Last summer, the hockey world had to deal with an intense load of grief. Several tragic occurrences left hockey fans wondering when it will all stop. It seemed every day there was another tragedy that rocked us and it seemed that it would take us all a while to truly recover from these terrible instances.
So going into the 2011-2012 NHL season, we needed a great year of hockey to help us forget about the past.
We got just that.
This past season we saw moments that kind of rallied around the hockey world. Every now and then, it seems that every fan in the country is just drawn to one event and we're all united by what has happened.
So I thought about this season as a whole and picked my 20 best moments/stories that I feel were just so awesome and what hockey is all about (Twitter helped because throughout the season, you know when something awesome happened just by looking at your twitter feed).
The following 20 are all events that warmed our hearts this year. They may not have been the most important moments but when you look at them, you can see why hockey fans adored over their uniqueness.
So sit back, relax, and relive these epic moments.
20) Scott Hartnell meets Hulk Hogan
During a game in which we saw 52 penalty minutes in the last 2 minutes of play, this comical event kind of warmed the hearts of all the viewers.
So going into the 2011-2012 NHL season, we needed a great year of hockey to help us forget about the past.
We got just that.
This past season we saw moments that kind of rallied around the hockey world. Every now and then, it seems that every fan in the country is just drawn to one event and we're all united by what has happened.
So I thought about this season as a whole and picked my 20 best moments/stories that I feel were just so awesome and what hockey is all about (Twitter helped because throughout the season, you know when something awesome happened just by looking at your twitter feed).
The following 20 are all events that warmed our hearts this year. They may not have been the most important moments but when you look at them, you can see why hockey fans adored over their uniqueness.
So sit back, relax, and relive these epic moments.
20) Scott Hartnell meets Hulk Hogan
 |
| "Can you hear me, brother?" |
 |
| Hulk Hogan approves |
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are two of the biggest rivals in the league. Their tempers flared on April 1st in Pittsburgh and we saw some ugly stuff on the ice.
Everyone was all tense until the cameras cut to Hartnell mocking the Hogan look-alike. Look at the other Penguin fans around "Hogan" you can see them giggling at Hartnell's actions. And who wouldn't? This instance showed the laid back ways of hockey players, even amidst chaos.
19) Erik Cole High Fives Referee
On March 14th, Erik Cole took the puck up ice and got his own rebound to net his 27th goal of the season.
The highlight, however, was not from the great individual effort by Cole. After scoring, Cole skates right by official Greg Kimmerly. The excited Cole couldn't help but to high-five the outstretched arm of the ref.
That night, Twitter was ablaze congratulating Cole for having the presence of mind to do this. It was pretty awesome.
18) Gabriel Landeskog's First NHL Goal
The 2nd overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft was this kid named Gabriel Landeskog. He's a smart forward who has tremendous offensive upside and people were excited to see what he'd be able to contribute.
His first goal came in just his 3rd game with the team. In the dying moments of a game against Columbus, Landeskog scored to tie things up.
But this wasn't about the fact that he scored. It was about HOW he scored.
Gabriel Landeskog, the player with tremendous skill, didn't score his first goal on a deke or snipe. No, he scored by deflecting a shot off of his, ehem, heiny. This was just pretty funny for everyone to see as Landeskog's first goal is one taken out of the movie "Goon"
Landeskog had a great season and is nominated for the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year. But his first goal was not as memorable as most would have expected.
17) Mike Rupp's Jagr Salute
Mike Rupp is a lovable character. He's a typical fourth line player who hits hard and can occasionally put the puck in the net. He's in the hearts of Devils fans everywhere for scoring the game winning goal in the Stanley Cup Finals in game 7 back in 2003.
In the Winter Classic, his Rangers were down 2 goals and he supplied them with a huge goal. But that wasn't enough. Rupp went the extra mile and did the classic Jagr salute. After every goal, Jaromir Jagr takes off his glove and salutes the fans. Rupp must have planned that beforehand, in case he scored a goal, and once he scored, he had the presence of mind to actually go through with it.
That definitely earns him a spot on this list.
