game 7 stanley cup finals 1971

[librazone]

What made this game so memorable were two of the greatest goaltenders of all times.

[CBrolley]

CBS may have pre-empted their regular line-up to show the game, but not in Chicago. We were forced to listen to the radio! Thank you Wirtz family.

[graciemaemarie11]

one of greatest game sevens ever

[FRSDailyTimes]

The Canadians of the 1970s represent exactly what a Sports Dynasty looks like

[DIGTV58]

THE SCREBOARD FEATURED HERE WS SENT INTO THE NHL HALL OF FAME. IT WAS THE LAST ANALOG SCOREBOARD USED IN THE LEAGUE.

[andrelebaron]

the soundtrack is great. It's like a blaxploitation film. this is one of my all time favourite games.

[gcdcjccc]

this has to be the most unlikely of Stanley Cup champions in the history of the NHL.....the 1971 Habs who missed the playoffs the year before..as a kid i loved it

[streetcarjay]

That would be Jean Beliveau's last season. The torch would be passed to the Canadiens #1 draft pick of 1971. Guy Lafleur.

[Cheessa]

Think of the Hall of famers in this game. Included are: Tony O, Dryden, Mikita, Beliveau, Hull, F. Mahovlich, Cournoyer, H. Richard, Lemaire, Lapointe, S Savard. Not a bad team there.

[DonQwantsyou]

Bruins did what Canadiens did, win game SEVEN on enemy ice, hahahahahahahahahahaha! Bruins champs!

[fastfootedone]

girl at 2:35..... very hot!

[hallauthor]

I was at this game. The air went out of the Stadium when when Lemaire scored. Hull's crossbar in the second period...boy, had that one gone, Hawks would have won. Dryden was the difference, a playoff performance for the ages.

[wilmanric1]

Phil Esposito summed it up about Dryden perfectly.  "He's like an damn octopus."

[forumghost1]

cafopb Thanks for this great post. Dryden's stop on Jim Pappin is unreal. He had already stoned the heavily favoured Bruins. Great Hawks team, and Beliveau's last game. Go Habs, beat the that thug Chara and the Bruins!

[graciemaemarie11]

@forumghost1 agree, greatest save i ever seen... years later, they had greatest hockey team of all time-the 1976-77 team... 60-8, led in everything, swept the bruins, 2nd straight sweep, 1st team to score 200 goals more than they gave up, 1st team to score over twice as many goals as they gave up... had leading scorer, leading goal scorer, leading goalie, lost 1 game at home... ...........

[RaymondPENN]

Wow. I remember this well. Jacques Lemaire's goal broke my heart, but Les Habitants were a great team, as were the Hawks. Long live the Original Six.

[Andragon90]

@RaymondPENN I was born too late. Original 6 for life!

[2012FFD]

@RaymondPENN I haven't seen this since /71 when I almost threw the TV off the balcony & I still can't believe that Lemaire goal! Tony"O" had a history of letting in long shots at the wrong time. I still can't forgive him! Lol. 2010 finally made it all go away!

[liduck52]

This was the the season where teams started wearing white at home.

[MARILYN19481]

The night Chicago died.

[juan833blue]

@MARILYN19481 Until Jonathan Toews scored the Cup Winning goal to beat the Flyers on June 9th, 2010 and the Painful Memories of that 1971 Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals faded away.

[Pierreboro]

"and the tension mounts"... funny how this jolly music is not really fit to a tense situation!

[EpiphonexGuitarist]

This is amazing, it feels like im in the 70s watching hockey haha :)

[goathippo93]

My dad was at this game! he tells me all the time about it!

[solidarity4]

It was just more of a wide-open game in the 1970's.

[FatWangRecords]

I remember listening to this game on the radio as a kid in Chicago. The Hawks chased away a lot of long time demons for Hawks fans this past June. LETS GO HAWKS!

[maup47]

I am a Habs fan, but I was happy to see the Hawks finally win the cup again, we have to cheer for one of the original 6. I remember the days of Hull and company, that was great hockey then as well.

[Lava1964]

The leg save Dryden made against Pappin was an all-tme classic. (I'm far from being a Ken Dryden fan, by the way!)

[graciemaemarie11]

@Lava1964 maybe greatest save i ever seen

[ErikS1975FreeState]

The Canadians ruled the NHL in the 70's

[lfbbum]

After 39 years, I have finally let my Canadien demons go. To paraphrase Kaner:  Holy crap, we won the Stanley Cup!!!!!!!

