Wo do you blame for Canada's '81 Canada Cup loss?

[Big Phil]

Just thought I'd mention this. Mike Bossy was on Off the Record on TSN the other day and he was asked a point blank question about why Canada lost 8-1 to the Russians in the Canada Cup. His answer, while laughing was bad goaltending.

Which brings me to this question, who was really at fault the most for that disastrous game? I know the whole team played bad, but who more than anyone was the most to blame?

Scotty Bowman - Coached the team, put in Mike Liut over Don Edwards even though Edwards played well against the Russians earlier in the tourny

Mike Liut - In some circles he has a reputation of a Bill Buckner, its too bad cause he was a good goalie who had a bad game. Still allowing 8 goals in a huge game, including 5 in the thrid perion is just brutal.

Guy Lafleur - Okay so in '81 he wasnt quite like he was in '77 but when the score was 4-1 with Canada on the powerplay he literally moved out of the way of a shot that Krutov faked shooting and then Krutov turned him into a pylon and scored to make it 5-1.

Wayne Gretzky - Not his fault really, he was only 20, but he was the best player in the game and came off a 164 point season and he didnt play very well

Denis Potvin - For some reason the usually solid Potvin had a bad game and it would be a guy like him that should have shown some leadership

Click to read more...

 

[Ogopogo*]

C'mon Phil. It was 8 to freaking 1. EVERYBODY was to blame. When you lose by 7 goals, nobody was stellar.

 

[Poignant Discussion*]

One of the choices should have been

(x) The Russians

 

[Chili]

The Russians as well.

After Miracle on Ice the year before, no way they wanted to go home to Mother Russia as losers again. They were due.

 

[Big Phil]

C'mon Phil. It was 8 to freaking 1. EVERYBODY was to blame. When you lose by 7 goals, nobody was stellar.

True, but who's to blame the MOST. I know the finger shouldnt be pointed solely at anyone but who carries the most blame?

 

[Wisent]

I agree that everyone was to blame (I don`t like "blame" here. Sports, you win some and you lose some, IMO you can`t speak of blame) but of the names on that list the one that doesn`t belong there is Mike Liut. He was so completely left on his own in this game.

 

[saskganesh]

Perrault was injured so Lafleur and Gretzky were missing their winger. This wasn't the game breaker in itself but it may have caused the team to lose some focus since their top line was damaged.

 

[Psycho Papa Joe]

I always blamed Mike Liut. He put the game out of reach before Canada ever had a chance. No way you can give up such a big lead to the Russians and have any chance of coming back. They should have gone with Edwards, who would have at least not let the game get out of hand. IMO the Russians would likely still have won, but at least the outcome would be in question. Given the talent levels on both teams, it really should have been a close game.

He isn't entirely at fault, but IMO he is the one most responsible for the defeat. That and the fact the Russians iced the best team I have ever seen them put together and who played a great game of possum with Canada.

 

[Sportacus]

...Bryan McCabe...

 

[GNick42]

That was a great Russian team...we only lost one game

 

[Bring Back Bucky]

I blame Lafleur, simply for the outrage it would have caused here a couple years back.

Seriously though, it's pretty hard to not share around the blame in an 8-1 pounding.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

...Bryan McCabe...

 

[Bear of Bad News]

C'mon Phil. It was 8 to freaking 1. EVERYBODY was to blame. When you lose by 7 goals, nobody was stellar.

Could not agree more. It takes a complete team effort to get beat like that.

 

[Ogopogo*]

Could not agree more. It takes a complete team effort to get beat like that.

Nice to see that we can agree once in a while.

 

[GKJ]

It seemed like a time where Canada was transitioning. Guys like LaFleur were getting older. Mike Luit wasn't a horrible goalie, but he wasn't Dryden and he wasn't Patrick Roy (although neither was Grant Fuhr). Gretzky was still green at 20 years old, Ray Bourque was young too. Canada only had a few great players at the top of their primes: Mike Bossy (only his 4th year too), Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier, Marcel Dionne, Larry Robinson, Gilbert Pereault. And some of the names who played for Canada aren't exactly "greats" that'd we think of today (Paul Reinhart, Brian Engblom, Ron Duguay, Barry Beck to name some)

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Nice to see that we can agree once in a while.

 

[Anderson9]

It seemed like a time where Canada was transitioning. Guys like LaFleur were getting older. Mike Luit wasn't a horrible goalie, but he wasn't Dryden and he wasn't Patrick Roy (although neither was Grant Fuhr). Gretzky was still green at 20 years old, Ray Bourque was young too. Canada only had a few great players at the top of their primes: Mike Bossy (only his 4th year too), Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier, Marcel Dionne, Larry Robinson, Gilbert Pereault. And some of the names who played for Canada aren't exactly "greats" that'd we think of today (Paul Reinhart, Brian Engblom, Ron Duguay, Barry Beck to name some)

BTW Larionov was "green" but there were Vasiliev and Babinov part their prime. It was a collective blowout by Team Canada worthy of the pen of a historian.

 

[Boxscore]

The Russians were very powerful. Blame them.

 

[Al Bundy*]

I'll say Liut. He allowed all the goals- maybe with Edwards, they keep it a low-scoring game.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Why was this thread bumped?

One of the choices should have been

(x) The Russians

Agreed. Sometimes Canada just isn't the best team on the ice; it's not always about "what Canada did to lose", it's "what the other team did to win".

 

[Dark Shadows]

I always blamed Mike Liut. He put the game out of reach before Canada ever had a chance. No way you can give up such a big lead to the Russians and have any chance of coming back. They should have gone with Edwards, who would have at least not let the game get out of hand. IMO the Russians would likely still have won, but at least the outcome would be in question. Given the talent levels on both teams, it really should have been a close game.

He isn't entirely at fault, but IMO he is the one most responsible for the defeat. That and the fact the Russians iced the best team I have ever seen them put together and who played a great game of possum with Canada.

Agreed.

 

[MS]

Liut was completely, utterly hung out to dry.

If Canada would have had Dryden in his prime in net, it still would have been 5-1 USSR or something along those lines.

Almost all the Russian goals were by unmarked players in close, or on odd-man rushes, or through massive defensive breakdowns. There was maybe one 'weak' goal in the bunch.

 

[BeauRoger]

the canadians. They simply werent good enough to beat the russians. Not a good enough team.