The Fog Game - 1974-75 Buffalo Sabres Rene Robert Jersey

In 1973-74, the Buffalo Sabres had finished mid-pack and missed out on the Stanley Cup playoffs. They rebounded strongly in 1974-75, winning the newly created Adams Division and finishing tied with the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Philadelphia Flyers and also the Montreal Canadiens with 113 points.

The Sabres, led by The French Connection line, which consisted of Rene Robert (with a team leading 100 points), Gilbert Perreault (96 points) and Rick Martin (95 points), defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 4 games to 1 in the quarterfinals before ousting the Canadiens 4-2 to reach their first Stanley Cup Finals in only their fifth season of play.

Game 1 of the finals, the first without an Original Six team since 1926, was played in Philadelphia's Spectrum and went to the Flyers 4-1. Philadelphia also took Game 2 by a close 2-1 margin.

The series then moved to the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium for Game 3 on this date in 1975, which would prove to be one of the strangest games in NHL history.

"The Aud" was originally constructed in 1940, the building was renovated with the arrival of the Sabres and Buffalo Braves of the NBA in 1970.

The Buffalo Memorial Auditorium

Early in Game 3, a bat was spotted flying near ice level during the game. Finally at one point, with the teams line up for a face off in the Flyers zone, with the bat buzzing the players heads, Jim Lorentz raised his stick and swatted the bat out of midair and Rick MacLeish of the Flyers picked up the dead creature and deposited it over the boards at the Flyers bench.

Jim Lorentz deftly swats the bat

As time passed, the sell out crowd of over 16,000 fans began to have an effect, as the non-air conditioned arena began to get warmer and steamier. Temperatures at ice level eventually got so warm that a layer of fog began to appear on the ice.

The fog became more dense as the game progressed

Eventually, the fog became thicker and thicker, causing the officials to halt play several times because the players could not see halfway down the ice. Several attempts were made to deal with the fog, including having the players skate in circles to try to stir up the air and clear the fog, as well as having the arena staff quickly raise and lower bed sheets to move larger amounts of air with some effect.

Play was resumed, but then stopped again and again and the visibility remained poor. Eventually both coaches, Fred Shero of the Flyers and Floyd Smith of the Sabres instructed their players to shoot as often as possible since the opposing goaltender was going to have problems seeing the puck.

Down by two goals, the Sabres fought back with a pair of goals by Danny Gare and Martin just 17 seconds apart to even the score at 2-2 before the struggling Sabres goaltender Gerry Desjardins let in a shot by MacLeish from 40 feet to put the Flyers back in the lead at the end of the first period.

During the intermission, Desjardins asked to be relieved in the Sabres goal. "After the second goal against me, I thought it was a grand time to get the hell out of there. I knew if I had stayed in, everything would have gone down the drain," Desjardins said following the game. "After all, we were only down by one goal. It was close at the end of the first period, Why waste it?"

During the second period, Reggie Leach scored on his own rebound after a wild scramble in front of new Sabres goalie Roger Crozier to give the Flyers a 4-2 lead, but Don Luce was able to put one past Bernie Parent to send the game into the third with Philadelphia up 4-3.

During the third period, defenseman Bill Hajt of Buffalo put in a rebound of a shot by Martin to even the score and eventually send the game into overtime.

The fog continued to disrupt play in overtime, causing seven stoppages. Finally, with about a minute to play, Perreault skated into the Flyers zone and passed the puck to Robert in the far corner. Robert, along the goal line, shot the puck from the sharp angle, which eluded Parent and went between his legs for the winning goal for the Sabres after nearly 80 minutes of play, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

The Sabres celebrate the game winning goal

"I didn't see Perreault's pass," said Parent. "I saw Robert's shot too late for me to come out and stop it. I'm surprised he overtime took so long. It was hard to see the puck from the red line. If three men came down and made a good pass from the red line, you couldn't see the puck. A good shot from the red line could have won it. But it was the same thing for Crozier."

