1981 Stanley Cup Finals
| 1981 Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Location(s) |
Uniondale: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (1, 2, 5) Bloomington: Met Center (3, 4) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches |
New York: Al Arbour Minnesota: Glen Sonmor | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Captains |
New York: Denis Potvin Minnesota: Paul Shmyr | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | May 12 – May 21 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Butch Goring (Islanders) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Wayne Merrick (5:37, first, G5) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Networks | CBC, Simulcast in the United States by USA Network | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Bob Cole, Mickey Redmond, and Gary Dornhoefer | |||||||||||||||||||||
The 1981 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1980–81 season, and the culmination of the 1981 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Minnesota North Stars, making their first Finals appearance, and the defending champion New York Islanders, in their second Finals appearance. The Islanders would win the best-of-seven series, four games to one, to win their second Stanley Cup championship. This would be the last all-American Finals until 1991, when the North Stars faced the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Paths to the Finals
Minnesota defeated the Boston Bruins 3–0, the Buffalo Sabres 4–1 and the Calgary Flames 4–2 to advance to the Final.
New York defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3–0, the Edmonton Oilers 4–2, and the New York Rangers 4–0 to reach the Final.
Game summaries
Dino Ciccarelli of the North Stars set a rookie record (since tied by Ville Leino in 2010), scoring twenty-one points (14 goals and seven assists) during the year's playoffs. The Islanders' much deeper lineup, however, won the day.
New York Islanders vs. Minnesota North Stars
| Date | Visitors | Score | Home | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 12 | Minnesota | 3 | New York | 6 |
| May 14 | Minnesota | 3 | New York | 6 |
| May 17 | New York | 7 | Minnesota | 5 |
| May 19 | New York | 2 | Minnesota | 4 |
| May 21 | Minnesota | 1 | New York | 5 |
New York wins the series 4–1.
Broadcasting
The series aired on CBC in Canada. In the United States, this was the first of five seasons that the Cup Finals aired on the USA Network. For the 1981 Finals only, USA simulcast the CBC feed instead of producing their own coverage.
New York Islanders — 1981 Stanley Cup champions
Players
- 14 Bob Bourne
- 19 Bryan Trottier
- 25 Billy Carroll
- 91 Robert Butch Goring 1
- 11 Wayne Merrick
- 8 Garry Howatt
- 9 Clark Gillies
- 12 Duane Sutter
- 22 Mike Bossy
- 23 Bob Nystrom
- 27 John Tonelli
- 28 Anders Kallur
- 29 Hector Marini
- 5 Denis Potvin (Captain)
- 3 Jean Potvin††
- 4 Bob Lorimer
- 6 Ken Morrow
- 7 Stefan Persson
- 16 Mike McEwen
- 24 Gord Lane
- 26 Dave Langevin
Coaching and administrative staff:
- John Pickett (Chairman/Owner)
- Bill Torrey (President/General Manager)
- Al Arbour (Head Coach), †10 Lorne Henning (playing-Ass't Coach)
- Jim Devellano (Chief Scout), Gerry Ehman (Western Scout)
- Harry Boyd (Scout), Maurice Sabageno (Scout)
- Ron Waske (Trainer), Jim Pickard (Asst. Trainer)
- Steve Corais (Director of Public Relations)^
Stanley Cup engraving
- ^-Steve Corais was included on the team, but name was left off the Stanley Cup.
- † Lorne Henning (Center) played nine regular season and one playoff game. He was the last playing-coach to win the Stanley Cup.
- †† Jean Potvin 18 games regular season games, and did not dress in the playoffs. He spent the rest of year as a broadcaster. Potvin's name was put on the cup in 1981, even though he did not officially qualify.
- A new ring was created in 1993 for the winners from 1979 to 1991. New York Islanders was misspelled. NEW YORK ILANDERS missing the first "S". Name was spelt correctly on the Replica Cup also created in 1993.
See also
References
- Total Stanley Cup. NHL. 2000.
- Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7.
| Preceded by New York Islanders 1980 |
New York Islanders Stanley Cup Champions 1981 |
Succeeded by New York Islanders 1982 |
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