1968-69 N.Y. Rangers vs Canadiens

[@patrickols]

The golden voice of Rene Lecavalier, old forum just had its renovation less than a year before…it’s hard to find better hockey than those days I was just a tiny lad back then. When I see these old games it’s hard to bring to mind that I was actually there and saw those days with my eyes

[@michaelslocinski7171]

This is great quality video for 1969. Bringing all these players you only read about to life. Thanks for uploading

[@Soblev]

Giacomin, Park, Howell, Gilbert, Hadfield and Ratelle. Just amazing to watch this old Rangers team

[@trevor8493]

Park was a beauty

[@nordvegfigg7746]

The Pocket Rocket, The Roadrunner, a young Brad Park, Elder statesman Harry Howell, Mickey Redmond, Jacques Lemaire and on and on.. what a treat to watch them play more than 60 years ago. A lot less stick work (hacking), no smashing headfirst into the boards. The lack of helmets played a large part in that I believe. They may not play the game at the same speed as today, but they played it smoother, the passing was better and the shots more accurate.

[@toddkatz9390]

...Donnie Marshall, Phil Goyette, Bob Nevin!

[@toddkatz9390]

...damn the Roadrunner was quick in his prime... I can see too why Emile Francis wanted Bobby Rouseau so much -- he too was a force out there!

[@GodandFamily-61]

Wonderful video, clearer than most historic videos on this platform, and I get to practice my French, thank you for your time and efforts creating this viedo

[@iseven016]

Awesome post! Terrific clarity for a 1969 broadcast! Too bad their NY counterparts were not interested in saving broadcasts for posterity back then.

[@mikeymaff8074]

So true.We hardly have anything in NY hockey related from back then.

[@kabiam]

Best 1960's footage I've seen. Well archived. A little faded but almost as good as the original broadcast. Amazing to see the goalies faces. Was the ending of an era.

[@dzanier]

I agree, this is superlative footage.

[@bareknuckles2u]

So, they made all of those rule changes to make the game more like this? Man, this footage is unreal! Thanks for the upload!

[@felix_bernier]

Such a great broadcast quality! Thanks for putting this online!

[@alexchristopher221]

I can recall all these players by name from the hockey cards I collected. The Original 6: Best of the best.

[@Pierrelaliberte]

If hockey was played like this today I may still watch it!

[@vicepresidentmikepence889]

You mean slow and unathletic players?

[@Pierrelaliberte]

@@vicepresidentmikepence889 would love to see you play against any of these slow and unathletic players!

[@marccharbonneau5838]

i stop watching it also

[@humanbeing2420]

The game is vastly more skilled today. Faster, better skating, much better stick handling and passing. Goaltending was atrocious in this era.

[@markliebrock6246]

Excellent video, just enough to make ya want watch the rest of the game.

[@VintageOnline100]

The coverage was so much better back then. The camerawork from the benches is something I haven't seen in a very long time. Those old camera wells in between the benches are now additional seats as the owners obviously need to make as much money as possible. The game was so much more enjoyable to watch back then.

[@de132]

The Forum's camera angles seemed to be as a consequence of limitation. Obviously seats played a role as you've mentioned but I think another factor is that newer buildings were built after the rise of national and regional television packages. The camerawork from between the benches were a necessity as well The Forum was from the era of radio, while the Bell Centre was from the era of television. I think that also impacts the differences in presentation. I think there's pros and cons to this presentation vs. what we have now. For example, I think these angles are warm, intimate, and stylish. But these angles aren't very good at getting a look at the whole game at once and simply aren't friendly for new fans.

[@marksantucci4230]

@@de132 I would say the Forum is from the time of television and the bell centre is from the computer time period.

[@lawrencefried5027]

As a teenager in the 60s and 70s, the lure of the game for me was the body contact, and the toughness of those players - especially coming back into a game after suffering an injury. The players are different today, just as the world is different

[@ReeseChown]

This is so much softer and pleasant on the eyes. I can not see shit during modern games. Tiny puck in a sea of a million advertisements

[@davibosgra3669]

Wow! What a difference in skating , and goaltending styles.