16) Taylor Hall's Accident
Taylor Hall was always viewed as a pretty boy who didn't seem so tough. All that changed with the photograph above. Hall took a spill in warmups on January 17th and was inadvertently stepped on by teammate Corey Potter. Hall needed 30 stitches to clean up the gash.
This occurrence was one of terror and concern. The result of this was that everyone stirred up the "players need to wear helmets during warmups" argument, if only for a couple of weeks. But seriously, how freakin' awesome is that scar?!
15) Joffrey Lupul vs. Senators Fans
The Ottawa-Toronto rivalry has perhaps the most passionate fan bases in the league. They have such a rich history of epic moments and there's true hatred between the two teams.
Which was why the NHL All Star Draft this year in Ottawa, with Joffrey Lupul announcing nearly every pick for Team Chara, was really great. The fans in Ottawa really let him hear it, especially when he drafted fellow Leaf, Phil Kessel. Throughout the night, the fans booed the garbage out of Lupul and it was perhaps the greatest demonstration of hatred I've seen in a while. (great parody made by ottawaghost4 on the selection)
14) Henrik Lundqvist's Sad, Blue Eyes
Bla Bla Bla. Devils beat the Rangers. Bla Bla Bla. Devils went to Cup Final. Oooh! Look! It's dreamy goalie, Henrik Lundqvist!!!
13) Claude Giroux's Monster First Shift
The Flyers and Penguins had an epic first round matchup (more on that later). After going up 3 games to none, the Flyers started to lose their hold on the series.
Going into the pivotal game 6, Flyers alternate captain, and essential leader, Claude Giroux, reportedly talked his way into the starting lineup that night. Everyone just had this feeling that something special was going to happen.
Giroux simply LEVELED Sidney Crosby in the opening seconds. 27 seconds later, Giroux snipes the puck right by Marc-Andre "the sieve" Fleury to pretty much make the statement, "There's no chance in hell we're letting you win tonight".
That first shift was perhaps the purest hockey shift we've ever seen. Physical, Skillful, Flawless.
12) "Humongous Big"
Oh Ilya Bryzgalov.
During HBO's show "24/7" in which they follow around hockey players leading up to the Winter Classic, we saw several great behind-the-scenes stuff. But most importantly, we got a lot of sick sound bytes, especially from Philadelphia goalie and Russian native, Ilya Bryzgalov.
Bryz had many memorable quotes and thoughts throughout the series, but perhaps none more epic than his feelings regarding the universe:
After that first episode, Bryzgalov became the universal nut in the NHL but everyone still loved the guy. Just go up to any hockey fan, say "huMANEgous big" to them, and they'll most probably be a big smile on their face.
11) Shawn Thornton Turning Into Pavel Datsyuk
As I pointed out earlier, fourth line players have a special role on their squad. They're there to keep things in order, throw a few checks, get into a few fights, and perhaps score a few goals. Shawn Thornton has earned the reputation of one of the better fourth liners in the league. He's big and strong, and can score every once in a while.
His goals usually are not pretty. Usually just jam ins in front of the net.
Which was way this moment was one of my favourites from the season:
Holy Geez. Look at those set of hands!
Thornton, not AT ALL known for his skill, came in, faked the shot (with a snazzy leg fake). What he did next was just ridiculous. He brought the puck, ON HIS BACKHAND, to his backhand! Then he finished the masterpiece by lifting the puck over a helpless Ondrej Pavelec.
What an unbelievable dangle. Pavelec was completely deked out of his jock strap. If that were Pavel Datsyuk or Zach Parise, this would have been incredible. But this was Shawn Thornton. Unreal.
10) David Perron's Epic Comeback
Perhaps one of the least told stories from this season (due to being overshadowed by Crosby's return).
In November of 2010, David Perron of the St. Louis Blues was completely blind sided by Joe Thornton and went down immediately. Take a look at this viciousness.
David Perron suffered a bad concussion. He was out for a really long time.
On December 3rd of this year, Perron finally was healthy enough to comeback. His reception at the Scottrade Center was unbelievable. Here's a video from the stands for the starting lineup announcements (they announce his name at the 1:15 mark)
So ya, that was awesome. But Mr. Perron wasn't going to settle for a nice, routine comeback to the lineup. The dude wanted to net one. And oh, did he ever.
