1968-69 Rangers vs Canadiens - Montreal Forum

[@xpindy]

Over fifty years ago and it was no problem for me that the broadcast was in French because I instantly recognized every guy on both teams. (You would expect that I could know the Rangers- that's my team.) I don't recognize all the guys on my own team nowadays. A different era- I, too, miss it all. From the siren to begin and end the period- to the Canadiens theme that they came out to- and the trumpet's charge. A golden age.

[@pyannie6904]

Ha, so true, hardly a Canuck name anymore. At least we got these shit quality vids to remember the glory days.

[@ldhorricks]

indeed but what the heck is that theme...they used to play it when the Habs skated onto the ice and for a while after every Habs goal...I've asked so many people if they know name of the theme...most people don't even remember it.

[@brianedwards5223]

@@ldhorricks The theme song is 'Les Canadiens Sont La!' A rough translation would be 'The Canadiens are there!'

[@UseR459-z8x]

I am from central New York State and watched HNIC religiously as a young boy. You have no idea how happy this makes me listening to this broadcast, the theme music, the announcers, the players. Brings me right back to my formative years when I first discovered hockey. Almost brings me to tears. Love it. Thanks!

[@broughmar]

Thanks for this. Great to see my NYR in color in the 60s. Forum was a classic venue but admit im glad Rangers don't have to play there any longer.l saw too many losses when I travelled to see games there. Got some measure of revenge when I was at MSG last we played them in playoffs when Rangers took the series (think 2014)

[@dzanier]

Rangers also beat them in the 2017 playoffs.

[@ldhorricks]

this is the first HNIC broadcast saved on VTR in Color I've seen prior to 1975. I searched all over the place for actual HNIC colour broadcast VTR recordings. There is a preserved colour HNIC broadcast from The Habs -Sabres 1975 Semi - Final, that until seeing this, I concluded was the earliest preserved colour HNIC broadcast recording. I remember how excited I was to watch the games, when we got our first Colour set in 1970. The first colour HNIC game I remember watching was Minnesota at Montreal.

[@jethro1963]

It's amazing how little early colour videotape of the NHL there is. There's some cool CBS footage of Toronto and Chicago from 1968 and I just found some CBC (Bill Hewitt) of the Leafs vs the Canucks from 1973. My prized piece of video is the 1966 Grey Cup in colour on videotape, that is rare as colour broadcasting in Canada had just begun in September of 66 gearing up for the Centennial. Colour videotape recording wasn't that old either (1958) There's also some nice CFL colour videotape from 1971 showing Exhibition Stadium in Toronto still with grass.

[@scfp57]

Fantastic - what a backhand pass by JC Tremblay on the Cournoyer goal, then he stops a Ranger breakaway later in the period. The Habs defence in the early ‘70’s would have been even more incredible if he’d stuck around, and going to the WHA while still in his prime cost him a place in the HOF (at least so far)…

[@PhilipJoyce-n4l]

I feel JC merits a HOF induction just as a Montréal Canadien. Forget all that WHA stuff, he was a top player, the more old clips I watch with him, the more impressive he gets, he was such a weapon on D

[@mattanderson6336]

Back when I first started following the Canadiens in the late ‘60’s.

[@VintageOnline100]

March 22, 1969 Canadiens (44-17-11) 3, Rangers (38-24-8) 1. They faced each other in the 1st round of the playoffs that year where Montreal swept the Rangers 4-0 on their way to winning the Stanley Cup.

[@donhuber9131]

Vachon...last maskless goalie to win the cup.

[@donhuber9131]

And then defeated the Bruins in six games; swept my Blues who only scored 3 goals in four games. We knew we would lose, of course, but the lack of offense was so disappointing. Guys like Backstrom and Provost checked the hell out of our few forwards who could score. One of our 3 goals was with a two-man advantage(Larry Keenan).

[@herecomesforego1787]

that's okay the miracle mets won it all a few months later! ... OTOH, i do miss the expos! lol

[@erinserb]

@@donhuber9131 Yes, donhuber9131, the Blues are my hometown team. They didn't stand a chance with the established Original 6, the sacrificial lamb. But how I love watching these games, they are awesome and I know a tiny bit of French so it helps me follow along. Those were the days of class players, and yes, no stupid ads on the boards, and the players were playing for the honor of the sport, and the spirit back then was so great. I love the theme music when the Canadians come on the ice.

[@donhuber9131]

@@erinserb Had the second wave of STL management not run Scotty Bowman out of town, the Blues would have won their first Cup decades before they did.

[@leafyutube]

This is gold.

[@stefanbaumans8453]

Robert Rousseau, mon joueur préféré alors que j’étais un petit garçon et que je regardais religieusement La Soirée du Hockey le samedi soir!

[@tomtalley2192]

Loved his cool looking, gum chewing. Seems like he didn’t break a sweat!

[@PhilipJoyce-n4l]

Great skater!

[@robgrune3284]

I miss those days. The theme song remains the best in all sports. Teams had style. Players had personalities and were gentlemen off ice. Announcers became icons. No ads on boards, no helmets, no teeth!

[@buddhafx5973]

Risky business for barely no money!

[@vincentlefebvre9255]

And no goalie masks !

[@keithalcock7173]

@@arnoldboston392 Bugsy was a madman. I remember him and the unforgettable Howie Young. Cheers and Merry Christmas

[@donhuber9131]

Every goalie seemed to have a personal style as well. Often, the two goalies on each team were radically different in their approach. Vachon/Worsley; Crozier/Edwards; Hall/Plante; Parent/Favell; Cheevers/Johnston. Classic hockey, even if the expansion teams were vastly inferior.

[@Classicrocker6119]

@@vincentlefebvre9255Well said!

[@tomtalley2192]

Bruins fan, this was about the time I started watching hockey. Bruins were about to become a juggernaut, but still couldn’t get by the Habs. Remember the Ranger GAG line. Goalies without masks, players without helmets, you knew all the players of the east divisions original six. WHA ruined a lot of teams, including the Bruins.

[@donhuber9131]

WHA also destroyed the last chance for the Seals to be a decent team. Charlie Finley, of course, was the main culprit.

[@RichardRobitaille61]

Great ! A rare colour Habs game of the 60's !

[@my3dviews]

There's also a National Film Board film called Blades and Brass that looks great. Look for it on their website where it is in 1080p rather than 480p on youtube.

[@mukinmukin6352]

This was the first year of the "new" forum. I believe right after the renovation that brought capacity up to about 16,000 seats (with standing room I believe they got close to 18,000 in there) before this it sat around 13,500 with 15,500 standing room

[@markliebrock6246]

I miss old time hockey. Can’t even watch today’s game.

[@occultustactical6138]

I love the Hockey Night in Canada theme song. I was 7 when this game was played. On Saturday night I would park in front of the TV and wait for the Ranger game to start always extra special when they played Montreal or the Bruins. I have to admit that compared to the speed of today’s game this looks like a modern day beer league game. The passing, the unforced errors, still so fun to watch. I miss those days no wokeness, no non-binary games during intermission. Just pure rough and tumble hockey. And the commercials too!

[@alartandy]

Growing up in Connecticut the Rangers telecasts on WOR-TV had Win Elliot calling the play by play while the vastly superior Marv Albert was in the radio booth for WNBC-AM 660. "Gentle John" Ferguson was always taking a run at Rod Gilbert. I guess he was jealous of Rod's looks. 😀

[@epaddon]

And then when Ferguson became Rangers GM, he released Gilbert. In addition to doing the idiotic Rick Middleton for Ken Hodge trade and shoving those ridiculous uniforms on the team that they got rid of when Ferguson was sent packing.

[@broughmar]

What were the Rangers thinking when they hired that guy?

[@alartandy]

@@broughmar The same brain fart that prompted them to hire Chris Drury to be the Rangers GM today. 🙂

[@gcdcjccc]

Excellent footage..great memories

[@jaymorgenthal9479]

The first time I traveled from NYC to Montreal to see a Ranger road game was Nov 1970. The rangers won 5-4, Dave Balon scored 2 goals.

