Re: Birth of a Dynasty: Messier an Isle?

Never good when the statistician can't count. :)
Today is the 31st anniversary (not 32nd).

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Today (Tuesday) is the 31st anniversary of the first Stanley Cup.

I remember it well... as did Alan Hahn, in the book he wrote in honor of the 25th anniversary:  "Birth of a Dynasty" -- still available on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Dynasty-1980-York-Islanders/dp/1582613338/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306170434&sr=1-2  

Ironically, Joel Sherman of the Post used the same title on his book about the Yankees in the Torre era.  Funny, I don't remember 4 straight World Series :)  (Thank you again, Luis Gonzalez).

A couple of my favorite tidbits from the book involve who else Bill Torrey was discussing when he acquired Butch Goring, the final piece of the puzzle.

• Toronto was willing to give up future Hockey Hall-of-Famer Darryl Sittler.  Sittler finished with 484 goals; probably would have been a 500-goal man if the trade had gone through.  The Leafs wanted Clark Gillies in return.

• Edmonton was willing to give up Stan Weir.  Weir finished with 33 goals that season, but never scored more than 12 goals after that.  Torrey had a different center in mind -- he wanted "a cement truck of a 19 year old rookie named Mark Messier".

If you haven't read it, you should -- even if it is just to find out where I was at 5:40pm on May 24, 1980.   Nystrom (Tonelli, Henning) 7:11 OT  A boxscore is here: http://www.flyershistory.com/cgi-bin/poboxscore.cgi?1980019

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick