Greg The Terran Sports: Brendan Shanahan edition

Brendan Shanahan was eligible for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame this year, now three years after his retirement in 2009. This is the same year that Joe Sakic, his arch rival from the Colorado Avalanche was eligible. 

Shanahan, of course, was the power left winger for the Detroit who scored over 600 goals in his career. He's the second highest scoring left winger to ever play the game. He even has the league record for Gordie Howe Hat Tricks.

Joe Sakic made it in to the Hall of Fame, and Brendan Shanahan did not. 

What the bloody effing hell is this?

Do I have to remind you people what happened when Brendan Shanahan joined the Red Wings? Let me tell you a story, kiddies. 

Back in 1995, a pre-Shanahan Red Wings team had made it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 29 years. They had all the big names on that team that you may remember, Steve Yzerman, Sergei Federov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Nicklas Lidstrom, even Darren McCarty had strolled in by then. This was the team of my childhood. These were the guys playing back when I wanted to grow up to be a hockey player. They made it to the Stanley Cup Finals that year, and were the heavy favorites to win. They didn't win. They were swept, four games in a row.

Next year, the Wings come back with a vegence. They win a record setting 62 games in the regular season. That's still the most games any NHL team has ever one in a season, ever. They skated through the playoffs, firing on all cylinders, and they made it to the conference finals. The Red Wings faced against none other than the Colorado Avalanche.

The Avalanche were bad guys, through and through, but still a formidable team. There was their captain, Joe Sakic. Sakic was sort of the Steve Yzerman of the West. He played 20 years all for the same franchise (the Avalanche were originally the Quebec Nordiques, before moving to Colorado in 1995). They had Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote.  They also had that nimbly weirdo Patrick Roy. Roy was very superstitious.They called him the butterfly. He used to skate backward before games and talk to his goal posts. Weird dude, but he was also a COMPLETE BEAST in net. A lot of people think he's the best goalie ever to play, and he's got the trophies to prove it.

The Wings lost this series 4 -2, and to add insult to injury, in the last game the dirty coward Claude Lemieux hit Kris Draper from behind, throwing him over the boards, and ended up basically destroying Draper's face. He was suspended for two games, but it didn't matter, the Avalanche would sweep the Florida Panthers to win the '96 cup.

1996 rolls around, and the Wings traded hall of fame defenseman Paul Coffee and a first round draft pick to get the man with the plan, Brendan Shanahan, and again, the Red Wings made it to the playoffs. They eliminated the St. Louis Blues, and NHL newbies the Mighty Ducks of Anahiem, and once again found themselves in the conference finals against the Colorado Avalanche. 

It looked to be a perfect repeat of last year, except this time the Wings didn't have a record setting 62 win season (they barely made it into the playoffs with 38 wins), and the unbeatable Patrick Roy was still in net. So what happened?

This happened.

This time it would be the Wings who would take the series 4 - 2. They defeated Colorado, Darren McCarty pummeled the HECK out of Claude Limieux, and the Wings would go on to sweep the Philly Flyers to win their first Stanley Cup in 40 years. This is friggin hockey HISTORY.

And who scored the most goals that year for the Wings? Brendan Shanahan. Who had the most points that season? Shanahan. Who scored the last goal, in the last game against the Avalanche, to send them to the finals? Shanhan.

I'm not a hockey expert, but COME ON? Joe Sakic, but no Brendan Shanahan? That's like Dr. Jekyll without Mr. Hyde. Thats a boring fucking story is what that is. Adam Oates was inducted this year, and Adam Oates was a center who didn't even score 350 goals. Shanny scored 600+.

Fear not, Shanny will certainly see his day for getting into the Hall of Fame, and there's a pretty good chance it will happen next year. I just think its a shame to see that of these two legends from 1990s hockey, only one of them was chosen to be honored like this. It did give me an excuse to revist this legend of my childhood though, so I think it was all worth it.