The Sports Archives – 1950 Stanley Cup Memories – The Greatest Show on Earth

Posted on April 16, 2011 by thesportsarchives

When are the Stanley Cup finals NOT the greatest show on Earth?  The 1950 New York Rangers would answer:  “When the circus comes to town”.  The Rangers lost their home ice at Madison Square Garden during the 1950 Stanley Cup playoffs to a bunch of clowns (no, not the Harlem Globetrotters)!   Because the Garden had booked the circus, the Rangers had to move their home games to Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

In 1950, 6 NHL teams squared off for the coveted trophy.  The original six were the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks.  Four of the 6 teams would make the playoffs, so your odds were very good that you would move ahead.  The Rangers lost the Stanley Cup finals to the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 after beating the Canadiens in 5.  They came into the playoffs with a losing record.

In 1950, fans welcomed a change in ice color surface as the NHL added white paint to water before freezing.  This changed the color from concrete gray to white so the puck could be picked up better by players, fans and especially TV.

Also in 1950, NHL president Clarence Campbell fined Chicago coach Charlie Conacher $200 for punching a sports writer after his team was routed 9 to 2.  He also made Canadiens Ken Reardon post a $1000 bond to ensure that he didn’t carry out a retribution threat against Cal Gardner.  Reardon was refunded the money when he did not make good on his threat!  Today, the equivalent would probably be a suspension and a hefty fine.

1950 NY Rangers

1950 NY Rangers?

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The Sports Archives – Stanley Cup Memories – 1969 and the Montreal Canadiens

Posted on April 14, 2011 by thesportsarchives

The year 1969 was not just another ordinary year in the NHL.  We saw a lot of ‘firsts’ come out of 1969.  What wasn’t a ‘first’ was the Montreal Canadiens winning the Stanley Cup for the 16th time and second year in a row.  It was an exact replay of 1968 when they swept the St. Louis Blues 4 games to 0.

In 1969, there were only 2 divisions, East and West.  Six teams in each and to even it out, you had Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in the West and Detroit and Chicago in the East!  To give you an idea of just how strong the East was, the leader of the West, the St. Louis Blues, which finished almost 20 points ahead of the Oakland Seals would have placed 4th in the East!  Nonetheless, there was some “good ol’ time” hockey played with the likes of Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull.

1969 did have it share of ‘firsts’, however.  It was the first time any NHL player ever achieved 100 points in a single season.  Phil Esposito blazed a new record with 126 points followed by Bobby Hull with 107 and Gordie Howe with 103.  Bobby Hull also set a new record for goals with 58 at a time when teams played only 76 games.

1969 was the year that Blues’ Red Berenson tied an NHL record by scoring 6 goals in a game and rookies Danny Grant of the Minnesota North Stars and Norm Ferguson of the Oakland Seals tied a 40-year-old record of most goals by a rookie with 34 each.   Superstar Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins would begin his takeover of the NHL proving that defensemen can play offense too by scoring a record 21 goals which would precipitate his numerous offensive records he would set as a defenseman.

Did we mention how dominant the East was over the West?  The St. Louis Blues swept both the Philadelphia Flyers and the Los Angeles Kings and were then swept by the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals!

Bobby Orr

Bobby Orr scoring "The Goal" against the St. Louis Blues. Orr would set many records as a defenseman.

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The Sports Archives – Stanley Cup Memories – Hull Doubles Up in Dallas and Detroit

Posted on April 12, 2011 by thesportsarchives

The golden years of hockey may start when a player reaches the age of 35.  No doubt, Gordie Howe and Chris Chelios would argue that, however either way, when a professional hockey player reaches that age, his playing days are numbered.

The golden years of hockey proved to be truly golden for ‘The Golden Brett’, Brett Hull.  After playing 11 seasons with the St. Louis Blues, five with 50 or more goals and one 86 goal season, Hull was traded to the Dallas Stars in 1998 at the age of 34.  Now, this was at a time when their Western Conference rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, had just won their second consecutive Stanley Cup during the 1997-98 season and looked confident for a three-peat in 1999.

In the three years that Hull played for Dallas, not only did Dallas outlast Detroit through the playoffs, but Dallas won the Stanley Cup in 1999 which was the first for Brett Hull.  Detroit must have seen something in the Stars (no pun intended) and signed Hull on as a free agent in 2001.  I think Detroit management figured out that if you can’t beat him; then acquire him.  So at age 37, Brett Hull played in every game for Detroit in 2001-02 scoring 30 goals and 33 assists for 63 points.   And wouldn’t you know it; Detroit won the Stanley Cup that year, the second for Brett Hull!  You could probably hear the slapping of high-fives in the Red Wing corporate offices of downtown Detroit!

