Calgary's first Stanley Cup still shrouded in controversy

Used with permission. Copyright Sergei Scurfield

By Lou Roesch
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 16, 2020) It's been 31 years since the Calgary Flames hoisted the Stanley Cup trophy for the first and even now their Game 7 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks remains shrouded in controversy.

Hockey is a sport where the rivalries are as thick as blood. You are born into them and you will die a fan of your favorite team, there are no bandwagon jumpers in hockey especially north of the border. The rivalry between the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames reached incendiary proportions on April 15, 1989 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Conn Smythe semifinals.

Many will remember the name Joel Otto. Ironically enough, it was this native US born player that would fuel the fires in Canada hockey history. Undrafted out of college, the imposing center got a start with the Calgary Flames and made the most of it. At 6'4", 220lb, Otto was an imposing figure in front of the net. In Game 7, Vancouver had upset on their mind especially when Doug Lidster tied the game at 3 with 7:12 left in regulation. Was Calgary going to miss another opportunity to win a Cup. The Canucks who had finished six games under .500 during the regular season were in position to knock of Calgary, the regular season points leader at 117.

With less then a minute left in the first overtime, Calgary went on the attack. A deflected puck landed on the stick of right winger Jim Peplinski in the midst of a Calgary line change. The Flames captain sent the puck netward where Otto was tied up in front of Canucks goalie Kirk McLean. The shot hit off Otto and caromed into the back of the net propelling Calgary to what would become their first Stanley Cup title. 

Used with permission. Copyright Sergei Scurfield

From the moment, it crossed the crease, Canucks fans have been screaming foul.

  

"I remember looking down, watching it bank off my skate," said Otto in last year's 30-year remembrance for SportsNet. "And I don’t remember if I saw it go in or if I heard the roar."

To this day, Canucks assistant coach Mike Murphy argues to whoever will listen that it was an illegal goal and the officials missed it.

"To this day, I still feel the puck was kicked in. If it was today’s hockey, there would’ve been goalie interference, it would have been a kicked puck, but back then that didn’t happen."

Former referee and Hockey Hall of Famer Bill McCreary who officiated nearly 300 NHL playoff games remembered it this way.

"Had we had video review, I think we would have disallowed the winning goal. I think [Otto] directed the puck in the net with his skate. But the goal was allowed. I probably wish I had a better angle on the play, a better sight line. I just didn’t react well enough at the time and made the call. Of course, you don’t reverse them in those days, so it’s probably one I wished I could do over."

Cliff Fletcher architect and general manager of the Flames may have put it best after a 30 rest.

"I thought it was a good goal. Didn’t we win?"

Case closed.