Once again I'm opening up the Birdcage to a guest writer. Johnny Canuck and I traded e-mails recently and he suggested that you guys may want to read about the '94 cup finals.....but his perspective was that of someone who lived in Vancouver and attended game three.....so here it is.

----}- Bird

There was always something that bothered me about the 1994 Stanley Cup finals, aside from the fact the Vancouver Canucks lost game 7 to the New York Rangers. Any Ranger fan I met post 1994 would always say to me, “The hockey against the Devils in the conference finals was just incredible”. It always amazed me that despite winning the 7th game on home ice and hoisting the Cup @ MSG, Ranger fans I met would first discuss the seven game epic against Jacques Lemaire’s New Jersey Devils. I never took this personally (I’m a lifelong Habs fan).

Sidenote: It is possible the Ranger fans I met were not as serious as those tapped into Hockeybird.com.

I understand the significance of beating a cross-town rival in a conference final and the Mark Messier guarantee (I still think his empty netter was lucky in game 6 and the back hander Martin Brodeur whiffed on was a pretty rude goal also). However, since the 1994 final is the best of recent memory, I believe Ranger fans should be reminded of what happened in the final series from a West Coast perspective. The fans of the most expensive bad team in the NHL deserve it. Besides, it’s either read another retrospect of 1994 or read about the Devils going after their third Cup since the Rangers last. Ok then, here is how the West Coast saw it…..

Before I continue: I stumbled upon Hockeybird.com at the request of a friend to read Patrick Roy ‘Le Grand Jerk’. A must read for everyone, everywhere.

Before discussing the finals, let’s look back at the Canucks and their improbable run in 1994. The team had posted impressive regular season campaigns the previous 2 seasons but had been bounced in the Smythe Division Finals. In 1992 by the Edmonton Oilers and in 1993 by Wayne Gretzky’s LA Kings. The 1993 loss produced arguably the most embarrassing move of all time by an NHL player; then Canuck Petr Nedved asked for Gretzky’s stick in the handshake after being eliminated………he is a Ranger now. The 1993-94 campaign was an average season that saw Nedved hold out unsigned until St. Louis signed the restricted free agent to an offer sheet. In return the Canucks were compensated with a reluctant Craig Janney. The Canucks traded Janney back to St. Louis for Jeff Brown, Bret Hedican, and Nathan Lafayette. Two years earlier the Canucks picked up Geoff Courtnall, Sergio Momesso, Cliff Ronning, and Robert Dirk from St. Louis. These players combined with Pavel Bure, Trevor Linden, Kirk McLean, Dave Babych, Martin Gelinas, Murray Craven, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, and Greg (Gus) Adams to give Canuck fans the most memorable spring in their history.

If you are unaware, the Canucks have a checkered past; Cam Neely and Glen Wesley for Barry Pederson, the yellow V jerseys, the 4-21 start in 1985, the entire decade of the 80’s……you get the idea. For a Vancouver kid to be turning to the French channel on Saturday nights to watch the Habs, you know they had to be bad. Every spring I would watch to see if they could slip into the Stanley Cup playoffs. To do so they were required to finish in the top four of a five team division. Their reward for this lofty achievement was usually a date with the Calgary Flames or the Edmonton Oilers where they would get steamrolled in a best of five that would net the Canucks one home playoff date. What a waste. Why even bother. It was better this way since they wouldn’t distract me from watching a Bruins-Habs or Nordiques-Habs classic Adams Division battle.

I always thought whoever played the Canucks in the playoffs in those days would be at a disadvantage the following round. The Canucks were so bad that the opposition would fall into a false sense of security about their own game. This theory came true in 1986 when the Oilers beat the Canucks in 3 quick games by a combined score of 17-5. Ask Steve Smith and Grant Fuhr what happened in the Smythe Division Final that year in the series that gave the Habs the Cup in 1986. Before I link the Canucks to helping the Habs win the Cup in 1986 I will state the obvious………..I am off topic. Before I get back on topic I always wondered if the Canucks were as bad as the Oilers were great from 1984-1987…and if Vancouver Province columnist Tony Gallagher was so negative because of the 1980’s Canucks….debates for another time. The point here is, before Pat Quinn came to the Vancouver Canucks with Brian Burke they were a terrible hockey team. After some good draft picks (T. Linden, P. Bure) and some good trades (Patrick Sundstrum for Kirk Mclean and Greg (Gus) Adams), the team grew into a contender in 1992 and 1993 only to be ousted in the playoffs by more seasoned playoff opponents. In 1994, after a sub-par regular season compared to the previous two campaigns, the Canucks prepared to enter the playoffs on the road.

