Lets give it up for the hammer

[king of culver]

Originally Posted by bigjack

Lets not forget a very important factor! The Flyers won 2 Cups not because of Dave Schultz or the fighting but because Bernie Parent stood on his head for 2 years and was amazing in net!
He stoned the Rangers in the 3rd period time and time again late and held on for a 4-3 win in game 7 when Schultz beat up Rolfe!
The Rangers were outshot badly in the first two periods and Giacomin was great and they dominated the 3rd period and only scored twice but the last 5 minutes Parent owned and held on for a tough 4-3 win!
People who know nothing about the Schultz/Rolfe game assume that the Flyers won like 6-2 but the game was 4-3 and it was the Rangers who dominated the 3rd period and especially the last 10 minutes or so! Remember that with a minute left with the Rangers on the attack, they got called for that bogus too many men on the ice penalty and Hadfield was sent to the box where he was seen laughing and drinking a fan's beer and when Emile Francis was told about it went nuts and Hadfield was gone to Pittsburgh quickly for Nick Beverley!
The 1976 finals were all close games with three being one goal games but Rick MacLeish was out with a broken leg and Bernie Parent was injured also and didn't play against Montreal! MacLeish scored 24 goals in 34 games in the Flyers two Cup years and was a great player in those playoffs!
A healthy Bernie Parent and a healthy Rick MacLeish and the Flyers may have won 3 Cups in a row even with Montreal not intimidated!
Don't ever forget about Bernie Parent!

If i am not mistaken jack the flyers victory over the rangers might of been the first time a expansion team had beaten a original 6 ever in the playoffs ! sports illustrated and the national media gave our sport some hudge publisity because of the flyer antics.
Clearly Clark and parrant were more responsible for the cup run then schultz still dave was as well known as any of them To the casual fan who give him more credit then deserved he will always be in the Pantheon of hockey legends.

Dave was in the right place at the right time with the right team to his credit he saw a opportunity to create a niche for himself and took full advantage. Dave must of felt tremendous pressure every night as his reputation grew . he realised if he backed down once or took a bad loss the magic would be gone .

It is impressive that even after the invincible spell was broken and holdgram took him apart in his return to philly he still showed up for fights and of coarse got the two great wins over johnathon and ben wilson

[Flyer_Frank]

Originally Posted by bigjack

I wrote 20 to 22 but 24 would be great also. Not as great but still great! The problem is the NHLPA would never allow 140 jobs to be lost if we went down to 24 teams or 180 jobs if we went down to 22 teams.
Imagine 540 NHL players vs the 700 that we see now?
That would be some awesome hockey!
EXPANSION=BETTMAN and this watered down product and poor attendance in some markets and it is his fault with his and the owners greed!
Not only did Bettman water down the NHL but he fuc*ed up the 1995, 2005 and 2013 seasons!
Bettman sucks!

The NHLPA wouldn't allow it? How about the gazillionaires who own those franchises so many fans want to just go away? Do you think they'd just eat their investment because its' good for the game?

Bettman's expansion strategy wasn't a terrible idea when he started with it: Get that big network TV contract by expanding into the US south and southwest and growing the fan base that way. What changed, and what Bettman didn't foresee and he's obviously not to blame here, is that cable TV and the internet changed everything. You don't need numbers as big to get a good US network deal as you did 20 years ago because the audience has become so fragmented by a zillion cable channels. With the internet, even national borders don't matter any more. I don't think any of the major leagues has benefited as much from these advancements as the NHL . . . . in spite of Bettman.

The NHL was a great league at 21 teams circa 1980-90 or so, but the talent pool has grown since then. The Iron Curtain came down and a lot more American kids are playing . . . and they're damn good (see the recent world juniors)! Thirty is probably the outer edge on the proper number of teams but I'm OK with it. Let's not forget the impact the salary cap is having on teams loading up the roster. That's having a bigger impact than the overall size of the league/talent pool.

[bigjack]

Originally Posted by king of culver

If i am not mistaken jack the flyers victory over the rangers might of been the first time a expansion team had beaten a original 6 ever in the playoffs ! sports illustrated and the national media gave our sport some hudge publisity because of the flyer antics.
Clearly Clark and parrant were more responsible for the cup run then schultz still dave was as well known as any of them To the casual fan who give him more credit then deserved he will always be in the Pantheon of hockey legends.

Dave was in the right place at the right time with the right team to his credit he saw a opportunity to create a niche for himself and took full advantage. Dave must of felt tremendous pressure every night as his reputation grew . he realised if he backed down once or took a bad loss the magic would be gone .

It is impressive that even after the invincible spell was broken and holdgram took him apart in his return to philly he still showed up for fights and of coarse got the two great wins over johnathon and ben wilson

Yeah the first three playoff years after 1967, the way the playoffs and league was structured an original 6 team couldn't meet an expansion team until the finals when Montreal beat the Blues twice and Boston beat the Blues the third time in 1970 when Orr scored against Glenn Hall!
Moving Chicago out of the Eastern Conference in 1970 changed that and always annoyed me. I would be thinking why does Chicago get to be with the expansion teams and the Rangers, Bruins, and Canadiens have to beat each other up all during the regular season!
It wasn't until the 1974 playoffs that an expansion team defeated an original six team when the Flyers defeated the Rangers in seven games! Parent had a great season with 12 shutouts and a 1.89 gaa and the Flyers won 50 games and had 112 points and were the best in the West even though they were in Philadelphia?

[Carkner]

Originally Posted by king of culver

Dave was in the right place at the right time with the right team to his credit he saw a opportunity to create a niche for himself and took full advantage. Dave must of felt tremendous pressure every night as his reputation grew . he realised if he backed down once or took a bad loss the magic would be gone .

It is impressive that even after the invincible spell was broken and holdgram took him apart in his return to philly he still showed up for fights and of coarse got the two great wins over johnathon and ben wilson

Amen brother. And the thing I'm trying to draw a parallel to is that Dave was THE MAN to beat just like Probert became in the eighties...even to a much greater extent than Probert during his time...as the hype and hysteria was even greater during that time because he was the first. He was THE MAN and any up and coming fighter knew to fight him and beat him was a chance for instant recognition and respect. Dave went out on the ice EVERY NIGHT knowing that he was in the sights of every player wanting to make a name for himself...much like probert had to endure. He knew it and he embraced it. Yes...like BJ said...he drew attention to himself...but that's what's so f*ing impressive about it if you ask me. He DREW a target on his jersey...accepted the pressure that came with this...and most importantly didn't back down if someone wanted to try and take his "crown". He said, "Come and take it, b*tches!"