What Was Bob Johnson's 7 Point Plan To Beat Edmonton in '86
The "Badger" had a secret plan on how to beat the Edmonton Oilers in the 1986 playoffs. In a bitterly contested 7 game series, which the Flames won, Calgary seemed to always be one step ahead of the high powered Oilers.
Does anyone know what exactly was in Johnson's 7 point plan???
The "Badger" had a secret plan on how to beat the Edmonton Oilers in the 1986 playoffs. In a bitterly contested 7 game series, which the Flames won, Calgary seemed to always be one step ahead of the high powered Oilers.
Does anyone know what exactly was in Johnson's 7 point plan???
"... focused on limiting Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey and Jari Kurri's creativity, limiting access to the left side of the ice where the Oilers' top stars liked to skate, leaving their physical players on the ice by not engaging them and utilizing Neil Sheehy and Colin Patterson in roles designed to frustrate the Oiler players."
Every dog has its day, even the Flames. They couldn't beat a rookie goalie in the finals but they did go on to win their one Cup in 40 years as an NHL franchise 3 years later. The world's worst card player catches a lucky hand once in a while.
Every dog has its day, even the Flames. They couldn't beat a rookie goalie in the finals but they did go on to win their one Cup in 40 years as an NHL franchise 3 years later. The world's worst card player catches a lucky hand once in a while.
Patrick Roy wasn't just ANY rookie goalie. Second best stats in the history of the position.
Besides, the 1989 Flames were absolutely STACKED. They could have been every bit the dynasty that the Oilers were if money and the strength of the Canadian dollar hadn't come into it. They had to dump all of their all-stars for virtually nothing. Doug Gilmour for Gary Leeman?? Please. Even at the time everyone knew that was a terrible trade.
The only player they got a return on AT ALL was Joe Nieuwendyk for Iginla, and that was only because Iggy hadn't played a game in the NHL yet, and was unproven.
Every dog has its day, even the Flames. They couldn't beat a rookie goalie in the finals but they did go on to win their one Cup in 40 years as an NHL franchise 3 years later. The world's worst card player catches a lucky hand once in a while.
I wonder if Joel Otto specifically was one of the seven points? 1986 was an outstanding, breakout year for him, and much has been made of the fact that the Flames recruited him specfically to match up against Messier. 1986 may have been the first time they realized that he was, in fact, capable of fufilling that role, and the first chance they had to deploy him as such.
intimidate the oilers' elite talent (repeat that line six more times).
As a human being, Johnson is horribly over-rated on these boards. The guy was a back-stabber coach who let the word out to his american squad in 1991 that he wanted gretzky to, ahem, "go away" - which was suter's cue to run him from behind. Whether you're a gretzky fan or not, what suter pulled was one of the most disgusting, chicken-bleep things you'll see in hockey, and I have it on good authority that it emanated from coach's orders (though suter was, truly, a back-stabber by nature). In pittsburgh, Johnson oversaw another dirty team and he assembled a motley crew of thugs in calgary to neutralize edmonton's elite talent. I know he's american - which evidently qualifies him for sainthood in some quarters around here - but he was a goon coach.
And, oh yeah, please recollect his outburst after the CAN-US game during the preliminary round of the 1987 canada cup - totally classless and just a cover for the fact that his chippy gang of mediocre yanks was actually whistled for the hacking, whacking and miscellaneous cheap-shots. Could never figure out why this guy was held in such high esteem except for his passport.
