Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Great Obscure Moments in Leafs History - Gary Leeman vs. Denis Savard

Great Obscure Moments in Leafs History - An ongoing series to honor the greatest, completely meaningless moments in Toronto Maple Leaf history.

All human beings agree that Wendel Clark vs Marty McSorley is pretty much the greatest thing that has ever happened, anywhere, ever. OK, maybe you could make an argument for the invention of the concept of justice. You'd be wrong, but you could make the case.

But here's a thought experiment: what would be the exact opposite of Clark vs. McSorley? What hockey moment would be so awful, so cringe-worthy, so embarrassing, that it would have the potential to cancel out the greatness of Clark/McSorley if viewed side-by-side?

Older Leaf fans don't have to wonder, because they saw it on December 23, 1989. That was the night that the Leafs and Hawks squared off in one of the most memorable line brawls of a generation. And the main event, such as it was, featured a pair of franchise players: Gary Leeman and Denis Savard.



Let's identify the participants in this ten-man rumble. For the Leafs we have Leeman (#11), Tom Kurvers (#25), Brian Curran (#28), Johnny McIntyre (#44) and Dave Reid (#14). For the Hawks, it's Savard (#11), Cam Russell (#52), Dave Manson (#3), Dirk Graham (#33), and a guy wearing #14 who I think might be future Flames coach current Marlies coach Greg Gilbert.

As far as background, let's just say that the Leafs and Hawks were both in the Norris division, which means they hated each other and wanted to fight. The Hawks and Leafs had several memorable brawls over the years (like this one, and of course this one).

But this particular incident was different. What makes this among the most entertaining five minutes on all of Youtube? Let's walk through it in excruciatingly obsessive detail and find out!

Camouflage Coat Guy
Right off the bat, we get a classic Maple Leafs Garden moment: a fan blocking the camera. And not just any guy, but a guy who appears to have worn a camouflage coat to a hockey game. And also seems to be nine feet tall.

This forces the CBC to switch to the overhead camera view, which somehow always made whatever came next seem ten times more awesome.

Bob Cole
Right as things start to heat up, Bob Cole displays his excellent sense of timing by encouraging viewers to "listen to this!" and then going silent, just as the Hawks players start lobbing obscenities at Leeman.

And by the way, how is it possible that all the Hawks players are trash-talking Leeman and yet Al Iafrate's name never comes up?

The sucker punch
With Andy Van Hellemond yelling to "open the door up", Savard breaks away and lands a viscous sucker punch on Leeman, then scurries away like a rat. The only Leaf who sees it is under-rated tough guy Curran, who goes berserk. But he can't get at Savard, because he's being held back by...

Cam Russell
And since it's Cam Russell, and since it's the Leafs, Russell immediately winds up flat on his back. (Just like here and here and especially here.)

If there was a stat for most times getting destroyed by a Maple Leaf, Russell would be the Phil Mickelson to Jim Cummins' Tiger Woods.

Savard's "Hold Me Back" routine
I called Stu Grimson's performance against Wendel Clark "the all-time greatest 'hold me back while I pretend to want to fight' routine", but I think we may need a recount.

Savard pretends to desperately want to fight, right up until the linesmen call his bluff and simply skate away. We then get a full 75 seconds of Savard backing away from Leeman.

So how do you fill over a minute of dead air? With a big dose of...

Harry Neale
Neale is probably best known for his pre-prepared soundbites; if you like your color commentators to suddenly quote Edgar Allan Poe during an icing call, Harry is your guy. But here he shows that he's pretty good when going off-script too.

While Leeman and Savard stumble around, Neale starts firing off rapid one-liners like "This is the longest shadow-boxing match I've ever seen" and "If looks could kill they'd both be on their backs" and "They've been skating more on this shift than they have when the game was on".

But then he tops himself with this instant classic: "I've seen more hits when I take my kids to the petting zoo!"

What does that even mean? Who's getting hit when Harry Neale takes his kids to the petting zoo? Do his kids hit the animals? Does Harry hit his kids? What's he trying to tell us here?