The Canucks played the Calgary Flames in the first round and fell behind 3-1 in the series and were headed back to Calgary for game 5. As the season was being written off the team suddenly came together. OT goals by Geoff Courtnall and Trevor Linden forced game 7 in Calgary. In game 7 in OT Kirk McLean made one of those saves you never forget. On a two on one he slid across the crease stacking the pads along the goal line denying the Robert Reichel one timer. Jeff Brown’s pass put Pavel Bure in on a breakaway in double OT and the young, determined Bure converted to give the Canucks an improbable comeback series win. It wasn’t a cheap 3-1 comeback like their opening round this year against St. Louis where they had 2 games at home. It required 2 games in Calgary against a team that dressed Al Macinnis, Gary Roberts, Mike Vernon, Joe Nieuwendyk, and Theo Fleury. The Canucks played three straight games where had they given up a goal their season was over. The thrilling end erased the memory of losing in game 7 in OT in 1989 when Stan Smyl dialed up Mike Vernon’s glove on a breakaway and Joel Otto kicked in a Jim Peplinski goal mouth pass.

At this point the Canucks were rolling. Heading into Dallas to play the Stars in the NHL’s new revamped East-West, 1-8 playoff format that would see games 3, 4, and 5 in Vancouver. The Canucks made quick work of the Stars. The series is remembered more for a vicious elbow Bure laid on Shayne Churla than anything else. No suspension just a fine. Love the NHL playoff enforcement policies. The 2-3-2 format suited the Canucks just fine as they wrapped up the Stars in 5.

Hold on. Canucks get Toronto next? Perfect. No problem developing any hatred here. The Maple Leafs featured Doug Gilmour in his prime. However, I would argue his performance with the 1989 Flames should have netted him the Conn Smythe over Al Macinnis – Habs had no answer for him. For the 3rd straight series the Canucks start out on the road. After splitting the first two games at Maple Leaf Gardens, the 2-3-2 format is looking pretty sweet again on the West Coast. There was never a team that took advantage of it more. In 1994 the Canucks played their maximum number of playoff home games and still managed two five game series that netted rest. The series is remembered mostly by the insults traded between the east and west cities north of the border and the CBC Toronto bias being absolutely out of control. Nobody in Vancouver likes Toronto and most Torontonians wish they lived in Vancouver. You may get a different view from a Torontonian but I’ve lived in both cities now and its true.

When Greg (Gus) Adams potted the winner in double OT in game five on Felix Potvin it marked the Canucks second ever trip to the Stanley Cup finals. Against who? Who cares, doesn’t matter. The Canucks were in the Finals. Beating the Maple Leafs made it even sweeter for Vancouver. Not only was Vancouver a better place to live, we had a better hockey team. In the post game celebration, the team’s experience with winning was evident. When Trevor Linden lifted up the Clarence Campbell Bowl to signify the Western Conference championship, the lid fell off. I did not make that up.

Whether you’re a fan of your hometown team or not, you’re on board if they make it to the finals. You feel pride in your city and the buzz around town is unavoidable. You do things and see things that are abnormal. We’ve all felt it. You run a few extra minutes on the treadmill or do a couple of extra bench press reps. You talk to people you don’t even know about the games. You hear mothers and grandmothers debating whether the power play unit should set up the umbrella or focus on plays down low. Drivers are honking horns all over the city on game days and bars are crowded on weeknights. It is hardest on the die-hards who believe the games’ outcome could turn on their behavior. One group of fans painted up an old car in Canuck colors and drove to NY for games 1 and 2 and on the way stopped in Medicine Hat, Alberta to say hello to Trevor Linden’s parents. The stress level becomes so high that behavior becomes irrational. Heated arguments over whether the 5th d-man should be the 6th d-man. Cheering excessively loud and clapping over a dump in that has no impact on the game. Or worst of all having their pre-game ritual interfered with in some sort of way. Vancouver was experiencing this kind of behavior and I was on board. I wanted to see the Vancouver Canucks win the Stanley Cup.

