By chance that you haven't visited the Fan Zone section of Montreal canadiens.com in the last few days, the team is asking fans to vote for 10 of 15 classic Habs games for a souvenir DVD being assembled for the 100th anniversary celebrations.
There is also a contest, open sadly only to Quebec residents, where fans can enter to win a trip for two to see the Montreal Canadiens in Boston next season with a member of the Montreal Canadiens alumni.
After selecting the 10 games prefered, type in "Forum" under the hint word, and enter you personal coordinates for a chance to win. The weekly clues can be heard on CHOM 97.7, CJAD 800, and MIX 96 in Montreal.
The 15 games include, in chronological order:
April 14, 1960: Canadiens beat Toronto 4-0 and win their 5th consecutive Stanley Cup
Dec. 31, 1974: The Habs tie the Central Red Army 3-3*
June 16, 1976: Montreal defeat the champions Flyers and launch a new dynasty*
May 14, 1977: Canadiens beat Boston 2-1, setting a regular season record of 60-8-12*
May 10, 1979: The "too many men" game in which the Habs beat the Bruins 5-4 in overtime
April 20, 1984: The God Friday clash with the Nordiques, won by Montreal 5-3
April 29, 1986: Montreal beats the Hartford Whalers in overtime on Claude Lemieux's goal*
May 24, 1986: Roy makes history as Montreal beats Calgary 4-3 for their 23nd Stanley Cup
June 6, 1993: The "McSorley Stick" game in which the Canadiens beat the Kings 3-2 in OT
June 9, 1993: Montreal beats Los Angeles 4-1 for their 24th Stanley Cup
May 11, 1996: The Forum Farewell game, Habs beat Dallas 4-1
April 9, 2002: Saku Koivu defeats cancer and the Ottawa Senators 4-3
Nov. 22, 2003: The Heritage Classic, in which the Canadiens defeat the Oilers 4-3*
April 19, 2004: Habs come back from 3 games to 1, and clinch series with a 2-0 win over Boston
Feb. 19, 2008: Canadiens come back from a 5 goal deficit to beat Rangers 6-5 in overtime
Short clips of each game can be viewed in the Fan Zone and voting ends on May 4.I voted even though I am ineligible to win the contest - bummer! Contests should be open to fans everywhere, but governments and prize laws like to screw things up.
You may note five asterisks above - those were the games I chose not to vote for to be on the DVD set. It's quite a tough choice actually, and I took me a good while to figure out which I'd most want to see repeatedly.
Everyone has their opinions, but I've always felt the so called "Greatest Hockey Game Ever Played" was to me the most one sided game in which the home team goalie sucked out and cost his team a classic win. I almost included it, but the "Saku's Return" game edged it out in my heart.
Maybe I speak for a few of the older fans when I lament the absence of the Habs and Bruins tilt in 1971, where they came back from a 5-2 deficit to stun the Bruins 7-5. Later that same playoff year, in game 7 of the finals, Chicago was leading 2-0 when the Pocket Rocket unleashed his heroics and the Habs won 3-2 for their 16th Cup.
There must not have been much vintage 1950's Habs footage preserved in good quality as they are only offering the one game in the contest, which incidentally turned out to be Rocket Richard's final game.
I'm certain that other clips of incomplete games and greatest moments would be included in the set, with film of going back to the earliest era's of Canadiens hockey.
Possibly, could there be an added bonus disc? Maybe that 25th Cup that is on the line this spring?
7 comments:
I actually think that Game 3 in Madison Square Garden is a more memorable and important game than Game 5 versus Calgary.
Also the Soviet game might have been one sided, but the history and politics involved is to important to leave off a historical look at the Montreal Canadiens.
True, the "Rooooooaaaaah" game was awesome - perhaps the best goaltending Roy ever displayed. The proportions of the Russian game were very significant, it's just not one of my personal faves.
Heck, they gotta make it a 20 game DVD!
My only disagreement was on the Heritage Classic, because I'm an Oilers fan, too, and it was a game that meant a lot to me and my Dad. I sacrificed the 2004 playoff game, because it didn't "feel" the same to me.
I can appreciate that an Oilers fan interested the Habs would almost need to have that one in there.
It's a shame they feel a need to cut it off at ten. This needs 2 DVD sets!
There was a 75th anniversary game (vs Buf) where I really enjoyed the pregame ceremony.
The Rocket dropped the S. Cup. Aurel Joliat's P.Shot on Plante.
I'm a Leafs fan, but I've always admired the Habs. How come there's no games from their '71 run available on this package? Ken Dryden was great, Frank Mahovlich had 27 points in 20 games, and the Habs beat the favored Bruins in 7. Maybe toss in the game 7, 3-2 win over the Blackhawks with Henri Richard's winner? Is this game not available? It's a must.
--Grant
Grant, curiously T.C. Deneault of Habs World answered the question you and I both had about 1971 especially. His answer was so in depth, that I made a post out of it.
You can read it at this link:
http://wwwrealitycheckeyesontheprize.blogspot.com/2008/04/finding-habs-lost-classic-games.html
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