Personalised Historical Challenge

[lawrence97]

80/81 Draft/Pre-Season

We trade Tallon to move up in the draft. We can't pick hawerchuk, Francis Gilmour or MacInnis. But James Patrick and Dave Andreychuk especially we can. We still have 8 draft picks in the first 2 rounds, from trading Tony Espotio, Kehoe Salming and Pavelich. However we pick 9th and 11. Trf to move up to 5th, in draft but can't. Macinnis goes to Winnipeg, Gilmour Quebec, Francis Edmonton and Hawerchuk Hartford. Colorado pick Ridley, and luckily Calgary pick Galley. Philly, on the board next but they are first team willing to trade their pick, and we give them 29 year old Tallon, a 100 point defencmen who is still playing excellent hockey. We then trade washington for Acton and lots of our 2nd rnd picks to get their pick, so we get Patrick next. We pick up Vanbiesbrouck, Greg Adams and Steve Thomas to complete as good a draft as we can. However the lack of 100 points players is really starting to hurt.


Our first line is old Cournoyer 36 Unger 32 Redmond 32 Park 31 Lapointe 32. We will not trade any of these players, nor Carol Vandais.
Our depth is good, we should content for the next few years, but the new waive of power centers is a problem. Will need to find a player like Modano in the next few drafts. Again we are rated best in the league.

Minnestoa 2nd(Linseman, Sutter, Chouniard,Bobby Clarke, Larry Murphy, Federko, Gartter, Greschner and Reinhart!(that is some team, them mering with California has really created an all star team, now their prospects have come through)

Detroit 3rd-Gretzky Billy Smith and Neal Broten. Really is amazing how much Gretzky can be a one man team

NY Islanders 4th- Maruk Trottier Bossy, Simmer Barber and Duguay.

Vancouver 5th: Potvin, Mullen, Larouche Oates, Goulet and Pederson. But they are very young bar Potvin.

Defending Chmapions are 10th as they are lef by Perreault and LaFleur.

Hoping for a championship as our bottom two lines have improved. Really looking forward to the North Starts and Gretzky Wings challenge.

[lawrence97]

1980/1981 Season

We score 601 goals again by running out 4 lines at equal measure, but its the games against the big teams that tell the real sdtory. We end up first in the league, 14 clear of Minnesota.

However the North Stars in the regular season take 3 wins to 1 against us.

The Islanders on 124 but we only edge the series 3-2 against them

Detroit only get 102 points are are down in 8th, take go 1-3 against us.

Finally the Kings goes 1-2-1 against us.

That means we end up 9-7-1 against the leagues best. The playoffs will be no cakewalk.

Points wise, 38 players get 100, 17 get 50. We sharew game time with Vdnais, Babych and Hartsburgh for the 6th man d spot. Babych is sitting out the playoffs we need our best team out for the playoffs.

Gretzky gets 188 points, and 93 goals, Bobby Orr leads with 121 assists.

Bobby Orr with no injuries to slow him down is approaching 2000 points.

Bobby Hull(2989) Stan Mikita(2559), Phil Esposito(1754) have all retired.

Yvan Cournoyer is on 2900 career points, 144 behind Gordie Howe.

[lawrence97]

80/81 Playoffs

Playoffs begin with all big teams making it through the first round, we ease past Philadelphia and the Canucks.

In the Divisional Finals, we get shocks, Detroit stun number 3 Minnesota
and Islanders at number two lose in 6 to the defending Champions, where LaFleur and Perreault, who still excellent not quite as good as last year. Buffalo takes out the number 4 St. Louis.

In the Conference finals, we blast Detroit aside, and Kings win against Buffalo in 5.

We have a rematch, and we win 6-4 in the first game. However we get a rude awakening as the kings win three games in a row to shock us! I change up lines and give majority time to our top2 lines, and we thump the kings 8-3 in game 5. Game 6 is a 3-1 win despite us being out shot 36-20!

Game 7: We take a 3-1 lead in the opening period, but kings cut into that in the second to leave the score at 4-3 to us. The third period is a shambles. Their 4th line of Andre Savard Mcphee and Plett, score 3 goals against us and depite us barraging shots at them the rest of the way, we can't answer back and the Kings go back to back against us.

That one hurt!

[lawrence97]

NHL history so far

[lawrence97]

1981/1982 Pre Season

Draft this year is great for Defence, not so much on the offensive side, and we have only our own draft picks, which mean we pick 21st and last.

Unavailable to me are Brett Hull, Phil Housley, Gary Suter Rick Tocchet and Matt Cullen.

Best available are Scott Stevens, Brian Bellows and Pat Verbeek and a few others.

Brett Hull picked 1st is an Oiler, Stevens 2nd a Jet, and Housley, criminally underrated in this draft is 16th to Buffalo. We pick Christian Ruutu, we still have an abundance of decent young talent, but we need some more stronger forwards to replace our very old top line.