The finals started for me personally with a very disturbing turn of events. When Greg (Gus) Adams put the Canucks into the finals a family gathering was taking place to celebrate my brother’s university graduation. I sat in a daze trying to believe that the Canucks were going to the Stanley Cup finals and then it happened……my brother opens an envelope from my uncle who works for the Vancouver Sun newspaper. The envelope held two tickets to game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. What does he do? Well let’s start off with what he didn’t do. He didn’t pull me aside and let me know I’d be sitting in the seat next to him at the Pacific Coliseum for Game 3 easing any worries I had about whether or not he was going to take me……(its not like he had another brother to worry about). Instead he sat on the ticket for 4-5 days like he was going to use the extra seat as a buffer. After about 1000 calls to my mother over the next few days to see what he was going to do with the ticket he called and asked me if I wanted to go with him. It was the nicest and meanest thing anyone has ever done for me. I couldn’t believe I was going to the finals.

Of course the Canucks had been to the finals once before. We would always see highlights of it growing up but the fact they were wearing the yellow V jerseys kind of ruined it for me. Not to mention they got swept easily by the powerhouse New York Islanders of the early 1980’s. The only reason the Canucks were there in 1982 was because of the Edmonton Oiler meltdown in LA. All I remember is my dad bringing me a Stanley Cup finals pennant and hat from the game he went to. What he also brought was a white towel that was the beginning of the white towel craze. The towel had a beaver taking a bite out of an apple with the Islanders logo on it. Legend states the Canucks were getting hosed by a referee in the Campbell Conference finals in 1982 in Chicago and Roger Neilson grabbed a stick and put a white towel on the end of it to signify a mock surrender. At the next home game Canuck fans waved white towels in support of their team. I was not old enough to watch a game and explain why a team lost in 1982. However, I do know people talk about Harold Snepsts trying to make a clearing attempt up the middle in the first OT of game 1 of the 1982 finals and Mike Bossy intercepting it and burying it to win the game. This was as close as they got to a victory. This trip to the finals would be different. The Canucks had a chance to beat the New York Rangers where in 1982 the chances of beating the New York Islanders at the height of their dynasty were minimal.

The Canucks cruised into the Big Apple to play the New York Rangers who somehow survived 2 games facing elimination against the Devils. The whole 1940 thing was out of control. Apparently God was cheering for the Rangers at this point. It kind of felt like it. Word out of Toronto was that more fans there wanted to see the Rangers win the Cup. How weak is that. CBC broadcaster Bob Cole had finally learned the Canucks players’ names by the final and color commentator Harry Neale probably wondered if Barry Pedersen could play on one of the Canucks top two lines (the former Canuck GM traded Neely to Boston for Pedersen). Point here: British Columbia was cheering on the Canucks but few others were.

Game 1, Greg (Gus) Adams continued his bid to be on the 1994-95 Vancouver Canuck media guide cover with another OT winner to give the Canucks a 1-0 series lead. If I remember correctly, Kirk Mclean made about 100 saves in that game. With the split secured the Canucks played ok in game 2 but the Rangers were desperate and won to even the series. The two pretty evenly matched teams had me thinking this series would be long.