Brett Hull hung up his skates in 2006 and the Blues retired his #16 jersey.  During the ceremony, with Neil Young’s “Old Man” playing in the background, “The Golden Jet”, Bobby Hull walked out on the ice to hug his son, “The Golden Brett”.

Bobby and Brett Hull

Bobby and son Brett Hull embracing during Brett's Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration in 2009.

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The Sports Archives – The 5th Quarter of the 2006 Wake Forest Football Season

Posted on April 8, 2011 by thesportsarchives

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are a small school and are not known for their dominance across the world of college football.  However, the club has gained notoriety thru the eyes of Hollywood producers who have highlighted some of the players that have come out of the organization.

We all remember Brian’s Song, the inspirational movie about Chicago Bears‘ running back, Brian Piccolo, who died of cancer at the age of 26 back in 1970.  We remembered the one-of-kind friendship displayed between Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo, where Sayers remained at Piccolo’s side during the tragedy despite national racial tension going on at the time.  Yes, Brian Piccolo came from Wake Forest.

Now, more recently, another inspirational story out of Wake Forest has shown up in movie theaters; this one centered more on the 2006 Wake Forest Football season.  The 5th Quarter is about the 2006 Wake Forest football season and some of the events, both tragic and inspirational, that occurred during its ACC Conference Championship winning year.

A key player for Wake Forest, Jon Abbate was looking forward to the 2006 season when tragedy struck for him and his family.  His younger brother Luke, 15, was killed in a car accident coming from a lacrosse practice.  Abbate wanted to honor his brother, so he was allowed to switch his jersey number from 40 to the number 5 which was worn by Luke.  Then, at the start of every fourth quarter, Jon and his family would remember Luke by holding up 5 fingers.  The tribute caught on and soon, Abbate’s teammates, Wake Forest fans, and even fans from opposing teams began holding up 5 fingers in Luke’s honor.   This became a symbol and testimonial to Wake Forest’s outstanding 2006 season.

Later, the Abbate family created the “Five Foundation” which is meant to raise awareness of the responsibilities and dangers of driving to young people.

Jon Abbate

Jon Abbate

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The Sports Archives Greatest Moments – When Foul Trouble Leaves Last Man Standing

Posted on April 7, 2011 by thesportsarchives

What kind of defense do you play when you’re the last man standing after your entire team has fouled out?!  You would have to ask guard Mike Lockhart of the 1982 West Coast Christian College Knights.

The Knights were beating the Santa Cruz Sea Lions 70-57 with just over two minutes left in the game.  That’s when Lockhart became the Knight’s last hope to hold down the Sea Lions and secure the victory.  It was a pretty tall order to ask of Lockhart, to play one on five while having four fouls and just one away from disqualification!   Nevertheless, Lockhart was only outscored 10-5 and single-handedly held on to lead the Knights to a final 75-67 over the hapless Sea Lions.

I am not sure if the Knights were thinking of just making history or the late night highlight reel.  How do you foul out when you have such a huge lead?  In the end, I would have to guess that the Sea Lions must have been horrible shooters and that Lockhart was great at dribbling.  Lockhart inbounding the ball was probably amusing!

So what defense did Lockhart play?  Zone, of course!  Lockhart should have been nominated to play for the Harlem Globetrotters!

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The Sports Archives – UCONN Wins 2011 NCAA Basketball Tournament Dogfight Over Butler

Posted on April 5, 2011 by thesportsarchives

The University of Connecticut Huskies (UCONN) led by junior Kemba Walker took a bite out of the Cinderella Butler Bulldogs in the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament by shutting them down 53-41.

UCONN closed out an amazing run of 11 consecutive postseason victories which included 5 wins in 5 days at the Big East Tournament.  The title is Coach Jim Calhoun and the Huskies third since 1999 (1999, 2004, 2011) and groups him with the likes of Indiana’s Bob Knight, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp and UCLA’s John Wooden who are the only others at present to win at least three or more national titles.

Both teams came out nervous and it sort of reminded me of a high school game as UCONN shot 29 percent from the field in the first half and Butler fared worse at a dismal 22.2 percent.  Despite, the poor shooting, Butler led at half 22-19 (high school, right?).  Butler was executing their game plan of leading the Huskies into foul trouble, but they weren’t executing on the floor and the ever-opportunistic Huskies began to pull away with an 18-3 run that had them up by 44-36 late in the second half.  Overall, Butler shot 18.8 percent from the field; the lowest ever for an NCAA final to date.

Kemba Walker finished the game leading all scorers with 16 points and 9 rebounds and was awarded “Most Outstanding Player” of the tournament.  He scored an unprecedented 130 points in 5 games during the Big East Tournament and was named MVP.

Congratulations to Jim Calhoun and the Connecticut Huskies!

Connecticut Huskies

Connecticut Huskies

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The Sports Archives – 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup – India Rules!

