|
Pelletier and Houda look back at
key performers from the Canada Cup/World Cup of
Hockey
Mike Liut Biography
By all standards,
Mike Liut had a stellar career highlighted by his
fantastic 1981 season.
Liut finished second
in Hart Trophy balloting - a true rarity for a
goaltender of any era - while leading his St. Louis
Blues to the Smythe Division championship. The only
player to get more votes that season was Wayne
Gretzky.
Liut had an
unbelievable season. His 33-14-13 record was among
the best in the league, though he didn't have as
much as help as some of the other goaltending
leaders. Thus the NHL named him a First All Star. To
make up for his Hart Trophy snub, Liut's true
measure of success was in winning the Lester B.
Pearson award. The trophy named after the great
Canadian Prime Minister was given out annually to
the player deemed to be the best that particular
season, as voted on by the players themselves! You
can't get a much higher honor than that.
In the absence of
recently retired Ken Dryden, Liut had become
arguably the best goalie in the game right out of
nowhere. He was very similar to Dryden in many ways.
He was an articulate man who took the American
college route to the NHL while the practice was
still fairly uncommon. He was a big octopus of a
goalie, much like Dryden before him. And after
leading the NHL in wins in his first year, Liut had
established himself as one of, if not the best
goalie in the National Hockey League with his
incredible sophomore year. (note: Liut didn't win
the Vezina trophy, as at that time the award was
still given to the goalie with the best GAA, not
necessarily the best goalie in the league.)
When it came time to
select Team Canada for the 1981 Canada Cup, Liut was
an obvious choice. Once Billy Smith went home with a
broken finger, Liut was the man expected to lead the
team between the pipes. Liut wasn't his midseason
self in the September tournament. He played well,
but wasn't as dominating as he was the previous year
with St. Louis. He looked shaky at times, and rarely
looked brilliant. Yet Canada had floated through the
round robin tournament undefeated.
Despite his less than
expected performance, head coach Scotty Bowman stuck
with Liut over Don Edwards, who was Bowman's goalie
with the Buffalo Sabres. Liut was given the green
light to play in the final game of the 1981
tournament against the Russians.
The rest as they say
is history. As fans at the Montreal Forum and around
Canada and the world on television sets at home
watched in disbelief, the Soviets lit up the red
lamp behind Liut 8-1. Canada had played well in the
first half of the game, but the Soviets,
particularly Sergei Shepelev, were able to pounce
often on Liut in the second half of the middle
period. Then in the third period, with Canada
seemingly deflated and surrendered, the Russians
added 5 more goals to completely humble Liut and the
Canadians.
Liut was never quite
the same after that. He went on to an enjoyable long
career in the NHL, with St. Louis and later Hartford
and Washington. He was often the most valuable
player on some weak teams, especially in Hartford.
In fact he finished runner up in Vezina trophy
voting in the summer of 1987.
Despite his fine
1986-87 season which saw him post 31 wins and a
league leading 4 shutouts with the Whalers, Liut was
overlooked for Team Canada for the 1987 Canada Cup,
much like he was in 1984. For all the respect that
Liut had earned in his long NHL career, it was as if
he was never forgiven for the 1981 debacle
"That all goes
back to the disastrous game in 1981" recalled
Liut at the time. "That's a game I'm going to
have to live with for the rest of my life. That's
just the way it is."
In fairness to Liut,
it wasn't his fault entirely. The defensemen and
forwards in front of him were flat and later quit on
him. And when Canada suffered its worst defeat in
history, somebody needed to be named as the
scapegoat. Why not the goalie who let in 8 goals?
Liut said he didn't
take his omission from future Canada Cup invitations
personally, though deep down you know he would have
liked to have the chance to redeem himself.
"I'm
disappointed in a way, but it really doesn't ruffle
me." said Liut of the 1987 tournament where his
chances of playing would have been slim regardless
with Grant Fuhr and Ron Hextall invited to camp.
"There's my family and rest and golf and
another NHL season to prepare for. I really don't
mind."
Liut also didn't like
the Canada Cup format.
"We're all
better at Christmas than we are in September. The
guys who play in the Canada Cup pay a big
price."
Liut then pointed
admiration in the direction of the New York
Islanders and Edmonton Oilers players who routinely
showed up for international play.
"For 4 years the
Islanders played into June, and then there was a
Challenged Cup and Canada Cup and so on. Hey, that's
hard on anybody. You get only one or two months off
and you're at it again. A pace like that is bound to
take its toll."
"I think the
Edmonton players probably best understand what the
Islanders had to go through because, now, they have
to go through the same thing."
"Players have to
pay a big price to represent their league and Canada
and the United States" continued Liut,
forgetting to mention the various European countries
that had NHL representatives. "It's an honor,
to be sure, but the players have to pay a big, big
price."
|