Alain Chevrier
Chevrier is the Hawks goalie. And do you know what he does during this long line brawl, which features multiple sucker punches, mismatches and two-on-one situations? Nothing. Nothing! In fact, he does less than nothing. He never comes remotely close to getting involved.

I will never forgive him for that. Because do you know who was in net for the Leafs that night? Allan Bester. How great would it have been to see Allan Bester skate the length of the ice to join a brawl? Tell me that wouldn't have been an instant top-five highlight of the decade for Leaf fans.

And besides, if Felix Potvin could wipe the floor with Ron Hextall, I'm pretty sure Allan Bester could take Alain Chevrier.

"Durno"
In the middle of Leeman and Savard's dance of futility, the camera pans by a young hockey fan wearing a #8 Leafs jersey that reads "Durno". This begs two questions: how bad were the camera angles in Maple Leaf Gardens that a small child could block them, and what the heck is a "Durno"? Stay with me, I'm going somewhere with this.

Since nobody by that name ever played for the Leafs, I'm going to assume it's the kid's name. A few minutes of google research reveals a journeyman minor leaguer named Chris Durno, who at the age of 28 finally made his NHL debut this year by playing two games for the Avalanche. Chris Durno grew up in Scarborough, would have been nine years old when this game was played, and according to this interview he always wore #8 when he was growing up.

You know what? I'm going to go ahead and make the claim that that's future NHLer Chris Durno blocking the camera in the middle of this fight!

(Update: DGB commenter and Durno family friend "JDub" confirms that it is Chris Durno!)

And based on that, I'm establishing the Chris Durno Fan Club, and demanding that Brian Burke sign Chris Durno to play for the Marlies next year. Burke already knows Durno, having once acquired him when he was with the Ducks. And the Hockey News says Durno brings "plenty of physical toughness and intimidation". Just what we need in Toronto!

Who's with me? We want Durno! We want Durno!

No? Just me? OK, moving on...

Dave Manson
Manson had already been escorted off the ice earlier in the brawl, but he makes a dramatic return just in time to execute a sunset flip onto Leeman and Savard, wiping out linesman Ron Finn in the process.

That earned him the ultra-rare triple game misconduct on a single play: one for coming back onto the ice, one for abuse of officials, and one for being third man in. This inspired Paul Morris's infamous announcement of "Number three, Dave Manson, two minutes for instigating, five minutes for fighting, a game misconduct, a second game misconduct, a third game misconduct".

Paul Morris dones't care how many penalties you got, he's announcing them one at a time even if we all have to stay here all night.

Bob Cole again
"Uh oh. UH OH! Baby... this thing... has come apart... at the seams!"

I love Bob Cole.

Doug Carpenter
Carpenter doesn't actually do anything. I just like seeing him. Where does Carpenter rank on the list of great red-headed coaches in NHL history? I'm going to say behind Terry Crisp, but ahead of Dave Allison.

Wendel Clark almost coming off the bench
When Manson blindsides Leeman, Clark jumps off the bench before being grabbed by a teammate. If Clark had entered the fight, he would have been suspended for ten games, touched off a bench-clearing brawl, beaten Dave Manson to death with his bare hands, and then beaten Cam Russell to death with the corpse of Dave Manson.

But none of that happened, because Clark is grabbed from behind at the last moment by...

John Kordic
Think about that. John Kordic prevented a bench-clearing brawl.

Here's a rule of thumb: when you're relying on John Kordic to serve as a calming influence, you're dealing with a situation that is completely out of control. It may be time to call in the army. Or, failing that, hope that a jolly mythical character inexplicably makes an appearance.

Hey look, it's Santa Claus!
With the situation on the verge of complete implosion, the officials desperately try to usher the Blackhawks off the ice. What better time for Santa Claus to randomly make an appearance?

Seriously, what is happening here? When did David Lynch start directing NHL games? And why does "Santa" weigh about 140 pounds?

"I don't think Santa Claus has seen anything like this in a while," deadpans Cole. No, Bob, I suppose he hasn't.