Rankings

1 Rangers
2 North Stars(stacked, see screenshot below)
3 Blues(Howe, Carlyle, Sittler, Tonelli, Bullard, Sthoughton & Ogrodnick)
4 Flames(Ray Bourque Kevin Lowe Steve Schutt Denis Savard)
5 Red Wings (Gretzky & Neal Broten they literally have no depth)

Defending Champs LA Kings are 7th they just have 30 years old Perreault and LaFleur. They really shoudln't get anywhere near the cup this year.

Again we are going for Cup

[lawrence97]

1981/1982 Season

A very similar season to last year, with 140 points but NY Islanders right behind us on 132. We beat them consistently through the season, but we went winless against the north stars(2 draws and 2 defeats).

LA were a lot stronger than i thought and Boston acquired Bourque to have a hbell of a defensive pairing with Bobby Orr. Detroit's Gretzky had 190 points but they finished 9th a long way behind us. 33 100 points scorers and 18 50 goal scorers. He scored an amazing 142 points at 38.

Yvan Cournoyer now just 2 points off Gordie Howe for the nhl history leads!

Playoffs to come and i'm looking forward to a tense showdown with Minnesota.

[lawrence97]

81/82 Playoffs

Round 1(best of 5): We beat washington easily to set up a humdinger of a round against the Bossy-Maruk-Trottier Islanders after they handle the Messier/Dionne PHiladlephia 1-2 punch in 4. Gretzky's Detroit beat Sittlers all star team of STL in the battle of giants in round 1, and then meets Minnesota who ease past Chicago 3-0. Vancouver and LA advance after both had swept Winnipeg and Calgary respectively. The last quarterfinal places taken by Montrel and Buffalo

Round 2 (best of 7). We best the Islanders 4-0, we really had their number this year, winning all but one of our 13 or so games(they might have won the first game of the season. Elsewhere Montreal beat Buffalo in 5, Minnesota in a tough fouht 6 games against Detroit, and LA/Van go to 7, i want LA but Vancouver go through.

Round 3(7). NYR-Mon and Van-Min. montreal have Kurri Stastny Nicholls and Savard. and two 1 goal games in the garden go in our favour before we blast them in the forum for our 3rd straight sweep. Minnesota stunned by Vancouver in a sweep. Really want to play them at some stage,

Stanley Cup Final: Vancouver are no slouches, they have Pederson, Oates Larouche Goulet Kisio/Bouttete and Mullen as their top 6 forwards. Larouche leading 4 players with 100 points on this team with 150. Potvin is the star man on D with a 102 point campaign, and they have a solid goaltender in Richard Brodeur.

Game1: Vancouver wins 6-3, shock to the system as Larouche 2 goals and an assist

Game 2: Rangers bounce back with a thumping 10-6 win, a 6-0 first period was almost wasted as Van come back to 7-6, but 3 4rd period goals in quic seccession ice it. Points shared along our top line, but Pierre Larouche has another 3 point game, he'll be a real threat.

Game 3: 5-2 Rangers win! pretty much everyone got a point, Larouche got 2 points again! He's in for a shout as Conn Smythe win or lose.

Game 4: Critical game here and Vancouver blows us away 8-1! Potvin the star with 3 points Larouche again 3 points!

Game 5: Grant Fuhr is called up to possibly replace Edwards in goal, and we edge a 6-5 OT thriller. Vancouver lead 4-2 5 mins into second period(no Larouhce points though) We get a goal from Morris Lukowich at 6.39 to close the gap to 1, and another from him 1 min into the 3rd makes it 4-4. Pederson gives them the lead with 10 to go, and we have to pull the netminder, and it work, Tim Kerr with the goal with 2:13 left to go! The ever green Brad Park with a blast wins it for us after 2 min of OT. WHAT A GAME that was!

Game 6: Grant Fuhr gets the game. and Real Cloutiers two goals, gives u a 3-2 lead after one. Larouche who else ties it with his second point of the game early in the seoncd to make it 3-3. Mickey Redmond scores late in the 2nd, and thats it. Grant Fuhr, on his DEBUT, wins the stanley cup for us with a 3rd period shutout of 12 saves! Redmond is named Palyoff MVP with 34 points in 17 games(Larouche 32 in 20)

Rangers win back the Stanley Cup!

This may well be the Mario Lemieux draft this year.

[lawrence97]

82/83 PreSeason and Mario Lemiuex Draft

Draft is strong this year, unavailable are Lemieux, Yzerman, LaFontaine and Kevin Stevens. BUT there are 4 players who i could definatley target, Patrick Roy Cam Neely, Steve Duchesne and Mario's team mate Dan Quin who looks pretty good at a young age. There is also Russ Courtnall, Ed Belfour and Brian Bradley Cliff Ronning, Esa Tikkanen and Sylvain Turgeon. Roy and Neely would be the dream, but will need to make some trades to get anywhere near them.

In an absoulte peach of a scenario, Mario Lemieux ends up an .....Edmonton Oiler! Then Steve Yzerman to the Quebec Nordiques!!