[@altfactor]

Besides being seen on Societe Radio-Canada, if this game was played on a Saturday, it likely also was broadcast by New York's WOR-TV Channel 9 (now WWOR). Back then, the station carried Saturday away games of the New York Rangers (and in those days, the Broadway Blueshirts were on the road just about every Saturday of the regular-season, so viewers were able to tune in Channel 9 every Saturday during he hockey regular-season and see a Rangers' game).

[@dzanier]

I swear the rangers NEVER played Saturday home games back then. And that continued into the late 90s.

[@jaymorgenthal9479]

@@dzanier The Rangers played from 2 -4 Saturday afternoon games in the old garden in the 60’s that were taped and shown on ch 9 in the evening. I know that’s a fact because I went to almost every one of them.

[@dzanier]

@@jaymorgenthal9479 afternoon, not night. I recall the rangers played a New Year’s Eve afternoon game in 1988, but for the longest time the only Saturday night home games played were playoff games.

[@jaymorgenthal9479]

@@dzanier I said afternoon. not night. i clearly stated that. My parents only allowed me to go to afternoon games and saturday games were only afternoons. i’m talking old garden days. 1964-1968

[@dzanier]

@@jaymorgenthal9479 I know. My original post should’ve stated that the rangers never played Saturday night games, and there’s no question it wasn’t an accident. Either the Knicks were there, or there was a concert or some other event, but the Rangers didn’t play Saturday night games even when the Knicks were out of town. I wasn’t trying to be contentious with my answer. I apologize if it came across that way. Obviously, in the playoffs this often didn’t hold to form since the arena had to adapt to the schedule the NHL ahead put out. I went to the second game of the lockout-shortened 1995 season. It was a Saturday night. I think in all the years I went to Ranger games, which would be from 1984-85 through 2000-2001, that’s the only regular season Saturday night game I ever attended. In fact, it may be the only one ever scheduled during that timeframe.

[@tommock4431]

I love watching these old broadcasts. Nothing but pure hockey.

[@trevor8493]

Great video , clarity is amazing, love the "roadrunner "

[@hamburg1306]

Wow great to see color footage from that era. Being in French was really cool. Things never change for my Rangers. Boneheaded plays galore. 2 incompetent clearing attempts on Canadiens power play leading to goal but on the positive GAG line prevails beautiful goal by Ratelle on a feed from Gilbert.

[@reneleclerc6119]

I'd love to see a similar clip from the season before when Rod Gilbert had a 4-goal game against the Canadiens, in Montreal, no less. He had 16 shots on goal that game.

[@jaymorgenthal9479]

This was the period that started in 66/67 when the Rangers became a quality team and got better until 1972 when the GaG line was raging and if not for Rattele getting a broken ankle they would have won the cup. The end was the loss to the broad st pigs in 1974. The Cat would later say he knew the team would never win the cup after 74 as it was constituted.

[@robertbeaulieu8721]

Unbelievable quality to this footage for its't age, I have watched videos of the 70s ,80s, and 90s and the quality is not even close wonder why that is thanks for sharing. Go Habs Go 2020 draft.

[@leafyutube]

I wish all of the old hockey broadcasts were this clear and in color.

[@Skanzool]

La voix sublime du grand René Lecavalier. Oh que ça fait du bien de l'entendre.

[@LHarriet]

I was nine years old and almost certainly watching on WOR 9. As a Rangers fan, it is interesting to see Park starting to stand out as a rookie with assertive bolder play than was common for defensemen. Seiling also looks good. It's always interesting to see the difference in goaltending, with all those reflex and kick saves. Sticks are usually down. The Rangers usually played in Toronto or Montreal on Saturday nights, and the goaltending was bare faced, with Giacomin for NY and Vachon, Worsley, Gamble and Bower for the opposition. Montreal crowd much more animated than Toronto.

[@alainrobillard4300]

Worsley was one of the two last goalers to not wear a mask in the NHL. He used to say: "my face is my mask"! After a first retirement, he came back to play with Minnesota. He finaly wore a mask for the last 6 games of his glorious career.

[@gregglantos2360]

Seiling was a good defenseman but didn't look so good chipping the puck into crowd resulting in a deep end faceoff, then failing to clear around the boards out of the zone leading to immediate pp goal.

