Enthusiastic Vancouver Canucks fans are all over Dave 'Tiger' Williams as the team arrives at Vancouver International Airport in May 1982, after Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final against the New York Islanders. Photograph by: Wayne Leidenfrost , The Province

Think of one word to describe this year’s Vancouver Canucks, after such an early and heartbreaking playoff exit, and it’s probably this: Underachieving. So much talent, so much potential, and yet unable to emerge from the first round with more than a single win. That in mind, maybe it’s time for a little history lesson. Maybe the antidote to underachieving, is to remember its opposite. Because for a couple of months in the spring of 1982 — 30 years ago now, unbelievably — the Canucks overachieved beyond their wildest dreams. A team of grinders and journeymen and last-minute call-ups became the ultimate underdog story, somehow powering their way to the Stanley Cup final thanks to hard work, gritty team play, and a goaltender who chose the perfect moment to play the best hockey of his life. Sure, there was some luck involved. But for a lunch-bucket team that had never won a single playoff series before, and that swept Vancouver into a frenzy, it was a moment that no one who witnessed it could ever forget. Here are their stories. • Regular Season: The Canucks finish at 30-33-17 in the powerful Smythe Division. The bracket was topped by the Edmonton Oilers, just beginning their years of NHL domination under Wayne Gretzky. “We weren’t doing very well at all that year. We were below .500, and for our last road trip of the season, the media wouldn’t even travel with us. But then with a few games left to go, we played in Quebec City against the Nordiques in the Quebec Coliseum. That’s when all hell broke loose.” — Darcy Rota. “Quebec City was the turning point for our team. Tiger Williams was pinned against the boards by big Wilf Paiement. In those days there was no barrier between the bench and the seats, and this one loudmouth Quebec fan came down from the third of fourth row and took a swing at Tiger. For some reason I thought I would go help him, so I left the bench to go grab the guy, and a couple of my players like Dougie Halward and Marc Crawford came with me up into the stands. John Ziegler was league president at the time, and he didn’t like that very much, so I got suspended for five games. In retrospect it was a foolish move, to think that Tiger Williams needed any help from me.” — Harry Neale. “When Harry and that Nordiques fan got into a fight, we had to go up into the stands to protect him. It was a blur of punches being thrown, and the police had to come in and break it all up. The league wasn’t very happy about it, and suspended us for a couple of games, but the reaction was nothing like it would be today. The game has changed a lot in 30 years.” — Doug Halward. “When Harry got suspended, his assistant Roger Neilson came in as the head coach. They called him Captain Video, and it was true: It was more video than I had ever watched in my entire career. But he knew what he was doing. Over the last 10 games of the season, we actually became one of the hottest teams in the league. We were extremely hard-working, and we were getting great goaltending at the time from Richard Brodeur. Going into the playoffs, that’s a very dangerous combination. — Stan Smyl.

“The day before the playoffs started, the Canucks were having a skate out at Britannia Rink. At the end of practice their best defenceman, Kevin McCarthy, and Curt Fraser were having a little wrestling match along the boards. They fell on top of each other, and McCarthy broke his ankle. I was there and saw it happen. It was devastating, because he was team captain and a key guy. So they headed into the playoffs with three of their best blueliners in leg casts — Rick Lanz, Jiri Bubla and now Kevin McCarthy. That was when they first put the captain’s ‘C’ on Stan Smyl.” — Broadcaster Jim Robson. • Round 1: Calgary Flames. The rugged Flames were led by the legendary Lanny McDonald, but the Canucks managed to sweep the best-of-five series, 3-0. “All I remember is that they were huge. That’s the only way to describe them. Willie Plett, Jim Peplinski: They were loaded and tough as nails. That’s why, right from the opening faceoff of the first game, we took it on ourselves to level the playing field. People like Steamer and Tiger Williams and myself got involved in a few scraps, which took the wind out of their sails. Once we took away that physical advantage, our skilled forwards were free to do their jobs.” — Curt Fraser. “I remember a big fight right off the bat, only a couple of seconds into Game 1. Curt Fraser took on Willie Plett at centre ice, and came out on top. Willie was a very intimidating guy, and we all knew how tough he was. That fight showed the Flames that we weren’t going to back down from anybody.” — Darcy Rota. “Our first game against Calgary, I hadn’t slept the whole night before, because my wife was in the hospital. She went into labor at 9 the previous night, and gave birth to our daughter Therese at 5:30 in the morning on game day. It obviously wasn’t the best way to prepare for a game, but by that point I wasn’t feeling anything. I was just running on fumes. That baby is now 30 years old and a police officer in Sweden. I have a tough time believing it; it makes me feel really old.” — Thomas Gradin. “Tiger Williams was a guy who would do absolutely anything to win. In the first round he was checking Lanny McDonald, who had been his linemate in Toronto with Darryl Sittler. But Tiger was a very rough guy with his stick, and in that series he chopped at Lanny every chance he got. Lanny couldn’t believe that his ex-buddy was being so aggressive. But that was Tiger.” — Jim Robson. “Game 2 is remembered for Tiger Williams’ overtime goal, when he did his dance and rode his stick down the length of the ice. But for me, it’s a special memory that I scored my only NHL playoff goal during that game. We were down 1-0 late in the second period, and I didn’t get a lot of shifts, but I was put on a line with the great Ivan Boldirev. He was behind the net, put it on my stick in the crease, and I got a huge goal. I was so thrilled that I banged heads with him in celebration. He said, ‘Hey, I know you’re excited, but watch my hair.’ ” — Marc Crawford.

