Thanks for the memories The dinners on the plane, all that weight I gained Wondering when this hockey team would win another game How lovely it was Thanks for the memories Pavel Bure's blazing speed, Henrik's perfect feeds Bingo Bango Bongo, when Luongo left his feet How lovely it was Thanks for the memories Your leaving is the pits, we'll all miss you to bits My favorite call of all, was when you called bullshit Thanks for the memories
The seeds of the performance were sewn when Bublé shared the broadcast booth with Shorthouse coloring a 7-3 drubbing of the Chicago Blackhawks and the Kerrisdale kid accepted the Burnaby crooner's invitation to one day join him onstage. Eighteen months later Shorty made good on his postgame promise producing this dazzling duet. Clearly more comfortable calling puck than singing standards, Shorthouse sweated through the serenade like a pro. The memorable performance was followed by a succinct video salutation to the 33 year veteran voice, climaxing with an appearance by the living legend himself.
In the end, it was Bublé who found the perfect words to memorialize the man: "you're a beauty Tom, you're a beauty." A fitting farewell to a beloved member of the Canucks family. How lovely it was, indeed.
The one game suspension emanated from a post-game altercation between Devils head coach Schoenfeld and Game 3 referee Don Koharski where incidental contact between with the two caused the referee to slip and remark "you're done" to which the bench boss retorted "you fell you fat pig, have another doughnut".
On April 21st in 2011, Boston Bruins blueliner Andrew Ference celebrated his first playoff goal in a decade, tying the game 2-2 in the opening period, with a one finger salute for the Montreal Canadiens fans at the Bell Center.
Afterwards, a straight-faced Ference assured anyone who would listen that the unpenalized gesture was inadvertent, noting that his glove "got caught up" as he was pumping his fist in the air.
The NHL didn't buy it either, electing to fine Ference $2,500, the maximum allowable amount under Rule 75.5(ii) for unsportsmanlike conduct, representing 1/900th of his $2.25m annual salary.
Winnipeg went on to beat Calgary in six games only to be swept by the Edmonton Oilers in the next round. The playoff attire tradition continued as the club encouraged everyone to "wear white tonight" in a parody of Wang Chung's tune "Everybody Have Fun Tonight".
On January 31st in 1970, broadcaster John Shorthouse was born in Vancouver, BC. Best known as the voice of the Vancouver Canucks and for leading the charge to the in-flight buffet, Shorty collected his first play-by-play payday calling a Canucks game in March 1998.
In September 1999, Shorthouse inherited the full-time radio role from Gemini Award winner Jim Hughson, working alongside color-man Tom Larscheid. Since September 2007, Shorthouse has split his duties between Rogers Sportsnet, Canucks pay-per-view, and the Team 1040.
The Canucks have played 16 times on Shorty's birthday, 8 of which he called, posting a record of 9-3-4 and collecting points in all but three.
The hellish trip was required to accommodate the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, marking the first time since NHL players were allowed to compete in the Games that a NHL city hosted the hockey tournament.
Unable to access GM Place during their absence, Canucks equipment managers packed almost 300 sticks and 25 additional bags of gear, including spare gloves and pants to clothe call-ups and any players joining the club at the NHL trade deadline, to endure the unexpected.
The Canucks finished the historic trip with a respectable 8-5-1 record.
Yearning for an underdog in the asinine exhibition affair, 22 year old Mike Schmid crafted a six-week Vote For Rory write-in campaign complete with spoof smear spots against ballot front-runners to support his cause.
Fresh off a 6-4 victory in The Friendly Confines, Henrik Zetterberg handed his game stick to 14 year-old Wings fan Kalan Plew. Moments later, a man posing as a security guard confiscated the souvenir from Kalan explaining he could retrieve the prize from customer relations with his parents. As the imposter led Kalan from the stands, he bolted with the kid's stick.
Meanwhile in Wrigley's upper deck men’s washroom, 45 year-old dentist Robert Pappert was relieving himself when a man uniformed as a security guard walked in with a hockey stick. Upon learning that the stick belonged to his wife’s favorite player Henrik Zetterberg, Pappert offered the man $100 and took it home with him to North Carolina.
When Marc Plew met his son Kalan outside the stadium he knew something was wrong. Instead of celebrating the Red Wings' victory, he was crying. Upon learning of the atrocity, Plew reached out to the Chicago Tribune. The paper's Problem Solvers contacted the Red Wings who vowed to “make it right” by sending Kalan another Zetterberg stick and the story was published in their "What’s Your Problem?" column.
Back in Charlotte, Pappert learned that the Tribune published an article relating to his souvenir. Realizing the stick belonged to Kalan, he contacted the newspaper and returned the twig to its rightful owner. “If I had any idea that that was a bad dude, I would have beaten him with that stick before I left the bathroom ... I had a wonderful time with it for four or five days, but it has to go back to who really owns it.”
No word as to the wherabouts of the crook who crushed a boy's New Year's Day dreams. But all's well that ends well in the Windy City.
That's today in NHL history.
Donning the never-worn-before number 88, Buble challenged three-time Vezina nominee Roberto Luongo to a shootout, ringing a wrist shot wide stick-side off the left post before catching an edge and crashing awkwardly into the end boards.
Afterwards, Buble surmised“I should have faked the shot backhand and tried to go upstairs, I just missed it. I thought I'd perhaps be the next Alex Burrows, but it turns out I'm crappy". Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault reserved judgment on Buble.
Buble even wove a Canucks reference into his chart-topping album "Christmas", tweaking a lyric in "Santa Baby" from "I'm filling my stocking with a duplex and checks, sign your X on the line" to "Fill my stocking with Canucks tix for kicks, throw me on the first line".