[@donhuber9131]

68-69...Vachon was the last maskless goalie to win the cup! The previous season was the last when both goalies were maskless: Worsley and Hall.

[@RRaquello]

@@alainrobillard4300 Joe Daley, who played for Buffalo & Pittsburgh, was one of the last maskless guys. He went to the WHA and I think even played a couple of years there (for Winnipeg) before he finally put on a mask. Andy Brown, who also played for Pittsburgh, was the last guy without a mask. I think Worsely finally put one on his last year in the league when he was with the North Stars.

[@charlesballaro9766]

@@donhuber9131 I also believe Vachon was the last goalie who played maskless at one point to retire. 1983, I believe with the Bruins.

[@markrocovich2234]

Hockey of that era was so much enjoyable to watch...

[@jeffreykaufmann2867]

And there isnt much hitting also.bodychecks arent nearly as hard.

[@neldawg593]

How so? These guys look like shit. Slow old and terrible? There is absolutely no skill on that ice. Just a bunch of stiffs. Im not so sure about Bobby Orr anymore.

[@markrocovich2234]

@@neldawg593 Go ahead..the talent pool for all THIRTY PLUS TEAMS is so diluted, most of the so called STARSof today would never leave the minors..

[@neldawg593]

Mark Rocovich go ahead what? Believe me i understand how my post looks disrespectful to that era. But if you, Bobby Orr out of that era and put him into todays game, hes just another great player. Where back then he was THE MAN. Don Dryden, another one. He did not know the Butterfly technique so he would be shit now. Take Jonathan Toews from 2012 and stick him back then. We would be talking about him, not Gordie Howe. I mean come on.

[@RRaquello]

​@@neldawg593 Of course the players are bigger and faster now, but the game had better flow then. I think it's the fact that they play such short shifts. Right now, they're switching lines every 45-50 seconds. That means every shifts, get the puck get one shot, the other team picks up the puck and both teams change. Then start all over again. I think the lack of flow in today's game is more obvious when you go to a game in person. It doesn't show up as much on TV. One thing is definite, though, and may be the biggest change in the game. I mean the improvement in goaltending. Look at the goal at the beginning by Cournoyer. Giacomin just waves at it, and he was a hall of fame goalie. If you had any accuracy on your shot and could put it just inside the pipes or in the corners, the goalies had no chance. A guy from today with an accurate shot, like Patrick Kane, would have scored 100 goals back then. But maybe not if he had to use a wooden stick. Let's not forget that.

[@u47tube]

Very likely saw this came in '68 as a 14 year old. Here in Rochester, NY, just across Lake Ontario from Toronto, Dad put up a roof TV antenna. When conditions were good, we'd pick up these French broadcasts. And what a thrill it was on a Saturday winter night. Happy days, gone but cherished.

[@raynaldgrenier7800]

René Lecavalier demeure à ce jour le meilleur descripteur de hockey.

[@j-fb.9721]

Oui. Mais l'annonceur au Forum etait pas mal moins énergique que Michel Lacroix 🤣

[@Skanzool]

Et de loin!!

[@tonystfa]

This is so fantastic!! I wish there were more games of this era in this quality! and as bonus my two favourite players are playing - Yvan Cournoyer with a goal and Rogatien Vachon (scored on).

[@stevezimmerman2334]

Cournover could really fly

[@cedrou3336]

@@stevezimmerman2334 he could really fly like Guy lafleur

[@samuelluria4744]

As a Ranger fan, Cournoyer was one of my all-time favorite NON-Rangers. Guy would also be in that category, if not for the fact that he ended his career with the Rangers.

[@tonystfa]

@@samuelluria4744 Back at you - always thought the 60s/70s Rangers were underrated - loved Giacomin, Hadfield, Ratelle and Gilbert - and a bit earlier Harry Howell - from my hometown of Hamilton!

[@samuelluria4744]

@@tonystfa - I learned to skate while a kid in the rural town of Howell, New Jersey, where my father was a Park Ranger....so Harry had a special magic among the old Rangers lore for me. I started with skates from a yard sale (probably circa 1950's), on a pond down the road.