“That was the year of the Miracle on Manchester, when the L.A. Kings somehow managed to beat the Edmonton Oilers, who had Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier and Jari Kurri. Edmonton was leading the [third game of the series 5-0], when the Kings scored [five] goals in the third period to come back and win [in overtime]. Then they went to Edmonton and won the [fifth] game, too. So instead of playing the Oilers, one of the best teams in the history of hockey, we were now playing the Kings. That was the first big break we got. It showed us that once you get a ticket to the lottery, anything can happen.” — Harry Neale. • Round 2: L.A. Kings. Having knocked off the powerful Oilers, the fast-skating Kings take on the Canucks, whose momentum is starting to build. The Canucks win the best-of-seven series, 4-1. “At the time the Kings had one of the great lines in NHL history, the Triple Crown line of Marcel Dionne and Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor. But we had a great checking line of Tiger Williams, Lars Molin and Gary Lupul. Those guys could skate with anybody, and defensively were as good as anybody in the league. They did a terrific job of keeping the Triple Crown line in check.” — Marc Crawford. “I remember in that series that a fire alarm went off at our hotel, a Marriott by the L.A. airport, at about 2 or 3 a.m. Most of the team followed instructions, and rushed out to gather in the hotel parking lot. We look up on the hotel roof, and who’s up there, poking his head over the ledge, but Tiger Williams. I love Tiger, he’s a great teammate and a fierce competitor, but he’s a little different with his thought processes. I think he came down from the roof eventually.” — Darcy Rota. “By that time the excitement was really starting to build, not only in the arenas but in the streets. After we split the first two games in Vancouver, I remember Game 3 in L.A. went into overtime, and the puck came to our defenceman Colin Campbell. His knee had been banged up real bad during a game, and he was basically playing on one leg, almost like Bobby Baun with the Maple Leafs back in 1964. But he got the winning goal that day, and that was a real boost for us. Whenever you do that in overtime, it takes the energy right out of the other team.” — Stan Smyl. “Colin Campbell was a good defenceman, who works in the NHL front office now, but you never, ever expected him to score. Especially the way he scored, a big shot from the blue line. His slapshot was horseshit; I don’t think he’d ever taken a slapshot his whole career. But he did it that time, and it went in. If you ever get a chance to go back and watch the video, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so happy in my whole life. After that we won every game in the series.” — Thomas Gradin.

