June 9 may be the busiest day, historically, of the month. This date in National Hockey League history includes a memorable Stanley Cup honor, one legend leaving and another joining the league. Let’s step into the THW time machine to relive all the best memories this date can bring.
Roy and Ray’s Big Day
Patrick Roy won three Conn Smythe awards, for being the most important player of the postseason, during his career, and he got two of them on this day. On June 9, 1993, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 to win the Stanley Cup in five games. Paul DiPietro scored the first and last goals of the game, and Kirk Muller scored the game-winner early in the second half. John LeClair and Lyle Odelein both had two assists.
Roy made 18 saves to win the second Stanley Cup of his career. He was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for the second time with the Canadiens by going 16-4 with a .929 save percentage (SV%) and 2.13 goals against average (GAA) in the playoffs.
Eight years later, Roy won the fourth and final Stanley Cup of his Hall of Fame career. On June 9, 2001, the Colorado Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 3-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The most memorable moment was captain Joe Sakic quickly handing the Stanley Cup to Ray Bourque, who won his first championship in the final game of his 22nd season.
Alex Tanguay scored twice, including the game-winning goal, and added an assist on the third goal. Sakic had a goal and an assist, too. Roy made 25 saves in the win and was awarded the third and final Conn Smythe Trophy of his career. The 35-year-old netminder went 16-7 with a .934 SV%, 1.70 GAA, and a shutout during the 2001 postseason.
A Memorable Day in the Windy City
The Chicago Blackhawks have been the busiest franchise on this day in years. On June 9, 1965, they drafted defenseman Pat Stapleton from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL Intra-League Draft. He went on to score 41 goals and 327 points in 545 career games with the Blackhawks. His 286 assists are seventh most among defensemen in team history.
The Blackhawks traded goaltender Bob Janecyk and their first, third, and fourth round picks in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft to the Kings, on June 9, 1984, for a third and fourth round pick. The Blackhawks used that first round pick to draft Eddie Olczyk.
In fun trivia, the Kings used a fourth-round pick in the trade to draft future Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine. He scored 47 goals and 94 points in 23 games in his senior year at Billerica Memorial High School in Massachusetts.
On June 9, 1988, the team fired coach Bob Murdoch after one season and replaced him with Mike Keenan, who had just been fired by the Philadelphia Flyers. Keenan would lead the Blackhawks to the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals.
However, the biggest reason why Blackhawks fans hold June 9 in their hearts happened in 2010. The Blackhawks beat the Flyers 4-3, in overtime of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, to win their first championship in 49 years. Scott Hartnell tied the game with just 3:59 left in regulation as the Flyers tried to force a game seven in Chicago. Just over four minutes into overtime, Patrick Kane scored one of the most memorable overtime goals in recent history.
For a few seconds, Kane was the only person on the pitch who knew that his shot from above the goal line went into the net. He came down the ice cheering with goaltender Corey Crawford as the referees made the cup-winning goal official.
Captain Jonathan Toews was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy after scoring seven goals and 29 points during the Blackhawks’ 22-game run to their first Stanley Cup since 1961.
One Legend Goes, Another Enters
Legendary Canadiens center Jean Beliveau announced his retirement on June 9, 1971. The decision came less than a month after Beliveau won his 10th Stanley Cup. His name is all over the Canadiens record book. He is fourth all-time in games played (1125), third in goals (507), second in assists (712), second in points (1216).
It’s not all bad news on this day because this was the same day the team hired Scotty Bowman as their new coach, replacing Al MacNeil. Bowman led the Canadiens to five Stanley Cup championships in his eight seasons behind the bench, including four in a row between 1976 and 1979.
Odds & Ends
On June 9, 1965, the Boston Bruins selected 25-year-old goaltender Gerry Cheevers from the Maple Leafs during the NHL Intra-League Draft. Cheevers went on to win Stanley Cups with the Bruins in 1970 and 1972. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985.
Wayne Gretzky won his second consecutive Hart Trophy, on June 9, 1981, for being the NHL’s most valuable player. He scored 55 goals and 164 points in 80 games for the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980-81 season.
The Pittsburgh Penguins franchise was changed forever on June 9, 1984, when they selected Mario Lemieux with the first pick of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft.