Trades, Pittsburgh have 5 and 8 in the draft and so we send 2nd rnd picks for them and their 1983 1st for 29 year old Lanny McDonald.

I also have 5 goal tenders, so 26 Edwards 4th best goaltender goes to Devils for the Detroit pick, and 2nd pick next year, i also have to throw in a 3rd and 4th this year. I can't get their number 4th overall pick or Toronto 3rd overall pick

3 Patrick Roy goes to the devils
4 LaFontaine goes to Maple leafs
5 We Rangers get Neely at 5
6 Kevin Stevens - Bruins
7 Tom Barraso to the Jets
8 Steve Duchese to Rangers(a lot of centers on the board for us to pick later)
9 Belfour to RedWings
10 Norton to Capitals
11 K. Miller to Hartford
12 T Bergland to Montreal
13 D Quinn to Ny Rangers
14 Essena to Sabres
15 TRADE Kelly Hrudey to St Louis for this pick and get Cliff Ronning
16 Krupp to Flyers
17 Dollas to Whalers
18 Claude Lemieux to Canucks
19 Russ Courtnall to King
20 Bradley to Calgary
21 Sylvain Turgeon to Rangers

Great trade for us, essentially releasing our two current Goalies, and replace them with a Fuhr/Vanbiesbrouck combo. Losing out on Roy was unfortunate, but no chance of picking up the number 2 pick of the draft.

We now have a Andreychuk-Ronning-Neely as a potential kid line, with S. Turgeon-Quinn-G. Courtnall as a second line. Greg Adams Steve Thomas, Kjell Dahlin and Christian Ruuttu will be battling for 22nd and 23rd roster players at somepoint and/or trade bait.

Our main line will no be Lukowich-Gardner-Cloutier, line 2 Cournoyer-Unger-Redmond, Vaive-Derlago-Kerr L3, and L4 Andrechuk-Propp-Steen.

We've lost McDonald, who was probably our best player last year with 70 goals, but had to get draft picks in. The d line will at some point be Larson-Rusto-Hartsburg-Driver-Babych-Duchesne-Patrick in the future. Park, Lapointe and Vadnais however on the team for as long as they want. All 34 and over now. Lidster and Moe Mantha for the chop

That team should hopefull see me into the 80's.

Team Rankings Pre Season
1- Rangers
2-North Stars who have 12 players offensievly who have had point per game seasons at least led by Kent NIlsson, MIke Garter, Rick Martin with Greschner and Reinhart(lost Murphy to a stupid tradef though, which i shall undo)
3-St Louis Blues-not quite as deep as Minnesota, but still excellent top 6 lef by Sittler Bullard and Stoughton, with Howe and Caryle in D with Hrudey in goal
4-Cancuks, superstar Larouche ably supported by Mullen, Oates, Pederson Boutete and Goulet. Potvin on D.
5-Islanders- 3 headed monster of Maruk Trottier and Bossy.

LA Kings now a lowly 11th, Gretzky Detroit 9th, and Lemieux's Oilers 19th.
Detroit really have no depth, but Edmonton are stacking up on superstars. They've drafted superbly well picking up Brett Hull Ron Francis and Mario Lemieux in the last three drafts. At some point they'll ve great hopefully.

[lawrence97]

82/83 Season

Yvan Cournoyer overtakes Gordie Howe for most points in the NHL in the first week of the season, has over 3050 in 1800 games! He's just been a phenom with Gretzky level stats 16 straight years of 140 points, many over 150 and 1 at 200, his max being 203. Will post his stats once he retires.
The changing of the guard with the Cournoyer-Unger-Redmond line taken off the 1st line and not first choice pp, and Lanny McDonald traded, means we take a hit in our goalscored, the 4 wha teams are now stronger and scoroing 10 goals a game agianst them is rarer.

Minnesota start off hot and despite a 5 game wobble, they are just 4 losses behind me at the halfway stage. Come end of season, we finish on 138 points, 9 clear of Minnesota having gone 2-1-1 in regular season. Really hope we match up in the Stanley Cup final.

We end up with 511, goals for the season, a lot lower than 601 2 season ago, and some 70 goals off the average we've had for the Cournoyer years.

Lukowich, Gardner Derlago, Cloutier and Rusotlainen all get 100 points, but our max is 128. Rest of the team is solid, but we really miss a top tier center. For the league 35 100 point players, and 17 50 goal scorers. Gretzky got 180, his lack of teammates really hurting him. No one else in detroit got even half his points! He won the art ross and was top goalscorer with Bossy on 71.

[lawrence97]

82/83 Playoffs

Round 1(5): Nearly fall at first hurdle, when New Jersey(who have our gt from last year 5 star Edwards and Paul Coffey), take first 2 but we rally with 2 thumpings. However final game ex Ranger Vickers ties the game with 30 seconds left, but we survive thanks to Captain Yvan, with a very timely first goal of the playoffs to send us through. Minn and NYI are through. Minnesota had to face an underperfoming St Louis, who finished 16th, despite being ranked 3rd! They were swept 3-0. Gretzky Detroit were the only casualties of the 1st round. Edmonton oilers weren't in the playoffs as they finished plum last. Wonder who they'll get in the draft to back up the Lemiuex-Hull-Francis top line.