The three-time Grammy Award winner and two-time Saturday Night Live musical guest will leave puck to the pros and stick with song for now.
Per club policy, the financial terms of Buble's contract were not disclosed.
On October 21st in 2010, the Detroit Red Wings honored the recent passing of 38 year season ticket holder and super-fan Kenneth Rucker, a retired Chrysler forklift driver who suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 63.
Recognized by the Joe Louis Arena faithful simply as the "Orange Hat Guy", Rucker was often featured on the scoreboard screen during Red Wings home games accompanied by R.E.M. song "Orange Crush".
In honor of Rucker's decades of unwavering support for the club, ownership elected to reupholster his season's seat (section 112, row 7, seat 5) from Red Wing red to Rucker orange for the remainder of the 2011 season.
In addition to setting a new high water mark for fan appreciation, Detroit outclassed the Calgary Flames that night by a score of 4-2.
The top line vacancy was eventually awarded to Alex Burrows who thrived with the Sedins and succeeded Anson as the Canucks Most Exciting Player for three consecutive seasons (2008, 2009, 2010).
Carter's tenure with Columbus lasted 54 games (27 pts) before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for a 2008 5th round pick (Tomas Kubalik). Carter collected just one point in his 10 games with Carolina, skating only 64 games in what would be his final NHL season. Despite earning an invite to the Edmonton Oilers training camp the following season, the right winger failed to crack the roster.
And like that, he's gone.
Anson Carter's ten season NHL career spanning eight different teams (Capitals, Bruins, Oilers, Rangers, Kings, Canucks, Blue Jackets, Hurricanes) was over at the age of 32. One can only wonder what might have been if Carter had renewed with the Canucks and skated with the Sedins as they entered their prime playing days. I wonder if player agent Pat Brisson overplayed his hand advising Anson to chase market value when a hometown discount would have been far richer.
Rising from 3 to 32 teams and 18 to 84 games since 1918, the NHL regular season now sits at 32 teams playing a 82 times a piece for a total of 1,312 games. Aside from three work stoppages - abbreviating, canceling and abbreviating the proceedings respectively (1994-1995, 2004-2005, 2012-2013), a fire finishing a team (Montreal Wanderers) part-way through the year (1917-1918), and COVID-19 suspending the 2019-2020 season and abbreviating the 2020-2021 season, most NHL regular season schedules have been played as planned with few, if any, interruptions. Amidst endless stories of financially troubled clubs, the league has done well to mitigate NHL relocation, embracing NHL expansion in Las Vegas (2017-2018) and Seattle (2021-2022) to achieve a 32 team league with division and conference balance. On the heels of 2013's NHL realignment, expect regular season length to remain at 82 games for the foreseeable future in order to preserve their commitment to extended divisional play, every team visiting every rink each year, and the pursuit of the all-mighty dollar which directly influences player salaries.
Eight teams took a 3-1 series lead in their best-of-seven series in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Seven teams advanced (Carolina [2], Florida, Toronto, Vegas [3]) and one went home (Boston). While a 3-1 lead is always a good thing, it's never a sure thing.
Through 2023, teams have trailed 3-1 in a best-of-seven series 333 times. Only 32 times has the trailing team comeback to win the series. Put another way, the team with a 3-1 series lead wins 90% of the time with the down-and-nearly-out team recovering only 10% of the time.
The chart below describes all 32 comebacks by year, team and round.
Only one team has ever recovered from a 3-1 deficit twice in the same playoff (Minnesota 2003). Similarly, only one team has ever comeback down 3-1 and blown a 3-1 lead in the same postseason (Vancouver 2003).
The chart below lists all teams involved in such 3-1 series comebacks, showing the total number of series involving such circumstances and their overall win/loss record.
Team
Series
Record
Washington
7
2-5
Pittsburgh
6
2-4
Detroit
5
2-3
New York**
4
3-1
Vancouver
4
3-1
Montreal
3
3-0
Edmonton
3
2-1
St. Louis
3
2-1
Philadelphia
3
1-2
Toronto
3
1-2
Boston
3
0-3
Los Angeles
2
2-0
Minnesota^^
2
2-0
New York*
2
2-0
San Jose
2
1-1
Colorado
2
0-2
Winnipeg
2
0-2
Chicago
1
1-0
Florida
1
1-0
New Jersey
1
1-0
Tampa Bay
1
1-0
Arizona
1
0-1
Calgary
1
0-1
Minnesota^
1
0-1
Vegas
1
0-1
* New York Islanders ** New York Rangers ^ Minnesota North Stars ^^ Minnesota Wild
Only Anaheim, Buffalo, Carolina, Columbus, Dallas, Nashville, Ottawa, Seattle and Winnipeg (formerly the Atlanta Thrashers) have never comeback from a 3-1 series deficit or blown a 3-1 series lead. Montreal, Vancouver and the New York Rangers lead all teams in comebacks trailing a series 3-1 with three series wins. Conversely, Washington has blown more 3-1 series leads than any other team, squandering five such series.
It's worth noting that in the 18 postseasons since the 2004 NHL Lockout, 16 teams have squandered a 3-1 series lead only to stave off elimination by winning Game 7. They are Carolina (2006, 2009), Vancouver (2007, 2011), Montreal (2008), Philadelphia (2008), San Jose (2011), Boston (2013, 2018), Los Angeles (2014), St. Louis (2016), Pittsburgh (2017), Dallas (2020), New York Islanders (2020) and Vegas (2020, 2021). Eight of these games were decided by one goal and six in overtime.In sum, with a 10% chance of recovery for teams trailing their series 3-1, it's statistically likely their season will soon end.
