Catching Up With The Past

With an assist to NHLDigest.com, Eric McErlain at Off Wing Opinion has posted two beautiful video recaps of Darryl Sittler's magical 10 point night.

The first video shows the original footage from the broadcast that February 7th, 1976. The second is video features commentary of Don Cherry, who was the Bruins coach that night. He explains the interesting story as to why he never pulled goalie Dave Reece that fateful night.

Great post Eric.

Meanwhile, James Mirtle uncovers a Miami Herald article on Wayne Gretzky, and adds his own insight on Gretzky the coach. Mirtle suggests Gretzky will dig in his heels and is determined to find success in the desert. My own opinion - Gretzky probably could be an effective coach with the right team. Unfortunately the Coyotes are not that team.

NHL.com's Doug Ward reviews the career of Bill Ranford.

Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated has an interesting look at the possible death of the power forward. All the young players entering the league nowadays fit the description of finesse player, but there is no one filling the skates of Wendel Clark, Cam Neely or even Todd Bertuzzi. Gare Joyce also chimes in on this issue.

Eyes on the Prize comes through with a thumbnail view of the birth of the NHL. If you want the very comprehensive summary, check out Joseph Nieforth's and Morey Holzman's critically acclaimed book Deceptions and Doublecross : How the NHL Conquered Hockey.