What has been the best NHL (or international hockey) series of all time?

Question

The above question was inspired by a couple of Puckdat's questions from a few days ago.

Throughout hockey's long history, there have been various displays of pure majesty as far as standout goaltending, goals, defense, and so forth. That being said, I pose the question to my fellow hockey fans out here: what series (in your opinion, of course) in either the NHL or international play has been the best in the aforementioned terms I have listed? It could be a quarterfinal, a semi, a Stanely Cup final, World Juniors, Olympics, Summit Series, anything!

For me, (and being a Penguins fan, this is hard to say) it was the 1994 Wales (I refuse to say "eastern") Conference final between New Jersey and the New York Rangers. Hockey was at its peak (and the number three sport at the time, ahead of the NBA in my opinion). Two words: Mark Messier, and seven games of great hockey (unfortunately, it was also the birth of that bastard child known as the neutral zone trap).

Answer 1

The Final Series of the 1987 Canada Cup.

It was an international hockey tournament composed of six

countries: Canada, Soviet Union, United States, Sweden,

Finland and the former Czechoslovakia. The Final Series

pitted Canada and the Soviet Union in a best-of-three round.

People forget this one sometimes, but please, you have to

remember that Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux were

teammates on Canada's team. Can you believe what I just

said? That's right, Gretzky and Lemieux on the same team

and often on the SAME line. In case you don't know, Canada

won the international series, beating the Soviet Union 2

games to 1 in the Final. The final score for each game was 6-

5, 6-5, 6-5, with Canada winning the last two. In case you

don't know also, it was Gretzky who fed Lemieux for the

series winning goal. Gretzky even admitted it was the best

hockey he ever played (See the source I indicated at the

bottom for further details). Now if you take Gretzky's word for

it, then it was an amazing series. Throw in some dynamite

support players like Mark Messier, Mike Gartner, Paul

Coffey, Ray Bourque and Glenn Anderson and you got the

nucleus of a team that could have won the Canada Cup

every single year. I remember reading that Glenn Anderson

liked international hockey much more than NHL hockey, and

ironically he played some hockey overseas in Europe for a

brief time. I'm not sure why, but Anderson disliked the NHL

hockey (maybe because the Oilers were just too good for

everyone else LOL). This was Canada's greatest hockey

team and the greatest hockey. 1972 Summit Series lacked a

substantial amount of star players who failed to come out and

play for a veriety of reasons: Bobby Hull didn't play (he was

banned by NHL president Clarence Campbell for joining the

WHA), Bobby Orr didn't play because of knee problems (I

think he was recuperating from knee surgery or something,

plus there were several other important players who didn't

play: Derek Sanderson, Gerry Cheevers (both were Stanley

Cup champions that year) and J.C. Tremblay of the

Canadiens. I think also all three were banned like Hull for

joining the fledging WHA. So, with all this in mind, the 72

Summit Series DIDN'T feature the best hockey but it sure did

inspire a whole nation, brought them together right until

Henderson scored that winning goal in the eight and final

game (with 34 seconds left too LOL). The BEST hockey was

undoubtedly the 1987 Canada Cup,take a look at those

games and watch the end-to-end action, it was amazing and

awe-inspiring. Nobody skated better or faster than Coffey,

Messier or Gartner in 1987. I seen those games over and

over about 50 times, the Soviets matched Canada stride for

stride most of the time but couldn't beat them in the end. The

series lacked the brute nature of the 1972 Summit Series but

in all honesty, there was no need for fighting antics: both

teams fielded best vs. best, unconditionally. Soviet players

like Vladimir Krutov, Sergei Makarov and Igor Larionov were

at the top of their game in 1987, as what was the Khomutov-

Bykov-Kamensky line. All these Soviet players were non-

NHL players (they played in the Soviet Elite League).

The Final Series of the 1987 Canada Cup was simply the

best international hockey series of all time.

Source: http://www3.telus.net/worldcuphockey/1987page.html

Answer 2

Even though I wasn't around for the Summit Series, just reading about it, it just sounds so exiting, I got to go with the Summit Series. Another sweet series was the 2001 Stanley Cup Final. NJ was up 3-2, had game 6 at home, the Cup was there ready to be handed to them and Roy simply outplayed Brodeur in that game. The Avs were outshot 24-18, but Roy had a shutout and the Avs won the game 4-0. And then in game 7, they won the Stanley Cup. Ahh, the good old days. :)

Answer 3

The Summit Series 1972 between Canada and the Soviet Union. Also, the 1984 playoff series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Quebec Nordiques. That was a brutal, six game series that the Canadiens won, but showed just how much two teams could truly dislike each other, and how competitive teams could get.
Also, 2004 opening playoff series between Boston and Montreal, where Montreal came back from a 3 games to 1 deficit to win the series in 7 games.

Answer 4

Oh definetly the 1994 Rangers vs. Devils series. That series had everything. OT games, a great comeback, and The Guarantee made by Messier who put up amazing numbers after he made The Guarantee. Game 7 went to OT and Matteau scores. It was amazing. Plus it was a rivalry to start with.

Edit: ^ That 1980 Gold Medal was the greatest moment in American Sports, and easily the greatest moment in hockey history, it wasn't a series, but I guess you can say the games they played that year in the Olympics.

Answer 5

For me, there are 2.

1) the 95 Stanley Cup final, Devils vs Red Wings. Best teams in the league that year, everyone knew they were going to meet in the final, and a great 7 game series. I was going for the Red Wings and the Devils took it but it was one of the best I've ever seen.

2) 2002 Olympics, USA vs Canada - Gold Medal game. 3-2 win for Canada but within the last 3 min, USA had like 100 shots that could have tied it up, the game was insanely well played and I was literally throwing chairs in the last 3 min.

Answer 6

My first choice is the 72 Canada vs USSR summit series.

My second choice would have to be the Habs 93 Stanley cup win against the Kings, with Marty McSorley using an illegal stick. Patrick Roy was simply sensational during this cup run.

Answer 7

Defently, the best Series' That you could watch back quite a few years ago were defenently Montreal Vs. Quebec. It has heated, violent and amazing to watch, these to teams were the biggest rivals in NHL history and everytime one of the games was on it was really exciting and everyone was amazed and every game was better then the last, until eventually Quebec was taken out of the NHL and that rivalry ended.

Answer 8

I don't know if You could call it a series but if the 1980 Miracle on Ice game counts that was by far the best series in History. For those who don't know what it is it was when the U.S. national team made of college kids defeated the U.S.S.R. team(Russia now) which was made of greats in Russia. The U.S. won and defeated Finland in the next round to win the Gold Medal.

Answer 9

Summit Series, hands down. It wasn't even a hockey game, it was almost a catalyst for a full-out war. Henderson saved the country's bacon.

Answer 10

It's gotta be the 1972 Summit Series.