Islanders. Nystrom. Remember Sports Dynasties?

5/24/2020

From the hockey hotbed of Israel comes a reminder that today, May 24, is the 40th anniversary of Bob Nystrom’s goal that gave the Islanders the first (of what would be four consecutive) Stanley Cups.

"You're tellin' me?!?!" Nystrom told journalist Hillel Kuttler in their phone conversation, which is part of Kuttler’s podcast series about how noted athletes are trying to stay safe during the virus plague. A few weeks back, Kuttler reached the hallowed Brooklyn Dodger nonagenarian Carl Erskine.

Kuttler, a Queens boy now living in Israel, had to remind me that the best team I ever covered has a Big Four-Oh anniversary.

Kuttler had a 30-minute chat with Nystrom, who is currently holed up in Boca Raton, Fl., but has been a resident of Long Island since playing for the Islanders. Kuttler recalled “that glorious afternoon when I sat on a stool at the Charlie O's pub in Rockefeller Center, glued to the TV throughout a terrific game, climaxed by Nystrom's magical goal off superb feeds by Henning and Tonelli.”

It’s true. In that final sequence, the broadcaster described how a Flyer “took a hit from Nystrom” -- that was known to happen – and the puck went squirting up the ice, followed by a back pass from Henning to Tonelli on the right side and a cross to Nystrom for the goal, just as they practiced it, for years and years.

The Islanders had been showing talent and discipline but a lot of potential dynasties never happen. This one did. The Islanders won three more, and Nystrom, a tough guy from out west in Canada, was a vital part of it. He could play with skill…and he could play rough….and he could handle the guff from Al Arbour the bespectacled coach when he needed somebody to scold in practice. Nothing bothered Bobby Ny.

One of the last N.H.L. players to not wear a helmet, as the league got serious about safety, Nystrom was the guts of those four teams. The Islanders, a frugal outfit run by Bill Torrey, were not restocking with expensive stars as the Yankees did, so the team stuck together under Arbour. Sixteen of them played on all four Stanley Cup teams and three others played on three championship teams.
Go ahead, Islanders fans, try to remember all of them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_Islanders_players

Every player on that list evokes a smile from me…and I am sure from Kuttler, and all Islanders fans of a certain age.

Kuttler asked Nystrom how he would rank the Islanders with other Stanley Cup dynasties like the Oilers who followed them, or the Canadiens, who preceded them, and Nystrom said: "I would put us up there with the best ever to win the Stanley Cup."

These days I don’t indulge in much nostalgia -- life is too serious. Haven’t seen a second of Michael Jordan and don’t plan to watch a second of Lance Armstrong, and I don’t watch old games even when Willis Reed or Rocky Swoboda or Mookie Wilson or Mike Bossy are involved. But I love the old days, and I love hearing Bob Nystrom, 40 years after his goal, talk about social-distancing. He never did much of that on the ice, back in the day.

Hillel Kuttler’s interview with Islander immortal, Bob Nystrom:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bobby-nystrom-n-y-islanders-stanley-cup-hero/id1510442568?i=1000475553985

ahronhorowitz

5/25/2020 08:38:47 am

hi george-the only thing that i here or read about sports now is your wonderful stories and life insights.it is very serious.thank god we are all fine.hope the same for you and yours.ahron

Michael

5/25/2020 09:36:06 am

As a devout Rangers fan living and working in Philadelphia at the time I recall feeling “why can’t both teams lose?” The Islanders moves to Long Island and chased my Blue Shirts from Their Long Beach practice facility to Westchester. The Flyers beat up Dale Rolf. It was a dark time ...

bruce

5/25/2020 12:01:21 pm

michael,

greetings from the national security threat north of the united states.

i'm old enough to have vivid memories of the pre expansion nhl when the teams played each other 14 times a year in the regular season.

the flyers set back hockey several years with their goonery.

dave schultz beat the hell out of dale rolfe. i saw it live and was disgusted.

rolfe wasn't looking a fight, couldn't fight and always looked rail thin,

i waited for schultz to get his and it took a little while but he got it when larry robinson pounded him out.

and took his time doing it.

schultz was, i thought, cowering--lowering his head. his teammates tried to rescue him but couldn't. i think it all started when somebody laid out van boxmeer (sp?). if i recollect correctly...or maybe somebody went after bobby clarke.

i was, mostly, a sports reporter for a number of years.

never cheered in the press box.

but when i saw robinson giving it that animal, i jumped up from my sofa and starting yelling 'kick the shit out of him'.

