Read old hockey discussions from as far back as 1981 (google groups)

[Habsfan18]

Google Groups (rec.sport.hockey)

Google Groups (net.sport.hockey)

This is actually pretty neat. Type in a players name, or a team name, and switch the dates and see what you can come up with. For example, type in "Mario Lemieux" and put the dates as Jan 1st 1985 to Jan 1st 1990.

Edit: I’m not sure if we can search by a particular date any more, as they have updated the layout since this thread was first posted.

Whenever you find a thread/post, remember to click on "expand all" at the top of the page to read everything.

Here are some of the results

Rookie Of The Year Discussion (1985) - http://groups.google.com/group/net....722207317432?q=mario+lemieux#4a37722207317432

Alexandre Daigle Discussion (1993) - http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.hockey/browse_thread/thread/77e7a142b2e359c2/a8e40a18a4f0abbf?lnk=gst&q=alexandre+daigle+#1#a8e40a18a4f0abbf

Draft Discussion (1991) - http://groups.google.com/group/rec....a18f9db87d0?q=lindsay+vallis#8d818a18f9db87d0

Lindros Trade Rumor Discussion (1992) - http://groups.google.com/group/rec....52ae26548da9e32?q=nhl+rumors#352ae26548da9e32

See what you can find. I'm sure we can find some pretty interesting stuff!

Click to read more...

 

[Bear of Bad News]

I miss the rec.sport.hockey days. That's where "Goaltender Trivia" got started back in 1994.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Interesting how people were doubting Daigle.

 

[RabbinsDuck]

Lots of fun - I wonder if I was on any of these - as I definitely was on usenet forums talking hockey during the Early to mid-90s.

 

[revolverjgw]

Wayne Gretzky, the notorious choker

Reading posts from the 80s is a surreal experience

 

[fredez]

Nice find!

About the 1998 draft : http://groups.google.com/group/alt.sports.hockey.nhl.tor-mapleleafs/browse_thread/thread/c94a5d10c5b9cdbc/5bc7ee7717561b26?q=nhl+draft+1998

Some guy pimping Malhotra over Lecavalier :

I think that the leafs should take Manny Maholtra. He is by far in my
opinion the best OVERALL Draft choice... Look at the World Jrs. LeCavailler
Missed 2!!!! Breakaways in 1 period!! I went to the Top 40 Prospects game
and Lecaviller missed another Break Away there too.. Manny Maholtra Is
right now in the OHL Finals and has carried his team on his shoulders.
Legwand Lost to him... Manny is also a smart Kid!! He is GREAT UNDER
PRESURE!!!! He is amazing at what he doe and doesn't get Penalties!!

I have proved my point!!!!
Thanx!
Stu Watts

Some guy joins on the fun :

I guess it's no surprise but our incompetent Leaf
scouts project Malhotra "as a 3rd line checker."

Looks like the Leafs' scout was right.

 

[seventieslord]

This is incredible. How does this stuff even exist?

 

[Mayor Bee]

This makes me miss the old Prodigy bulletin boards quite a bit. There was plenty of good information there, forever lost to the ash heap of history.

Just like Prodigy...

 

[Ziostilon]

People used the internet back in 1985?

Let alone a discussion group on hockey

 

[Habsfan18]

Reading posts from the 80s is a surreal experience

It certainly is. Sorta gives you a little look into what HF Boards may have been like in the 80's and early 90's.

This is incredible. How does this stuff even exist?

No idea, but it certainly is some incredible stuff.

http://groups.google.com/group/rec....b64f7129f682/259af5200f76637f?q=denis+savard#

Another random one I found. 1989 talk of Dave Manson's 13 game suspension and Denis Savard's sucker punch & a poster feels Darren Puppa should be in the top 5 for all-star voting.

Also: http://groups.google.com/group/rec....487e8eebd6d/9c950327feb619b1#9c950327feb619b1

Chicago fan with a review of the Hawks/Blues Norris Division game 7 in 1990.

Gotta love this part:

P.S. Are there any other Hawks fans here? Write to the Hawks and see if
we can get Wirtz to finally TELEVISE HOME GAMES!!! (At least, the
playoffs???)

 

[JaymzB]

I loved this line from the 85 ROY discussion:

How can a defensive defenseman like Chelios 5 goals, 44 points get the Rookie of the year award

This was posted after Montreal had played their 60th game of the season. I guess our defenitions of "defensive defencemen" have changed over the years...

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

http://groups.google.com/group/rec....240/2d3ba806125bf2ae?q=yzerman+choker&lnk=nl&

Some gems from an Over-rated/Under-rated thread from late 1995:

Over: Belfour. Terrible goalie when the games get important. Nuff said

Under: Mike Ricci. Great 2-way centre. He's the real #1
centre in Denver.

