Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The 50 greatest goals and...

A famous picture and Goal
If you are not old enough to remember the famous Bobby Orr goal in the 1970 Stanley cup final.You have certainly seen the picture, the video or have been told about it.
For St-Louis Blues fans,its a goal they would like to forget.It was the last time the Blues have reached the cup final.The Blues have reached the semi-final a few times since.In 1986,under Jacques Demers they were beaten by the Calgary Flames.
In 2001,under Joel Quenneville,they were beaten by the Colorado Avalanche.Quenneville has a cup ring with the Colorado team and added an another this past spring as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.Bleacherreport.com has an article about the 50 greatest goals.They include both regular season and playoffs.
The Montreal Canadiens, a superpower of hockey in the 1970's,had in its ranks,one of the best right wingers in the history of the NHL, Guy Lafleur, who scored his team's most important goal of it's history.I know Don Cherry is going to hate this one.Its late in the third period in game 7 against Boston.Cherry's team had just taken the lead 4-3,in a shell shocked Montreal Forum,a new hope came for the die hard Canadiens supporters,the Bruins get called for too many men on the ice.Well,Scotty Bowman was licking his chops at this one.He put his 5 best players on the ice.Lafleur passes it to Lemaire and he back passes it to Lafleur,blasted it past Bruin goalie, Gilles Gilbert.We all know what happened after that.Enjoy the videos.

If you think some teams are feeling a cap crunch this year,just wait until next season.Since it will be the last year of the CBA,teams will no longer have the cap cushion.In other words,they will not be allowed to go over the limit with bonuses.Example, let's say the cap limit next year is 61 million.You have a 23 player roster that cap hits add up to 59 million,but you have bonuses that come up 4million.Well, your going to have fit the 4 million in bonuses within the 61 million allowable cap space.As payable bonuses will not be able to be tacked on to the following year, like it was last season and this season.Benjamin Benya takes a look at the cap situation for all 30 NHL teams.

Bowman still enjoys the hockey life
William Scott ''Scotty'' Bowman,coached in his last NHL game in Detroit over eight years ago,as his Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup for a third time under his leadership.In the summer of 2008,shortly after seeing the Red Wings beat the young and upcoming Pittsburgh Penguins,he accepted a similar position with an another upcoming young team,the Chicago BlackHawks.The decision to move on to Chicago,was a personal one.Stan Bowman, at the time was as assistant-gm,but also had battled with cancer.A year later,the young Bowman became Gm.A chance to work with his son,who was named after the famous trophy, after Scotty won his first in Montreal,against the organization he had joined.In June,Scotty and Stan Bowman became the first father and son to have their names on the Stanley Cup the same year.

Scotty,just turned 77 in September.You would think he would be home enjoying a quiet life.No,his passion for the game is still there.Bob Verdi,an historian for the Blackhawks has a great piece on the legendary coach.Just when you thought you knew everything you needed to know about him, he has an another for you to learn.

That's all for now !