Round 2(7): We get the Islanders, but we handle them fairly easily in 5. Just like last year, we are their bogey team. Vancouver and Minnesota get through, as do Buffalo in our side of the bracket

Round 3 (7):Buffalo have Tonelli-Rogers-Middleton-Salming-Housley as a top fwd and def line. Leach and Loob lead a decent 2nd line. They have consitently hit over 100 points over the last 6 years, and are no pushovers. They win the first game and the second game. I switch our lines up and win game 3 6-3. Game 4 goes to OT and thankfully Paul Gardner wins it for us. Buffalo then win game 5 for their 3rd straight MSG win! Both us and Minn are 3-2 down in our series! We win 4-2(3 goals in the 3rd period to tun a 2-1 deficit!), to force game 7. Minnesota with 3-2 in their game 6, and so both Conference finals have a game 7. We put in our best playoff performance to win 10-3 and Minnesota win 6-2 to finally get the two best teams head to head in the final!

Stanley Cup Final Preview: The North Stars are jam packed with great players. Sauve a very good GT, Murphy-Reinhared-Greschner, is arguably better than my top 3 def, and they have Nilsson, Martin, Gartner Federko, MacMillan, Wilson, Chouniard Linseman and Bobby Clarke for amazing fwrd depth. They had 3 100 point players and 4 40 goals scorers with Garnter hitting 52. They scored 419 goals this season. and conceded 6 less than us. In the past 3 years, they have probably edged us in head to head games.

Game1: a Real Cloutier hat trick gives us a 6-5 win. Cloutier had openend the scoring but Minnesota takes lead of 3-1 and then 4-2 early in the 2nd. However we take over and with 4 straight goals we lead 6-4 with 16 remaining. Kent Nilsson gets one back for them but we hold out. Shots we 44-30 in favour for us.

Game2 a second straight 6-5 win! This one however is wild, Minnesota scores first, but we end up 2-1 ahead after 1. Minnesota scores the only 2 goals in the 2nd to again lead 3-2 into the 3rd. Brad Park takes a penalty 3 seconds into the period and they score off the face off! We then charge forward and score 3 goals in 3 minutes, Viave Gardner and Cloutier again to take the lead. Their top line however equalises at 19:18 of the third to send it to OT. Real Cloutie, with his 5th goal in 2 games, wins it for us, after 7. Minnesota out shoot us 40-35. This series is far from over.

Game3 OT needed again but Minnesota win it, 4-3. Was our turn to score a last minute equaliser, but Bob Gainey wins it for them, we threw this one away as we had dominated play in periods 1 and 3 , but just couldn't put the game away. we outshot the North Stars 61 to 33.

Game 4 a well taken 6-2 win for us. a 3-2 lead for us after 1, with no goals in the second means the third period is tight, but our powerplay is deadly going 2/2 in the third period for a 6-2 win.

Game5 Despite edging the shots 41-38, We go back to back! we lead after 1 thanks to old timers Redmond and Cournyoer combining for the only goal. Lapointe makes it 2, only for Larry Murphy to get one back. Steen and Kerr sandwich a Rick Martin goal for them to make is 4-2 heading into the third. Mike Gartner scores to make it nery, but 40 seconds later Ruotsalaien scores his 7th of the playoffs to make it 5-3. Steen and DErlago score in the 12th and 14th minute to give us a 7-3 win!

Rangers are the Champs, Minnesota will rue the first two games where they had chances to take the series advantadge. IN the playoffs, Pierre Larouche top scored with Paul Garnder with 29 points. Although he did it in 6 less games! Gretzky won Hart, Greshcner the Norris and Ruotsalainen deservedley the Conn Smyth. Onto next year and the draft to see which legend Edmonton draft next!

[lawrence97]

1983/1984 Pre Season


1983 Draft

PLayers in red are unavailable to me
Mike Richter, Luke Robitaille, Kirk Muller Joe Nieuwendyk Stephane Richer, Kevin Hatcher Gary Roberts, Al Iafrate, Fred Olausson, Jeff Brown & Ray Sheppard lead a deep deep draft with a few superstars.