Posted on April 4, 2011 by thesportsarchives

The India national cricket team won the 2011 Cricket World Cup and its second title defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets on April 2 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India.  The 10th Cricket World Cup featured 14 teams and became the first where a hosting nation won the final in its own country.  Originally Pakistan was to host the 2011 Cricket World Cup, but due to the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka team, the ICC penalized Pakistan and revoked the decision.  India was awarded eight of the Pakistan matches; four went to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh.

The home field advantage certainly helped India in the final match.  Wankhede Stadium was filled to capacity and the 33,000 plus screaming fans drowned out Sri Lanka’s call of the opening coin toss.  The coin was flipped again and won by Sri Lanka who elected to bat first.

The tournament does not share in the same hooliganism that occurs during Soccer World Cup matches, but is totally not without incident.  After the West Indies’ team had defeated Bangladesh on March 4th, the team bus was pelted by Bangladeshi fans on return to the team hotel.  It was reported later that the fans really wanted to stone the Bangladeshi team bus!  38 people were arrested for the incident.

India will take home prize money of 3 million US dollars while Sri Lanka becomes 1.5 million US dollars richer.  Some of the tournament stars include India’s Yuvraj Singh who was voted ‘Man of the Series’, Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan who had the most runs at 500; Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi and India’s Zaheer Khan who tied for most wickets at 21.

2011 Cricket World Cup Logo

2011 Cricket World Cup Logo

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The Sports Archives – 1971 USC, 24-2, Misses NCAA Basketball Tournament!

Posted on April 2, 2011 by thesportsarchives

The USC Trojans sported a 24 and 2 record during the 1971 NCAA Basketball season and were still left out of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament thanks to John Wooden and their UCLA Bruin neighbors.

For those of you who were born after a certain date; there was an old NCAA rule in place that only allowed one school per conference to enter the NCAA tournament.  USC was ranked #2 behind #1 UCLA in their conference and, because of the rule, had to sit out the tournament.  Their only 2 losses came at the hands of the Bruins who went on to win their 7th title.  UCLA would also win the next two years for a record 7 consecutive championships.

For USC, they were to hit the beaches early.  It wasn’t until 1975 when the tournament expanded to 32 teams that the ‘one school per conference’ restriction was removed.  I’m sure the 1971 USC Trojans had something to do with that change.

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The Sports Archives – Kentucky’s 130 Home Game Winning Streak

Posted on March 31, 2011 by thesportsarchives

One of the longest home game winning streaks in sports archives history belongs to the Kentucky Wildcat men’s basketball team.  After they lost on January 2, 1943 at home; they were not to lose another home game until January 8, 1955; an amazing string of 130 consecutive home victories.  Take a minute to think about that.  Three generations University of Kentucky students could go to a home game and rest assured that their team will come out on top!  Of course, new Wildcat recruits must have felt the pressure to keep that streak alive.

The streak fell within the coaching years of mighty Adolph Rupp.  Rupp compiled a record of 876 wins and 190 losses with a winning percentage of 82.2.  He probably would have upped those numbers if he wasn’t forced into retirement at age 70!  His coaching career with Kentucky spanned 42 years and included 4 NCAA championships and 1 NIT title.

Kentucky ranks number 1 and 2 in many NCAA men’s basketball statistics (view statistics here).  At present, they have won more NCAA basketball games (2023) than any other college and have the greatest winning percentage.   No matter what number they are seeded; they are always a favorite.

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The Sports Archives – NFL Considers Rule Changes for Kickoffs

Posted on March 26, 2011 by thesportsarchives

Similar to the NHL, the NFL is also taking a closer look at the probable causes of sports injuries. How many times have we seen players limping off the field during a kickoff? The answer is too many and the NFL wants to do something about it. In fact, they already have by limiting the number of players in a blocking wedge to two players during the 2009 season. Now the discussion is to eliminate the blocking wedge altogether.

The kickoff is an exciting part of football.  The assigned special teams practice hard so that they can gain an edge on both the kicking and receiving ends. The kickoff can set or change the momentum for either team. Talks center around possibly moving the kickoff up to the 35 yard line and bringing touchbacks out to the 25 yard line. Well, if they do that, you would have to believe that there will be a lot more touchbacks than there are now and a lot less of those exciting runs up the field. There is also discussion about limiting coverage of how far players can run up before the kickoff. I think I speak for everyone that we are all concerned about the safety of players, but maybe these guys should take a look at rugby!

The truth of the matter is that owners want to protect their investments. But who represents the fans on these decisions? We need to have a system in place like the government where we elect ‘sports’ politicians to represent us. Yes, the fan can help decide whether to trade a player or not! Wait, that won’t work, it would just lead to more corruption!

All kidding aside, what are your thoughts on the proposed NFL changes?

Injured Football Player

Dam! I knew I should have went for the touchback!

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