“Our goaltender Richard Brodeur was really on fire. I had coached against him in the old World Hockey Association, so I was very familiar with how good he could be. When he became available, I put in a good word for him with our general manager, to see if we could get this guy. Thank God we did, because you don’t win any playoff rounds if your goaltender isn’t better than the guy at the other end. Richard was doing everything he possibly could to get us to the Stanley Cup. Every single game we won, he was the reason.” — Harry Neale. “We even had a theme song by that point: ‘Na Na, Hey Hey, Goodbye.’ We always had music in the dressing room before we went out for the start of games, and at the beginning of playoffs, someone grabbed it and put it on, and we all liked it. Then they began playing it in the arena, and on radio stations, too. We were very superstitious, so it became our rallying song and went with us the rest of the playoffs, and we’d crank it up real loud. It was a big part of our journey.” — Jim Nill. • Round 3: Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks, led by the great forward Denis Savard and Hall of Fame goalie Tony Esposito, had knocked off the powerful Minnesota North Stars. After splitting the first two games in Chicago, the Canucks start rolling to win the series 4-1. “The rink at the old Chicago Stadium was about as big as your living room. It was a very intimidating place to play. You go in there and you’re playing on a tiny little rink against a team that’s big and strong and fast. You literally had to fight for every inch of ice. I think it was supposed to hold 17,000 people, but there were easily 22,000 fans in there. It was jam-packed and the atmosphere was insane.” — Curt Fraser. “At the time Chicago had the great defenceman Doug Wilson, who always carried the puck. So Roger Neilson strategized that instead of avoiding him, they would work him to death. They’d dump it in his corner every single time, make him go and get it, and then Stan Smyl would come in and hammer him against the boards. By the end of the series, poor Doug was whipped.” — Jim Robson. “The Chicago series was special for me, since I had been drafted by the Blackhawks and spent my first six years in the league with them. My dad passed away six years ago now, but he was at those Chicago games, and I must have had 25 friends and family in the stands. Later my dad asked me why so many people in the crowd were chanting ‘Rota Suds, Rota Suds’. I said ‘Dad, I think they were saying ‘Rota Sucks!’ ” — Darcy Rota. “Game 2 was the famous towel-waving night. Denis Savard had just scored another goal, Chicago Stadium was rocking, and Roger Neilson felt that referee Bob Myers had been handing out too many Canuck penalties in a row. So Roger put a white towel on the end of a hockey stick, and waved it in surrender. A bunch of players did the same, and they were all thrown out of the game, including Roger. For the next game in Vancouver, my radio station CKNW printed up thousands of white towels at a little T-shirt place in Gastown. If fans didn’t bring a towel to the game, we gave them one. So for Game 3, the whole building was filled, top to bottom, with Canucks fans waving white towels.” — Jim Robson.

“I told Roger Neilson that he should have patented that idea, because he would’ve made a million dollars. Now every team in the league gives out white towels during their playoff runs, but it all started with Roger. When we came back to Vancouver for Game 3, all you could see were 15,000 screaming fans waving their white towels. Even during faceoffs, they gave us standing ovations. The Canucks had taken the city by the throat; I’d never seen a city so wrapped up in the success of its hockey team.” — Harry Neale. “The Blackhawks had real toughness, with players like Al Secord and Grant Mulvey. They would feed off their crazy fans, and come at you with everything they had. But in Game 5 Mulvey decided to come after Ron Delorme, and he really shouldn’t have done that. Delorme won the brawl in a big way, right in front of our bench. Chicago Stadium went real quiet after that. That gave us so much motivation, because it showed them we weren’t going to get pushed around by anybody.” — Stan Smyl. “During Game 5 back in Chicago, I scored a goal at the halfway mark of the third period that really salted the game away. It was the biggest goal of my life, and I couldn’t stop jumping up and down. Here I was playing against my former team, and on the verge of going to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in Canucks history. It was chilling.” — Darcy Rota. “That last game we played very strong, and as the game progressed and we built on our lead, we knew exactly what was happening. I remember sitting on the bench and watching the seconds tick down on the clock. That’s when it really sunk in for me and every one of my teammates: We were going to be playing for the Stanley Cup.” — Stan Smyl. “We were such underdogs that we hadn’t really thought about the Cup yet. We were still surprised to be playing in Chicago. Then all of a sudden we were on the ice at Chicago Stadium, getting presented with the conference trophy, and all the Blackhawk fans were dead silent. That’s when we all realized, ‘Jesus, we’re in the finals! Holy smokes!’ I don’t even think we knew who we’d be playing.” — Thomas Gradin. • Round 4: New York Islanders. The Canucks now faced their stiffest challenge of all: The New York Islanders, smack in the middle of their dynastic Stanley Cup-winning years. While the games were close, the Islanders’ all-star lineup wore them down and swept the series 4-0. “The Canucks had to travel right from Chicago to Long Island to play for the Cup. Not only that, but the only two hotels anywhere near the arena were a Holiday Inn and something called the Island Inn, and they had both been booked solid by NHL people. So the Canucks had to stay unbelievably far away, a couple of hours from the Coliseum. They had terrible accommodations, were exhausted from three rounds of playoff hockey, and were playing one of the greatest dynasties in history. To say they were the underdog would be an understatement.” — Jim Robson.

