Gutsiest Performance

[Flash Walken]

What are some of the gutsiest hockey performances you can remember? I'm talking gutsy like Yzerman playing on two bad wheels, or lemieux coming back from chemo, or brian leetch playing through a broken ankle I believe during the 94 run to the cup. What are some other gutsy performances you can think of, and if you could, please explain them as there are quite a few posters on this board who are fascinated, but simply lack the knowledge because of age (myself for example). I've heard the gainey story of basically playing with two broken shoulders, but I don't know any of the specifics.

I'm sure there are plenty of other stories as well.

Share them while we get ready for the upcoming season!

Click to read more...

 

[Galchenkel]

Yzerman again during Salt Lake olympicas final. Team Canada doctor told to Pat Quinn (or another coach) that Yzerman had a so bad knee that if it would've been a Stanley Cup final game 7 he wouldn't have let him play.

 

[Ogopogo*]

Bob Baun scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal while playing on a broken leg.

Wasn't it 1964?

 

[norrisnick]

Yzerman's '02 Olympics and '02 Cup run. The surgery he went through the following summer still makes me cringe.

 

[Hedberg]

Yzerman's '02 Olympics and '02 Cup run. The surgery he went through the following summer still makes me cringe.

That was amazing. It gets my vote.

 

[Jacques Plante]

Yzerman during the Wings last cup run was certainly something incredible. I'll always see him getting up after being knocked down (against VAN I think) grimacing in pain and getting back into the play. It was an open secret that his knee was done. And to think he did it for another 3 rounds. Simply amazing. I'm glad I was around to see it and it's something I'll remember for a long time.

I once heared Brendan Shanahan (i think it was him) talking about Joey Kocur in one of theur cup runs. He said they could hear Kocur screaming in pain 3 rooms over from the treatment he was getting. After the season it was found that his muscle/ligament was completely disconnected from the bone. Maybe a Wings fan can give more details...

I wasn't around for the Gainey thing but here's my understanding of it. He played the 84 playoffs with both shoulders dislocated. From what I've heared he had one of his best playoffs that year. IIRC I think someone cheap-shoted him but I can't remember who. Better off listening to a Habs fan older than me.

Not to be a homer but during the 2004 playoffs Saku Koivu was coughing up blood between periods, and no one knew about it until MTL was eliminated. He played like he was 100% healthy in those conditions, with that he reached a whole new level as a captain in my eyes.

 

[chooch*]

Yzerman during the Wings last cup run was certainly something incredible. I'll always see him getting up after being knocked down (against VAN I think) grimacing in pain and getting back into the play. It was an open secret that his knee was done. And to think he did it for another 3 rounds. Simply amazing. I'm glad I was around to see it and it's something I'll remember for a long time.

I once heared Brendan Shanahan (i think it was him) talking about Joey Kocur in one of theur cup runs. He said they could hear Kocur screaming in pain 3 rooms over from the treatment he was getting. After the season it was found that his muscle/ligament was completely disconnected from the bone. Maybe a Wings fan can give more details...

I wasn't around for the Gainey thing but here's my understanding of it. He played the 84 playoffs with both shoulders dislocated. From what I've heared he had one of his best playoffs that year. IIRC I think someone cheap-shoted him but I can't remember who. Better off listening to a Habs fan older than me.

Not to be a homer but during the 2004 playoffs Saku Koivu was coughing up blood between periods, and no one knew about it until MTL was eliminated. He played like he was 100% healthy in those conditions, with that he reached a whole new level as a captain in my eyes.

Gainey was already playing with a separated shoudler when he was cheapshotted with his back turned on the boards by trottier (5 min major - even the Islander fans grimaced) and knocked out so bad he was still unconscious on the ice when the commercials were over.

There was a lot of banging in that series - Isles went after Chelios, someone went after Potvin and he went down with a knee injury.

That was the East. No pansy's played there in the playoffs but they were spent by the time they met the Oilies or Flamers.

 

[Jordoe28]

Joe Thornton playing with broken ribs and a broken finger in the 2003/04 playoffs.

 

[Steelhead16]

Any game where a goalie didn't wear a mask!!!

 

[Lou is God]

Bob Baun scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal while playing on a broken leg.

Wasn't it 1964?

Yup, that was my first thought.

And I think you got the year right, but the bone that he broke wrong, wasn't it his ankle that was broken?

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Game 7 of the Philly-Isles series in 1987. Captain Dave Poulin put on a flak jacket to protect broken ribs and assisted twice in a 3-1 win. IIRC, Poulin missed the first six games of the series.

 

[interminded]

I once heared Brendan Shanahan (i think it was him) talking about Joey Kocur in one of theur cup runs. He said they could hear Kocur screaming in pain 3 rooms over from the treatment he was getting. After the season it was found that his muscle/ligament was completely disconnected from the bone. Maybe a Wings fan can give more details...

Well, that wasn't Joey Kocur, but Brent Gilchrist.
Happened during their 97-98 playoffs.
Most likely it had somethign to do with his hernia which kept him out of the game for most of the following two seasons.
I don't know exactly what happened, but surely it's a great example how far hockey players will go to lift that Cup !!

 

[shveik]

Joe Thornton playing with broken ribs and a broken finger in the 2003/04 playoffs.

Fedorov did that in '96 ( minus the finger, and I do not know if he did that for the whole 19 games or was injured in the first series). He also managed to share the team playoff scoring lead with Yzerman that year.

Also, Feds is worth being mentioned here becasue of the sheer luck of getting his nose broken on at least three different occasions (I think last time - while wearing a visor ). Has nothing to do with being gutsy though.

