It was on this day in NHL history that Edmonton Oilers forward, Todd Marchant, scored the game winning goal in overtime to defeat the Dallas Stars and move his team into the Western Conference Semi-Finals.
On April 29th, 1997, the Edmonton Oilers went up against the Dallas Stars for the seventh and deciding game of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals and it was a game that many of us will remember forever. You see, this game came at a time when the Oilers and Stars seemed to meet up every single spring with the latter always powering their way through to the next round. This time, however, things were different. This time, the Oilers provided us with a memory that I couldn’t be happier to re-live ever single time. From Cujo’s magic between the pipes to Todd Marchant blowing past Grant Ledyard for the final nail in the coffin to Bob Cole’s call on the winner, Game 7 was filled with magical moments that I don’t think any of us that were lucky enough to watch it will soon forget.
Over the past month or so, Jason Gregor has been talking to guys that actually played in this series and I loved the way Doug Weight described Marchant’s OT winner.
Yeah, I was going to the left boards because I know that he always shot blocker side, so I knew that if he missed it was going there. I was just going towards the boards and I knew he wasn’t going to score. I like to joke with him, but man he could fly. I think that fits right in with what you asked me, what Ron was talking about. Yeah, he’s probably faster than most people in the league anyway, but that team — and after a series win or loss against Dallas, we played them six straight darn years — they would come to us at the end of the year they won the cup or they lost the next round they would say that the toughest series was the one against the Oilers. They were physical, they were all over you, they were relentless. That’s what we did and I don’t care if it’s Grant Ledyard or Paul Coffey, when you’re beat up, and you’re ten years older, I mean we had jump and Todd ripped around them and made a great shot, high blocker.
Great shot indeed, Mr Weight. Great shot indeed.