The epilogue
Dave Manson was suspended for 13 games. More impressively, Savard managed to pick up two fighting majors on the same play even though he never fought anybody. As a side note, these were the first two fighting majors of Savard's career. He would later add two more, against Craig Janney and Dale Hawerchuk. Apparently, Denis Savard really hates marginally over-rated wimpy guys.

There were a total of eight fights in this game, including John Kordic delivering some payback by absolutely destroying Cam Russell in the second period. A young Damien Cox was so traumatized that all his hair fell out.

Leeman went on to score 50 goals this season, was traded for Doug Gilmour, and was never heard from again. Manson actually played for the Leafs for one year in 2000, although sadly he never tried to hurdle another linesman.

Chris Durno signed with the Leafs in the 2009 off-season, made the team out of training camp, scored the Stanley Cup winning goal during the Leafs' shocking playoff run, and dedicated the championship to this blog.




44 comments:

  1. New plan: we need Chris Durno to post here.

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  2. "...Who's getting hit when Harry Neale takes his kids to the petting zoo? Do his kids hit the animals? Does Harry hit his kids? What's he trying to tell us here?"

    LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! Oh man, that is so f'in hilarious! I miss Harry Neale. Anyone remember Dave Gagner getting destroyed in a neutral zone hit by (Oilers Russian d-man, I forget his name, doesn't matter). And Neale so casually... "Dave Gagner - he musta thought the clock dropped on him" LMAO

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  3. DUR-NO!
    DUR-NO!
    DUR-NO!

    Seriously, get him to write a post about the game. I know you can do it.

    "If looks could kill they'd both be on their backs"

    Don Cherry's Rock 'em Sock 'em! As soon as I saw the title I knew the fight and the line that you had to use.

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  4. I am CRYING Damm YOU. Harry Neale FAK! You are the Best. That was the funniest thing I've read since your last post. Which I thought was the funniest thing I'd read since the post before.

    I have no idea what you do for a living but you should be writing for some comedy show or doing stand up.

    DGB FTW!

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  5. Where do I sign up for the Chris Durno fan club? Is there a link? Is there a fee?

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  6. I thought Clark vs. McSorley was the invention of justice.

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  7. DUR-NO
    DUR-NO
    DUR-NO

    DGB FTW! I am convinced that, Cuban Missile Crisis notwithstanding, those minutes during which the citizens of the world wer relying on John Kordic to preserve the peace are the closest we have ever come to total annihilation of the planet.

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  8. "If there was a stat for most times getting destroyed by a Maple Leaf, Russell would be the Phil Mickelson to Jim Cummins' Tiger Woods."

    Man, you had to go and remind me about Russell and Cummins. Russell was maybe the worst fighter in the history of the league. Cummins was nearly as bad, but was once able to win a fight against Rob Neidermayer.

    Guh.

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  9. LOL, there's even something oddly brilliant (although perhaps an unintentional joke?) about referring to Gilbert as "future Flames coach" instead of referring to his current employer. Are you embarrassed? lol

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  10. This is the first post that has seriously made me cry-laugh

    CRY

    LAUGH

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  11. Chris Durno is a Family Friend of mine currently in the Avalanche farm system he had a great year with the San Antonio Rampage 2 years ago and damn right he should be brought up. His brother Jonathan Durno plays for Boston in the NLL.

    As for that being him i will have to check up on that.:)

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  12. Hey wasn't there a picture in the Sun the next day of Leeman and I think Ramage all bruised up? Or was that the next year?

    I remember this game because I was wrapping Christmas gifts for my wife at a friends apartment and watching the game on his TV.

    The gift for my wife? Our first TV.

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  13. Will Durno be the new Albert?

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  14. Chris Durno is 6'4", so perhaps he was just a giant kid.

    in your epilogue, you mention that Durno signed with the Leafs but failed to mention the amount. Can we just assume 4 years / $14 million?

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  15. @Cornelius Hardenbergh...

    Awesome.

    @JDub...

    Perfect, please report back when you find out if it was him. And you may want to let him know that if it wasn't him, but he wants the fledgling fan club to continue, it would be acceptable for him to lie.

