95/96 Leafs Blues first round series

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Feb 24, 2004
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Just watching a classic game 5 on Leafs TV today, and it shocked me the talent that was on both these teams. (Just another example of a great Leafs team on paper that couldn't get it done.)

The Leafs had:

Andreychuk
Gilmour
Clark
Sundin
Muller
Mike Gartner
Dave Gagner
Tie Domi
Nick Kypreos
Todd Gill
Jamie Mccoun
Schneider
Larry Murphy
Dave Ellett
Dmitry Yushkevich
Felix Potvin

The Blues were loaded also:

Wayne Gretzky
Brett Hull
Glenn Anderson
Craig Mactavish
Shayne Corson
Geoff Courtnall
Stephan Matteau
Tony twist
Brian noonan
Chris Pronger
Al Macinnis
Murray Baron
Charlie Huddy
Jay Wells
Jon Casey
Grant Fuhr


On paper, wow.
 

c-carp

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That was the Blues team that lost to the Wings 1-0 on the Yzerman goal in double OT. I have mixed feelings on that team and that goal.

For a large part of that year that team was floundering. Keenan and Hull had a yearlong feud. Keenan rode Pronger like a dog. Before the trade for Gretz I had my doubts as to wether this team would even make the playoffs.

To me the key for that team was getting Gretzky, after that The spotlight was on him and Keenan and Hull got along as best as those two ever could and pronger was quietly allowed to develop and he began to improve by leaps and bounds. Also key in this is that the Blues fans got off the Pronger's ass. The amount of crap that he had to take from Blues fans up until that point was unbelievable. Most fans myself included should be ashamed as to how we treated that kid. Strictly because of who he was traded for at the time.

Also Gretz was amazing during the brief time he was with the Blues and was the best player on the ice most nights.

Getting back to that playoff series it was a real tough one. I really thought that you guys had us by the balls when Kypreos ran-got knocked into fuhr and caused his knee injury and Jon casey had to come in and play goal. But the Blues played extremely well the rest of the series and prevailed and pushed the wings to the limit. I think the key for the Blues in winning this series was the defences ability to clear or control the puck after Casey made the first save. I know that this is a key aspect regardless of who the goalie is but if you watch Casey during his tenure with the Blues he really wasnt that good and he would be in horrible position or flat out sprawled on the ice after the first save most of the time and if the leafs or any opposing team could crash the net effectively there would be a lot of garbage goals to be had.
 

acr*

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I believe that if Kypreos never ran Fuhr out of the playoffs, the Blues would've beaten the Wings and Avs and probably won the cup.
 
Feb 24, 2004
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Jon Casey was a good goalie. He led the Caps in the previous year and was ROY if I'm not mistaken?
 

Stephen

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That Leafs team might have been nice looking on paper, but most of those impressive names were way past their primes, or were beginning to decline. I'm pretty sure Dave Andreychuk had been traded to New Jersey at the deadline also. The Blues were a pretty gutsy team, having lost Fuhr and still managing to win, but they were also an old decrepit team as well.
 

c-carp

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leafs4thecup said:
Jon Casey was a good goalie. He led the Caps in the previous year and was ROY if I'm not mistaken?
I think you are thinking of Jim Carey. Jon Casey was a veteran by this point and played for the Stars and Bruins but never for the Caps.
 
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c-carp said:
I think you are thinking of Jim Carey. Jon Casey was a veteran by this point and played for the Stars and Bruins but never for the Caps.


Holy ****, you're right. I knew I was getting confused with something.
 

acr*

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Casey somehow got the North Stars to the Finals in '91, so Harry Sinden screwed up and traded Moog for him, then after he did nothing here and Blaine Lacher's fluke year occured, he traded for an even bigger fluke in Jim Carey.
 

Big Phil

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Nick Kypreos intentionally ran into Fuhr in that series. If you look at the replay especially the net cam view you'll see Pronger clearing the fornt of the net by cross checking Kypreos AWAY from Fuhr, clearly away form Fuhr. But Kipper has other ideas and lunges into Fuhr making it look like he was pushed into him. A cheap play form a very very marginal player and not only cheap but the way it looked was just such a bad acting job too. If you see the replay on it Kypreos pauses for just a split second before lunging into Fuhr.

So if anyone complains about Kypreos getting his career shortened in a fight (a legal fight) just remember he once put out of commission one of the best goalies of all time, and one who was still very good at that time. And I am not biased either, I'm a Leaf fan okay!
 

gr8haluschak

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Big Phil said:
Nick Kypreos intentionally ran into Fuhr in that series. If you look at the replay especially the net cam view you'll see Pronger clearing the fornt of the net by cross checking Kypreos AWAY from Fuhr, clearly away form Fuhr. But Kipper has other ideas and lunges into Fuhr making it look like he was pushed into him. A cheap play form a very very marginal player and not only cheap but the way it looked was just such a bad acting job too. If you see the replay on it Kypreos pauses for just a split second before lunging into Fuhr.

So if anyone complains about Kypreos getting his career shortened in a fight (a legal fight) just remember he once put out of commission one of the best goalies of all time, and one who was still very good at that time. And I am not biased either, I'm a Leaf fan okay!

Better not let that fool hear comments like that, remember in his mind it was a hockey play that happened all the time.
 

c-carp

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gr8haluschak said:
Better not let that fool hear comments like that, remember in his mind it was a hockey play that happened all the time.
I am a Blues fan and I am going to back Kypreos on this one for the simple reason that if a D-man even knocks you in the general direction of a goalie and you can hit him why not do it. Nick was just trying to rattle Fuhr a bit and he got the bonus plan when he got hurt. I would have expected a Blues forward to do the same thing if situations were reversed and I think he is correct that play happens all the time.
 