he did.

you can see it on youtube.

i watch it a few times a year.

gives me as much pleasure as watching the rocket, howe, orr, beliveau, gretzky, crosby or mcdavid.

think i'll enjoy it again after i finish reading/commenting on the blog.

bruce

bruce

5/25/2020 12:18:33 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZmRWz_Dyk0

bruce

5/25/2020 12:08:00 pm

george,

you mentioned the islanders a number of times over the years as your favourite team.

given your baseball love, it surprised me.

i, jokingly, said it must be because they were almost all canadians.

nystrom was one of my favourites.

wasn't a coach in the league that wouldn't have loved to have him.

loved the way he played the game.

all out, not the most skilled but had enough that you couldn't ignore him.

never took a shift off.

played the same at home and on the road--ain't always true.

had a penchant for scoring important goals.

but the thing i liked the most was that he was a tough guy who didn't mind taking a hard hit as long as it was clean.

going to watch that youtube clip of larry robinson--another of my faves--give dave schultz a 'hammering'.....

bruce

ahron horowitz

5/25/2020 12:38:21 pm

bruce-as an old ranger fan it was good to see schutz get his

bruce

5/25/2020 12:44:16 pm

ahron,

you watched the attachment?

the flyers were a pox on the game.

makes me feel my years when i see robinson will be 69 in a week or so and schultz 71 later this year. i'm exactly between 'em.

bruce

ahron horowitz

5/25/2020 01:02:09 pm

bruce-watched it. iam 72.blue seats in the old garden

bruce

5/25/2020 01:06:23 pm

ahron,

glad you enjoyed it.

i watched it twice just for the sheer joy of it.

only been to noo yawk a few times.

only garden i've been to was maple leaf gardens.

a long time ago.

97F with humidex where i am

last igloos have melted so i'm off for a walk.

bruce

Alan Rubin link

5/25/2020 01:12:48 pm

I never saw the need for the goons in hockey. However, it was probably necessary for an enforcer to protect their team’s leading players.

The hockey games that I enjoyed most were the ones that had little if any fighting. It is macho enough just to be a professional hockey player. There are probably times when it is necessary to send a message that certain behavior will not be tolerated.

In most sports, a word to the referee is often enough to keep things under control.

I am a life-long NY Ranger fan having attended my first game in the Old Garden at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street in 1945 at age ten..

They were terrible back then usually finishing last in the original six team league. The top four teams made the playoffs.

One year they needed one point in the final weeks of the regular season, but could not earn a tie.

The Islanders were the type of team that an opposing fan could relate to and support. Regardless of the sport, I tend to support the teams that areeither over achievers or class acts. They seem to be a diminishing breed, but enough still exist.

Coincidentally, two of my favorites are men and women professional soccer teams whose owner treats them equally. The Portland Timbers (men and the Portland Thorns (women) as well as the Lyon Olympique Lyonnais (women) and Lyon Olympique (men).

The Portland and Lyon owners have the men and women’s teams train at the same facility, often eat together and receive equal advertising support.

I never understood why the MLS did not offer full support for the women’s professional soccer leagues. The third attempt, the NWSL, seems to be on sounder financial footing, but more could be done.

I was a volunteer with the Boston Breakers until they folded a few years ago. They were getting about 3,000 fans in Somerville, MA and had moved into Harvard Stadium. However, their backers suddenly pulled the plug without ant prior warning.

Where was the NE Revolution in their time of need? The Kraft family has talked about building a soccer specific venue in a needy area of Boston that is unused and available. It is close to a wide range of ethnic communities. The Revs would thrive in a downtown Boston area.
Sky Blue, the perennial doormat of the NWSL, would have been a natural tie-in with the Red Bulls. There was even talk of the Blues playing games in Red Bull Stadium.

No such luck.

When things eventually return to normal, let’s hope that it is a new one with vision.

Andy Tansey

5/26/2020 10:28:52 pm

At the risk of sounding really ugly - here I go - women's soccer is an inferior product. Professional sports are about selling a product, and the better product is deserving of financial support in a free market economy.

By this, I do not mean merely that women are not capable of performing as well as men at soccer. I am not alluding to the obvious physical advantageous that would enable the best men's team to beat the best women's team. Men are faster. Men are stronger. Men can kick the ball with more force. Those are NOT the sources of superiority to which I refer.