Under: Paul Cavallini: One of the 5 best defensemen in the game. Totally overlooked.

Over: Paul Coffee. He's the *worst* defenseman in the NHL. period.

 

[Habsfan18]

http://groups.google.com/group/net....77803571?q=doug+wickenheiser#1c9a779577803571

Habs and Leafs post from October 1984.

http://groups.google.com/group/net....e4fcee313bb/fd03b339180e8612#fd03b339180e8612

Rookie Of The Year '86 discussion.

http://groups.google.com/group/net..../c1bbe361c3bb7b6f?lnk=gst&q=#c1bbe361c3bb7b6f

Pelle Lindbergh talk at the time of his death.

 

[Lead Role in a Cage]

Edmonton "No Class" Oilers

http://groups.google.com/group/net....a20836?lnk=gst&q=Stanley+Cup#a198ab5e5fa20836

 

[Habsfan18]

Edmonton "No Class" Oilers

http://groups.google.com/group/net....a20836?lnk=gst&q=Stanley+Cup#a198ab5e5fa20836

The original post:

I'm sure many people will call tonight's Oiler 11-2 victory over the
Black Hawks an awesome display of firepower. I call it a classless
act. (oh oh, it is gonna get warm around here) With a 3 or 4 goal
lead you might expect a team to try protecting it. Not the Oilers, they
aren't content to beat a team - they have to humiliate them. What this
does is make the league look bad, and give other teams a reason to gun
for them. To keep pressing as hard as possible with a 10 goal lead isn't
good hockey, it is a sign of, well, immaturity. Who knows, maybe Chicago
will get mad now.

ps - I feel *MUCH* better now!

He is not too happy.

 

[tony d]

LOL @ the 1991 draft discussion where they discuss Falloon and Bioldeau as guys who would be good. These are great finds and fun to read.

 

[Inkling]

This is incredible. How does this stuff even exist?

Back in the 'olden days' when Usenet was the way people did discussion forums someone started an archive service called Deja News. It used to be its own web site in the 90's but it got acquired one way or another by Google and was folded into google groups. It's great someone had the foresight back in 1985 to archive all of these discussions. A lot of the early Internet has disappeared into the ether but DejaNews/Google Groups and archive.org have preserved a lot of stuff.

 

[Habsfan18]

An old post from a Habs fan (1981):

http://groups.google.com/group/net....8033069?q=montreal+canadiens#5edcd702c8033069

Does anyone have any explanation on what has happened to Montreal Canadiens
recently? They seem to be losing to everyone these days -- very
embarassing for a long-time Habs fan. They trade away Lambert to Buffalo,
and he starts scoring like mad on the power play!

Seriously, there's some really neat stuff here.

Here a poster gives goalie ratings for 1984-1985:

http://groups.google.com/group/net.sport.hockey/browse_thread/thread/2147fdb754d8e442#

 

[revolverjgw]

http://groups.google.com/group/net..../c1bbe361c3bb7b6f?lnk=gst&q=#c1bbe361c3bb7b6f

Pelle Lindbergh talk at the time of his death.

I can't believe what I just read in this morning's paper!!
> Pelle Lindbergh, the goalie for the Flyers, has been declared
> "brain dead".

Weird. People learned about current events via pieces of paper?

 

[Habsfan18]

Adams Division Discussion in 1985-1986:

http://groups.google.com/group/net....=gst&q=out+in+the+cold+adams#1332d100bc76465c

 

[Fire Sweeney]

Hah, I vaguely remember taking part in these 20-25 years ago.

 

[Habsfan18]

http://groups.google.com/group/alt....d4a6e1b1c?q=jason+bonsignore#ad1f8c3d4a6e1b1c

Jason Bonsignore!

I for one would not trade Bonsignore for Friesen if the Sharks threw in
Craig Janney! Bonsignore needs time to develop, but he's going to be a star.

Be patient - Bonsignore is worth waiting for.

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

^^ Oh man, that is so good!

 

[Oscar Acosta]

I found the Lindros trade discussion one pretty funny. As with today there's a Leafs rumor vastly overrating their chances with players who weren't near worth what the package would end up being. Dave Ellett and Grant Fuhr, and that was supposed to do it for Toronto.

And even though Lindros is my hero and painful how it turned out, there's one level-headed guy who pretty much had himself a crystal ball:

They're going to give up all this for 1 player who has yet to prove that
he can handle playing in the NHL over the long-haul? Sure he was good in
the Canada Cup, but that only last, what, a month or two? And what if he
gets injured? Now they've given up 6 players and have gotten 1 who can't
play.
I don't know, maybe it's just me . .

Great find Habsfan18, I'm going to waste hours on this thing.

 

[Soundgarden]

I searched a little bit from around the '98 expansion draft, it's funny that Vokoun totally came out of left field and is still putting up great numbers.