Bring Back Bucky

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c-carp said:
I am a Blues fan and I am going to back Kypreos on this one for the simple reason that if a D-man even knocks you in the general direction of a goalie and you can hit him why not do it. Nick was just trying to rattle Fuhr a bit and he got the bonus plan when he got hurt. I would have expected a Blues forward to do the same thing if situations were reversed and I think he is correct that play happens all the time.


I couldn't disagree with you more, but given the fact that you love fighting so much, I'm gonna let it drop so you don't pound me..... ;)
 

gr8haluschak

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c-carp said:
I am a Blues fan and I am going to back Kypreos on this one for the simple reason that if a D-man even knocks you in the general direction of a goalie and you can hit him why not do it. Nick was just trying to rattle Fuhr a bit and he got the bonus plan when he got hurt. I would have expected a Blues forward to do the same thing if situations were reversed and I think he is correct that play happens all the time.

Really it is a correct play that happens all the time ? funny I don't see too many goalies injured so that must mean that it doesn't happen all the time. There is a difference between a little bump to rattle a goalie and the classlessness that moron showed.
 

c-carp

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gr8haluschak said:
Really it is a correct play that happens all the time ? funny I don't see too many goalies injured so that must mean that it doesn't happen all the time. There is a difference between a little bump to rattle a goalie and the classlessness that moron showed.
The injury was a fluke. goalies get ran all the time. If Fuhr hadnt gotten hurt on the play no one would even be takking about that play.
 

gr8haluschak

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c-carp said:
The injury was a fluke. goalies get ran all the time. If Fuhr hadnt gotten hurt on the play no one would even be takking about that play.

His injury was a fluke - that is a good one, I mean when you make an attempt to fall on Fuhr's (or ANY other goalie's) body nothing bad could happen right ? who seen the injury happening. I would also like to know what goon league you are watching that you say goalies get run all the time because like I said before you don't see many players diving on goalies, like you are implying. Finally you actually are right about something - that is your final comment, you are right no one would be talking about this incident if Fuhr did not get hurt because we would have been able to see what the Blues could have do with that team - and as the point of this thread they would have been able to make a serious run at the cup, if not winning it all.
 

novak

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His injury was a fluke - that is a good one, I mean when you make an attempt to fall on Fuhr's (or ANY other goalie's) body nothing bad could happen right ? who seen the injury happening. I would also like to know what goon league you are watching that you say goalies get run all the time because like I said before you don't see many players diving on goalies, like you are implying. Finally you actually are right about something - that is your final comment, you are right no one would be talking about this incident if Fuhr did not get hurt because we would have been able to see what the Blues could have do with that team - and as the point of this thread they would have been able to make a serious run at the cup, if not winning it all.

Uh, goalies do get run all the time. Maybe not on a night by night basis, but over the course of a season goalies get taken out all the time. It was arguably a dirty play by Kypreos, no question, but it was more bad luck on Fuhrs part than anything.
 

gr8haluschak

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novak said:
Uh, goalies do get run all the time. Maybe not on a night by night basis, but over the course of a season goalies get taken out all the time. It was arguably a dirty play by Kypreos, no question, but it was more bad luck on Fuhrs part than anything.

You know I love these comments, I have been an Oilers season ticket holder for 8 years and I can count on MAYBE both hands that I have seen goalies get run, like both of you guys are saying happens all the time. I see goalies get snowed, bumped, tapped with sticks, or players get right in their face, but being run, as you guys say, barely.
 

c-carp

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gr8haluschak said:
You know I love these comments, I have been an Oilers season ticket holder for 8 years and I can count on MAYBE both hands that I have seen goalies get run, like both of you guys are saying happens all the time. I see goalies get snowed, bumped, tapped with sticks, or players get right in their face, but being run, as you guys say, barely.
Having season tickets doesnt make anyone and expert, I have had Blues season tickets for 14 years that has nothing to do with anything.
 

novak

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You know I love these comments, I have been an Oilers season ticket holder for 8 years and I can count on MAYBE both hands that I have seen goalies get run, like both of you guys are saying happens all the time. I see goalies get snowed, bumped, tapped with sticks, or players get right in their face, but being run, as you guys say, barely.

So you saw, at most, half the Oilers games live over a span of 8 years. And you say you watched the goaltender get run maybe half a dozen times. I certainly don't want do do any math, but lets just say that's consistent throughout the entire league. That's goaltenders getting run somewhere around two dozen times a season... which is more or less what I said earlier.

Anyway, I can't even remember what I was arguing about originally :dunno: but my *new* point is that, while it certainly doesn't happen every night, goalies getting run is hardly unheard of. Just watch a Donny Cherry tape :)
 

c-carp

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novak said:
So you saw, at most, half the Oilers games live over a span of 8 years. And you say you watched the goaltender get run maybe half a dozen times. I certainly don't want do do any math, but lets just say that's consistent throughout the entire league. That's goaltenders getting run somewhere around two dozen times a season... which is more or less what I said earlier.

Anyway, I can't even remember what I was arguing about originally :dunno: but my *new* point is that, while it certainly doesn't happen every night, goalies getting run is hardly unheard of. Just watch a Donny Cherry tape :)
Exactly every year Grapes has clips of goalies getting ran.
 
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