Perron corralled the puck in close, used his silky mits to maintain possession, and then completely shelfed it. Perron is a natural goal scorer and this goal was indeed a beauty.
The fans went nuts. The goal was emotional for literally everyone. And we were all happy about this night, 394 days after he suffered the concussion.
9) Milan Lucic Running Ryan Miller
Perhaps one of the most controversial moments of the season. It spurred debate on goalies saftey, headshots and many other lengthy discussions. It also caused one player to miss significant time and may have set him back several years, skill wise. It caused the microscope to be placed on every single bump a goalie received. Thanks a lot, Milan Lucic.
(For the record, no, just cuz a goalie is out of his crease and playing the puck, it doesn't mean that he is fair game for him to be hit. This was, indeed, dirty. Oh Boston)
Miller was out almost a month with a concussion and wasn't quite the same since returning. Everyone had their opinion on the hit. So for the months following the hit, people argued all the time about goalie safety. When James Reimer was hit, the argument reared its ugly head even further. Even moreso with the Mike Smith incident. And it all started with this hit.
8) Philly-Pittsburgh Playoff Series
When the Philadelphia Flyers were matched up with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. As I noted above, these teams didn't quite like each other as evident to the April 1st contest. So people expected a high-scoring, physical series.
They got just that, and more.
In a series where down was up and up was down, we saw things that literally made no sense. All-World goalie Marc-Andre Fleury simply forgot how to play hockey. His GAA of 4.63 was disastrous and he couldn't stop a beach ball. Ilya Bryzgalov had similar trouble. Yes indeed. 56 goals in just 6 games.
And when they weren't scoring, they were fighting. And with two teams full of stars, it was only a matter of time before we saw unlikely fighting partners:
So the rest of the hockey world looked on as we saw this wonderful series shape up. It was leading up to be an epic series and it was just that. We saw highlight reel goals, we saw highlight reel save (singular tense intended), and we of course saw fights galore.
And we loved every minute of it.
7) Three Way Opening Fight At the Garden
Earlier in the year, we saw two fights at puck drop in a game between the Devils and Rangers at the same time. Yes, it was freakin' awesome. Both teams came out with their tough guys on and they didn't disappoint.
So we shouldn't have been surprised when on March 19th we saw that, +1.
Oh yes. Eric Boulton-Mike Rupp, Ryan Carter-Stu Bickel, and Cam Janssen-Brandon Prust all had awesome fights. The winners weren't THAT clear. While it looked like Rupp defeated Boulton, the other two fights didn't have clear cut decisions.
But this match was eye candy for all the viewers (except for those losers who are against fighting in hockey). This rivalry is also one of the strongest in the league and their matchup in the Eastern Conference Final built off of this night.
6) Sidney Crosby's Epic Comeback
It's no secret how I feel about Crosby. I hate the little weasel, I call him overrated, I think he's a whiny little girl.
That being said, I admire the hell out of that guy.
Sidney Crosby has had a long road back since suffering concussions in January of 2011, Crosby has been out of the game and struggling with his return. I noted a while back, that it didn't help they didn't deal with his issue correctly. But in any case, this was where he was.
So when he was making his return back to the lineup, the media was all over the story of hockey's cover boy.
The date was set. Everyone raced to buy tickets. The Islanders, in a great act of charity, decided to start rookie Anders Nilsson in his first game ever.
Sid the Kid came back and had one of the most inspiring nights of his life. He scored twice in the contest (thanks to gifts here and there by the Islanders) and tallied 4 points in all.
The building was nuts the whole night. The city of Pittsburgh was at the edge of their seats. And the whole country looked on as one of the greatest in the game just became a whole lot greater.
5) Teemu Selanne's Return to Winnipeg
History Lesson time.
In the 1988 NHL draft, the Winnipeg Jets selected a guy named Teemu Selanne 10th overall. Selanne's first season, however, came in 1992-1993. He scored 76 flippin' goals that season, the most ever by a rookie shattering the record of 53. That season, as a rookie, he joined only 8 other players in NHL history to have more than 70 goals in a year and is the last player to ever do so (it hasn't happened since).
