would be too slow..

You mention dilution, I mention globalization. In the late 1960s, there were only a handful of Americans playing in the NHL with no Russians or other Europeans playing. There is far more talent available now. Try to picture the Canadiens, or any other NHL team, without their American and European players. For Montreal, that would mean no Caufield, Slafkovsky, Dvorak, Armia, White, Ylonen, Primeau, Struble or Harris currently on the team and no Hutson, Reinbacher, Mesar, Farrell, Mysak, Heineman, Kapanen, Tuch, Fowler or Engstrom on the horizon. That’s more ‘foreign’ players than played in the entire NHL in the late 1960s.

Jean Beliveau was, and will remain my favourite NHL player. But I am realistic about his comparative skill level to today's stars. I remember during a recent interview when the great Orr was asked to compare his skating to McDavid's, he just shook his head and smiled knowingly.

As I have previously noted: old hockey heroes are like old girlfriends, they tend to look better with the passage of time.

Looks to me that you went down one road and I'm on another going elsewhere. I was reminiscing about the thuggery, the no mercy aspect to the game then. Pipsqueaks then didn't last long enough growing up to make it. Players didn't hold up when encountering a smurf like they do today.

I was never one to compare players from different eras as it is Impossible to reach a conclusion without having a time machine and all things being equal where all players are nurtured and have the same lifestyle, equipment, training etc.

You've been around long enough to have seen the original expansion and the WHA to see the ramifications of thinning out the talent. When it was only the original 6 teams it was predominately Canadian players that grew up playing that type of hockey that was being played in the NHL. The Summit series opened up the eyes to the league and the players as the Soviets were far more dedicated to training and conditioning and that was good for hockey. I expected the Soviets to win the series knowing how they were the far superior conditioned athletes, but we all know how it turned out.

Regarding globalization as you put it, it would be a necessity as they have expanded to 32 teams. Had they not expanded to the amount of teams today and gone with a more reasonable amount, the level of hockey would be more entertaining and superior, but it is what it is.

 

[slybel]

Very early 70s... Remember watching games with my dad... But my interest peaked when Guy started to peak... so 74 on...

 

[Pickles]

My best Habs memories involve my brother and I. When the tickets went on sale at the Forum we would go early in the morning and stand outside and wait in the cold for the ticket office to open. We would strike up conversations with fellow Habs fans waiting in line.

The last year they played at the forum I saved up all the money I could and got tickets to see as many games as we could. Every time I'd go see a game there I'd get goosebumps it was a really special place to see a hockey game.

 

[Scintillating10]

My best Habs memories involve my brother and I. When the tickets went on sale at the Forum we would go early in the morning and stand outside and wait in the cold for the ticket office to open. We would strike up conversations with fellow Habs fans waiting in line.

The last year they played at the forum I saved up all the money I could and got tickets to see as many games as we could. Every time I'd go see a game there I'd get goosebumps it was a really special place to see a hockey game.

Makes good memories.

Were you at closing of Forum ceremonies?

 

[Draft]

With the recent trade of Mysak, I think it’s timely to include this info for you old boys:

Prostate cancer

Tremendous progress has been made, yet prostate cancer is still the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Canadian men, with 1 in 8 expected to be diagnosed in their lifetime.

cancer.ca

Prostate Cancer | Prostate Cancer Information and Overview

The American Cancer Society provides detailed information on prostate cancer and its treatment. Find the information you need today.

amp.cancer.org

A leading cancer for men but treatable. I’ve known a couple of guys that were lucky enough to catch it early because they asked about it and got checked out, another less lucky. Take good care of yourselves, need you around to keep passing that torch.

 

[Pickles]

Makes good memories.

Were you at closing of Forum ceremonies?

No I wish, I was watching it at home and bawling my eyes out . My brother and I did go to the parade from the Forum to the Bell Center though which is another cool memory.

 

[the valiant effort]

Society changes over time. The 1900 were different than the 1850. The 1950 were different than 1900. The 2k were different than 1950. And the society keeps changing now. As old farts let's no do like our parents and let the kids decide which type of society they want to create, It will be their not ours we'll be dead I remember when i was young the witch hunt against metal and video games. That was something ...

Unfortunately it's looking like a lot of youth here and down south would be keen on the reincarnation of the Salem Witch Trials...

 

[Scintillating10]

No I wish, I was watching it at home and bawling my eyes out . My brother and I did go to the parade from the Forum to the Bell Center though which is another cool memory.

Was one of greatest night from Forum.

Wish we had social media like today when we were winning cups. Been a lot more coverage. Even cable tv and a sports channel. From 50s-70s it was mostly black and white tv with rabbit ears. Heck, even replays didn't come about until '69.