The Heritage Classic reminds us of some of the great battles the Flames and Canadiens used to have.
CALGARY — "It started in the corner."
Don’t almost all old hockey stories begin that way?
Jim Peplinksi was telling the story about the time in the ’86 Stanley Cup finals when Montreal’s Claude Lemieux almost bit his finger off in a scrap.
"We ended up in a fight, and when we went to the ice he started to stick his fingers in my eyes. I was pushing him away, and when I was pushing him away, he bit my finger. He bit it to my freakin’ bone," Peplinski recalls.
Fast forward to last week, when Peplinski was emailing Lemieux in the process of building two Old Guys rosters for Saturday’s Heritage Classic Alumni game at McMahon Stadium.
"He asked me, ‘What should I bring?’" Peplinski said. "I wrote, ‘Tetanus,’" Peplinski said.
"He wrote back, ‘I don’t think I can find that. We might have to use vodka.’"
As it turned out, the midget team Lemieux coaches back in Quebec went to a seventh game in its playoff series Saturday, keeping Lemieux and his vodka at home.
On Saturday afternoon the two teams dressed at the Saddledome before bussing over to McMahon Stadium for the game. There were plenty of jokes — "Hey, suck that gut in Theo!" Brian Skrudland yelled at Theoren Fleury, ruining a TV interview — and plenty of reflections.
Like Fleury, whom we asked about the state of violence in the game today, after a couple of knuckle-busting weeks across the National Hockey League.
"It’s like little kids on the playground, compared to what was goin’ on when we played," scoffed Fleury. "The way they slash today? Those are little love taps. You used to go and stand in front on the powerplay and there were tooth picks everywhere, ‘cause (Steve) Smith and (Jeff) Beukeboom were breakin’ sticks over your back."
It was a one-referee system back then, and these old Flames and Canadiens got away with more than twice the indiscretions.
"People say, ‘You would have loved to play in today’s era.’ I’d have been in the penalty box all night now," Fleury said. "I couldn’t do the stuff behind the play now. Then you have 30 sets of eyes in Toronto watching every single movement?
"No, that’s not good for me."
It was before the instigator penalty when, for better or worse, players policed themselves. Sometimes it was barbaric. They’ll admit to that.
But as these old rivals gathered in honour of what stands as the greatest all-Canadian Stanley Cup rivalry in modern hockey history — Montreal-Calgary, in both ’86 and ’89, mark the only time two Canadian teams have contested the Cup in modern NHL history — these former players harbour some questions about what has happened to the game in their absence.
"I just don’t get how you get hit from behind. I just don’t get it," marveled Peplinski, who took and gave as many hits as any 1980s power forward. "I was never four feet from the boards, not expecting somebody to hit me."
Was the fear of being obliterated from behind a better deterrent for hitting from behind than the protection meted out by referees and Colin Campbell today? Somehow, Peplinski says, the recklessness among players has escalated since his departure form the game.
"There was a bigger price to pay (in the ‘80s), and not just from the other team. Not just from Dave Semenko," Peplinski said. "I think there was a certain price to pay within your own dressing room, if you did something really dumb. Do I have to tell you that stealing is wrong? Do I have to tell you running someone from behind is wrong? I don’t think I do."
Doug Risebrough played in six Cup finals all involving the Canadiens. He won four as a Hab, and split in two as a Flame.
"This team (Calgary) was seeking its first Stanley Cup championship, and who would you want to win it against? The team that’s won it the most," he said. "Our team was like most teams when they get that second chance. They’re way more confident. They know what the job is and they’re not mesmerized by it.
"Winning their first Stanley Cup against the Montreal Canadiens was pretty special."
It turned out to be your typical old-timer affair Saturday. Bad goaltending, plenty of laughs, and nobody chomped on anyone’s finger in a 5-3 Canadiens victory.
Yep, the good ol’ days have passed us by.