Back in Vancouver the city was all Canucks all the time; newspapers, sports radio, and TV coverage. You know your city is in the finals when the NHL flies in all the league hardware from the Hall of Fame to be viewed in a downtown hotel. My brother and I had a few beers outside the Pacific Coliseum before game 3 in the beer garden but the 5:00PST puck drop to satisfy east coast viewers kind of ruined the pre-game festivities. Going through the turnstiles to get into a Stanley Cup Finals game did not eclipse the feeling of entering the old Montreal Forum for a Boston-Montreal playoff game and seeing CBC’s Dick Irvin sitting contemplating the upcoming game in the reds, but it was the closest I have ever been to that moment. Our Stanley Cup Final seats were in row 5 in the reds behind the Ranger net twice. Could I have been any luckier?

Sidenote: Reds were lower bowl seats in the old Pacific Coliseum as well as the best seats in the old Montreal Forum.

When we got to our seats an overweight, middle-aged fan was in the seat directly in front of me wearing a Ranger road jersey: Leetch #2. Sweet. The only reason this is relevant is because during the Canadian national anthem the jackass tried to stop one fan from waving his white towel. That one fan was me. Was stopping one out of 16,500 fans from a Vancouver tradition going to help his team win game 3? No. Because he was in the row below us I had good leverage to defend myself and push him off. A scuffle ensued and before I knew it PNE security (Coliseum security) was on its way down to row five. The thought flashed through my mind that I could be kicked out of the finals before the game started but when our whole section pointed at Leetch #2 in row 4, I knew I was safe. The game was about to start. Within 2 minutes Bure scored on a breakaway to make it 1-0. I don’t think Leetch #2 was enjoying his decision to grab my towel at this point. However, at the 18 minute mark Jay Wells took an inadvertent high stick from Bure and was cut. Bure was ejected from the game. The Rangers score five unanswered goals and my brother and I spent most of the third period in the downstairs beer garden inside the Pacific Coliseum. A disappointing 5-1 loss but it was eventful nonetheless.

If there was ever evidence that the Canucks were not going to win the Cup it was game 4. The blown 2-0 lead. The incredible save Mike Richter made on Bure on a penalty shot when it was 2-1. The ugly insurance goal that went off of Dave Babych’s skate. Also, a questionable non-call when Messier hit a Canuck dangerously from behind that many believed deserved the same punishment Bure got for his high stick on Wells. Unfortunately, the Rangers skated back to NY with a 3-1 series lead with a shot at winning the Cup at home. You could feel the end coming for the Canucks.

The whole series changed in game 5 when Esa Tikannen’s goal was called back on an offside call (incorrectly I might add). God had switched sides or did he…….how could Courtnall have been given a five minute major for elbowing Sergei Zubov? Canucks ended up with a 3-0 lead only to see the Rangers tie it up. Dave Babych atoned for his bad bounce in game 4 and scored the winner moments after the Rangers tied it. Suckers paid big bucks to watch the Canucks win 6-3. Only the Rangers would do this to themselves and their fans……back to Vancouver. Another debate for another time…………..would the 2-3-2 format have produced the same result in this series?

I had doubted the Canucks and made plans to go to Whistler the weekend of game 6 before the outcome of game 5. A questionable move and one I would change if I had the chance to do it over. I missed the party on Robson Street after the game because I was at Buffalo Bills’s bar in the lower village. Both good places to be but I would make the swap today to be on Robson Street in a heartbeat. There was no way the Rangers would win this game. Canucks going 0-3 at home in the finals? No way. In what many call the greatest game in the Pacific Coliseum’s history the Canucks forced game 7. The highlight of this game was Geoff Courtnall’s apparent goal not being called a goal and the play continuing and culminating with a Ranger goal. After going upstairs for video review after the Ranger goal, the Courtnall goal stood and the Ranger one didn’t putting the game out of reach. Canucks win. Game 7.

Aside from needing a thesaurus to understand Iron Mike Keenan’s press conferences, the series had been a classic thus far. A penalty shot. An OT game. Controversial penalty calls and non-calls. Video reviews – getting important calls right. Spectacular goaltending on both sides. Crazy crowds in both rinks. Both cities with fans desperate to win the Cup. Either the Rangers were going to silence 1940 forever or Vancouver was going to legitimize their franchise with their first championship and erase a futile existence. I made game 7 plans around being able to get to Robson Street in the event of a Stanley Cup for the Canucks since the celebration after game 6 was said to be legendary.