[@michaeleaster1815]

I wonder how long the average shift lasted in this game compared to today's game. It seems to me that is one of the biggest differences between in the two eras. p.s. Count me in with those who get goosebumps to the theme song. I remember reading (during the controversy of 2008) that some parts of the world think it is Canada's national anthem.

[@angelomisterioso]

De l'or en barre! merci! :)

[@johnbarroll1120]

Love watching the Hotline!

[@fdtori]

Love the goalkeeping technique at 16:07 🙂... Of course the equipment size only covered so much

[@my3dviews]

Plus, you don't want to go down too soon if you want to keep your teeth, with no mask. 😂

[@donhuber9131]

I agree with what Ken Dryden recently said. The net needs to be both 6 inches wider and taller to make up for the ridiculous pad and glove size these days.

[@humanbeing2420]

The pads were much heavier then so it made the butterfly style really difficult to pull off.

[@OldRustySteele]

@@donhuber9131 Either that or put a maximum on the thigh rise and remove the medial “landing pad” inside the knee. Those 2 things allow goalies to form an impenetrable wall on the ice.

[@PatFrenchLeafsFan1]

A rare colour HNIC intro.

[@randylochtefeld2806]

JC Tremblay deserves Hall of Fame in my opinion.

[@appletile2887]

After watching the summit series in 1972 the way the Russians all stick handled....we all joked that JC Tremblay had some Russian in him the way he handled the puck when he played in the NHL and WHA

[@pyannie6904]

hi, do you have the complete Molson commercial at 14:27? I love this music.

[@RRaquello]

Since the Canadiens had first dibs on French players at this time and up to around 1970, how did the Rangers manage to snare both Gilbert & Ratelle? I've always wondered about that. A couple of years after this, Bobby Rousseau ended up playing for the Rangers.

[@ronmoore4372]

Canadiens had the two top players in the Q, the Quebec Major Junior League. Gilbert and Ratelle ( although they were from Montreal ) played in the OHL Ontario Hockey League for Guelph for their Junior careers. Guelph's parent club was the New York Rangers. They were therefore in the Rangers system.

[@RRaquello]

@@ronmoore4372 The only other French players I can think of from that time who were top stars who didn't play for the Canadiens, or at least get their start with the Canadiens are Pierre Pilote and Marcel Pronovost. I'm sure there are others, but that's off the top of my head. If they had been able to extend their privilege of taking the top Quebec player for one more year, they would have gotten Gilbert Perreault, and wouldn't it have been nice to have a line with Guy Lafleur centered by Perreault.,

[@xpindy]

Gilbert had a serious back injury- spinal fusion was required, I believe. So Montreal passed on him.

[@ronmoore4372]

Pierre Pilote was born in Quebec but moved to Ontario at 14 and did not play organized hockey til he was 17.His Junior hockey was played in Ontario so Canadiens did not have dibs on him. Pronovost was from Quebec as well but Detroit signed him out of Midget and had him playing junior in Windsor Ontario.Montreal got a lot of them,but did not get them all, lol. Good point about Lafleur-Perreault. @@RRaquello

[@marcdonnelly7414]

This was the first game I ever attended

[@desjarda]

Comme j'aimerais avoir une liste de toutes les terminologies que Lecavalier a inventés pour la description d'un match de hockey... " le boulet ! " " le disque" " la glace" !!

[@franktarantino7607]

Roger ducet,his version of 0 Canada Is my favorite

[@MrKingalow]

Thanks for including the groovy intro!

[@sgagne1]

Wow merci

[@pyannie6904]

hey iove the Molson commercials--please post them complete

[@floxy20]

What strikes me watching these games is how many times shots are taken from just inside the blue line. Nowadays the skater keeps the puck, skates hard, then stops on a dime to make a play. Is it because skates are so much better now that it is easier to maneuver this way?

[@davidangel7478]

I believe this had to do with the innovation of the slap shot which was still relatively new in the late ‘60’s. I just read that in today’s game the slap shot keeps waning in importance every year. The players now realize that beating a goalie from long range even with the best slap shot, is a low probability event.

[@donhuber9131]

I feel it's because the goalies did not take up the entire net with this oversized pad and glove nonsense. Ken Dryden recently said the goal should be made both 6 inches taller and wider to encourage more outside shooting.