[Forsure3333]

Dryden in the crowd at 6:28. :)

[Forsure3333]

If only Bobby Hull had been there...

[piddlefish]

@Forsure3333 whatdoYAmean? he WAS there.

[Forsure3333]

@piddlefish Sorry... But he was not there in the 1973 finals, though. :)

[Scoclamor]

@Forsure3333 As far as I am concerned, both of these teams deserved the Stanley Cup. And both goales were GREAT!

[hollister841]

Great footage...love the "groovy" music too!

[juan833blue]

@hollister841 I agree with ya!!!

[andrelebaron]

Henri had actually been benched in a game prior to this. He badmouthed the coach and it caused quite a controversy. This was redemption in a way, but he said later he felt really bad about what he said.

[andrelebaron]

great soundtrack and footage from the good old days.

[Spudskie]

The bad memories of 1971 are now gone. Hawks are Stanley Cup champs baby!!!

[mmcckkgg]

I had Ranger season tics from 1969 to 1985. I saw the Triple OT game vs the Hawks in 1971. I also saw Bobby Hull's last game in a Hawk Uniform when we swept the Hawks in 1972. I thought the turning point of this 71 final was in game 7 when Lemaire scored on that 75 ft shot.

[MrHopeful4]

I was thirteen years old watching this game. I cried after it lol...Oh well, FINALLY the drought is over.

[bohmlimo]

A tough night in Hawk history,but finally 39 years later we have the cup again!!

[blank77]

@bohmlimo amen!1971 was heartbreaking,but 2010 excorcise those demons.I saw game 6 with my father this year,who is the same man who went to the Stadium that ill-fated night in '71,he was upset that night,but he cried for another reason when Patrick Kane knocked it in to win it!I was gald to see my father smile like that,and I got the Blackhawks to thank for it.

[juan833blue]

@blank77 If you're a Blackhawks fan, NO MORE 1961!!! The Hawks deserved to win the 2010 Cup; they were the better team.

[blank77]

@juan833blue You got that right.Hell,I think they would have beat either Crosby and the Pens or Alexander O and the Caps,that would have shut the hockey would up.But there's no small feat beating Philladelphia.

[Lou28100]

@bohmlimo And the Hawks will have to wait another 39 years to win the cup...

[bohmlimo]

@Lou28100 Dont think so nn.

[tiberiousss]

well I think I realize what I'm watching for peat sakes lol.......I would still have to say todays teams, players will kill the teams and players back thirty forty years ago. To say otherwise would be foolish

[tiberiousss]

From what I heard the vice lord to "advantage" of you. Taking your pop and your manhood as well.

[zacatetas]

I remember watching this and then killing a vice lord two weeks later over a soda pop

[tiberiousss]

Did anyone know how to poke check and take the body back then? I'm sorry but teams of today would kill these legends of the past.

[avengemm9dog]

@tiberiousss keep in mind your watching highlights of the goals scored. There were big hits and dirty plays back then just like today.

[tiberiousss]

So espo lost the puck on a center ice slap shot due to the steam huh(looked like he was napping to me). Apparently the Hawks lost Henri Richard in the steam as well. Richard scoring two goals. Skated around the hawks like he was ...well....invisible....but now I understand, it was the steam. Hard to see those red uniforms and that black puck in the steam....sure sure.

Sorry I'm still just a little bitter over this one.

[tiberiousss]

Good riddens Beliveau...turd face

[altfactor]

This was the first time that a National Hockey League game was shown in prime-time on a U.S. broadcast network.

It's my understanding that the game was blacked-out not just in Chicago, but across northern Illionois, western Michigan, and all of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana.

Had there not been any TV blackout, there likely would have been about 4 million more viewers.

[miltonnetzero]

The classic moment in this game was when Dryden stopped Jim Pappin who had the wide open net on a rebound. Pappin's stick is in the air celebrating when Dryden's pad comes out of nowhere and kicks the puck away. Pappin must still wake up in the middle of the night with the sweats over that one: he's probably trying to pull his stick back down in his sleep!

[prmanUSA]

Players were so exhausted because Chicago Stadium was so hot, steam came up from the ice. Espo could barely see Lemaire's slapshot due to the steam, which isn't so visible on this video. Nesterenko falling caused second Hab goal. Had Hull's shot gone in instead of hitting crossbar, it would have been 3-0. I was SRO in first balcony that day.

[kyang8589]

The Hawks are 5 games away from winning it all, giving that the East is a 7th and 8th seed, i think 2010 is the year the Hawks will win it all!