Lemieux scored 690 goals and 1,723 points and won two Stanley Cups during his Hall of Fame career in Pittsburgh. The 1984 draft included many Hall of Famers such as Roy (third round, Canadiens), Brett Hull (sixth round, Calgary Flames), and Luc Robitaille (ninth round, Kings).
The Vancouver Canucks beat the New York Rangers 6-3 on June 9, 1994, in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals. The road win kept the Canucks’ season alive and forced Game 6 back to Vancouver. They took a 1-0 lead into a crazy third period. They extended their lead to 3-0 after Geoff Courtnall and Pavel Bure scored in the first 2:48 of the frame.
Less than a minute later, Doug Lidster got the Rangers on the board. His goal was quickly followed by tallies from Steve Larmer and Mark Messier to tie the score and send Madison Square Garden into complete disgrace. The euphoria lasted 29 seconds until Canucks defenseman Dave Babych broke the tie. Courtnall and Bure both scored again, with 44 seconds left, to restore the Canucks’ three-goal advantage.
June 9, 1997, was a very busy day in front offices around the NHL. George McPhee was named the new general manager of the Washington Capitals, and Larry Pleau took the same title with the St. Louis Blues. McPhee, the current president of the Vegas Golden Knights, remained the general manager of the Capitals until 2014.
One of his first orders of business was to hire Ron Wilson as the team’s new coach, which he did on this day. Two other new coaches were also named as Darryl Sutter was hired by the San Jose Sharks and Jim Schoenfeld took the Phoenix Coyotes job.
The Detroit Red Wings beat McPhee and the Capitals 2-1 on June 9, 1998, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Joey Kocur and Nicklas Lidstrom both scored in the first half to lead the way to victory.
Kevin Lowe was named the new general manager of the Oilers on June 9, 2000. The move came four days after he left as the team’s head coach. Lowe replaced Glen Sather, who had won five Stanley Cups and had been the Oilers’ GM since 1980.
The Devils defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-0 on June 9, 2003, in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, to win their third championship in the past nine seasons. In his fourth playoff game, Mike Rupp scored the game-winning goal and assisted on two others. This was New Jersey’s 12thth home win in the 2003 postseason, setting a new NHL record.
Martin Brodeur became the first goaltender in NHL history to record seven shutouts in one playing year. He had three shutouts in the finals, which tied the league record. However, it was his teammate, rookie netminder Jean-Sebastian Giguere, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy. He was only the fifth player to win this award even though his team lost in the final.
On June 9, 2014, the Kings beat the Rangers 3–0 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals to take a 3–0 series lead. Jeff Carter scored the only goal Los Angeles needed with 0.8 seconds left in the first half ahead of Jake Muzzin, and Mike Richards added the lead. Goaltender Jonathan Quick made 32 saves to keep the Rangers off the scoreboard.
The Sharks battled elimination on June 9, 2016, beating the Penguins 4-2 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Five of the six goals were scored in the first half. The Sharks scored goals from Brent Burns and Logan Couture to take a 2-0 lead three minutes before the end of the game.
The Penguins came back quickly with goals by Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin just 22 seconds apart. Melker Karlsson’s late goal was the game-winner. Goaltender Martin Jones settled down and stopped all 40 shots he faced after giving up Hagelin’s goal.
Despite being outscored 6-2 and ultimately eliminated by the Islanders in Game 6 of Round 2 on June 9, 2021, Patrice Bergeron tied Peter McNab for the most goals in franchise history with nine shutout games.
On June 9, 2022, Ondrej Palat became the first player in NHL history to score multiple game-winning goals in the final two minutes of regulation after a single season. He scored the go-ahead goal with just 1:50 left in regulation in Game 5 of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 3-1 win over the Rangers.
happy Birthday to you
A total of 20 players who skated in at least one NHL game were born on June 9. Among the most notable are Grant Marshall (51), Jeff Zatkoff (37), Jason Demers (36), Zach Hyman (32), Jake Bean (26), Drew O’Conner (26), Michael DiPietro (25), Sasha Chmelevski (25) and Barrett Hayton (24).
*Originally created by Greg Boysen
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