Search for your favorite player or team
© The Hockey News. All rights reserved. Any and all material on this website cannot be used, reproduced, or distributed without prior written permission from Roustan Media Ltd. For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Yearbook 1987
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
Back To The Drawing Board
Steve Smith is doing a life sentence in infamy. He shot the puck off his own goalie into his own net in the third period of Game Seven, so he took the rap. But a grand jury probing the Edmonton Oilers’ failure to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup last spring would hand down several additional indictments. Jari Kurri was found without a smoking gun. Paul Coffey forfeited bond by failing to show up for the seventh game. The Oilers’ coaches charged them with short attention spans and long streaks of. arrogance. Sports Illustrated pointed an ugly finger accusing drug problems. The grave dancers ball continued merrily all summer. What really happened to the Oilers? To a large degree, Calgary is what happened. The Flames clogged up the middle, effectively separating Wayne Gretzky…
Calgary Flames
If, as Edmonton Oilers’co-coach John Muckier insists, the Calgary Flames were oh a mission last year—it was mission accomplished, sort of. The Flames did eliminate the Oilers. But they didn’t knock off the Montreal Canadiens who stung the Flames 4-1 in the Stanley Cup final. Spent from an emotional triumph over Edmonton and a gritty win over the St. Louis Blues, there was nothing left for the Canadiens. Calgary was skating on empty. The Flames stood to be the first team ever to win the Stanley Cup without first placing first in their division during the regular season. Got all that? If not, try this one. It’s much easier. Calgary most certainly would have been the first champion ever to lose 11 games in a row during its Stanley Cup season. Remember, the team that…
Boston Bruins
History, in the shape of the Montreal Canadiens, stands in the way of the Boston Bruins. Each of the last three seasons, Montreal has eliminated Boston in the first round of the playoffs. Last year, the Bruins scored six goals in three straight losses. Two years ago, they managed all of two. Not since 1942-43 have the Bruins beaten the Canadiens in the playoffs. Overall, they have lost 19 times and won but twice. During the last 17 years, Boston has 12 times earned 100 points or better—and seven times been eliminated by Montreal, including twice in the final. The two, helped along by fellow membership in the Adams Division, seem inexorably drawn to one another year after year. It is an unfortunate circumstance for the Bruins. Just as unfortunate as the…
Old-New Coaches In OHL
Two Ontario League teams have turned the clock back in hopes of making up time in a hurry. Brian Kilrea and Orval Tessier are back in the OHL as coaches. Tessier, the man who led the Cornwall Royals to their first Memorial Cup in 1972, has rejoined his hometown team. Kilrea, who led the Ottawa 67’s to their only Memorial Cup in 1984 after a long and successful run at the 67’s helm, has done the same in Ottawa. Both are returning from the National Hockey League. Tessier, the NHL’s coach of the year in 1983, was fired by the Chicago Blackhawks midway through the 1984-85 season and sat out the remaining year and a half of his contract. Kilrea, in the capacity of assistant coach, was being groomed as Al Arbour’s successor but…
Made possible with the support of
