A blast from the past, I think some of you guys will really get a kick out of this...

[Forty_Sixand2]

A month or so ago, I was back home at my parent's farm and they had this big box of my old stuff that was in the attic that they had pulled out for me. It was a bunch of memorabilia, programs, books and magazines. Among the things was a huge stack of Sports Illustrateds. On a whim, I grabbed a handful of them and threw them in my car before leaving. I brought them into my office and put them on a shelf. Whenever I went out to get lunch, which is pretty rare, I would grab a random one and take it with me. It is pretty cool to read some of the stories. Well, today I went out and the issue I grabbed was from October 6, 1997 and included the NHL preview. I figured that I would share some highlights with the crew:

Order of finis (* indicates playoff birth)

EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
1. Flyers*
2. Devils*
3. Rangers*
4. Capitals*
5. Panthers*
6. Islanders
7. Lightning

NORTHEAST DIVISION
1. Senators*
2. Canadiens*
3. Sabres*
4. Hurricanes
5. Penguins
6. Bruins

CONFERENCE FINALS
Flyers over Devils

WESTERN CONFERENCE

CENTRAL DIVISION
1. Red Wings*
2. Stars*
3. Coyotes*
4. Blues*
5. Blackhawks
6. Maple Leafs

PACIFIC DIVISION
1. Avalanche*
2. Oilers*
3. Mighty Ducks*
4. Canucks*
5. Sharks
6. Flames
7. Kings

CONFERENCE FINALS
Avalanche over Red Wings

STANLEY CUP FINALS
Avalanche over Flyers

Now I know that the actual finls were the Red Wings over the Caps and that the eastern conference finals was the Caps over the Sabres, but I do not remember the western conference finals.

Articles included:
A story about the evolution of the goalie position, comparing Roy to Hall and Fuhr to Sawchuk.

A story on the new goalie equipment and how it has evolved

A story on up and comer, Martin Brodeur and how his 22 shutouts lead all goalies since the 1991-92 season, when he debuted



I will post some more in another note, but I do not want to make this too huge.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

...continued

They listed a bunch (26) of superlatives so at the risk of being tedious, I figured that I would post those as well as some of you may find it cool. I know we have some hockey historians here and a lot of us were just getting into hockey around this time:

BEST SKATER
1. Paul Kariya
2. Sergei Fedorov
3. Peter Bondra

BEST WRIST SHOT
1. Joe Sakic
2. brett Hull
3. Paul Kariya

BEST BODYCHECKER
1. Ed Jovanovski
2. Scott Stevens
3. Eric Lindros

BEST FACE-OFF MAN
1. Ron Francis
2. Joel Otto
3. Mark Messier

BEST DEFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN
1. Chris Chelios
2. Scott Stevens
3. Mark Tinordi

BEST STICKHANDLER
1. Jaromir Jagr
2. Peter Forsberg
3. Paul Kariya

BEST SLAP SHOT
1. Al MacInnis
2. Al Iafrate
3. Brett Hull

BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARD
1. Mike Peca
2. Jere Lehtinen
3. Niklas Sundstrom

BEST BACKHAND SHOT
1. Jaromir Jagr
2. Paul Kariya
3. Wayne Gretzky

BEST FIGHTER
1. Chris Simon
2. Bob Probert
3. Tie Domi

BEST PASSER
1. Wayne Gretzky
2. Adam Oates
3. Paul Kariya

BEST POWER FORWARD
1. Eric Lindros
2. Keith Tkachuk
3. Brendan Shanahan

BEST CENTER
1. Peter Forsberg
2. Eric Lindros
3. Mike Modano

(to be continued)

 

[puckhead]

neat. As a kid I always used to keep the newspaper page with the final NHL stats.
It's interesting to see my team's scoring leader of Mike Walton, Rick Blight, Denis Vervegaert, etc.
(the points figures weren't that high )

 

[dash]

This is quite cool, 46and2, thanks for posting this. Surprised to see JovoCop listed as best bodychecker, of course he was young and wild a dozen years ago.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

BEST LEFT WING
1. Paul Kariya
2. Keith Tkachuk
3. Brendan Shanahan

BEST RIGHT WING
1. jaromir Jagr
2. Teemu Selanne
3. Zigmund Palffy

BEST DEFENSEMAN
1. Brian Leetch
2. Chris Chelios
3. Scott Stevens

BEST ONE ON ONE MOVES
1. Jaromir Jagr
2. Paul Kariya
3. Peter Forsberg

BEST INSTIGATOR
1. Claude Lemieux
2. Matt Barnaby
3. Ulf Samuelsson

BEST ON-ICE VISION
1. Wayne Gretzky
2. Paul Kariya
3. Peter Forsberg

BEST SHOT BLOCKER
1. Craig Ludwig
2. Scott Stevens
3. Chris Chelios

BEST GOALTENDER
1. Patrick Roy
2. Dominik Hasek
3. Martin Brodeur

BEST POKECHECKER
1. Ray Bourque
2. Brian Leetch
3. Slava Fetisov

BEST LEADER
1. Mark Messier
2. Steve Yzerman
3. Ray Bourque

BEST POWER-PLAY SPECIALIST
1. Sandis Ozolinish
2. Wayne Gretzky
3. Paul Kariya

BEST PENALTY KILLER
1. Mike Peca
2. Peter Forsberg
3. Mike Keane

BEST COACH
1. Scotty Bowman
2. Marc Crawford
3. Jacques Lemaire

BEST ROOKIE
1. Patrick Marleau
2. Sergei Samsonov
3. Yogi Svejkovsky

BEST REFEREE
1. Bill McCreary
2. Kerry Fraser
3. Don Koharski



I'm done.....

 

[puckhead]

BEST ROOKIE
1. Patrick Marleau
2. Sergei Samsonov
3. Yogi Svejkovsky = who??????

 

[dash]

BEST ROOKIE
1. Patrick Marleau
2. Sergei Samsonov
3. Yogi Svejkovsky = who??????

That was a Boo-Boo

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

BEST ROOKIE
1. Patrick Marleau
2. Sergei Samsonov
3. Yogi Svejkovsky = who??????

....ugh.....

he scored like 7 goals in 20 games for the caps at the end of 97, including 4 in his last game and then.....well....went the way of the diagle....

 

[HonusWagner66]

That was a Boo-Boo

*Golf clap*

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

F

*Golf clap*

Jesus. I just got that.

 

[Destroydacre]

....ugh.....

he scored like 7 goals in 20 games for the caps at the end of 97, including 4 in his last game and then.....well....went the way of the diagle....

Him and Konowalchuk absolutely annihilated me in NHL 99, no matter which team I used. I hated playing Washington, lol.

 

[Automattic]

This is quite cool, 46and2, thanks for posting this. Surprised to see JovoCop listed as best bodychecker, of course he was young and wild a dozen years ago.

That stood out to me as well.

Rep points to 46&2 for having a post that includes Tinordi as well!

 

[Automattic]

I should have said "as well" a couple more times, as well...

 

[PhillyPhaithful48]

I know he is good, but Paul Kariya managed to creep into the top 3 of almost every stat category

Shame he cant fight...

 

[BOSSMANPC]

I know he is good, but Paul Kariya managed to creep into the top 3 of almost every stat category

Shame he cant fight...

Now now don't be too hard on the guy. He may be able to kick my little sisters ass.