"There had been a lot of pressure on our line," Robert said. "People saw we scored so many goals during the season, what has happened to us now, that we're letting down, the we don't check. Philadelphia double shifts our line, you know, and they are a real good team, too. Getting a big goal like that makes you feel good. It has been tough for us."

Today's featured jersey is a 1974-75 Buffalo Sabres Rene Robert jersey as worn when Robert scored the winning goal in overtime of the "Fog Game" in the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals.

The original Sabres jerseys, worn from 1970-71 to 1976-77 featured a lace-up collar and no names on the back, unless it was for a national TV game, in which case names were added and then removed afterwards, as the club owners felt that not having names on the backs of the jerseys would lead to increased program sales.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Our video section today begins with a quick look at the bat attack and the fog bank which later descended over the ice.

Here is a longer look at the game, including the winning goal, with quotes from broadcaster Rick Jeanneret, Lorentz and winning goal scorer Robert.

This look at the history of "The Aud" includes footage of Robert's overtime goal in the fog.

Andre the Giant and Giant Hockey Jerseys

Born on this date in Grenoble, France in 1946, Andre Rene Roussimoff is better known to the world as former professional wrestler Andre the Giant. The third of five children, Andre did not show any signs early on that he would grow to such oversized proportions brought on by acromegaly, a disease which results in excessive growth hormones. While the rest of his siblings ceased growing at the usual age, Andre's body continued to grow, and at the age of 12, he stood 6 feet, 3 inches tall.

He started to make a name for himself wrestling in France where he came to the attention of French-Canadian wrestler Edouard Carpentier, who convinced Andre to make the move to North America, where he moved from the undercard to headliner, performing in front of 20,000 fans in Montreal.

This level of success brought Andre to the attention of Vince McMahon, Sr., head of the World Wide Wrestling Federation, who not only signed him to a contract in 1972, but dubbed him "Andre the Giant". He was now selling out venues such as Madison Square Garden in New York and making appearances in the Boston Bruins dressing room!

Andre, reportedly 7 feet, 4 inches and 500 pounds, easily hoists Carol Vadnais (6' 1", 190 lbs.) and Bobby Orr (5' 11", 200 lbs.)

Phil Espostio explains how the photo came to be in his book "Thunder and Lightning", some of which we can repeat here.

"Carol Vadnais was acquired in a trade with the California Golden Seasls late in the 1971-72 season. We were skating around the Boston Garden during the warm-up before a game, and in the stands behind the net was this huge man with a gigantic head and an afro haircut. I had never seen anyone like him in my life.

I said, "Who the hell is that? Look at that guy!"

Vad said, "That's my buddy, Andre the Giant."

"The wrestler?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said.

After the game Andre came into the dressing room. I used to have a picture of Andre holding me up in one arm and Bobby Orr in the other.

We knew this girl who was gorgeous, but who love the Bruins so much she would do absolutely anything for us, and we fixed her up with Andre. We all went out after the game to have drinks. We were in a place on Commonwealth Avenue that had a bar and a swimming pool inside. I'll tell you how big Andre was. He ordered a beer, and when he held it, he only needed two fingers to cover that can of beer.

At one o'clock the manager came and asked us all to leave. We were all together, and Bobby Orr said something to Andre, and Andre picked the guy up and threw him into the swimming pool! The cops came and we left."

His fame, as well as his frame, continued to grow, as Andre was paired with boxer Chuck Wepner in a 1976 "boxer vs. wrestler" match at Shea Stadium in New York in front of over 35,000 fans, which ended with Andre tossing the 6' 5" Wepner out of the ring. Andre was also the subject of a Sports Illustrated article in 1981, the kind of appeal and mass recognition that few, if any, professional wrestlers had ever achieved at that point.

Eventually Vince McMahon, Jr. would take control of the WWWF wrestling empire, shorten the name to the WWF and create the first nation-wide wrestling promotion, of which the crown jewel was "WrestleMainia". For WrestleMania III in 1987, in the headline match saw Andre the Giant squared off against Hulk Hogan at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan in front of a sold out crowd of 93,173 and generated $10 million in pay-per-view sales. He eventually became the WWF Heavyweight Champion.

Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan

Despite the increasing issues with his health, he continued to wrestle and later make appearances ringside until 1992. In 1993, when the WWF created it's Hall of Fame, Andre the Giant was the very first, and only, inductee that year.

He also crossed over into television and movie roles, well known for his portrayal as Sasquatch in the TV series "The Six Million Dollar Man" and most notably for his role as "Fezzik" in the movie "The Princess Bride".

Andre passed away at the age of 46 in his sleep from a heart attack on January 27, 1993 in Paris, France.

In honor of Andre the Giant, today we take a look at some giant hockey jerseys.

The United States Women's Olympic team toured with an oversized promotional jersey in their Qwest Tour exhibition season leading up to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. There were actually two of them made by Nike at a cost of $1,000 each. Aside from the fact the jerseys are 26 feet wide from cuff to cuff and 17 feet tall, they are the same as a regular jersey, only on a much bigger scale.

Another notable jersey, 10 feet tall and 20 feet wide, is an Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky jersey made for the Wayne Gretzky Fantasy Camp VII in 2009, which consists of 23 yards of fabric, compared to three for a normal jersey, which took seamstress Patsy Elmer approximately 35 hours to complete. After the conclusion of the fantasy camp, the jersey now resides in an arena in the Frank Lacroix Arena in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Another enormous jersey decorated the statue of William Penn on top of City Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1997 when the Flyers made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. The statue measures 37 feet tall, making the jersey 16 feet tall in our estimation.

The Field Museum in Chicago has gotten on the Blackhawks bandwagon, dressing their three story high cast iron Brachiosaurus statue in a Jonathan Toews jersey for the playoffs recently.

Perhaps the most famous oversized jersey is the Detroit Red Wings jersey, traditionally used to dress the 26 foot tall Spirit of Detroit statue in downtown Detroit since they made the finals in 1997. The jersey has actually undergone several variations, including sporting the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals and Believe patches, a very nice touch and great attention to detail.

In 2009 the statue was dressed in a new, undersized and absurdly tight Reebok jersey, more fitting for Johnny Weir than Johan Franzen, which will apparently make the Spirit of Detroit 9% faster than before...

Other Detroit landmarks have seen Red Wings jerseys make appearances during the Stanley Cup Finals, with both the statues on the Wayne County Building and the Tiger statues outside of Comerica Park getting into the spirit.

If you are aware of any additional oversized hockey jerseys, we'd love to hear about them. Either post them in the comments below, or email us with the details.

Today's video section kicks off with the Spirit of Detroit getting dressed for the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals. Or is it the 2009 US Figure Skating Championships?

Next up is the famous match between Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan from WrestleMania III.

Here are recollections by those involved in the movie of Andre playing "Fezzik" in the Princess Bride.

Does Andre the Giant have a connection to a current NHL team captain? Here is evidence that suggests there very well may be one...

1970-71 Montreal Canadiens Ken Dryden Jersey

For the first time in 23 years, the 1969-70 Montreal Canadiens missed out on the playoffs, despite a 38-22-16 record for 92 points. They finished with an identical record to the New York Rangers, but lost out on the final day of the season when the second tiebreaker, after number of wins, total goals scored, went to the Rangers 246-244 when the Rangers outscored Montreal 9-2 on the final day of the season.

So dominant was the East Division, which was comprised of the Original 6 teams, over the West Division's 1967 expansion clubs, that fifth place Montreal's 92 points were 6 more than the West Division winning St. Louis Blues 86 and 28 more than the second place Pittsburgh Penguins!

Changes were made for the 1970-71 season when the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks were added to the league and placed in the East Division, while the Chicago Black Hawks were moved to the West.

Montreal started their campaign with 4 wins and 8 of their first 12. By the end of December they were 16-11-8, having lost just once in their last 10. After an indifferent January, where the Canadiens were 6-5-3, Montreal found their game in February, finishing the month 10-1-1.

