Tinner's Old Timey Flashback - Geoff Courtnall

[BobRouse]

Feel like being a curmudgeon and living in the past. For those who remember this time frame it will give you a kick and for those who weren't around it will provide you with valuable history knowledge

87-88 was the first FULL year I had HTS. I watched ESPN every night. I believe the next year the NHL went to Sportsnet as opposed to ESPN and HTS showed games every night.

Dissappointing end to 87-88 (That was offsides!! Damn you Ridley skate!). During that year I followed the NHL closely. Russ Courtnalls brother seemed to make the highlights for the Bs alot. He had a cannon shot and some speed. Outside of Neely he was their most dangerous forward.

I was BAFFLED when Boston traded him to Edmonton for Andy Moog (Lemelin was pretty decent I thought)

Courtnall goes to Edmonton and can't crack an offensive role with their stacked forward group. He hardly plays in the playoffs but Edmonton wins Cup over Bs.

That offseason he was a restricted free agent meaning Edmonton had rights to match any offers.

Neil Smith (I believe he just took over Rags job..could be wrong) signed him to a contract that Edmonton wasn't going to match. Dave Poile said "Yo dawg...I'll give you a draft pick for Courtnall's rights!" Edmonton agreed.

Caps matched. Rangers moaned and went to arbitration. Courtnall awarded to Caps.

He's the 2nd best left wing we ever had. Monster year in 88-89. He had 42 goals and many of them very nice ones. He was scrawny but played like a physical beast with grit and touch.

We had a great team that year. 3 40 goal scorers and a 37 goal scorer.

We were undone by Pete frickin Peeters in the playoffs. Awful.

Next year the team struggled. We didn't have Langway and/or Stevens for stretches during the year. Beaupre was injured some and Hrvnak played some. Not good. Pulled it together.

Courtnall was excellent in the playoff run but we couldn't compete without Dino, Hatcher, Beaupre and a compromised Stevens playing with one shoulder.

We were on our way to being excellent the next year. Then Limo incident and the best LW we ever had at the time asked for a trade.

Sad. But those two years he gave us were insanely good. What a player for us!

Click to read more...

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Feel like being a curmudgeon and living in the past. For those who remember this time frame it will give you a kick and for those who weren't around it will provide you with valuable history knowledge

87-88 was the first FULL year I had HTS. I watched ESPN every night. I believe the next year the NHL went to Sportsnet as opposed to ESPN and HTS showed games every night.

Dissappointing end to 87-88 (That was offsides!! Damn you Ridley skate!). During that year I followed the NHL closely. Russ Courtnalls brother seemed to make the highlights for the Bs alot. He had a cannon shot and some speed. Outside of Neely he was their most dangerous forward.

I was BAFFLED when Boston traded him to Edmonton for Andy Moog (Lemelin was pretty decent I thought)

Courtnall goes to Edmonton and can't crack an offensive role with their stacked forward group. He hardly plays in the playoffs but Edmonton wins Cup over Bs.

That offseason he was a restricted free agent meaning Edmonton had rights to match any offers.

Neil Smith (I believe he just took over Rags job..could be wrong) signed him to a contract that Edmonton wasn't going to match. Dave Poile said "Yo dawg...I'll give you a draft pick for Courtnall's rights!" Edmonton agreed.

Caps matched. Rangers moaned and went to arbitration. Courtnall awarded to Caps.

He's the 2nd best left wing we ever had. Monster year in 88-89. He had 42 goals and many of them very nice ones. He was scrawny but played like a physical beast with grit and touch.

We had a great team that year. 3 40 goal scorers and a 37 goal scorer.

We were undone by Pete frickin Peeters in the playoffs. Awful.

Next year the team struggled. We didn't have Langway and/or Stevens for stretches during the year. Beaupre was injured some and Hrvnak played some. Not good. Pulled it together.

Courtnall was excellent in the playoff run but we couldn't compete without Dino, Hatcher, Beaupre and a compromised Stevens playing with one shoulder.

