Blog From the Past

[Hank 0]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/stor...&id=3129968

Great article and shows how much the game has changed.

Some of my favourite lines:

Look at Rutherford's goalie equipment. He has a mask that looks like it's made with the same materials as your daughter's Cinderella Halloween mask. His catching glove is the size of former Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Jose Lind's glove. His sweater is, yes, a boys' medium. His blocker looks like it weighs 57 pounds, his pads are like two sacks of wet feathers and he appears to be wearing no shoulder pads. This is the season Phil Esposito scores 76 goals and it's no wonder why.

Pelyk makes it 2-0 Toronto. Rutherford had lost his stick. So, between that and his small equipment and stand-up style, Pelyk's goal was the equivalent of hitting a tennis ball off the Green Monster from the warning track at Fenway Park. Roberto Luongo would have laughed with such disdain as that puck came toward him, the puck would have stopped before it even got to the net out of sheer shame and embarrassment.

The play in this game is exciting. Up and down. The crowd is into it and there is no ear-blasting music or advertisements.

All of the good players in this game could have played today. Some of the defensemen could not, they are so bad. That is the biggest difference between the NHL today and in the 1970s. There used to be just awful defensemen who could barely move. Even the fifth and sixth defensemen today are pretty agile.

Interesting play. Plante makes a nice double-pad stacked save and then a Wings player falls on top of him. If that happened today, the Wings player would have been pummeled. But everyone just kind of acted with civility and the play continued on. The level of respect players had toward each other on the ice is in stark contrast with today.

Edited November 30, 2007 by Hank

[Cicada 4]

ouch..

13-0 loss...to the ******* leafs no less..

urgh

[Hank 0]

ouch..

13-0 loss...to the ******* leafs no less..

urgh

Hahahaha. I know. But Dave Keon was a beast for the Leafs. The Wings should have never dealt him away.

[auxlepli 17]

That was a good read. I almost posted it too but was afraid of the ridicule for posting another ESPN article. Lately Buccigross has even been getting on my nerves too, but I enjoyed reading that.

In addition to the game coverage, I liked these two paragraphs too.

The arrival of the NHL Network is akin to first receiving ESPN, MTV, HBO, VH1 Classic, Classic Sports Network (which became ESPN Classic) and The Golf Channel. Once a hockey fan receives the NHL Network, most of the old arguments about not getting enough hockey coverage on "SportsCenter," radio or other places are rendered almost obsolete.

The network has highlights of every game -- every night and every morning; miles of NHL Productions footage, heretofore wasting away on shelves and unseen by the masses; special presentations; and, yes, vintage games shown in their entirety. It's all a hockey fan needs. The network is still growing here in the United States, but popularity doesn't concern me. My own entertainment concerns me. I'd love to be your hockey genie and grant you all the NHL Network, but I can't, so I will enjoy this bright new day while hoping you too will share in it soon. Between the Internet, satellite radio, the NHL Center Ice package and the NHL Network, there has never been a better time to be a hockey fan.

Edited November 30, 2007 by auxlepli

[Olympia Stadium Fan 0]

Thank you so much for posting this link. I thoroughly enjoyed this blogger's writeup. I love watching vintage games and as I'm doing so I'm always thinking of how what I'm seeing and hearing compares to the current--both on the ice and in the coverage of the game.

I don't have a current Red Wings media guide but I believe this 1971 game against the Leafs is still the franchise record for goals allowed. The game where the Wings scored the most goals was in 1944 when they completely routed the Rangers, 15-0, at Olympia.