Selanne was a star in Winnipeg before his ride there came to an abrupt stop when he was traded in 1996. The fans were surprised and he was surprised and it seemed, after Winnipeg's franchise moved, that he would never play in front of the fans in Winnipeg again.
But this year, the Ducks faced off against the Jets IN Winnipeg.
Words cannot describe the hype going into the season. Here are the videos of him in warmups and of the tribute they gave him on the scoreboard. Good luck trying not to get choked up.
When moments like these happen, we all kinda soften up and appreciate our sport even more. These players mean a lot to the cities where they used to play and when they come back, our hearts are warmed by their reception. We saw it with Mike Modano a couple of years ago (I wrote it up, it was true awesomeness) and we see it here again. This was one incredible night.
4) Detroit's Home Winning Streak
On Saturday, November 5th, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Anaheim Ducks 5-0 on home ice. They wouldn't lose another game at the Joe Louis Arena until February 23rd, a streak of 23 straight home wins, an NHL record.
In that span, the Wings outscored their opponents 89-34 and it seemed they would never lose at home. They beat down their opponenets and seemed unstoppable.
During that time, everyone was almost glued to their TV's to see if the Wings would pull out another home victory. The 4 month long streak really gave everyone time to hop on the bandwagon before it ended. The Wings were doing something special in their building and we wanted to experience the greatness. And we did.
Here are some of their best plays from that stretch. Give it a watch. What they did was special.
3) Bernie Parent at the Winter Classic Alumni Game
There are few players more loved than Bernie Parent. I never got to see Parent play the game but he was truly a great.
Parent's playing career which totaled over 608 games, included 2 Stanley Cups, 2 Conn Smythe Trophies for playoff MVP, 5 all star appearances, and 2 Vezina Trophies for best goalie.
He spent 10 of his 14 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers and after retiring, had his number retired in Philly (#1).
After retiring, Parent stayed with the organization as the goalie coach for goalies like Ron Hextall and Pelle Lindbergh. Today, he's the Flyers Ambassador of Hockey.
In the 2012 NHL Alumni Classic between the Rangers and Flyers, the 66 year old man decided to give it a go. He started in net and played for five minutes, stopping 5 out of 5 shots.
Here's the video of highlights from the game, which include a save on a Ron Duguay breakaway (highlights start at the 1:33 mark)
Before the game began, some of the Flyers players reportedly walked into the Rangers dressing room and simply stated, "Nobody scores on Bernie. Throw the puck at his pads, throw it at his stick. Nobody. Scores. On. Bernie."
The Ranger players agree. And this is one of the most heartwarming stories of the season. Especially during the fans ovation when Bernie skates off the ice for the last time:
Truly epic. Both teams recognize the great history of the man. As do the fans.
Oh and by the way, the number 1 star of the game went to Bernie Parent....hey who started cutting onions in here?...
2) Jets Return to Winnipeg; Fans
Speaking of the Jets.
Yes we all know about the awesome return of the Jets to Winnipeg.
But I want to focus the #4 spot just to the fans who've literally been awesome all season.
There are teams in the league who have sickly creative fans. The Rangers were great this postseason and the Capitals fans were hilarious also. But the Winnipeg Jets fans take the cake for fans of the year (well, they did have 15 years to come up with material).
To start, their first game was filled with "this is freaking awesome" moments. I did a full write up about the game here.
Everytime the Jets scored a goal in the MTS Centre, it seemed that the building was on the verge of collapsing. But besides for that, they've just been awesome in other ways. I have 6 videos I want to share with you.
First, to show how much this team means to the city, Budweiser made a Brew just for Jets fans. Watch the video below:
As you can see, EVERYBODY in Winnipeg gathers 'round to watch Jets hockey. It's a tradition in that city unlike anywhere else. These fans all love their Jets to death and, hey, they got a beer out of it.
My next clip shows the intensity of their fans. In their last home game, the Jets fans just let opposition goalie Dwayne Roloson hear it.