We were on our way to being excellent the next year. Then Limo incident and the best LW we ever had at the time asked for a trade.

Sad. But those two years he gave us were insanely good. What a player for us!

Vancouver loved him.

 

[Chokingdogs]

outstanding retro, brother killer!

i, too, recall the drama over his becoming a cap. imagine if intarwebz existed back then?

scrappy player, added an element of grit and scoring touch. i think poile tried to get that back years later with the rob pearson deal?

this used to be proudly affixed to my wall in HS, then on to college. my freshman year, the RA was a flyer phan from NJ, he laughed mightily that postseason while i cried into my milwaukees bests.

edit - two plays with him still stick with me to this day. one was a fight with kirk muller IIRC. big scrum, theyre pushing each other, both with the "you wanna go, you wanna go, lets go...." yammering. geoff was better at scoring goals than dropping the mittens. lol

the other was against a team i cannot recall, at all, but i think it was a game at cap centre. he got SMOKED with an open ice hit, basically got helicoptered, and i think was concussed and missed a few games. it was the kind of hit that if done today, by any player not named crosby, would get them at least a 5 game suspension. no penalty back then, as it was just hockey.

 

[Kegger]

Im pretty sure i had that poster too, lol.
IJ

 

[BobRouse]

outstanding retro, brother killer!

i, too, recall the drama over his becoming a cap. imagine if intarwebz existed back then?

scrappy player, added an element of grit and scoring touch. i think poile tried to get that back years later with the rob pearson deal?

this used to be proudly affixed to my wall in HS, then on to college. my freshman year, the RA was a flyer phan from NJ, he laughed mightily that postseason while i cried into my milwaukees bests.

Haha awesome poster Choke!

Man Courtnall crushed some fools who didn't realize how physical he could be. He looked look a toothpick and gangly but he destroyed some dudes.

Another year where we hideously got out goaltended. Hextall with a bounceback performance that series while Peeters sucked eggs as usual.

Yeah if the internet was around for that signing incident it would have about a billion replies right about now.

That 88-89 team is one of the most underrated Caps teams in history. People talk about 85-86, 89-90 , 91-92 and 09-10 as their best teams (08-09 too) but this one is rarely mentioned.

In addition to those guys our top 9 had Dale Hunter, Kelly Miller, Begnt Gustafsson, Christian (37 goals), and Pivonka.

Our D was loaded: Langway/Stevens, Rouse, Hatcher, young Calle, Sheehy

Courtnall had excellent chemistry with both Gustafsson and Hunter.

 

[stanleycaps18]

Reading this **** just makes me more depressed about our current team.

Those late 80's teams, from 85 to the limo were damned good and there is just the one banner to show for it. Cut calf, stoning goalies, it just goes on and on.

 

[BobRouse]

Reading this **** just makes me more depressed about our current team.

Those late 80's teams, from 85 to the limo were damned good and there is just the one banner to show for it. Cut calf, stoning goalies, it just goes on and on.

As good as those teams were there was none better than our 09-10 team. None of our teams before or since have struck as much fear into the opposition as that one. We were a machine despite the woeful D corps.

Our O just had the puck the whole game.

But still there is a soft spot for those chokers back then!

 

[Capitals1974]

So BobRouse is KillerTinner? I'm newish to this particular Board, so that was news to me...

 

[BobRouse]

So BobRouse is KillerTinner? I'm newish to this particular Board, so that was news to me...

Yes. From the OBs and Bumpers.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Reading this **** just makes me more depressed about our current team.

Those late 80's teams, from 85 to the limo were damned good and there is just the one banner to show for it. Cut calf, stoning goalies, it just goes on and on.

This was the last time we saw defense .

 

[jsykes]

Haha, I had that poster for a long time.

Man, Dino and Geoff sure have some awesome hockey hair going on.

 

[Darkproducer]

More sports your sports hts!!!