[@Ykcin978]

The footage is way too good for 1969, this is incredible

[@samuelluria4744]

Cleanest footage I've seen from this era, by a country mile!!! 😯

[@stevemtc1]

@@samuelluria4744it’s not that good you can’t even see the helmets

[@samuelluria4744]

@@stevemtc1 - Whaa-whaa-whaa...🎺😜

[@stevemtc1]

@@samuelluria4744 I stand by my statement 🤣what amazes me is how long it took not to mandate the helmets and the paper plates the poor goalies fad to wear

[@joetriolo9161]

Bobby Rousseau was one of my favorite Rangers in the 70's...power play specialist

[@vesivialvy]

i was there !!! the march 22nd 1969 :) almost the end of regular season Mtl won that one by the score of 3-1 (8.50$) in the red section !!!

[@modelotr]

Was there too - a Canadiens fan from NJ with my Dad only to find myself in the midst of 5 busloads of Ranger fans

[@broughmar]

This is great- especially color broadcast and to see Ranger players in their prime. MTL Forum was a classic arena but from Ranger win/loss standpoint-I know i saw a bunch of games there- glad we're done with the place....

[@TeamLuka]

Interesting.... at 3:16 , Gilbert and Ratelle setup a great goal for the Rangers and a good portion of the crowd seems to cheer. No doubt the fact it was two french Canadians, despite being on the opposition team.

[@themanfromphoto]

My aunt dated Rod Gilbert in the 60's

[@guybacos]

Amazing clarity, better than many of the 70s and early 80s footage. Would love to see a game with the Rocket Richard with this clarity, even with colorization.

[@RichardRobitaille61]

Fantastic color broadcast ! Great quality video. It would be fantastic to see the intro in color ! Also why not putting on line more parts of that game !

[@themanfromphoto]

Where do you find this stuff? Amazing! Great quality colour videotape. I'd love to see the whole game. March 22, 1969. The win gave them a record tying 101 points for the season. They would finish with 103, good for 1st place in the East. They met New York in the quarter finals beating them in 4 straight.

[@edmourgagnon1504]

Hi. I would like to see the whole game as well. I was only ten then. But i already had my favorites: Cournoyer. Vachon (whom i would take in my arms when the Kings played in Hull, Quebec. Darn. I must have scared the hell out of him...

[@tonymazzella4812]

There is very little NHL color broadcast footage pre 1970

[@danski6694]

WONDERFUL QUALITY!

[@will-eh3qt]

This footage is amazing, this was Brad Park’s rookie season

[@donhuber9131]

And Goyette's final season in NY.

[@LDehaut]

Great video!!

[@bouchardmireille469]

Beaux souvenirs

[@AndrewSmith-vr8kd]

Can't get enough of that wonderful Duff....

[@nhlvan]

Incredible color footage

[@puck30]

Fantastic Video Quality

[@joshuamervis]

Where is big #4? He hadn't retired yet, is he hurt?

[@patrickpellerin3384]

La meilleure année d`Yvan Cournoyer pour les points avec 87.

[@BramHepburn]

3:50 love the "spotlight" feature. Never quite caught on 🙂

[@wyldthing00]

The thing that amaze me the most for that time was the size of the benches and penalty boxes's doors, they we're so small !!

[@samuelluria4744]

If my French is correct, I think NYR #17 got a penalty for wearing a helmet.

[@francoisbegin6718]

The golden era where the play was the puck and not roughing the opponent.

[@hockeyeverything4339]

I think Larry Robinson debuted in 1972 or so. This is a few years before that. Larry had a job in off season. Paving roads.... Guys a Hall Of Famer. Boy times have changed

[@MegaSmarterthanyou]

Love the haircuts and style , real men !

[@icm1970]

It would be great to see colour videotape footage like this with one of the new expansion teams like Oakland or Pittsburgh (with their distinctive navy blue uniforms of that time) or any of the others for that matter.

[@donhuber9131]

The Blues and Flyers became fairly good teams in their first season. Both teams actually drew good crowds. They had speed, tough guys, and fine goaltending. They would be my choice to see.

[@johnbarroll1120]

Beautiful first Canadien goal

[@TeamLuka]

Is that a younger Claude Mouton doing the P.A announcing at 7:08 or was it his predecessor?