[MattJTrim]

I will never forget that game. Thanks dad!!!

[MCM54]

My first Blackhawks game was November 21st 1961 v. the Toronto Maple Leafs. I saw the Stanley Cup in an enclosed case on the ground floor outside Gate 1 at the Old Chicago Stadium. I was 7 years old. The next time I would see the Cup was when I and two buddies went to the Stadium to get an SRO ticket to this game. SOLD OUT! We did the deed and sneaked in! Second time I saw the Cup -- only it was hoisted by Captain Jean Beliveau! Greatest hockey game I ever saw! Thanks for this memory!

[bronxsportsfan]

One of the great things about life is that you learn something new everyday. CBS aired this contest a few months before I was born. [My birthday is 9/3/71.] Based on the highlights 39+ years later I have to agree that this was an incredible hockey game. Is there any video from CBS or CBC available? I would love to see it! BTW the game clock on scoreboard looks so ancient it was like a game from 19th Century as opposed to 1971. Priceless!

[imafanofu1]

Chicago fans you have my respect

-A Montreal fan

[lfbbum]

@imafanofu1 What a nice thing to say. Good luck against the Flyers. I want you guys in the finals BAD. :)

[MrHopeful4]

The first time I cried watching a sports ANYTHING (LOL) was at the end of this game as I was 12 years old. My brother was a Habs fan and was laughing at me, I was furious with him, my dad kept telling him to stop. LOL..what a memory.

[oasisbeyond]

I'm watching this cuz people say Halak's performance this year is kinda like what Ken Dryden did back in 1971.

[nickster182]

There aren't too many things I remember from when I was 9 yrs old, but one of the saddest memories was when I learned that the Hawks had lost Game 7 to Montreal. Watching the game in southern Ontario, I went to bed at 10:00 pm (my bedtime) with the Hawks ahead 2-0, and visions of a Stanley Cup for my childhood idols. I still remember the sickening feeling I got the next morning when CBS morning news flashed the final score Montreal 3, Chicago 2. I couldn't believe my Hawks had lost. So sad..

[mmcckkgg]

Hawks blew this in game 6 when the let Pete Mahovlich score a SH goal and in game 7 Espo should have never allowed the long blast by Lemaire.

[UpperRegister]

This was such a sickening loss for the Hawks. I remember my friend was so mad that the Hawks loss that he tore up all his Blackhawk cards lol.

[hoosierlooker]

It was all Steve Bartman's fault

[theaub1]

one of the saddest days of my life - Go Hawks

[altfactor]

Game 7 of the '71 Finals was the first NHL game ever shown live in prime-time on a major U.S. network (CBS).

I only wish some of that broadcast survived, for I'd love to hear how Dan Kelly called that game.

[andrelebaron]

that's the first Hab cup I remember and still the one i liked the best.

[kmn1901]

broke my heart......

[bertski60]

there's no way a kid of 11 should have to go through such heartache watching a hockey game, but when lemaire scored that goal i knew we were done and i cried like a baby when it was over.

that being said, that tragedy helped shape me into the superior person i am today. ;)

[PeterMayer]

I watched that big time as a 12 year old living in Detroit. I was a Black Hawks fan (born in Chicago) and was just showing my son news paper clippings from that year!

[ramsback28]

I was 9 at the time. I remember this game very well. The saves that Dryden made on Pappin and Hull, the Lemaire slap shot from center ice. Richard scoring twice including the game winner, great memories I will never forget. The Hawks were a great team, we were just a little better.

[mrgilll]

A little lucky :)

[Gerhardium]

The first Cup I remember as a kid, and the parade clips were great. My whole family went to the parade: 7 kids, 2 parents and 2 grandparents. Dryden became my first hockey hero, one who was new to my much older siblings. I still have an poster of that team with a few autographs collected waiting around at the forum.

[lfbbum]

Thanks so much for posting this. I was 11yo at the time, and LIVED for the Hawks. Nice to see video of Doug Jarrett--I still have his autographed jersey. Cried like a baby when I watched this...just like I did all those years ago. Still hate the Canadiens and Ken Dryden ( the way he would lean on his stick with his chin resting on top----always wanted that stick to go thru his jaw).

[NiccaPleeze]

The guy in the stands at 2:54 to 2:57 looks like John Wayne Gacy

[Andragon90]

@NiccaPleeze Holy shit! Spot on! And that was before he started his spree. Maybe that's why! His beloved Hawks lost and he just went batshit insane.