 

[Chokingdogs]

More sports your sports hts!!!

a shot.....and a goaaaaawlllllllllll!!!!

amazing the similarity between ole mike and makfi......

mike's turned into a git-tar strummin' hippie. whodathunk?

 

[RandyHolt]

Courtnall was that high scoring LW we so desperately tried to fill through the draft, and of course failed miserably. I think we all liked this game.

Next on Tinner's Take - Jeff Greenlaw

 

[Kegger]

So BobRouse is KillerTinner? I'm newish to this particular Board, so that was news to me...

Are we revealing old handles? Ok....

QuakerOates/IndignantJabroni

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Are we revealing old handles? Ok....

QuakerOates/IndignantJabroni

I quit using the message boards after the ESPN boards fell apart, but I would peruse occasionally on the official Caps forum. I remember seeing a few of your posts and love the username.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

a shot.....and a goaaaaawlllllllllll!!!!

amazing the similarity between ole mike and makfi......

mike's turned into a git-tar strummin' hippie. whodathunk?

I used to get the feeds on my old dish. Before center ice, I could get most games through feeds and was always looking for this. A lot of memories.

 

[marcel snapshot]

Always thought Courtnall was a bit of a weasel - not that there's anything wrong with that. Alex Burrows - definitely a Hall of Fame weasel - reminds me a lot of Courtnall. Annoying, a little dirty, and very effective offensively. These are all fine qualities in an NHL player.

 

[BobRouse]

RE: Fornes - hhahahahaha never would have thought! Read an interview with him a few years back during the start of Rock the Red fever and saw he was keeping up with the team.

RE: Courtnall draft/Greenlaw - That's a negative on Greenlaw but good obscure unearthing there RH!

Poile's drafting...ughhhh:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1225109-nhl-draft-the-50-biggest-busts-in-nhl-draft-history

Guess which GM drafted 4 of those guys.....at least by my count.

RE: IndignantJabroni - hahahaha Totally remember you from back then.

RE: Courtnall = Weasel - definitely some truth to that. Scotty Upshall/Burrows type with far more skill and sniping.

 

[ChibiPooky]

I'm feeling a thread rename to "Tinner's Old Timey Flashbacks: Part I - Geoff Courtnall"

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I was a big Courtnall fan. Damn limo ride....

 

[BobRouse]

I'm feeling a thread rename to "Tinner's Old Timey Flashbacks: Part I - Geoff Courtnall"

haha I like it!

But I don't want to hog all the flashbacks for myself. Others can chip in with Old Timey flashbacks too so as to spread the glory.

My favorite Courtnall goals were:

1) Coming down the wing and ripping a slapshot
2) One timer from impossible angle
3) Sweet breakaway move were he goes one way and drags the puck back with one hand on stick and backhands it in while the goalie flows to the way he was skating.

Even tho he wanted a trade I thought we didn't get good value in Lalor and Zezel (RIP) personally. But to Poile's credit I believe we parlayed Zezel into Iafrate who kicked arse for us.

EDIT: Actually I checked and we traded Gregg Adams for Courtnall. Not a draft pick.

 

[Jacques Trap*]

Ridley was my favorite cap from that time period.

 

[Hivemind]

Stop giving Leonsis ideas for the next coach/GM hire.

 

[BobRouse]

Ridley was my favorite cap from that time period.

Everyone had to like Ridley. But there were a few problems with him:

1) He never finished his checks. He would also take a brutal pounding on the boards and never fight back. Admire him for always getting up but this probably was a factor in his back problems. I never seen a player get crosschecked so much.

2) He always fled the fans. After games all the other players would leave via player exit and most were cool and signed autographs for the fans. Stevens, May, Kypreos, Gartner, Pivonka, Langway etc (Steven Leach was a BIG dude). Not Ridley...he'd leave via the press exit and avoid and contact with fans. He also NEVER appeared for autograph signings at venues.