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When Guy Lafleur returned to the ice in Montreal … as a New York Ranger

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4996001.1548703860!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/guy-lafleur-in-his-new-york-rangers-uniform.jpgHockey fans loved Guy Lafleur enough to pay sky-high ticket prices to see him playing — for the other team. On Feb. 4, 1989, fans — some paying scalpers $300 for a single ticket — packed the Montreal Forum to see Lafleur take the ice for the New York Rangers.It was his first return to the ice in Montreal since his retirement from the game four seasons earlier. Guy Lafleur's return to the Montreal Forum came four seasons after he abruptly retired from

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When Mario Lemieux had his best-ever NHL season

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4979251.1547582141!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/mario-lemieux-talks-to-cbc-s-midday-in-1989.jpgThere is only one person in NHL history who has tallied more points in a single regular season than Mario Lemieux, and that person's name is Wayne Gretzky. That trivia tidbit helps explain why Lemieux was frequently being compared to the Great One and why CBC's Midday wanted to press him on that issue, too.When Lemieux talked to Midday in January of 1989, he was in the middle of his best-ever season — one that would see the Pittsburgh Penguins star notch 199 points

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The Canada-USSR brawl at the 1987 world junior hockey tournament

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4964493.1546526557!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/1987-hockey-brawl.jpgThe hockey melee had to be serious: even the goalies were fighting. In the final game of the 1987 World Junior Hockey Championship in Piestany, Czechoslovakia, punches were thrown between a Canadian and a Soviet player — not an unusual event for hockey at that level.Held over the holiday season each year since 1977, the World Junior Hockey Championship features each participating country's best players under age 20.  Literally bench-clearing Both Canada and the Soviet Union cleared their benches when a brawl broke out

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How Jacques Plante made the goalie mask a must-have in the NHL

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4886534.1541018459!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/jacques-plante-is-seen-wearing-a-face-mask-in-january-1960.jpgThere were a lot of things Jacques Plante had to pay attention to when was defending a net in the NHL — most importantly, the pucks being shot in his direction. He literally saw thousands of pucks shot at him over the course of 837 regular-season NHL games and 112 post-season appearances, during a two-decade career that started in the 1950s.And for more than one-third of those games, he didn't wear protection for his face. "In those days, you had Bobby Hull in the

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When No. 99 became the official No. 1 scorer

https://i.cbc.ca/1.3629151.1465577486!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/gretzky-record.jpgNo. 99? Try number one. On Oct. 15, 1989, Wayne Gretzky tied and then surpassed the NHL's all-time scoring record.Number 99 surpasses Gordie Howe's career points record in his old stomping grounds. 1:40 He broke the record during a game against the Edmonton Oilers, the team he'd won four Stanley Cups with before being traded to the Los Angeles Kings the previous year. The game was stopped for a special ceremony when the record was broken. A humble Gretzky thanked

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When Americans endured ‘bush-league’ Canadian football

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4839304.1537979497!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/nfl-fans-watch-cfl-football.jpgNBC had a problem. It was the NFL's broadcast partner, bringing American football fans — and some Canadians — the game they loved.But when the league went on strike in 1982, it left a gaping hole in the broadcast schedule. So they turned to the next best thing: Canadian football. The CBC's Tom Alderman was there to see how they did it. 'Cram course' for broadcasters NBC football broadcaster John Brodie tried to absorb the rules of

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The strike that killed the Expos’ World Series dream 25 years ago

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4779114.1533827775!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/baseball-strike-halts-expos-best-year-ever.jpgThe Montreal Expos were a dying franchise — pitiful payroll, low attendance, middling results on the field. But in 1994, a long period of "rebuilding" finally yielded results. The Expos led the National League East, six games ahead of the Atlanta Braves (a team that spent twice as much on player salaries).'Everything baseball fans have a right to expect' "These guys are everything baseball fans have a right to expect," said CBC reporter Neil Macdonald in the report above. Attendance was up, and many

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From 1988: The day Wayne Gretzky went to L.A.

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4777693.1533746569!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/wayne-gretzky-talks-about-the-trade-to-l-a-in-1988.jpgThirty-one years ago today, the rumour became real: Wayne Gretzky was leaving Canada. "The biggest name in Canadian sports — the man hockey fans call The Great One — is going to the United States," Knowlton Nash explained to viewers of The National, as the show got underway on the night of August 9, 1988."Wayne Gretzky has been traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings." He was the youngest player on his team when he joined the Oilers. He led

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Why the Blue Jays didn’t sell beer to fans until 1982

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4761475.1532547263!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/beer-being-sold-at-a-jays-game-on-july-30-1982.jpgIt's hard to believe now, but Blue Jays fans weren't able to drink beer in their seats for the first five years of Major League Baseball games in Toronto. That's because the organization was not allowed to sell beer to them — an ironic situation, given that Labatt was one of the team owners. A long wait for fans That meant the team had to make its money from selling tickets, snacks, non-alcoholic drinks, merchandise, broadcast rights and other

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From 1988: Wayne Gretzky marries Janet Jones in Edmonton

https://i.cbc.ca/1.4745589.1531497096!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/wedding.jpgIt's probably the closest thing Edmonton has ever had to a royal wedding. And the people of Edmonton certainly had their part in making it so, turning out in massive crowds to see Wayne Gretzky, the star of hockey's Edmonton Oilers, on his wedding day, on July 16, 1988. Gretzky, who led his team to four Stanley Cups, was marrying American actress Janet Jones, whose films included The Flamingo Kid (1984), A Chorus Line (1985), American Anthem (1986) and Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach (1988).

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