The Canadiens cooled off a bit the rest of the way, which saw the quiet debut of a rookie goaltender named Ken Dryden on March 14th.

Dryden joined the Canadiens late in the 1970-71 season

Dryden, an unusual case, having been drafted back in 1964, had elected to attend Cornell University in the United States rather than immediately devote himself fulltime to hockey. After having won 76 of 81 starts, including an NCAA national championship in 1967 at Cornell, Dryden had been playing for the Montreal Voyageurs of the AHL that season while working toward his law degree from McGill University by day.

Dryden took the unconventional route of United States college hockey to
the NHL, which included winning an NCAA championship while at Cornell

He won his first game over the Pittsburgh Penguins, allowing just one goal and making 35 saves. Phil Myre would start the next game, allowing 6 goals in a loss to St. Louis. Dryden got the next stars, defeating the rival Toronto Maple Leafs after holding them to just one goal on March 18th.

March 20th saw history made, as Rogie Vachon started the game for Montreal, but was injured during the second period and replaced by Dryden. Once he entered the game, Punch Imlauch of the Buffalo Sabres, with a sense of history, inserted Ken's brother Dave Dryden into the Sabres lineup, the first time two brothers had faced each other in goal during an NHL game. Ken was the eventual winner among the four goalies who saw the ice that night, despite the two brothers having an identical 12 saves on 15 shots.

Ken and Dave Dryden meet at center ice following
a game where they faced each other, as was their custom

Dryden then defeated the Rangers the following day 6-2. Vachon got the win on March 24th followed by Myre winning on the 27th. Dryden's turn came next on the 28th and he outdueled the Chicago Black Hawks Tony Esposito 2-1. March 31st saw the Bruins shell Vachon for 6 goals in a loss prior to Dryden winning 7-2 against the Rangers on April 3rd before it was Myre's turn to get hammered by the Bruins, 7-2 on the final day of the season.

After going 10-6-1 to finish the season, the Canadiens final record of 42-23-13 gave them 97 points in the standings (fourth overall) and returned the Canadiens to their familiar place in the playoffs, but it left Montreal coach Al MacNeil with a decision to make, as the rookie Dryden clearly had the hot hand, going 6-0-0 with a 1.65 goals against average entering the playoffs after just having watched their first round opponent Boston tear apart his two veterans.

Dryden lost Game 1 by a score of 3-1, and gave up 5 in Game 2, only Montreal scored 7 of their own to even the series. Back in Montreal for Game 3, Dryden held the Bruins to just 1 for the win. Boston again came back strong to win Game 4 by a score of 5-2. The Bruins were even strong back in Boston for Game 5, a dominant 7-3 win. Still, MacNeil stuck with Dryden for Game 6 back at home, where 8 goals by the Canadiens were more than enough to stay alive for a Game 7 back in Boston. Dryden responded to the pressure like an established veteran, not a rookie playing in only his 13th game, as he made 46 saves to out duel Gerry Cheevers 4-2 and eliminate the first overall Bruins in a seventh game on the road.

Dryden, still wearing his "pretzel style" mask early in his career

After eliminating the Minnesota North Stars in six games, including two wins on the road, Montreal advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals to take on the West Division winning Chicago Black Hawks, who finished 10 points ahead of the Canadiens in the regular season standings.

Montreal versus Minnesota in the second round of the playoffs

Game 1 of the finals in Chicago went to overtime tied at 1-1 before Chicago won a minute into the second overtime. The Black Hawks won Game 2 at home 5-3 but Dryden held Chicago to 2 goals in Games 3 and 4 as Montreal evened the series 2-2.

Esposito shut out the Canadiens back in Chicago to put Montreal on the brink. A dramatic Game 6 saw the Canadiens trailing 3-2 when Frank Mahovlich tied the game at 5:10 from captain Jean Béliveau and Peter Mahovlich saved the day with a shorthanded game winner from brother Frank at 8:55. Dryden made 27 saves on 30 shots while Esposito only faced 16 shots from Montreal.

