BLOG: Huddy looks back at '87 Cup Final

EDMONTON, AB -Hailed as one of the most exciting National Hockey League Cup Finals of all time, Charlie Huddy still has memories of the seven-game marathon between the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers in 1987.

"Every time we got into the Stanley Cup Finals, they all had a different feeling. That one had a different feeling," Huddy, now an Assistant Coach with the Winnipeg Jets, told EdmontonOilers.com.

"We beat them in '85 so there was a little bit of a comeback from them. I think everybody in the room was excited about that series and for another chance to win a Stanley Cup."

The Boys on the Bus were gearing for their third Stanley Cup victory as well as some redemption after suffering a crippling playoff defeat to the Calgary Flames a season prior. But, as the '80s Oilers came to find out, this one would not be earned easily.

The series, which is being aired in its entirety on Sportsnet from April 21 to May 9, was a roller-coaster, even though the Oilers boasted Hall of Fame firepower in the form of Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr, while Philadelphia countered with heavyweights Mark Howe, Dave Poulin and Ron Hextall in net.

"We realized the team that we had and we were used to winning a lot because of the players we had on our team and the chemistry we had," Huddy recalled.

"Losing in '86 and not being able to get to the Stanley Cup Finals was disappointing for everybody in the room. Then to be able to get back in '87 and get back at it was pretty exciting. The guys in the room were ready to go. We had a challenge in front of us and wanted to win another one."

The Oilers took Games 1 and 2 at home and by Game 4, returned to Alberta's capital with a 3-1 series stranglehold.

But the bubbly couldn't be poured just yet as the circuit was anything but over.

"You knew that they were going to want to come in and prove wrong that they lost in '85 and be able to win this one," Huddy said.

The Flyers replied by taking Games 5 and 6 by one-goal margins, forcing a climactic Game 7 at Northlands Coliseum.

Philadelphia was awarded a two-man advantage one minute into Game 7 and was able to open with a Murray Craven power-play marker, but the Oilers would be the ones to prevail.

Messier notched the equalizer in the first period, Jari Kurri tallied the go-ahead marker in the second and Huddy assisted on Glenn Anderson's 3-1 insurance goal, which would solidify Edmonton's third Stanley Cup.

"Both teams were trying to win the cup in different fashions and it just made for a great series," Huddy, who won five Cups over his career with Edmonton, said.

The former Oilers rearguard, who is in Fort Saskatchewan during the NHL pause, says fans are in for a treat when they sit back and watch the series.

"You're going to see some good hockey," he said.

"When you watch that game you're going to see, obviously, the penalties that weren't called first and foremost (laughing), and the clutching and grabbing that everyone talks about. There was way more of that back in the '80s. But it was an exciting series and it was up and down."