    @Draft Dodger...

    Please stop causing problems.

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  16. Sad thing is that I remember every one of those clips other than the Franceschetti hit.

    As per Don Cherry - Leeman could really throw 'em.

    No Iafrate comments because that would still have been in the future, methinks.

    --1967ers

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  17. Played hockey with Chris Durno's younger brother - Jon - growing up.

    See if I can find 'em and pass the message along.

    Hilarious. Crackin' up in my stinkpod at work

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  18. This clip made me realize that hockey, as a sport, peaked in 1989 and will never, ever be as good again...

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  19. DGB... Seriously, man. That was the funniest blog post I have ever read, ever.

    My work has blocked the video, and I have never heard of half of the players involved (I was 5 in '89), but that was totally amazing.

    If there was a pros/cons list for the Leafs being out of the playoffs, this would be the only pro standing with "quotes by Brian Burke regarding the draft."

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  20. @pettycamp...

    LOL, there's even something oddly brilliant (although perhaps an unintentional joke?) about referring to Gilbert as "future Flames coach" instead of referring to his current employer.Man, I can not believe I missed that.

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  21. AWESUM post, fits even nicer when you go back and watch "the top 10 tough guys from the norris division"

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  22. I'll be the first to retire my Blake Jersey for a Durno should he take ice for us.

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  23. That Durno sleuthing is amazing.

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  24. check out my new blog... www.tml-nation.blogspot.com

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  25. This confirms it that is THE Chris Durno # 8. Way to go DGB. Start up that Fan Club!

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  26. @JDub...

    That's awesome. How did you confirm it?

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  27. My Mother knows Durno's Father and he said that is his jersey at the leafs game.

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  28. @JDub...

    Cool. Does Chris want to start doing guest posts at DGB now, or would he rather wait until he signs with the Leafs on July 1?

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  29. TOOOO funny! Have you heard the chicago feed? Pat Foley tries to go blow by blow early, gives up, and just says.."We've got a problem in Maple Leaf Gardens." Great points about Kordic, durno, russell, et al; but the Neale comments are what elevates this post to legendary status


    ...still laughing

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  30. DGB: Mirtle sez Chris Durno signed with the Avalanche today. I assume Burkie has a trade in the works?

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  31. Funny, I was coming here to say the same thing...

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  32. I clearly remember watching this and waiting gleefully to see Leeman beat the stuffing out of Savard, but Savard just backing away constantly. When they get tripped up by Manson, Savard THEN joins Manson in the scrum and gets a few shots in on Leeman who's on his back on the ice. I always liked Savard for the spin-o-rama, but here he was such a wuss!

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  33. i'm sure you know, but the hnic folks showed the durno footage tonight. any credit coming your way?

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  34. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    THE VIDEO HAS BEEN REMOVED

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  35. Don't panic... I found a replacement.

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  36. Epic. An instant classic. DGB, you are a funny, funny man.

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  37. it all started becuase that pussy lehman cheapshoted savard. manson and savard made lehman's look like a tomoato. haha good stuff though

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  38. The triple misconduct on Manson was all for abuse of the official. Then he later got an additional 10 games for coming back on the ice after he had been sent off. One of the best parts of this event was the first intermission in Coach's Corner with Ron and Don. Ron was in fine form, had the NHL rules book out and was reading it on air and was pointing out all the suspensions that Manson was going to get for his antics. Grapes was livid with MacLean and was ridiculing his assessment of the suspensions that would be handed out and was defending Manson, pointing out that Leeman was going to beat the living daylights out of Savard. For the record, MacLean correctly noted that Manson would get suspended for 13 games.

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  39. I remember that game well. Such fun the old Norris division rivalries.

    I moved to Australia in 1997 and in 2002, was playing in a men's league when who turned up to do a hockey camp for kids... Gary Leeman! That was a strange day.

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  40. What's a viscous sucker punch? Did you mean "vicious?"

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  41. This may be your best all-time YouTube breakdown. What a classic moment in every way.

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