This is commonly done in NHL arenas but I've honestly never before seen the whole entire arena chanting at a goalie while doing the tomahawk chop. Just awesome.
Just to continue their mocking nature, I'll show a clip from a game against Washington. They make one of the most creative chants I've heard in a while to superstar Alex Ovechkin.
This is them digging in deep and coming up with a GENIUS chant to mock Alex Ovechkin. This is truly the best chant I've ever heard at a game before. It touches on the topic of the Ovi-Crosby rivalry and it's truly a work of art.
Wait, did I say that was my favourite chant of all time? I meant this was.
After a nifty goal by Chris Thorburn, the Jet fans mocked the garbage out of Ryan Miller. No, not the traditional "Miiiiiiiillleeeeeeeeer" chant. And no, not about the goal by Thorburn. But about Sidney Crosby's gold medal winning goal against the US and goalie Ryan Miller. This isn't just about the NHL, the Winnipeg fans showed their Canadian nationality by letting Miller hear about that awful nightmare a couple of years later.
Speaking of Canadian, the Jets fans were quite appreciative of the Canadian company, True North, that purchased the Thrashers and brought them back home. Here's a touching display of thankfulness from the Jets faithful.
That's just epic. We see this from different teams like Calgary fans shouting "Red!" when it gets to that word during the Star-Spangled Banner or the Dallas fans shouting "Stars!" during the Star-Spangled Banner. But this is something different. This is coming from a fan base who is forever grateful of the company that brought their team back after 15 agonizing seasons of nothingness. This is truly one of the best traditions in hockey.
And last but not least, my favourite Winnipeg Jets fans moment from this season came in the last home game, in a matchup vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning. Steven Stamkos was just one goal away from getting to the 60 goal plateau. He got it. Now how does that make you feel, Winnipeg?
I just get goosebumps when I watch that. It'd be one thing if the fans clap politely after the announcement of the 60th goal. But literally every fan in that arena gave Stamkos a huge standing ovation. This classy gesture is what makes these Winnipeg fans so special. They're passionate. They can get in your face. They can be brutal. But these fans recognize good hockey and truly appreciate and love the sport. We see it in this highlight.
Best fans in the league. No questions asked.
1) Sam Gagner Lights Up the Night
Alright. So after seeing some of the previous moments on the list, you might be surprised by my number 1 moment of the year.
On February 2nd, 2012, the Edmonton Oilers were in 2nd to last place in the NHL. On February 2nd, 2012, Sam Gagner only had 5 goals and 17 assists.
Sam Gagner had a solid performance that night.
I honestly think that the only thing that could've gotten every hockey fan in North America to watch a random Oilers game on a Sunday night was a performance like this.
Literally every hockey fan just became HOOKED on Sam Gagner that night and was pulling for him. And he just kept scoring and scoring and scoring.
I know how I felt and I'm sure I wasn't alone. Gagner was just a random hockey player who's been underachieving for a while. So when I saw that he was having a good game, I just wanted him to continue.
And he continued.
The dude went from 5 goals and 17 assists to 9 goals and 21 assists. He tied the Oilers record for most points in a game with Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey.
Wayne Gretzky. Paul Coffey. Sam Gagner.
This event was really great. Like I said we were all rooting for him to keep going and he didn't disappoint.
He was later named all 3 stars of the game, having contributed in all 8 goals for the Oilers in their 8-4 win.
Looking back, this season was fun.
Let's do it again next year.
19) Erik Cole High Fives Referee
The highlight, however, was not from the great individual effort by Cole. After scoring, Cole skates right by official Greg Kimmerly. The excited Cole couldn't help but to high-five the outstretched arm of the ref.
That night, Twitter was ablaze congratulating Cole for having the presence of mind to do this. It was pretty awesome.
18) Gabriel Landeskog's First NHL Goal
His first goal came in just his 3rd game with the team. In the dying moments of a game against Columbus, Landeskog scored to tie things up.
But this wasn't about the fact that he scored. It was about HOW he scored.