Once again, the rookie Dryden was facing a Game 7 on the road against a higher seeded team, only now in a winner-take-all 60 minutes with the Stanley Cup going to the survivor on this date in 1971. Dennis Hull scored a power play with 48 seconds remaining in the first period from his brother Bobby Hull and Cliff Koroll. Chicago's lead was extended to two with Danny O'Shea's goal from Pit Martin at 7:33 of the second.

Jacques Lemaire got Montreal on the board at 14:18 from Jacques Laperrière followed by Henri Richard tying the game at 18:20 from Lemaire, sending the game into it's final 20 minutes even.

At 2:34 of the third period, Richard put Montreal ahead for the first time in the game with an even strength goal from Réjean Houle and Guy Lapointe. Dryden would hold Chicago off the board for the entire second half of the game, making 31 saves in all to lead Montreal to the Stanley Cup championship despite only having six regular season games of experience.

Rookie Dryden shut down Chicago in the Stanley Cup Finals

The win for Montreal on the road was the only game in the series not won by the home team.

It was quite a turnaround for Montreal, who had failed to even qualify for the playoffs the previous season and even more of a surprise considering their unsettled goaltending situation heading into the playoffs.

Also of note, winning the championship was a fine way for the Canadiens captain Béliveau to go out in style, as he had just played in the final game of his career, leaving the ice as a champion with the Stanley Cup in his arms, the 10th of his career.

Béliveau accepts the 1971 Stanley Cup following the final game of his career

The 23-year-old rookie Dryden would be named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. He played all 20 of Montreal's postseason games, finishing with a 12-8 record and a 3.00 goals against average, with five of those wins coming on the road and two of those being in Game 7's.

Remarkably, Dryden would go on to win the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year the following season, despite already having won the Conn Smythe Trophy and a Stanley Cup! Winning a Stanley Cup as the playoff MVP was a feat no other player had ever done before or since.

Today's featured jersey is a 1970-71 Montreal Canadiens Ken Dryden jersey from the season in which the Canadiens would capture their 17th Stanley Cup championship during Dryden's first season with the club and Béliveau's 20th and last.

This style jersey dates back to 1941 and, aside from a version with a blue stripe around the chest for three years in the late 40's, has remained essentially unchanged ever since.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1970-71 Montreal Canadiens Jean Beliveau jersey as worn during his final game as he skated off the ice as a Stanley Cup champion. The Canadiens first wore a red jersey with a blue band across the chest adorned with a white "C" back in the 1912-13 National Hockey Association season due to complaints by the Ottawa Senators that Montreal's blue, white and red barberpole jersey was too similar their black, red and white barberpole jersey.

The red jersey with the blue band became their primary jersey for the 1913-14 NHA season, now with a C that contained the letter A, which stood for the team's official name of "Club athletique Canadien".

Four seasons later, a change in ownership saw the team now wearing the now iconic "CH" logo as the team name was changed to "Club de hockey Canadien".

Photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Today's video section starts with highlights of Game 7 of the Canadiens first round series against Boston. Two pad stack!

Next, the 1971 Stanley Cup Finals, scored with the always funky 1970's background music. Be sure to note the old Chicago Stadium scoreboard with it's clock dials!

Here is fellow goaltender John Davidson narrating a look at the career of Dryden, highlighting the incredible beginning of Dryden's career before summarizing the remainder of his career.

Here is Dryden, telling about his career from his point of view, as part of the Legend of Hockey series.

1981-82 New York Islanders Bob Bourne Jersey

On this date in 1983, the New York Islanders became the first team based in the United States to win four consecutive Stanley Cup championships with a 4-2 win to sweep the Edmonton Oilers in four games.

1982-83 New York Islanders

Having already won Stanley Cups the previous two seasons, the Islanders entered the 1981-82 season looking to make the jump from back-to-back champions into the realm of a dynasty.