Even the speed and strength superiority of males does not account entirely for the quality differential. Women are simply not as capable at skills for which speed and strength should not matter: the ability to control a ball upon receiving it; the ability to pass accurately; the aptitude to make good tactical decisions, with field vision; at different levels, the poor quality of the refereeing and even the TV commentators: in the last World Cup, especially in early rounds, they knew the name of every American player, but the opponents? "Rapinoe scoots past the 'Italian defender'!" (Yes, I made that up, but point taken?)

I love women's soccer and wish for its success. However, the talent drop is not merely a function of the differences in physical attributes between men and women. Although I believe it is not entirely inexplicable, my theories are beyond the scope of this message.

bruce

5/25/2020 01:28:02 pm

alan,

fighting was very common in those pre expansion days.

continued for a long time after.

wasn't as easy to break up either. if the linesman had one guy tied up, the other would take advantage.

no more.

fighting is down and i'm pleased about it. only time i enjoy it is if some guy is a cheap shot artist or using his stick and pays for it.

another reason that comes up occasionally is when the play by play guy will mention, in a surprised tone, that X and Y have the same agent.

apparently you're not supposed to fight while sharing one.

playing five teams14 times a year plus could be up to another seven in the playoffs would make rivalries more intense aussi.

my birthday is april 9th and one year the season--as in stanley cup--was won that day.

mid april wasn't unusual.

bruce

George

5/25/2020 07:36:52 pm

Wow, I go outside to do some yard work, and suddenly 11 comments pop up. Well done.
A few reactions: Yes, I was a latecomer to hockey., Paid minimal attention as a kid, Brooklyn Dodgers in BB, Knicks and St. John's in basketball. Saw a few games at Newsday (Long Island Arena! Ducks!) but never covered a game until I went to NYT in 1968. They sent me on a Ranger trip to LA and Oakland mid-winter, Okay....
I got to enjoy the droll (Canadian?) sense of humor after the Ranger plane returned to JFK and my wife met me at Baggage Claim, and a couple of the lads informed her that I had been running around in California. I hadn't even met them yet...she caught on, of course.
My first major exposure to hockey was a long feature on the young guns of Edmonton, 1980 or 81. Midwinter in Edmonton. I was around the team for a day or two and had met several players, and then a skinny kid introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Wayne." His mates ratted on him that he had the lowest physical grades in the mid-season checkup that week. True.
As for goons: I saw that game Minnesota at Bruins, old Garden, one team under orders by coach to fight at the start -- 14 seconds in. What BS. I once booed from the pressbox at other goonery,
Great players -- Barry Beck and Pierre Larouche and Ulf Nilsson. Plus the Isles. What a grand era. Isles the favorite team I covered.
But I was definitely a latecomer. Thanks to Ahron, Michael, Alan and BRuce-the-resident-Canadian to explain stuff to us, GV
PS: MY colleague, John Branch, great reporter, won a Pulitzer few years back. The citation said:
"For his deeply reported story of Derek Boogaard, a professional hockey player valued for his brawling, whose tragic story shed light on a popular sport's disturbing embrace of potentially brain-damaging violence."

bruce

5/25/2020 07:54:39 pm

george,

remember the boogaard piece.

i've been where i live now for almost 18 months.

about a 10 minute drive from my old place.

same planet, different world tho.

there were three two bedroom apartments in an old house which was going to be torn down to make room for a subdivion of 2-4 homes on 24 acres.

the last several months i was there a guy named frid moved in. can't recall his first name.

he was a goon but never made higher than the AHL if memory serves.

suffered some serious brain damage. there was a long piece about him in the globe&mail which calls itself--or used to--canada's national newspaper.

he was a rather volatile fellow.

pretty cool here three days ago.

not today. 99F with humidex and about 90 without.

found it.... https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/robert-frid-enforcer-fighter-stuggles-with-concussions-hockey/article28929084/

bruce

Comments are closed.

QUOTES
From the great Maureen Dowd:

As I write this, I’m in a deserted newsroom in The Times’s D.C. office. After working at home for two years during Covid, I was elated to get back, so I could wander around and pick up the latest scoop.
But in the last year, there has been only a smattering of people whenever I’m here, with row upon row of empty desks. Sometimes a larger group gets lured in for a meeting with a platter of bagels."

--- Dowd writes about the lost world of journalists clustered in newsrooms at all hours, smoking, drinking, gossipping, making phone calls, typing, editing.
***
"Putting out the paper," we called it.
Much more than nostalgia.
---https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/opinion/journalism-newsroom.html

Islanders. Nystrom. Remember Sports Dynasties?

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