Gabriel Landeskog, the player with tremendous skill, didn't score his first goal on a deke or snipe. No, he scored by deflecting a shot off of his, ehem, heiny. This was just pretty funny for everyone to see as Landeskog's first goal is one taken out of the movie "Goon"
Landeskog had a great season and is nominated for the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year. But his first goal was not as memorable as most would have expected.
17) Mike Rupp's Jagr Salute
In the Winter Classic, his Rangers were down 2 goals and he supplied them with a huge goal. But that wasn't enough. Rupp went the extra mile and did the classic Jagr salute. After every goal, Jaromir Jagr takes off his glove and salutes the fans. Rupp must have planned that beforehand, in case he scored a goal, and once he scored, he had the presence of mind to actually go through with it.
That definitely earns him a spot on this list.
16) Taylor Hall's Accident
This occurrence was one of terror and concern. The result of this was that everyone stirred up the "players need to wear helmets during warmups" argument, if only for a couple of weeks. But seriously, how freakin' awesome is that scar?!
15) Joffrey Lupul vs. Senators Fans
Which was why the NHL All Star Draft this year in Ottawa, with Joffrey Lupul announcing nearly every pick for Team Chara, was really great. The fans in Ottawa really let him hear it, especially when he drafted fellow Leaf, Phil Kessel. Throughout the night, the fans booed the garbage out of Lupul and it was perhaps the greatest demonstration of hatred I've seen in a while. (great parody made by ottawaghost4 on the selection)
14) Henrik Lundqvist's Sad, Blue Eyes
Bla Bla Bla. Devils beat the Rangers. Bla Bla Bla. Devils went to Cup Final. Oooh! Look! It's dreamy goalie, Henrik Lundqvist!!!
Don't you just love his deep, blue eyes?
The Flyers and Penguins had an epic first round matchup (more on that later). After going up 3 games to none, the Flyers started to lose their hold on the series.
Going into the pivotal game 6, Flyers alternate captain, and essential leader, Claude Giroux, reportedly talked his way into the starting lineup that night. Everyone just had this feeling that something special was going to happen.
Giroux simply LEVELED Sidney Crosby in the opening seconds. 27 seconds later, Giroux snipes the puck right by Marc-Andre "the sieve" Fleury to pretty much make the statement, "There's no chance in hell we're letting you win tonight".
That first shift was perhaps the purest hockey shift we've ever seen. Physical, Skillful, Flawless.
12) "Humongous Big"
Oh Ilya Bryzgalov.
During HBO's show "24/7" in which they follow around hockey players leading up to the Winter Classic, we saw several great behind-the-scenes stuff. But most importantly, we got a lot of sick sound bytes, especially from Philadelphia goalie and Russian native, Ilya Bryzgalov.
Bryz had many memorable quotes and thoughts throughout the series, but perhaps none more epic than his feelings regarding the universe:
11) Shawn Thornton Turning Into Pavel Datsyuk
As I pointed out earlier, fourth line players have a special role on their squad. They're there to keep things in order, throw a few checks, get into a few fights, and perhaps score a few goals. Shawn Thornton has earned the reputation of one of the better fourth liners in the league. He's big and strong, and can score every once in a while.
His goals usually are not pretty. Usually just jam ins in front of the net.
Which was way this moment was one of my favourites from the season:
Thornton, not AT ALL known for his skill, came in, faked the shot (with a snazzy leg fake). What he did next was just ridiculous. He brought the puck, ON HIS BACKHAND, to his backhand! Then he finished the masterpiece by lifting the puck over a helpless Ondrej Pavelec.
What an unbelievable dangle. Pavelec was completely deked out of his jock strap. If that were Pavel Datsyuk or Zach Parise, this would have been incredible. But this was Shawn Thornton. Unreal.
10) David Perron's Epic Comeback
Perhaps one of the least told stories from this season (due to being overshadowed by Crosby's return).
In November of 2010, David Perron of the St. Louis Blues was completely blind sided by Joe Thornton and went down immediately. Take a look at this viciousness.
