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[RMc]

The First Round of the Stanley Cup playoffs was predictable, as every favoured team won...with one shocking exception, as the Winnipeg Jets stunned the second-seeded Sabres in four games. The Great One was OK, notching a goal and two assists, but the real star was Swedish goalie Goran Hogosta, who held Buffalo to a single tally in Games 3 and 4. The defending champs from Atlanta needed five games to advance, as did Hartford and St. Louis:

[RMc]

If you remember the IRL 1981 playoff series when Wayne Gretzky subdued the mighty Canadiens, you're probably too old to up this late. If not, you might wonder...does The Great One accomplish the same feat in this sim?

No...not even close. Despte four goals and three assists from Gretzky, the Jets were crushed in four straight. (The question now is not "Will Montreal win the Cup?" but "Will they lose even one playoff game...?!")

The other series were entertaining, though, as the Flyers knocked out defending champion Atlanta in seven games, and the Whalers did the same to St. Louis. And look who the other semifinalist is: the Colorado Rockies, who stopped Toronto in six games.

[RMc]

To say that the Montreal Canadiens were dominant in 1979-80 is a massive understatement. They had an all-time-best record of 63-7-10, and swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs, winning seven games in a row and scoring at least five times in each contest. That streak continued in Game 1 versus Hartford at the Forum, as Steve Shutt scored twice in a 6-3 decision. But something very unusual happened in the second game: the Habs suffered only their fourth defaet at home all year, as Phil Esposito (who else?) scored twice and Robbie Ftorek dished out four assists in a 5-2 victory.

Just a bump in the road for Montreal? Not quite, as John Garrett turned aside 31 shots at Hartford shut out the Habs, 3-0 in Game 3. The Candiens turned the tables on the Whalers in the fourth game with its own 3-0 victory, as Jacques Lemaire scored twice. No one expected this series to be tied after four games, and everyone thought the Habs would restore order back at the Forum in Game 5.

Everyone was wrong. While his father watched from the press box, Mark Howe had three assists (and Espo scored again, of course) as Hartford stunned Montreal, 4-3, in front of a quiet crowd in Montreal. In Game 6 back in Connecticut, Guy Lafleur opened the scoring, and it was 2-2 after 40 minutes. But Rod Langway broke the Habs' backs with a tally just 40 seconds into the third period to make it 3-2, and an empty-netter with just seven seconds left sealed a 4-2 victory, and a 4-2 series win, in one of the greatest Stanley Cup playoff upsets of all time.


In the other semifinal, the high-flying team from Philadelphia crushed the Colorado Rockies in Game 1 at the Spectrum, as Philly jumped to an early 4-0 lead en route to a 6-2 win. But nobody could've guessed that this would be only Flyers win in the series, as Colorado stormed back with a 5-2 win the next day, swept the two games in Denver, then finished off Philly, 4-3, at the Spectrum. John Gould's overtime goal sent the Rock to the Finals for the first time in their history.

[RMc]

For the second year in a row, the Hartford Whalers were in position to become the first former WHA club to drink from Lord Stanley's Cup -- with only the thing in their way was a team that, IRL, moved to another city: the Colorado Rockies.

The Rockies started out as the Kansas City Mohawks -- and were quickly renamed the Scouts when the Chicago Black Hawks objected. After two awful, unloved seasons in Missouri, the team moved to Denver...where they were still awful. But after the WHA merger, things started looking up for Colorado, winning the Smythe Division title in 1979-80 and drawing larger crowds to McNichols Sports Arena.

The first game of the Finals, in Denver, was a 3-2 thriller, as Wilf Paiement got the game-winner. Game 2 was a sellout -- the first in Rockies history -- however, the crowd was quiet at first when Hartford jumped to a 3-0 lead after five minutes. But after closing the gap to 4-3 after two periods, the Rockies scored four times in the last 20 minutes for a 7-4 win.

Back in Hartford, Anders Kellur scored twice for the Rockies in the first period. Hartford stormed back to take a 3-2 lead (Espo scored again, natch), but the Kellur completed the hat-trick early in the third to tie it, then Ron Delorme got the game-winner with four minutes left. Game 4 was another tight one, until Colorado's John Gould scored at 9:11 of the third period to give the Rockies a 3-2 lead...and the Cup!

[sarona]

Really enjoying your thread. Although, Gretzky in Winnipeg?! (my mom is from Edmonton and was a big Oilers fan in the 80s)


One question: are you using the 2D sim engine for your universe?

[Nickphillies]

Cool idea. Flyers doing Flyers things....go figure.

[lawrence97]

Nice job, gives me an idea to put the actual WHA Jets team into the nhl when they join, as that team was decent and not torn apart like it was in real life.