My main targets are Nieuwendyk and Muller., I have the 19th and 21st pick, So have to try and trade up

1-Robitaille(Edm) A great fit with Hull Lemieux and Francis!
2-K. Muller (Hrt)- Couldn't trade for this pick
3-Nieuwendyk-(Pit) wouldn't give up this pick either, even though offering Lukopwich, Patrick Vanbiesbrouck and 2 1st round!
4-S. Richer(wsh)
5-K. McLean(Phil)
6-M. Tinordi(Que)
7-G. Roberts(Win)
8.B. Ranford(St Louis)

At this point i have a lot of players available, but also Mike Richter, so i trade for Boston 10th and 11th Overall this year and thier first roud next year.
Going the other way is Lukowich, Driver, Courtnall and my 2nd rnd and 3rd rnd picks this year

9. J. Brown (Chi) Annoying as i was about to draft him and Richer
10- M. Richter?(NYR)
11-A. Iafrate (NYR)(Now i don't need any defenders for a while)
12- K. Hathcer(Van)
13- R. Sheppard (Chi)
14-S. Cote(LAK)
15-B. HBogue(NJD)
16-S.Corson(Mon)
17-E. Olczyk(Pit)
18-M. Bureau(STL)
19-W. Clark (NYR)
20-S. Mellanby (Det)
21-F. Olausson(NYR) Another defender, but can't not pickm him here.




GK- Fuhr/Vanbiesbrouck, with Healy as a back up in AHL Richter in Jrs

DEF:Carol Vadnais left as a free agent. Brad Park is still top quality, but Guy Lapointe to be 7th defender as really falling off. Bruce Driver and James Patrick faced battle for 6th spot as so traded Driver as per above, Otherwise pairings will be Park-Larson, Ruost-Hartsburgh Babych-Driver/Patrick. Lidster and Moe Mantha to be traded for picks next year. Steve Duchesne, Al Iafrate and Fred Olausson make for one hell of a jnr Offensive-Defenders Quad

ATT Ungerr/Redmond/Cournoyer will be 4th line, in the hope they retire next year. Steve Thomas, Dan Quinn, Kjell Dahlin, Christian Ruutu, Cliff Ronning and Sylvain Turgeon all signed to AHL. Top line will be Propp-Gardner-Vaive, then Andreychuk-Derlago-Kerr, Cloutier-Steen-Neely[PROMOTED] and Cournoyer-Unger-Redmond. Gourtall, Turgeon and Quinn are all pushing for a spot next year. So hopefully the CUR line will retire as don't want them on the team as just scratches.

[lawrence97]

Season Preview

Top two teams by a distance are us and Minnesota

third are Boston by acquiring Driver, Courntall and Lukowich from me, now are 3rd, have a 35 year old Orr still producing alongside Hawerchuk and Ray Bourque.

Other teams to mention

Islanders Bossy/Trottier/Maruk

Quebec Gilmour/Yzerman

Canucks Oates/Mullen/Goulet/Potvin

Sabres: Salming./ Housley/Secord/Rogers/Middleton/Loob/Tonelli

Det: Gretzky, and still no one else, he is wasted on this team. He keeps them in the top half and so they have no one to draft. Might be wiser if they traded him for a kings ransom

Oilers Lemieux.Hull. Francis

Canadiens Statsnt/Nicholls/Kurri

Devils: Roy & Coffey for a nasty combination!

[lawrence97]

83/84 Season

80's in full swing and the Rangers dominance is ebbing away. 31 games in and they are second in their division to the Penguins. Doug Wilson and Lanny McDonald are tearing up the league. McDonald is on par for 170 pts, giving Gretzky a run for his money so far. Their goalie tandem of Lindbergh and Peeters are both in top 5 gaa leaders. Rangers are 3rd behind the North Stars who are right with the Penguins.

Rangers slowly start to catch the Penguins,

1 Rangers, 103pts 66gp
2 Penguins, 102pts 66gp
3 North Stars 101pts 64gp

Gretzky(Det) 148 pts----McDonald(Pit) 134pts

Next game is Rangers Penguin, with the season match up at 2-1 for the Pens, but a 6-2 win for the Rangers gives them a decent lead. Rangers on their best win streak of the season of 15 just at the right time. North Stars however win thier two games in hand to go into March as season leaders. League goes down to final game, as Rangers are playing at the North Stars for the league, Penguin are 10 behind, but Northstars win 8-5, to finally end the Rangers long streak of Presidents Trophies.

Gretzky hits 189 points 35 get 100, and 15 get 50 goals with Lanny McDonald top scoring with 87, he deserves some silverware for his season. Him and Gretzky should share the hart trophy


Playoffs will be tough, Sabres Penguins Red Wings and North Stars will all be tough outs. Canucks had a shocking season as Pierre Larouche has fallen off a cliff at 28.

[lawrence97]

1983/1984 Playoffs

Round 1(5)- We get the Islanders and beat them in 4. Pit stunned by the Patrick Roy Devils, but Red Wings Sabres and North Stars advance. Islanders Trottier, Bossy and Maruk as good as every, but their defence is made of paper. They've conceded almost 400 goals this year

Round 2 (7) We face off against the Nj Devils armed with young Patrick Roy next. Paul Coffey Mike Ridley Ron Flackhart and Steve Vickers their main threats. We simply make mincemeat out of them, Buffalo gets through in 5, but Gretzky amazingly gets the Red Wings to a 7th game against the might North Stars. North Stars escpae with a 5-4 victory with a goal with 5 to go to equalise, and score the winner with 90 seconds left! Gretzky gets 28 points in just 12 games. Canucks get through against the kings in 7 to set up the same final four as last year.