[617AV86892]

@Andragon90 Wowo I forgot what i posted I I had to get rid of the niccapleeze name I just threw it up there out of memory and when you responded I did soem homework on "THe Killer Clown" if you go to wikipedia the wedding picture of gacy is there and his new wifet and this women looks eerily similar to the one in the wikipedia  . He did move back to Chicago around that time though ! Thanks for the reminder I laughed hard when I saw it again !

[mandolinroad]

I really wish the Blackhawks could win another cup. It's been almost 50 years...

[ramsback28]

1961 and counting...they are getting close. They have a great young team , but will be facing cap issues soon. Too much high priced talent on one team.

[Doral4720]

Great year for the Habs, They knocked out the Bruins in 7 with the likes of Orr and Esposito. I was a senior in high school and made lots of money when I took the Habs after being down 0-2 to the Black Hawks.

[mrpink2010]

Remember it all well. Hawks had a 3-2 lead in game 6 and lost. They were unlucky in game 7 (Bobby's crossbar, bad bounce on 2nd Hab goaI). But, that said, it was the Hawks Cup to lose and they found a way to do it.

Love seeing Pit Martin all over the ice in the clip. He was a great Hawk and deserved to get his name on the Cup with that team.

[ldhorricks]

Remember it well...I was 10 and watching it on a fuzzy B&W TV at my uncles place in rural Alberta...all the men sitting around the tube while the women did the dishes and prepared to serve Pumpkin Pie and coffee...I was rooting for the Hawks in that game...even though I've been a habs fan most of my life. It was warm and safe and I never dreamed I would replay part of that day 39 years later while in my living room on a rainy autumn night Prague...one never knows where one will end up.

[ottvalley]

I was 11 years old,the TV feed went out and we had to listen to it on the radio.We went crazy when Richard scored the winner

[nickatnoon61]

Wirtzs are JEWs, what do you expect???  lol

[Bplate591]

Watched it at Lawn Aqua in Oak Lawn. They had a huge antenna that got CBS out of South Bend. I was 12 and a huge Blackhawk fan. O

That was the worst night of my life to that point. I still feel the pain. What a way to lose.. Weeks later Bobby Hull jumps to the WHA. What a way to start the summer. At least we won our baseball league.!!!! Also got to watch Bear home games in the fall with the big antenna even though it was fuzzy it was fun.

[krdort]

I used to live pretty close to there Bplate591. Funny how all the bars had the big antennas back then, which eventually were replaced by the big satellite dishes, which have since been replaced by the small DirecTV dishes or cable. No more blackouts - all home Blackhawks & Bears games televised. I wonder if the Bears went into a funk and stopped selling out, would the TV towers go back up? Hard to believe that could happen in Chicago. One other thing - Hull left for the WHA in 1972.

[cafobp]

Thanks to everyone who posted comments. There are some very interesting stories and insights.

[werqa123]

It was great final. Super teams and dramatic subject. I'm old Habs fan from Russia and have this Molson documentary. As I know even in USSR in 1971 this 7th game was discribed in the sport newspapers. And soviet autor of firrst book in russian about NHL Agaianz told about this final with many details. I was a child but became canadiens fan since this book although can't see any picture from NHL in that time. Let's go Habs!

[landrykkb]

It was my fellow Cape Bretoner Al MacNeil who had coached the Habs to that Stanley Cup in 1971 along with Ken Dryden's heroics in goal!

[TRH1234]

Yes, The turning point was Lemaire's goal. However, this goal was the result of FOG. In fact, the game was halted several times. Esposito claims that he saw the puck-only when it was too late. The temperature that day was 84 degrees. Furthermore, there was no-airconditioning in the Stadium in 1971, it was installed after this game--by tightwad Wirtz for the 1972 season--surely as a result of this game. Esposito fucked up? Bobby Hull stated in an interview that "the wrong guys were on the ice".

[juan833cheer]

If it wasn't for the FOG on the ICE that night, the Black Hawks most certainly could've won, but the Montreal Canadiens have won the most Stanley Cups in the NHL. They were just plain lucky that day.

[ekimfloom]

I remember watching this game after the previous years frenzy when Orr scored...Hawks should have won this Cup..Lemaires' goal was an absolute killer...

[Forsure3333]

Lemaire knew that Esposito did not have his glasses on. That's why he shot from so far away.

[ekimfloom]

that is called studying the other team and having a conversation about what to do...Tony Espo fucked up..bottom line...Richards goal was classic..so was the BlackHawk collapse...

[Forsure3333]

I was 10 y.o. back then, and a Habs fan. But I did love Chicago, too! I was happy for the Habs while sad for the Hawks.