[@JohnMartin-yj3gv]

Wikipedia says he began as the Canadiens PA in 1969, this is a little before my time but I don't remember him ever wearing a hat. I remember him from 1972 right up until the mid to late 80's.

[@alainrobillard4300]

@@willzimjohn Maybe he didn't dare to say "Dick" in public...

[@alainrobillard4300]

@@JohnMartin-yj3gv I don't think it's him. May he had to be replaced for that game, or it was a part time job then.

[@JohnMartin-yj3gv]

Remember him announcing John Boccabella at Parc Jarry.

[@modelotr]

Before Claude Mouton....

[@ldhorricks]

Such a shame almost no CBC footage remains in Colour from 60's and early 70's...but no Colour VTR no Colour archives.

[@Skanzool]

For those who wondered why the PA announcer called Dick Duff, Duff, it's very simple, Dick was not his real name. It was merely a nickname, his real name being Terrance. Since the PA announcer could not use nicknames in a public announcement, it was agreed that he would be referred to simply as Duff.

[@RRaquello]

I was wondering about that. I thought maybe the announcer, being French, would have said "Ree-shard Duff". He did say "Jean Claude Tremblay", so I was wondering if there were two Tremblays, but obviously Mario wasn't playing for the Habs yet.

[@markrocovich2234]

@@RRaquello There were TWO Tremblays playing for Montreal in the mid to late 1960s..GILLES TREMBLAY(no relation)...#21..

[@howie9751]

I don't understand French, so when the announcer said "Bobby Rosseau" I thought he was talking about the Rangers. When I started watching hockey Rosseau was on the Rangers.

[@puck30]

Thank You!

[@billybobking200]

It was a golden era. Perhaps the game was slower, players were less trained. But the game was more interesting creative and on a human level. Today, we can’t see the puck and the face of the players. And i don’t talk about their mercenary attitude.

[@phazonclash]

This, x1000

[@Gypsyboy932]

Thanks!!!

[@ovydell]

Awesome quality! Why not uploading full matches?

[@marksantucci4230]

My 2 favorite teams playing ?

[@jasonbeansguitars]

What we see in this ten minute segment would have taken half an hour to play today. With all the video reviews, and so many rule changes that the league has introduced. totally different game today.

[@hamburg1306]

First season with rangers for Walt Tkaczuk and Brad Park and final season for Harry Howell and Phil Goyette.

[@jonathanlegthigh8264]

Why don't you post entire games?

[@acerothstein4755]

At 8:50, how was that not a 2 line pass??

[@erinbrew9675]

After watching 9 minutes of beautiful vintage hockey, that's all you can come up with? Are you a referee? Watching on video gives you the benefit of hindsight. It's easy to watch later and critique. I am a basketball official, and I will tell you, you cannot see everything at game speed. Enjoy this great slice of time.

[@acerothstein4755]

Erin Brew vintage hockey? Lmfao rules are rules and they flat fucked that one up.

[@montrealsports29]

It wasn't even a 1 line pass. Why would you think it was a 2 line pass?

[@pierre-marcbeaulieu5216]

A 5:55 non rené ce n'est pas le numéro 6 Bob Blackburn assis au banc c'est le numéro 16 Rod Seiling

[@TheTussman]

Who s the Premier Etoille?

[@alartandy]

Some of the players looked like they should playing in an old-timers' game, guys like Henri Richard, Harry Howell, and Don Marshall.

[@MegaSmarterthanyou]

Hockey in 2021 is awful !! This is real hockey , not scared of getting their bell rung !

[@MegaWolfgang]

No organ in the Forum back then?

[@KenKurkowski]

Yes, but it was used sparingly - when the Habs took to the ice at the start of the game, after a really important goal (e.g. overtime), sometimes when a few fights broke out.

[@RRaquello]

Cournoyer is a hall of famer, so obviously he torched a lot of teams, but it seemed he especially used to kill the Rangers. I notice Claude Ruel behind the Habs bench. The great Habs needed a more distinguished looking coach behind the bench and Ruel was a little fat guy, so they fired him even though he won the Stanley Cup. They did bring him back later on for a couple of years.