Round 3 Third year in a row for the conference final of Canucks vs North Stars. Minnesota should have too much. We get Buffalo again, with pretty mcuh same team as last year, but Phil Housley looks to have improved. However we are too strong and sweep them. Vancouver with Larouche on the 4th line, ride Oates and Potvin to a 3-1 series lead. Minnesota win one, but then are hammered 9-4 in vancouver, with Oates again tormentor in chief with 3 assists.

Stanley Cup Final Despite their shock win over Minnesota, i can't see this Vancouver line up giving us any trouble. We beat vancouver all 4 times in the regular season(5-3 three times, and 3-1 once).

Game 1: 5-2 win 1-0 to us through 2, thought Canucks go ahead 2-1 in 3rd. But 4 goal flood in last 10 give us victory we deserved. Outshoot Canucks 35-25

Game 2: 3-2 win for the Canucks! a goal at 19:59 of the third by Mullen assisted by Goulet and Oates, makes this a series! 37 shots a piece. This is not what i was expecting

Game 3: 7-3 win for the Rangers, 4 goals in the 2nd make it a 6-2 game, we outshot Vancouver 42-37

Game 4: This is a big game and our fourth 5-3 win of the season against Vancouver puts us on the brink. A 3 goal first is enough, as Vancouver can't mount the comeback over the next 2 periods, 35 shots each again.

Game 5: At MSG the Rangers...fall flat! a 7-5 win for Vancouver! 2 goals for Mike Krushelnyski and B-ake Gustaffson gives Vancouver a stunning win, going 6-2 up are falling 1-0 behind!

Game 6. Top line of Cloutier Vaive and Gardner, have all got 26 or 27 points in 17 games, but in a shocking 5-4 loss they don't trouble the scoreboard, its a game 7! This was another terrible game, 4-2 up after 2 with Andreychuk at the double, a 3 period massacre, with Macoun, Hardy and Pederson all scoring to take it to the MS Garden!

Game 7. Vancouver with 76 regular season points, 14th in the league standings out of 21 have had quite the tournaround, and sensationally WIN the stanley cup with a 4-3 win!

Ron Wilson and Ron Sutter make it 2-0 in the first 8 minutes, but Andreychuk and Propp get us back on terms before the period end.

2nd period, Murdoch gives them back the lead.
3rd period, Real Cloutier equalises on the power play, but Adam Oates, scores the goal at 8:36 to win the cup for Vancouver. Oates top scores in the playoffs with 32 points

My predictions about Vancouver leaves me eating humble pie! They take down the power house of Minnesota and the New York Rangers!


Conn Smythe to Denis Potvin, Hart to Gretzky, Reed Larson gets Norris.

Onto 84/85 where we probably will need to see if we can upgrade our Centers. Only viable options are Nieuwendyk and Ridley atm

[lawrence97]

1984/1985 Pre Season


This is the final year before the iron curtain is taken down in this play through. Carol Vandais retired after 1392 games in the NHL and scoring 1405 points. He won the Norris 7 times all star and has a sensational 1975/1976 season with 58 goals and 99 assists. Only Bobby Orr has beaten that point total as a defender, and no defender has beaten the goal mark. Brad Park is ahead on total point for a career.

Mickey Redmond was allowed to walk, Yvan Cournoyer is 40, so he will be a reserve attacker. Sylvain Turgeon and Dan Quinn will take their spots on the 4th line. Cliff Ronning and Wendel Clark are in the minors. Guy Lapointe is also a free agent, with Al Iafrate in the lineup, he will battle with Babaych for playing time, if not traded in upcoming draft as need attackers and have Steve Duchesne and Fred Olausson in the minors.

Vincent Damphousse is the player we want, Craig Janney unavailable, and no defenders worth picking. This is the worst draft by a distance, two goalies are rated best. We can't trade anything to get Damphousse who goes second, but we trade Dahlin Vanbiesbrouck and Cournoyer along with the 2 1st we had this year to get Nieuwendyk, who'll get one year in minors before getting nhl call for us next year.

Notable drafts this year,

Craig Janney 1st to Hartford and Damphousse to the jets next. We pick up Ulf Dahlen.

[lawrence97]

League rankings

1 NY Rangers
2 Minnesota - Led by 3 headed d monster of Greschner, Reinhart & Murphy
3 Boston-Orr(36) Bourque Lukowich and Hawerchuk
4 Pitt Penguins-Cournoyer/Redmond Wilson McDonald and Taylor
5 NJ Devils-Coffey/Roy

Other

Van-Oates/Potvin
Edm-Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull, Robitaille & Francis! They just need a D though
Det: Just Gretzky!
Phil: Messier Chelios and Bellows
NYI-Bossy-Maruk-Trottier-Simmer
Que-Yzerman and Gilmour
Win: Al Macinnis and Scott Stevens

Pittsburgh arew probably the team i fear the most, they have 40 year old Cournoyer who still looks excellent, Lanny McDonald is rated best player, in league behind Lemieux and Gretzky. Hoping to see Edmonton beomce a force now their fab four are in their top two lines.

