For the 1994 Vancouver Canucks, that seven-game Stanley Cup loss still stings.
A series against the New York Rangers that started as a David and Goliath contest quickly turned into one of the greatest stories in hockey history, and a remarkable love affair between that team and the Canucks faithful.
But the members of that Vancouver squad, who overcame myriad adversities and stretched the 112-point Rangers all the way to a decisive Game 7, still haven’t made their peace with how it ended.
“We live it every day, people talk about it all the time. It’s always nice to talk about it, but at the end of the day we didn’t reach our ultimate goal,” former Canucks goalie Kirk McLean said Saturday during After Hours on Hockey Night in Canada. “It was a great experience, but we lost.”
Instrumental in Vancouver’s campaign that year, McLean had 52 saves in Game 1 of the Final at Madison Square Garden, helping his team to an overtime win and kickstarting a significant movement toward a seven-game series.
He was among the former players on that ’94 team to be honoured ahead of the Canucks’ win over the Rangers at Rogers Arena on Saturday, which turned into a loud reminder of how much appreciation the fans have nurtured, and still hold to this day, for the Final run despite the disappointing result.
“It’s always a wonderful feeling,” McLean said. “For some reason, (fans) gravitate toward the ’94 team. We had, obviously, (Stanley Cup Final appearances in) ’82 and 2011, but it never gets old.”
The Canucks beat all the odds that year. As a seventh seed in the west, they found themselves down 3-1 in the first round of the playoffs against the Calgary Flames, then came back to win the last three games in overtime. With that effort, the bond between fans and club carried over to Toronto and later to New York.
“It’s disappointing to have lost, but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world,” former Canucks forward Greg Adams said during After Hours. “I didn’t come that close to winning a Stanley Cup ever again in my 17-year career. So, it was very special.
“The whole playoffs, the thing I remember the most was the fans … It was just an amazing feeling, and this city was so electric.”
Adams was the overtime-goal scorer for the Canucks in that Game 1 at Madison Square Garden, but he still acknowledges his netminder as the main responsible in securing that win.
“It was a tremendous confidence-builder for us, winning that first game,” he said. “And we all knew Kirk stole the game for us, he basically won the game for us. I was fortunate to be able to be in the position to score that goal, but, without Kirk… you know.
“We did have confidence that we could win, but we also knew that we were outplayed and if it wasn’t for him there’s no way they were winning that game.”
Current Rangers president and former goalie John Davidson was there for all seven games, back then as a broadcaster in New York. He recalls just how close the Canucks came to winning it all.
“This series could have, frankly, been four straight,” Davidson said during After Hours, “but (McLean) started it, and when they started winning games, the Canucks’ edge is they wore down the Rangers’ defence … I have also watched Game 7 over again. That was really close, that could have gone either way.”
After winning Game 1 of the Final, the Canucks fell behind 3-1 and, much like in the first round against Calgary, rallied back to force a Game 7. A hectic, gritty and sometimes desperate 60 minutes of hockey culminated in a tight 3-2 Rangers win, thus ending Vancouver’s Cinderella tale.
And though the love affair with the city still lives on, the players of that 1994 team have never truly come to terms with how the story ended.
“It’s nice that people remember where they were, and what they were doing, and name their kids after us, or whatever it may be,” said McLean. “But at the end of the day we wanted to win a championship and we came up short.”
Adams gets the same feeling whenever he thinks about the series.
“The losing part is something that hurts, and watching that hurts,” he said. “Watching videos of those games, Game 7, and still coming up a goal short, we keep hoping that something is going to change but it never does.”
The present-day Canucks secured a seventh-straight win against the Rangers on Saturday. Led by young names like Elias Pettersson and Bo Horvat, they currently sit third in the Pacific and have a legitimate chance to contend for multiple Stanley Cup Final trips in the coming years, perhaps even build a new love affair, perhaps win the team its first Cup.
McLean guarantees that’s all the old-school guys can hope for.
“We want to move on and we want the team to win now.”
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