[@20thCenturyManTrad]

Also Ruel was the coach of the team that didn't make the playoffs in 1970. So they gave the reigns to Al MacNeil, who won them the Cup in 1971, but there was that whole debacle with Rocket Richard, and MacNeil resigned and went to Nova Scotia.

[@RRaquello]

@@20thCenturyManTrad MacNeil turned up about 15 years later as coach of the Flames. It was like seeing a ghost.

[@20thCenturyManTrad]

@@RRaquello He was a pretty good coach honestly. In the late 50s and 60s, he was a solid defenseman.

[@epaddon]

The day I was born!

[@basilcarroll9729]

Jean Beliveau injured ?

[@KenKurkowski]

Probably.

[@jaymorgenthal9479]

Real color video tape . not that crappy b&w kinescope 16mm. This is later in the season with the Cat behind the bench having replaced Boom Boom who had to quit due to ongoing ulcers.

[@MrDuojet]

Game announcer at the Forum wearing a fedora speaks to how classy fans watching games were back in the day.

[@leafyutube]

@1:36 Rookie turn over by Serge Savard.

[@francoismartin361]

Wooow.. So nice.. C'était sain comme jeu à l'époque..

[@reneleclerc6119]

Love this. During the 1966-67 season, I became a New York Rangers fan. I remained one - a big one - until John Ferguson took over.

[@hamburg1306]

My first season watching the Rangers. My first Rangers coach was not Emile Francis but who? Emile has replaced the fired Boom Boom Geoffreon.

[@michaelohalloran5332]

Superb

[@flemingcourt]

The Rangers had a knack for poaching some Flying Frenchmen!!!

[@michaelohalloran5332]

Jean toujours UN Ranger

[@samuelluria4744]

NYR #10 and #20 are lucky they didn't get caught for helmet penalties too, like #17!!

[@jeffreykaufmann2867]

Almost nobody is wearing helmets but despite that the game was way safer. Nobody headhunting to knock a guy out. Way more concussions in today's game .

[@balzac00]

Merci

[@DatFaceDoe]

What?!!! No goalie mask?!!! WOW!!!

[@frankleroux2733]

Seems like slow motion compared to today hockey..

[@justaguy5947]

it's not slow, it's just like pee wee now.

[@garyinmarz8938]

A whole lot of slashing going on 😅

[@scarbourgeoisie]

Can you imagine if the players of today, with their size, speed and composite sticks had all that real estate to score on, there'd be over 20 goals scored per game.

[@jeffreykaufmann2867]

Rink size wasnt bigger in 68-69

[@scarbourgeoisie]

Jeffrey Kaufmann I was talking about about the open space around the goalie, given their smaller stature and the size of their equipment back. I’d show you but I don’t have the time or the crayons.

[@jeffreykaufmann2867]

@@scarbourgeoisie Even with a wooden stick Ovechkin would have scored 100 goals in 1969.

DUFF The guy seems he doesn't have a first name! 😀

[@alainrobillard4300]

Dick Duff was his name. Perhaps the announcer was afraid to say "Dick" in public...

[@gregglantos2360]

@@alainrobillard4300 Why? It's not as though is last name was Hertz.

[@alainrobillard4300]

@@gregglantos2360 Maybe you don't know that "dick" is a vulgar synonym of "penis"

[@KristianGravenor]

So few shots on net

[@leafyutube]

Is it just me, or does even Cournoyer (The Roadrunner) look only average fast compared to today's lightning quick game?

[@seveglider8406]

It's You! Cournoyer is as fast as any player in Today's game!

[@mikeymaff8074]

GAG Line

[@richardwebb8203]

A nicer passing game, but it looks so much slower than todays game

[@TheTussman]

Nice, but I don't talk Paris talk.

[@KINGBAWANA]

An American hockey league team of today would crush these teams

[@herbpetrillo163]

Another cournoyer breakaway.

[@humanbeing2420]

Goaltending was a joke then. Put a hard slap shot in the vicinity of the goal and you've scored. Pretty much every save is blind luck.

[@robbkardas3641]

No advertising on the boards or the ice. SWEET!!!!!!

[@KenKurkowski]

I remember only seeing that at European rinks for Olympic hockey or figure skating.