[lawrence97]

1984/1985 Regular Season


We start off with a 9 game win streak, Pittsburgh lose a few games early, and we open up a 10 point lead against them by the quarter mark of the season. After 30 games, Rangers 6 clear of Minnesota, Pens in 3rd with Buf 4th.

Rest of the teams 6 points behind,Lemieux's Edmonton is in 9th on course for 90 pts considering their last three season were 61 points, 30 points and 25 points they've had the jump up required. Their defence is a priority, considering its 2nd worst in the league. Detroit remain mid table. They need to do something to get Gretzky some help


At the half way stage, young Mario Lemieux takes the lead in the points race! He's on 93 with Gretzky on 91, though the great one has 3 games in hand. We are romping away from Pitts to win our division, but Minnesota is still 6 points behind us, we've lost 20 points combined between us to completely distance us from the rest of the league. Detroit are plummeting, and now just 3 points from missing out on playoffs, Edmonton had dropped 4 in a row, but still look like they'll hit 500 and make the playoffs easily.

End of season, we pull away, Vaive Steen and Kerr all get to the 100 point park, with Vaive and Kerr getting 50. Star man is Cloutier with 72 goals, on the top line with Garnder and Vaive. We score 543 goals, to top the nhl by 24 points. Pittsburgh suprisngly fell away. Detroit and Edmonton atr 5th and 7th seeds in the west, Edmonton had a very poor second half of the season. Gretzky broke 200 points, lemiuex coudln't keep up the pass but got 163. An amazing 42 players got 100 points and 17 got 50! Goals per game is at 8.4 for the league. Iron Curtain Rule is now off!

[lawrence97]

1984/1985 Playoffs

Hoping for a North Stars/Rangers battle again, but we should be too strong.

Round 1(5) We get Pittsburgh! A homecoming for Cournoyer and McDonald, and not a happy start as we go 2-1 down and lose our bet player Cloutier for at least 2 weeks! A 10-5 win brings it to a decider where a nervy 3-2 win at MSG sees us through! Edmonton and Detroit make it through!

Round 2(7) We get the devils next round, Coffey and Roy, and we win in 5 in a tougher series then in sounds. Gretzky's Detroit are thumped by Minnesota in 5, but Lemieux's Edmonton beat the defending Champs Vancouver in 5 aswell, Boston decide to use 6 games to beat the 3rd best league team Buffalo

Round 3(7) Rangers take on the 6th ranked Bruins(9th in league) Whilst Edmonton 7th in the west but 15th in league take on the number 2 in the league and West Champ Min NS. Will the heavy favourites meet in the cup?,,,,well as ever the playoffs are never that easty. Edmonton take the first game against Minesota, but lose the next three, whilst Boston and NewYork share the first four games. Minnesota do indeed have too much for Edmonton and go through in 5, Boston New York goes to the 7! Rangers have been in the SC final since 1969, an incredible 16 years, with a 13-3 record. ...and win 6-2 to meet up with their 80's Rival Minnesota!

Stanley Cup Final(7) the second time we meet in three years. Rangers won 4-1 two years ago. Minnesota i still packed, they have FIVE 100 point players in Nilsson-147, Greschner-136, Wilson-115, Gartner-107 and Martin-107. That top line is lethal, 241 goals between the 5 of them. Their second line of Sutter Federko and Linseman, with a defence of Reinhart and Murphy, got an averagew of 70 points each. They have 4 excellent defenders, having traded Andy Moog for Doug Wilson Lindberg, is a decent Goalie in the pipes. Cloutier is back but we lose
James Patrick for an injured elbow for 3 months

Game 1: Real Cloutier hits the opening goal, but Rick Martin answers. He then gets another in the 2nd period, to leave Minnesota 2-1 after 2. Cloutier scores after 4 minutes on the power play to equalise and then completes his hatrick 7 minutes later to put us 3-2 up. Time Kerr adds insurance with 4 minutes to go, which was needed as Rick Martin turns provider for Ron Sutter to give Minnesota hope at 18:10. Fuhr keeps them out and we win 4-3, shots were 38-29 to the Rangers.

