The Hockey History

The 1972 Summit Series marked a historic showdown between the Soviet national team and Team Canada, comprised of NHL professionals

This best-against-best hockey competition saw Team Canada rallying to win Game 8 in the final minutes, overcoming a two-goal deficit after two periods. Paul Henderson scored the decisive goal with 34 seconds left.

Canada clinched the series 4-3-1, winning the last three games away in Moscow, Russia. Major comeback in the series, major comeback in game 8!

Carey Price had a sterling performance at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, as he allowed just two goals in five games to lead Canada to gold with a .972 save percent.

He somehow didn’t win the goalie of the tournament, that honour went to silver medalist Hendrik Lundqvist who had a .943 save percentage

Joe Sakic made his NHL debut on October 6, 1988, against the Hartford Whalers and registered an assist.

During the season, he wore #88 because his preferred number, #19 was already taken by a teammate, Alain Côté.

While considered a front-runner for the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year due to his rapid scoring pace, an ankle injury that forced him to miss 10 games in December and the resulting scoring slump helped quash any hopes of winning the award.

He would finish his rookie season with 62 points in 70 games, and finishing eighth in voting for the Calder

Defenceman Brian Leetch won the rookie scoring race with 28 goals and 48 assists, won the Calder Trophy in #1988

Jeff Petry and the Montreal Canadiens had a Cinderella run to the finals in the #2020 backstopped by Carey Price

Headed into Round 3 against Vegas Petry played with extremely bloodshot🩸 eyes.

He said the condition was a result of him passing out and popping blood vessels while getting his broken pinky finger reset during Montreal's second-round series against the Winnipeg Jets.

Ron Francis still ranks first all-time in Whalers/ history in points, goals, assists and games played.

At the time of his retirement, his 1,175 points were more than double those of then-runner up Kevin Dineen.

As a veteran, he captained the Hurricanes to a surprise appearance in the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals and scored the winning goal for the Hurricanes in overtime of Game 1, before losing to the Detroit Red Wings in five games

Francis finished his career with a brief stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs, traded there by the Hurricanes in March 2004 to allow him one last run at a third Stanley Cup

Pierre Turgeon signed with Colorado Avalanche as a free agent on August 3, 2005. He took a year off during the 2004–05 NHL lockout.

Upon signing with the Avalanche, Turgeon switched his jersey number to #87 from his customary #77, as the number was retired by Colorado for Ray Bourque. Turgeon was also drafted 1st overall in the 1987 entry draft, the same year Sidney Crosby was born ;)

Turgeon had 46 points in 62 games in his first season with the and has 1327 career points in the

#87

Selected in the first round, 12th overall, by the at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, Alex Tanguay began his career with Colorado in 1999.

Tanguay won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001, scoring two goals in Game 7 against the New Jersey Devils.

Individually, he was nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy following his rookie season and was chosen to the 2004 All-Star Game during his six-year tenure with Colorado.

Tanguay is from Saint-Justine, Quebec, the same place where the fabled story The Hockey Sweater takes place, written by Saint-Justine’s Roch Carrier

Martin Straka signed with the Pittsburgh in 1997–98 returning to the organization that drafted him in #1992

In 1998-99 he set new career highs, scoring 35 goals and 48 assists, and established himself as two-way forward with explosive speed and good on-ice vision.

With the return of Mario Lemieux he would go on to have a career year during the 2000–2001 season for Pittsburgh as he amassed 27 goals and 95 points and in 82 games.

On 5 July 2013, after 17 seasons with the Senators, Alfredsson signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings.

Marc Methot said many of his Senators teammates were caught off guard. "We all were pretty adamant that he was going to return because he is grounded in this city and so well-loved that everyone figured something would work out", said Methot. Alfredsson confirmed a day later that his decision to leave Ottawa was motivated by a desire to win a Stanley Cup prior to retirement. "I had not won a Stanley Cup and that’s a big priority for me," Alfredsson said.

After a 49 point regular season in 68 games, Alfredsson and the Wings were bounced in the first round of the 2014 by the Boston Bruins. Alfredsson would retire at the start of next season and would be inducted into the hall of fame a few years later

The Canadian men's hockey team arrived in 1998 in Nagano looking to avenge their 1996 World Cup loss to the United States

Keith Primeau was the hero with two goals as the Canadians exacted revenge with a 4-1 pounding of the Americans to send them into the medal round with a perfect 3-0 record

But when the 1998 Winter Olympics were over, both Canada and the Americans went home empty-handed

Both teams would be knocked off in successive fashion by Dominik Hasek and the Czech Republic, first the US in the quarterfinals then Canada in the semis

#1998