On December 3rd of this year, Perron finally was healthy enough to comeback. His reception at the Scottrade Center was unbelievable. Here's a video from the stands for the starting lineup announcements (they announce his name at the 1:15 mark)
The fans went nuts. The goal was emotional for literally everyone. And we were all happy about this night, 394 days after he suffered the concussion.
9) Milan Lucic Running Ryan Miller
Perhaps one of the most controversial moments of the season. It spurred debate on goalies saftey, headshots and many other lengthy discussions. It also caused one player to miss significant time and may have set him back several years, skill wise. It caused the microscope to be placed on every single bump a goalie received. Thanks a lot, Milan Lucic.
Miller was out almost a month with a concussion and wasn't quite the same since returning. Everyone had their opinion on the hit. So for the months following the hit, people argued all the time about goalie safety. When James Reimer was hit, the argument reared its ugly head even further. Even moreso with the Mike Smith incident. And it all started with this hit.
8) Philly-Pittsburgh Playoff Series
When the Philadelphia Flyers were matched up with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. As I noted above, these teams didn't quite like each other as evident to the April 1st contest. So people expected a high-scoring, physical series.
They got just that, and more.
In a series where down was up and up was down, we saw things that literally made no sense. All-World goalie Marc-Andre Fleury simply forgot how to play hockey. His GAA of 4.63 was disastrous and he couldn't stop a beach ball. Ilya Bryzgalov had similar trouble. Yes indeed. 56 goals in just 6 games.
And we loved every minute of it.
7) Three Way Opening Fight At the Garden
Earlier in the year, we saw two fights at puck drop in a game between the Devils and Rangers at the same time. Yes, it was freakin' awesome. Both teams came out with their tough guys on and they didn't disappoint.
So we shouldn't have been surprised when on March 19th we saw that, +1.
But this match was eye candy for all the viewers (except for those losers who are against fighting in hockey). This rivalry is also one of the strongest in the league and their matchup in the Eastern Conference Final built off of this night.
6) Sidney Crosby's Epic Comeback
It's no secret how I feel about Crosby. I hate the little weasel, I call him overrated, I think he's a whiny little girl.
That being said, I admire the hell out of that guy.
Sidney Crosby has had a long road back since suffering concussions in January of 2011, Crosby has been out of the game and struggling with his return. I noted a while back, that it didn't help they didn't deal with his issue correctly. But in any case, this was where he was.
So when he was making his return back to the lineup, the media was all over the story of hockey's cover boy.
The date was set. Everyone raced to buy tickets. The Islanders, in a great act of charity, decided to start rookie Anders Nilsson in his first game ever.
Sid the Kid came back and had one of the most inspiring nights of his life. He scored twice in the contest (thanks to gifts here and there by the Islanders) and tallied 4 points in all.
The building was nuts the whole night. The city of Pittsburgh was at the edge of their seats. And the whole country looked on as one of the greatest in the game just became a whole lot greater.
5) Teemu Selanne's Return to Winnipeg
History Lesson time.
In the 1988 NHL draft, the Winnipeg Jets selected a guy named Teemu Selanne 10th overall. Selanne's first season, however, came in 1992-1993. He scored 76 flippin' goals that season, the most ever by a rookie shattering the record of 53. That season, as a rookie, he joined only 8 other players in NHL history to have more than 70 goals in a year and is the last player to ever do so (it hasn't happened since).
Selanne was a star in Winnipeg before his ride there came to an abrupt stop when he was traded in 1996. The fans were surprised and he was surprised and it seemed, after Winnipeg's franchise moved, that he would never play in front of the fans in Winnipeg again.
But this year, the Ducks faced off against the Jets IN Winnipeg.
Words cannot describe the hype going into the season. Here are the videos of him in warmups and of the tribute they gave him on the scoreboard. Good luck trying not to get choked up.
4) Detroit's Home Winning Streak
On Saturday, November 5th, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Anaheim Ducks 5-0 on home ice. They wouldn't lose another game at the Joe Louis Arena until February 23rd, a streak of 23 straight home wins, an NHL record.
In that span, the Wings outscored their opponents 89-34 and it seemed they would never lose at home. They beat down their opponenets and seemed unstoppable.