[@GUISNIP]

What, no Pride jerseys for the warm up skate?

[@harvey20c]

omg shut up

[@alphwinter3913]

Didn't see the all time great #4 on ice for the Habs. Injury?

[@andreydanilenko406]

Безумство !Вратарь ,его голова полностью открыты !?!?

[@GGRONFORS]

Nice. Any Leafs in colour from the 60s?

[@jethro1963]

There is a KZbin video that says it is the oldest find of an original TV color broadcast of an NHL game. It's not a CBC production, it's CBS Sports from Chicago featuring the Hawks and Leafs. Fantastic colour on the closeups. Interesting in between periods feature on Joanne Hull and her paintings. It's called: 1968 CHICAGO vs TORONTO PART BROADCAST IN COLOR

[@GGRONFORS]

@@jethro1963 Haha, I posted that one! Alias.

[@basilsmith104]

Very good 😮

[@riobabic8960]

Today’s hockey has lost its magic !

[@tanler7953]

Both teams played pretty clean. Few cheap shots.

[@donhuber9131]

You didn't want to piss off Ferguson or Kurtenbach!

[@stephendwyer6292]

🇨🇦at it’s Finest 😎😎🇨🇦🇨🇦

[@johnbarroll1120]

No facemasks or helmets?? I LOVE IT!!! true warriors

[@leafyutube]

Two hall of fame goalies playing without a mask.

[@Shmerpy]

The old days were great (I've been playing and watching hockey for 60 years), but seriously, either of these teams would get creamed if they tried to play any team in today's game. Except maybe my Canucks...

[@peachman1970]

Ah the good old days. The broadcast was about HOCKEY. No woke virtue signaling diversity and inclusion bullshit.

[@humanbeing2420]

Where do you see that in hockey broadcasts today? I watch hockey all the time and I've never seen it once....

[@glennschiffer1742]

goalies no mask

[@donhuber9131]

Yes, but the late 60s was the watershed when many goalies finally went to masks. Hall, Crozier, Giacomin, Binkley, Johnston, DeJordy, Gamble. Just became too dangerous. 1968 was the final season both goalies were mask-less in the cup final: Worsley and Hall. 1969, Vachon was last goalie to win the cup without a mask.

[@mrpopicockismyfriendJLBmyenem]

I wonder if anyone here understands every word ? 😂

[@charlieponcho4475]

Some do some don’t

[@Unclemoparman]

Still hate Art Skov.

[@seanmoore5441]

The NHL was too cheap to pay the million dollars to the person who wrote the music for hockey night in Canada and then made up a competition for a new song that played once or twice , then the NHL just did their own thing which is of course lousy! With Don Cherry gone, in which his side kick should of been gone too! I don’t bother with NHL stuff much anymore!

[@brianmouland209]

So cool, watched the game as a kid

[@johnshields6852]

I was 8 years old then, this was my first year playing hockey, great sport, the speed, the relatively constant motion. No mask for the goalie, we wore Helmut's but no cages or shields. 🇺🇲🏒🇨🇦

[@Fasool_Ayheid-yx3ki]

i wonder my 1968 honeys arecead

[@rbrb3625]

🟥⬜🟦🟥🟥⬜⬜🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥⬜⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥 🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥⬜⬜🟦🟦 🟥🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟥🟥 🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥◻🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥◻🟦🟦🟥🟥 🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥 / Tres bien ! ! ! The Slap Shot denigrated Hockey. The players faces became unknown bit-by-bit until the faces were unknown by all but the most dedicated fans by around 1995. Even now, a hockey fan like myself, knows some of the goalies’ faces because they check on The KZbin and the fans also know the faces of some of the stars from the various media. PEOPLE RELATE TO FACES because it is in our nature to do so ! ! ! Notice how much Basketball has grown ! ! ! The great game of hockey has become relegated to a niche sport because of this and because of the ridiculous gigantic goalie equipment. Also, all but the most well-to-do parents simply can not afford to have their children play organized hockey. Anyway thanks for this. Merci beaucoup ! ! ! 🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥⬜⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥⬜🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