Game 2 Rick Martin who played for us in the 70's, decides to show the Rangers fans what they've been missing. The first period a Kent Nilsson double inbetween a Rick Vaive PPG makes it 2-1 to Minnesota. In the 2nd, Andreychuk and Cloutier put the Rangers in the lead, but that is now the signal for the Rick Martin Show, he scores with 3 mins left in the period to make sure the 3rd starts with the teams tied up at 3, he then adds two more in the 3rd along with a Ron Wilson double to thump the Rangers 7-4, Garry Unger scoring the lone reply in the period when the damage was already done. Shots were 42-39 for the Rangers

Game 3 Real Cloutier socres after 1 minute and 12 seconds to silence the crowd, before Kim Kerr adds another before 5 minutes is up. We need to press home the adv whilst we can but Minnesota take control of the game and deservedly get on the board with Doug Wilson at the 16 minute mark. Martin getting another point. The second period is a slaughter, although the shots are even, Fuhr has to be pulled and replaced by Healy, as he allows 4 goals in the period, Greschner(2), Nilsson and Maclean fill their boots. The 3rd period is but a footnote, Ron Wilson scores again, and then Derlago and Kerr get us to within 2 with 10 mins left, but Minnesota sees out time fairly comfortably it has to be said. healy saves an amazing 17/18 shots in the final period to keep the score respectable. Final shots are 44-30 to Minnesota, and the Rangers have some work to do

Game 4 Feels like a must win for the Rangers and they play better outshooting Minnesota 35-26. The 1st period is evenly played, but only one team gets on the scoresheet and its Linseman and Gartner who finally gets on the scoreboard. Rangers then dominate the 2nd period only allowing 5 shots, and scoring 2 to equalise. The third period is much luck the 2nd, with the ranges having 27 attempts, but only getting 10 through to their goalie, Minnesota has considerably less at 18 attempts with 8 getting through. Despite the 45 total attempts at goal in this period, only one goal is actually scored, and its Tim Kerr for the rangers with his 20th of the post season! A huge win for us, and the series remains in the balance.

Game 5Blaine Stoughton holds the record for most goals in the playoffs with 22, Kerr has a chance. Game 5, is a tight affair, Vaive scores the only goal in the first, but Mike O'Connell and Bob Gainey score twice in the 2nd to put Minnesota up, Nilsson with his 15th early in the 3rd give Minnesota a big 3-1 lead. Kerr with his 21st claws one back, but Gartner and MacLean end the game despite Paul Gardner consolation in the last minute to win 5-3 and take a 3-2 series lead. Minnesota out shot the Rangers 41-31. The difference in this series is the goalies, Lindbergh is just making more plays than Fuhr!

Game 6 Minnesota have their best chance to win the Cup tonight with their team in front of their home fans, and Greschner opens thescores, but Andreychuk equalises. Gartner scores again, but Real Cloutier equalises again. 2nd Period the Rangers score 3 unaswered(Unger, Andreychuk, Park), to put themselves within the brink of a game 7, but crumble in the 3rd, Greschner, Reinhart and Gartner score in a 2 mins 30 span to my incredible frsutraion to equalise! The game goes to ot, and the winner comes 61 seconds later from the stick of Paul Reinhart!

Minnesota are champions! And fully deserving they are of that after an excellent few years in the league. Mario Lemieux actually top scored in the playoffs with 34 points in just 14 games! Greschner Nilsson and Martin had 33, 32 and 31 respectively! Brad Park top scored for us with 28. We had a very poor playoff run compared to our league form. In fact we had 8 players with a negative plus minus for the first time in a while in the playoffs! Unger was a -7. Minnesota had 4 palyers with a -1, everyone else positive. Greschner wins Conn Smythe, Gretzky Hart, and Park the Norris i think for the 8th or 9th time

[lawrence97]

onto 1985 now, and we have Hasek, Markov, Larionov, Krutov amongst others available to be signed. As per the rules i can not sign them, be interesting to see who does, Detroit Red Wings sure could use them!

[lawrence97]

1985 Pre Season part 1 Iron Curtain Off and Draft

Draft

The top end of the draft has excellent players, Brian Leetch, Theo Fleury, Mark Recchi, Joe Juneau and Jimmy Carson are unavailable. Peter Bondra would fit my style but is projected top 5 and i have 21st and 22nd pick. Then its Malakhov, Graves

Bondra goes 4th to the Islanders.
Leetch is top pick to the Hartford Whalers
Fleury becomes a Jet
Reechi to the Maple Leafs
Graves to Edmonton
Carson to Calgary
Juneu to Quebec

I trade Gardner to Stl for their 1st round pick next year. Delgado to Boston for 2 1st rnd picks, but takes the rest of this years draft picks. They will be replaced in the lineup by Nieuwendyk and Ronning. I was not happy with their play in the playoffs last year.

Iron Curtain Free Agents


Mike Bossy at 28 and still prime, is being put up by the underperforming Islanders! Unfortunatley i can't get him but lets see what happens

Larionov-Winnipeg Jets
Hasek-Detroit
Makarov-Boston
Konstantinov-Edmonton
Krutov-Winnipeg Jets
Klima-Detroit
Fetisov-Detroit
Titov-New Jersey
Kozhevnikov-Winnieg Jets
Lala-Penguins
Balderis-Detroit
Rusnak-Chicago
Kasatonov-Chicago
Bykov-Kings
Khomutov-Canadiens
Irbe- NY Islanders


I signed Hasek to Detroit as my role as Commish, but they actually signed Klima, Fetisov and Balderis. Winnipeg had a windfall signing 3 great players.