During that time, everyone was almost glued to their TV's to see if the Wings would pull out another home victory. The 4 month long streak really gave everyone time to hop on the bandwagon before it ended. The Wings were doing something special in their building and we wanted to experience the greatness. And we did.
Here are some of their best plays from that stretch. Give it a watch. What they did was special.
There are few players more loved than Bernie Parent. I never got to see Parent play the game but he was truly a great.
Parent's playing career which totaled over 608 games, included 2 Stanley Cups, 2 Conn Smythe Trophies for playoff MVP, 5 all star appearances, and 2 Vezina Trophies for best goalie.
He spent 10 of his 14 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers and after retiring, had his number retired in Philly (#1).
After retiring, Parent stayed with the organization as the goalie coach for goalies like Ron Hextall and Pelle Lindbergh. Today, he's the Flyers Ambassador of Hockey.
In the 2012 NHL Alumni Classic between the Rangers and Flyers, the 66 year old man decided to give it a go. He started in net and played for five minutes, stopping 5 out of 5 shots.
Here's the video of highlights from the game, which include a save on a Ron Duguay breakaway (highlights start at the 1:33 mark)
The Ranger players agree. And this is one of the most heartwarming stories of the season. Especially during the fans ovation when Bernie skates off the ice for the last time:
Oh and by the way, the number 1 star of the game went to Bernie Parent....hey who started cutting onions in here?...
2) Jets Return to Winnipeg; Fans
Speaking of the Jets.
Yes we all know about the awesome return of the Jets to Winnipeg.
But I want to focus the #4 spot just to the fans who've literally been awesome all season.
There are teams in the league who have sickly creative fans. The Rangers were great this postseason and the Capitals fans were hilarious also. But the Winnipeg Jets fans take the cake for fans of the year (well, they did have 15 years to come up with material).
To start, their first game was filled with "this is freaking awesome" moments. I did a full write up about the game here.
Everytime the Jets scored a goal in the MTS Centre, it seemed that the building was on the verge of collapsing. But besides for that, they've just been awesome in other ways. I have 6 videos I want to share with you.
First, to show how much this team means to the city, Budweiser made a Brew just for Jets fans. Watch the video below:
My next clip shows the intensity of their fans. In their last home game, the Jets fans just let opposition goalie Dwayne Roloson hear it.
Just to continue their mocking nature, I'll show a clip from a game against Washington. They make one of the most creative chants I've heard in a while to superstar Alex Ovechkin.
Wait, did I say that was my favourite chant of all time? I meant this was.
Speaking of Canadian, the Jets fans were quite appreciative of the Canadian company, True North, that purchased the Thrashers and brought them back home. Here's a touching display of thankfulness from the Jets faithful.
And last but not least, my favourite Winnipeg Jets fans moment from this season came in the last home game, in a matchup vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning. Steven Stamkos was just one goal away from getting to the 60 goal plateau. He got it. Now how does that make you feel, Winnipeg?
Best fans in the league. No questions asked.
1) Sam Gagner Lights Up the Night
Alright. So after seeing some of the previous moments on the list, you might be surprised by my number 1 moment of the year.
On February 2nd, 2012, the Edmonton Oilers were in 2nd to last place in the NHL. On February 2nd, 2012, Sam Gagner only had 5 goals and 17 assists.
Sam Gagner had a solid performance that night.
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| Twitter reaction to Gagner |
Literally every hockey fan just became HOOKED on Sam Gagner that night and was pulling for him. And he just kept scoring and scoring and scoring.
I know how I felt and I'm sure I wasn't alone. Gagner was just a random hockey player who's been underachieving for a while. So when I saw that he was having a good game, I just wanted him to continue.
And he continued.
The dude went from 5 goals and 17 assists to 9 goals and 21 assists. He tied the Oilers record for most points in a game with Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey.
Wayne Gretzky. Paul Coffey. Sam Gagner.
This event was really great. Like I said we were all rooting for him to keep going and he didn't disappoint.
He was later named all 3 stars of the game, having contributed in all 8 goals for the Oilers in their 8-4 win.
Looking back, this season was fun.
Let's do it again next year.
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