“The series started on Long Island, and in the first game we held our own. We played them straight up, and it wasn’t the kind of one-sided domination you would expect from a powerhouse like the Islanders, who were playing for the Stanley Cup in their own building. We stymied a lot of their creativity and talent with pure effort and strong positional play and great goaltending. We took them to overtime, and then the great Mike Bossy scored with a second or two left. That was so deflating. If we had won that game, things might have been very different, heading back to Vancouver with a win under our belts.” — Rick Lanz. “Mike Bossy was the kind of player who didn’t need many chances with the puck. You could shut him down the whole game, but if you gave him only a second or two, then he would score. That’s what he was all about. That Islander team seemed to get stronger with every game, every period, every shift. They’d been through it all before, and knew exactly what to expect. All we needed was one or two breaks, but they didn’t even give us that.” — Stan Smyl. “The hockey was getting so much better with every single round. The first round, every step you took, you got hit. The second round got much faster. The third round got even faster than that. By the time we got the Islanders, the game was moving so fast that you just couldn’t make any mistakes at all. After the first game we were sitting around in the locker room, looking at each other and saying, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Holy smokes, it was fantastic hockey.” — Curt Fraser. “We didn’t understand the full impact of what was happening in Vancouver, until we came back to town after losing the first two games on Long Island. The reception at the airport was like nothing I’d ever seen before. People were lined up along that main road into town, about eight people deep on both sides, just going wild. It was like we’d won the Stanley Cup already.” — Doug Halward. “Richard Brodeur was our lifesaver. Somehow he went from being an average goalie to being just as good as Billy Smith. You don’t really expect something like that to happen, so when it does happen, it’s kind of shocking. But often hockey is more a mental game than a physical game: We had nothing to lose, Richard got off on the right foot, and just kept getting better and better.” — Thomas Gradin. “The third game against the Islanders, I remember Roger Neilson telling us that there was no shame in losing, because the Islanders had played a perfect game. It was 3-0, including an empty-net goal, and we only had a handful of chances all game. They played flawlessly and gave us nothing. Remember we were playing against Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, John Tonelli, Denis Potvin, Bob Nystrom, Billy Smith. The Sutters were on the fourth line, for goodness’ sake. There was no weakness on that team, none.” — Marc Crawford.

“I was 19 years old, straight out of the Regina Pats, and for some reason they put me into the lineup for that last game against the Islanders. I was looking around at Bossy and Potvin and Gillies, and spent the first period wanting to ask for their autographs. I was so nervous I think I fell down a few times. Being so young, I was too stupid to realize how big a moment it was. I played another 14 years in the NHL, and never got back to the Stanley Cup finals again.” — Garth Butcher. “They had a huge parade for us back in Vancouver after we lost to the Islanders. The guy running the parade asked Roger and I if we would ride a couple of horses. We both grew up in Toronto, and had never been on horses in our lives. But there we were, riding our horses through downtown Vancouver, the streets jammed with fans. At the end of the parade the guy in charge asked us how our horses were, and Roger said, ‘My stallion was fine.’ I said ‘Roger, how did you know it was a stallion?’ He told me, ‘Well, I heard a guy on the curb shout out, ‘Look at the big prick on the white horse!’ ” — Harry Neale. “The Canucks got swept in the finals, and yet Vancouver held a massive parade in their honour. Even the Islanders didn’t have much of a parade route, which was basically around the parking lot at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. But the Canucks were celebrated all the way down Burrard Street in open convertibles, had a rally at Sunset Beach, a stage with live music, and it seemed like everyone in the city had lined up to cheer them. And they’d lost four straight! I don’t think you’ll ever see that again.” — Jim Robson. “Wherever I go and whatever I do, people still remember 1982. It’s hard to believe it was 30 years ago now. I did a lot in my career — played all over North America, and scored 40 goals one year. But the highlight of my career and my life was 1982, by far. We were the ultimate underdog team, and we caught the hockey world by storm.” — Darcy Rota. “I had never coached a team where so many players over-excelled as much as they did, for as long as they did. For six or seven weeks, those guys played the best hockey of their lives. It was a beautiful thing to watch, that a .500 team could get all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. Even the great Islander coach Al Arbour told me afterwards, ‘Your team played way better than I ever thought they could possibly play.’ That was a nice compliment, from one of the best in the history of the game. No one could have ever predicted what happened that year. Sometimes I still don’t believe it.” — Harry Neale. Chris Taylor is an award-winning journalist in New York City. He can be reached at christaylornyc@yahoo.com.

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