 

[espo*]

Any game where a goalie didn't wear a mask!!!

yeah,that's pretty gutsy allright. They must have been stone cold crazy.

 

[espo*]

I'll put in a vote for Number 4# at the 1976 Canada Cup.He basically played that whole tournament on one leg,one of his knees was of no use to him whatsoever.

But he was determined to play and play well in that tournament.He had never had the opportunity to play for his country before in international competition and insisted on doing it.Whatever was left of his career in the nhl he basically gave away by playing in that tournament in that shape.If it was'nt the gutsiest performance of all time it certainly was one of the most awe inspiring and inspirational.The guy goes out and wins M.V.P of the tournament too!! What a player,they don't make em like that anymore.

 

[norrisnick]

Also, Feds is worth being mentioned here becasue of the sheer luck of getting his nose broken on at least three different occasions (I think last time - while wearing a visor ). Has nothing to do with being gutsy though.

The last one wasn't with a visor (unless I'm missing one with Anaheim), but it was the "straw" to make him put one on. Head to head collision with Bryce Salvadore I believe.

 

[Epsilon]

One that I always remember was Jaromir Jagr limping on one leg for over an hour during that marathon Pittsburgh-Philadelphia 5OT game in 2000, and being dangerous every time he was on the ice. There had originally be talk that he might not even play in the game due to injury.

 

[reckoning]

That was the East. No pansy's played there in the playoffs but they were spent by the time they met the Oilies or Flamers.

Yeah, all the tough players were in the East with none in the West. I guess Al Secord, Garth Butcher, Jamie Macoun and Bob Probert weren`t as tough and hard-hitting as Marian(?) Stastny, Mark Pavelich and Reijo Ruotsalanien.

On the topic of teams being spent in the playoffs from a tough prior series, in each of Montreals two Cup wins over Boston in the late 70s the Bruins had played Philadelphia in the series before. The Flyers: the toughest, most grueling, physical team in the league in the 70s. Even if you beat them you`d feel the effects from those games for a long time afterwards. When Boston was fighting in the trenches against the Flyers in `78, who was Montreal playing? Toronto. Real tough team LOL.

 

[LadyByngJeanRatelle]

How bout Gary Roberts in the 2002 playoffs. Leading half an AHL team over the Islanders (most brutal series of the 00's) and the Senators.

 

[Tito]

Tocchets Jaw

When Rick Tocchet first got to Pit, I seem to remembering him breaking his jaw in the first period and getting in wired shut for the third, and scoring a goal. Please note this is a little hazy for me. Any clarification would be great if any of you remember this.

 

[pld459666]

Lester Patrick relieving Lorne Chabot in Game 2 of the 27-28 finals

1927/28: In their 2nd season the Rangers take a step back in the regular season finishing 2nd in the American Division with a 19-16-9 record. However, the playoffs would prove a different story. In the Quarterfinals the Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 in a 2-game total goal series behind an impressive 4-0 win in the opener. After tie Game 1 at the Garden the Rangers were forced to beat the Bruins 4-1 in Boston to win the total goal series to advance to their first Stanley Cup Final. Forced to play on the road the because of the Garden's circus contract the Rangers went into the finals against the Montreal Maroons as decided underdogs. After losing Game 1 the Rangers appeared doomed when goalie Lorne Chabot suffered an eye injury midway through Game 2. Former Defenseman and coach Lester Patrick would take Chabot's place between the pipes and the Rangers seemed to get inspired winning the game 2-1 in overtime to even the series. After signing New York Americans goalie Joe Miller the Rangers dropped Game 3 by a score of 2-0 and faced elimination in Game 4. However Miller would not allow another goal in the series as the Rangers won the next 2 games 1-0, and 2-0 to claim the historic Stanley Cup. In winning the cup the Rangers became the 2nd American team, and first NHL from the US to get their names carved into the silver chalice.


Sorry, this was taken from the following website:

http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nhl/nyr/nyrangers.html

 

[David]

Joe Thornton playing with broken ribs and a broken finger in the 2003/04 playoffs.

You're joking right? See the above post on Saku Koivu instead...

 

[David]

Just because of what it could mean for you as a person if you got clocked again, I would put Kariya coming back after Scott Stevens hit as one of the gutsiest of all time.

Same goes for Pat Lafontaine coming back after his concussion...the first game after coming back he was being bounced around like a lego man in his lego man helmet really made me cringe...and sure enough, not too long afterwards, he was done.

There was that Bobby Orr's knee thing during '76 and there was also some Kevin Lowe moments with broken bones and Chelios' stupidity with his torn MCL and ACL...however, I can't really think of anything that tops Stevie Y's performance.

p.s. for a little sh1t like Theo Fleury to make it to NHL and star in it took some real guts!!! Especially knowing the back ground that he came from with his alcoholic father and all.

 

[reckoning]

p.s. for a little sh1t like Theo Fleury to make it to NHL and star in it took some real guts!!! Especially knowing the back ground that he came from with his alcoholic father and all.

Plus he did it all while battling Crohn`s Disease throughout his career. He deserves tons of respect.

 

[Wetcoaster]

Bob Baun scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal while playing on a broken leg.

Wasn't it 1964?

It was not a Stanley Cup winning goal.

April 23, 1964. It was the Game 6 goal in OT that sent the series back to Toronto for Game 7 where the Leafs won the Cup.

I spoke to Bob about this a couple of summers back while on vacation at a resort north of Toronto. He told me that Gordie Howe fired the shot and it would be described as a high ankle injury today, it was diagnosed as a broken leg in those days. He spent over 2 months in a cast after the season.

The most incredible thing to me however was that he played every shift of Game 7 on that broken ankle/leg.