The anticipation for this game was unlike any other. I remember waking up and thinking ‘Canucks writer Tony Gallagher can’t possibly write something negative today’. I always thought if the Canucks won the Cup Tony would write an article complaining that the parade route the team chose was inadequate. Since there are so few Stanley Cup final game 7’s you knew this was a special day. I remember driving over to my brother’s place with a buddy for a game 7 party. During that drive I realized something: when people are really excited for a game and don’t know what else to do beforehand to let people know they are excited; they honk the horns in their car. I always wondered what a tourist who knew nothing about hockey must have thought driving around Vancouver that day. People were taking half days from work to make sure they were at home in time for the 5:00PST start. People weren’t taking any chances with getting stuck and missing a moment of game 7. This was Vancouver’s time. We all couldn’t wait to see New York’s reaction to T. Linden skating around MSG with the Cup. It never happened. Tony’s parade route article never made it to the press. The night the Canucks had a shot at the Cup they lost 3-2.

There are a few things I will never forget from game 7:
 Leetch’s first goal. For some reason I just remember it so clearly. Great play and a great shot by a great player. He was the difference in the series along with Kovalev. Couldn’t contain either.
 P. Bure kicking the door on the bench after a shift where he had multiple chances to score and didn’t.
 T. Linden jumping out of the box and scoring on a partial breakaway to make it 2-1.
 Hugging everyone in sight after T. Linden’s goal.
 The phantom call on D. Babych that led to the Messier PPG to make it 3-1 (Look at the game tape – it’s a horrible call).
 The party I was at screaming about the D. Babych call.
 Messier’s PPG slowly going in the net.
 Putting my head in my hands after the Messier PPG.
 T. Linden making it 3-2 on a PPG that consisted of about 4 tape to tape passes inside the offensive zone.
 Cliff Ronning not being able to raise the puck in tight because he had a broken hand.
 Martin Gelinas hitting the side of the net off the rush.
 Nathan Lafayette’s shot off the post.
 The icing call that left so little time on the clock you knew the Canucks needed a miracle to tie it.
 The girl climbing all over Rangers GM Neil Smith (who was that anyway?)
 The sound of the MSG buzzer and the ensuing celebration.
 My post game Canadian (beer).
 Being stuck in Riot Traffic (not many people can say this) on the way home (the most embarrassing part of the finals – it was supposed to be New York that rioted – win or lose).

There has never been a Cup final as exciting since. I remember a friend telling me he saw T. Linden at a golf course shortly after game 7 and said he looked like he weighed about 165 pounds, had facial cuts, had a black eye, and had bruises all up and down his forearms. All that and no Cup. No ring for T. Linden. This week I asked two people who I shared this run with in 1994 to give me their top 10 moments of the 1994 spring and their top 5 moments of the 1994 finals. One wrote back with an itemized list and the other wrote back saying he didn’t remember anything about it. Everyone deals with it differently I guess.

Some blamed officiating and cited a conspiracy that the NHL wanted the Rangers to win for the state of the game in the United States. A bit farfetched I would say but comical nonetheless. I don’t, however, think the NHL had a problem with the Ranger triumph. I always thought two good teams played a great 7-game series and one team defeated the other by the slimmest of margins. The Canucks got as close as they possibly could to winning the Stanley Cup (well not quite – game 7 OT would have accomplished that) and lost. The Canucks deserved the Cup that year. So did the Rangers. Both teams gave everything they had and left everything on the ice. Problem is only one team could win it and the Rangers managed to be the last team standing, unfortunately. I don’t think the Canucks will ever get that close again. Some teams just aren’t meant to win the Stanley Cup. This year’s playoff meltdown against the Wild is evidence of that. The Rangers? Will they win it again? Sure doesn’t look that way but at least hockeybird and Ranger fans have seen it happen once.

Ranger fans have endured an ugly stretch of bad hockey. When reflecting on your magical spring of 1994, which you must often do, this article should help you talk about that team from that place that almost took your Cup away, after you talk about the Devils series of course.

-johnnycanuck

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