[ekimfloom]

The million dollar question is who will win first...Hawks or Cubs????

[Staszu13]

Hawks, simply because they have Tawes, Kane, Seabrook, etc.

[TRH1234]

You're kidding, right ? Esposito wore hard contact lenses.

[Forsure3333]

I'm might be mistaken, but I'm not kidding. I'll get back to you if I find more about that.

[leafyutube]

Amazing clip. So many things going on here:

-Beliveau accepting the cup and taking off his jersey for the last time.

-The famous save by Dryden on Jim Pappin in the 3rd period with the Habs up 3-2.

-The Cup winning goal by Pocket Rocket.

-Bobby Hull in his prime flying off the rush.

[fabrasham]

I was only 4 at the time of this game but what I have been told is that Montreal always had the extra player.......the referee.

[krdort]

Yeah, as a 16 year old Blackhawk fan at the time, this loss still hurts. They should have won the previous game in Montreal, let alone this one. And I'm still mad at old man Wirtz for blacking out the game in Chicago. What a prick! The taverns with amplified UHF antennas on high towers were able to get the game from Milwaukee, Rockford or South Bend (just like the blacked-out Bears home games). Dad wasn't a hockey fan so I bounced around my room listening to this on the radio. Sigh...

[Staszu13]

Amen. I was lucky we found a bar that got a South Bend station. Lloyd Pettit was on the radio calling it, the sound was turned down so we didn't have to hear Dan Kelly. And no doubt about it, we did blow this one. *sigh*

[laxjunkie1]

great f%$#ing game being a bruins fan 10 yearold living in ndg!! montreal I hated the habs but hockey was at its zenith from 70 to 80 gretzky played in a watrede down league bobby orr ruled in a mans league!! the east div all o 6 teams!! imagine orr in a wtered down expansion division???

[CBsydney22]

yes there was a lot of tension, at the playoff games in montreal we had to have security sit with us because of all the unrest between macneil and richard, the fans hated him too. and yes he played for the blackhawks from 1962-65

[SFFOOL76]

Is that Dick Stockton narrating?

[juan833blue]

No, it's the late Dan Kelly.

[bmiddaug]

Do you have the entire game on video?

[tsavo20]

Thank you so much for posting. I was 14 years old when this game was played. It was "blacked out" in Chicago because it was a home game. The local taverns all had the game via closed circuit. Three friends and I snuck into the L & M Lounge at Archer Avenue and Kilbourn, in Chicago, and mingled with the patrons packed in the bar until we got caught and thrown out.

Thanks for bringing back the memories. A GREAT series by two great teams.

[CBsydney22]

my uncle was the winning coach for the canadiens al macneil

[MCM54]

Awesome. There was some tension on that team regarding your "English" speaking uncle and the flying frenchmen. Does he ever mention it.

Did he once play for the Blackhawks. If memory serves me correctly there was an Al McNeil that played for the Hawks..

[jsberson]

I was born in Montreal on May 18, 1971, the day the Canadiens won the Cup in Chicago :)

This is the first time I have been able to see the footage of the goal from centre ice. Thanks for posting it!!!!

[juan833blue]

A really underrated Stanley Cup Final for sure, with two "Original 6" teams battling it out.

[MCM54]

I was a young 17 year old that ended up in the first balcony behind Espo to watch what I believe to be the greatest hockey game ever. This is a Chicago Blackhawk fan making this comment. I became a Montreal fan after this game.

Thank God for You Tube and the person that posted this classic game that I often remind my boys to be the greatest game ever played!!!

[mesmeridium]

I remember as a kid watching this series. Dad didn't like hockey, so I had to watch it on the Black and White TV, instead of the new colour TV we had.

I remember Al MacNeil, the coach, was one of the 3 stars of this game!! He chanced mixing up the regular shift lines, especially in the 3rd period, to confuse the Blackhawks and it worked.

I was a Hab fan in those days, because the Canucks were just a new expansion team and I wasn't familiar yet with the players as I was with the Canadiens.

[crnogora]

They didn't hit near as hard as they do now. A lot of ti mes they didn't even take out the body.

[Staszu13]

f**k you Henri Richard and Ken Dryden

[GzusInLeather]

LOL. That loss is still burning?

[Staszu13]

Yup. Well, as Jack Brickhouse said, anyone can have a bad century.

[gcdcjccc]

yeah, they surely ruined for you didn't they. loved every minute of it , especially when Henrie undressed Magnuson for the winning goal in the third period.  lol