Top 100 Habs: #69

#69: Brian Skrudland

In Brian Skrudland’s eight-season career with the Montreal Canadiens, one goal stands out more than any other.

Brian Skrudland

Game 2 of the 1986 Stanley Cup finals was a close one. After losing the first game on the road, the Canadiens needed a win before heading back to Montreal. Skrudland, in his rookie season, was on the ice at the start of the first overtime period of a 2-2 game. Nine seconds later, he had scored the fastest overtime goal in the history of the NHL. The Habs would dominate the rest of the series on go on to win the Cup.

While Skrudland was never an offensive player in the league, he was counted on to provide leadership on and off the ice. That’s one of the reasons why he was named the first-ever captain of the expansion Flordia Panthers a few seasons later. He would go on to be nominated for the Selke trophy that season.

Skrudland made it to the finals two more times (once more with Montreal and once with Florida), before winning another Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars. The next season, the Stars made the finals again (losing to the New Jersey Devils), and Skrudland would retire soon after.

For more on Brian Skrudland:

Hockey Hall of Fame

Wikipedia

Coach resigns after hitting student timekeeper

Apparently, the coaches are fighting back.

Garry Gallimore, a coach with the men’s basketball team at St. Francis Xavier University, resigned on Thursday after he hit the timekeeper.

Gary Gallimore

Apparently, the team called a timeout that wasn’t recognized in a game against Cape Breton University. Gallimore got angry, and hit the guy, who happened to be a student at the school.

This was the first season for Gallimore as an assistant coach after four years as a player.

He resigned, saying that striking an official has no place in sports.

While what he did was wrong, he made the right move in resigning. That shows maturity, and maybe in a couple of years, he’ll be ready to come back to and be a coach. And if realizes officials need and deserve respect, then he’ll probably be a pretty good coach.

But for now, he’s not ready, and he proved that.