Habs History in so many tweets
Posted these tweets and now I combined them. A little habs trivia and history:
The habs had a dynasty in the 60’s few people mention 4 cups in 5 years and they made the cup final in between and no superstars other than Jean Beliveau and Henri Richard and a young Yvan Cournoyer for all 4 cups
Boom Boom Geoffrion had 50 goals and 95 points in 64 games in 1960-61, if he had not missed 6 games he surely would have been the first to break the 50 goal record and score 100 points.
Claude Provost of les habs won 9 Stanley Cups only three players have won more Jean Beliveau Henri Richard and Yvan Cournoyer.
Jean Guy Talbot won 7 stanley Cups only two defencemen have won more Serge Savard and Red Kelly who was only a defenceman for 5 cups and then was turned into a forward
There are at least 5 members of les habs that won a cup with the habs and also won a cup with duh laffs i mean leafs John McCormack, Bert Olmstead, Dick Duff, Larry Hillman, and the big M Frank Mahovlich.
The habs of course have the most conn smythes at 9 and Patrick Roy has the most in the NHL at 3 though one was with Colorado.
Habs have won so many cups the conn smythe was won the most times by an opposing player when the habs won the cup, Roger Crozier,Glenn Hall, and Reggie Leach won even though the habs won the cup and swept the series against the last 2.
Jean Beliveau was the first to win the Conn Smythe and Ken Dryden won it before he won the Calder the following year.
Red Kelly won the first Norris Trophy then Doug Harvey of les habs won it 7 of the next 8 years, with Tom Johnson his teammate winning it in between. Harvey first won the Norris when he was 30. Obviously he would have won it more years if it existed before.
Bobby Orr has won 8 Norris trophies Harvey is tied for second with Lindstrom. Harvey made a come-back at 44 with the St Louis Blues in 68-69 and in his first game against Orr and the Bruins, Orr scored but Harvey had 2 assists as the Blues won 2-1.
Dickie Moore and Yvan Cournoyer both had their number 12’s retired by the habs and they once played against each other in the Stanley cup final. Moore made a comeback with the blues in 67-68. They both had 14 points in the playoffs that year.
Dickie Moore was the last habs to have the nhl record for the most points in the regular season at 96 points in 58-59. Eight years later Stan Mikita had 97 points.
Mario Lemieux holds the record for most goals in a junior season at 133 goals. However he did it in 70 games. Guy Lafleur had 130 goals in 62 games. Is Lafleur the best goal scoring Junior of all time?
My opinion if Bowman had not stressed defence which allowed Dryden to win the vezina every year and had played an offensive style like the Oilers would Lafleur have been the first to get 80, 90, or 100 goals in a season?
Al MacNeil after coaching the habs to a Stanley cup went back to his native Nova Scotia and coached the habs farm team Voyageurs to 3 Ahl championships developing players like Larry Robinson Pierre Mondou and Yvon Lambert.
Many people forget that Serge Savard won the 1969 Conn Smythe in his second year in the pros- at the time he was being compared to Bobby Orr then he broke his leg twice in the next 3 years and missed all of the 71 playoffs- still was 8 time winner of the Cup.
Serge Savard in 1972 in the super series versus the USSR never lost a game when he played and in the forgotten last game for Team Canada versus the then world champions Czechoslovakia got the tying goal in the last minute to maintain his streak.
Favorite hab nicknames Rocket Richard, Pocket Rocket, Boom Boom, the Roadrunner, the Senator, the Flower, Big Bird, Knuckles, St. Patrick, and of course the funniest Red Light Racicot coined by Red Fisher.
Ooops forgot Toe Blake a hall of famer as a left winger and as a coach. His nickname came from a childhood experience: his younger sister had difficulty pronouncing his name, rendering it as something like "Hec-toe"
Besides Toe Blake other hab players that became habs head coach include Newsy Lalonde, Syvio Mantha, Babe Siebert, Alfred Lepine, Al MacNeil, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Bob Berry, Jacques Lemaire, Jacques Laperriere, Mario Tremblay, Bob Gainey, and Guy Carbonneau.
Only Toe Blake won the cup as a head coach and a player for the habs. MacNeil won it as a coach only. Ex habs players that won the cup as a head coach with other teams include Tom Johnson, Jacques Lemaire, Larry Robinson, and Glen Sather.
Scotty Bowman 5 time cup winner with the habs had a prehab stint coaching the St Louis Blues. On his team during this period were ex habs Red Berenson, Doug Harvey, Dickie Moore, Jean Guy Talbot, Jim Roberts, Ab Mcdonald, Noel Picard, Jacques Plante, Ernie Wakely, and Andre Boudrias.
Two ironies of his stint with St Louis Bowman coached Jean Guy Talbot who ended Bowman’s junior playing career with a high stick. As well he coached Al Arbour who would ultimately replace him and become his arch rival coaching the islanders.
Jacques Lemaire won 8 stanley cups in 12 years with the habs. He was named as one of top 100 players all time in the nhl. He won the stanley cup as head coach of the Devils beating his old coach Scotty Bowman. Why is his number not retired?
Lemaire’s career highlights include the tying goal versus the bruins in the great comeback in game 2 in 1971, the first goal for the habs in game 7 when they were behind 2-0 versus the hawks in 1971, the game winning overtime goal to win the cup in 1978, the back pass to Lafleur for the famous tying goal in game 7 versus the bruins in 1979. Mr Clutch.
Steve Shutt has virtually the same stats as Yvan Cournoyer, 424 goals in 930 games versus the Roadrunner’s 428 goals in 968 games. Their playoff stats are similar as well. Should Shutt’s number 22 be retired? He also was on 5 Stanley cups.
The habs after their 5 cups in a row streak that ended in 1960 had a dry spell of no cups in 4 years. Many complained their forwards were too small and being pushed around. That was until John Ferguson joined the team. What followed was 5 cups in 7 years. Should his number 22 be retired?
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