The Islanders had finished first overall in the league in 1978-79, but were eliminated in the conference finals that season. That playoff run and eventual disappointment gave the Islanders valuable playoff experience that would serve them well the next season of 1979-80, as they only finished the regular season with the fourth best record, but defeated the higher ranked Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres on their way to knocking off the number one seeded Philadelphia Flyers to capture their first Stanley Cup championship.

Now full of confidence, the Islanders, led by Bryan Trottier, Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy, Clark Gilles and the goaltending duo of Billy Smith and Chico Resch, finished first overall and defended their title by sweeping the Toronto Maple Leafs, defeating the up and coming Edmonton Oilers in six, sweeping the rival New York Rangers and defending their title by knocking off the Cinderella Minnesota North Stars in five, which included a Butch Goring hat trick in Game 3 on this date in 1981, making him the first player to score a playoff hat trick with two different teams, the other coming with the Los Angeles Kings.

1981-82 was a repeat of the previous season, as the Islanders again led the league with 118 points, seven more than their next closest challengers. Bossy led the team in scoring with 64 goals and 147 points, second in the league in both categories. Additionally, Trottier was fifth with 129 and reached the 50 goal plateau for the only time in his career.

The Islanders opened their season by only losing once in their first 12 games. After a loss on the road to the Rangers, the Islanders finished the season strong. An NHL record fifteen game winning streak (all in regulation since there was no overtime rule then), began a run, with the club going 29-2-4 from January, 21st to April 3rd, which included two additional nine game unbeaten streaks.

Once in the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Penguins gave the champions a scare, forcing the Islanders to come from behind in the fifth and deciding game of the first round, won on a John Tonelli goal in overtime. The Rangers again fell to the Islanders in six before a sweep of the Quebec Nordiques put them back into the finals for the third consecutive season.

A hat trick by Bossy, completed in the final second of the first overtime of Game 1, put the Islanders up by a game. A 6-4 win at home sent them to Vancouver now up by two. Smith shut out the Canucks in Vancouver 3-0 to take a commanding 3-0 lead before a 3-1 win gave the Islanders their third consecutive championships with a series sweep.

The Islanders 1982 Stanley Cup Celebration

The Islanders tied for sixth overall in 1982-83, but their battle tested playoff cunning came through as they defeated the Washington Capitals 3-1 in the opening round best-of-five, their crosstown rivals the Rangers 4-2 and then Boston 4-2 to advance to face the up-and-coming Edmonton Oilers.

Islanders goaltender Smith earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as he held Edmonton to six goals in a four game sweep, including not allowing Wayne Gretzky a single goal, as the Islanders captured their fourth consecutive championship in 1983, earning the right to call themselves a dynasty and joining only the 1956-60 (5) and 1976-1979 (4) Montreal Canadiens as the only clubs to have won four consecutive Stanley Cups.

The Islanders dynasty banners

Today's featured jersey is a 1981-82 New York Islanders Bob Bourne jersey. Bourne originally joined the Islanders in 1974 and played 12 seasons with the club. The speedy center scored 30 goals or more three times with his best offensive season being the 1980-81 season when he scored 35 goals and 41 assists for a career high 76 points.

A member of four consecutive Stanley Cup champions, Bourne was an integral part of the Islanders playoff success, averaging a point a game from 1980-1983, including 28 points in 20 games in 1983 to lead the Islanders in playoff scoring.

Bob Bourne

Bourne played the final two seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Kings and was named the winner of the Masterton Trophy in 1988.

The original Islanders jerseys had a lace-up collar, no names on the back and the lower part of the sleeves were white in color. In 1977-78 the collar was changed to a v-neck, the lower part of the sleeves become blue and two-color names appear on the jerseys for the first time. The following season the striping on the jersey was changed to add white above orange on the arms and the waist stripes are changed from orange above white to white above orange, making them consistent with the striping on the arms, as seen on today's featured jersey, the one in which they would win four straight Stanley Cups.

In our first video today, Bob Bourne talks about how to keep fit and prevent injuries now that he is in his 50's.

Here are brief highlights from Game 4 of the 1983 Stanley Cup Finals, played on this date in 1983, when the Islanders won their fourth consecutive championship.