The Boston Massacre and the Fallout
A bloody chapter in Stars - Bruins way back when set the table for the first Cup run
Y’all ain’t gonna believe this one.
The story features a brawl like no other - 12 game misconducts, over 400 combined penalty minutes, a punch in the corridor between the benches that ignites another melee, a fiery coach who got right in it with em, another game lost in Boston extends the streak to 14 years winless at the Garden - all leading to a first round series win that required a psychic and an eye patch to do what the franchise had never done and ignite the Stars first-ever run to the Cup Final.
History was not on the Stars side.
It’s the night before my 20th birthday and the North Stars are playing in Boston against the Bruins. Great. Here comes another loss. How do we know this?
The North Stars entered the NHL in 1967 and had never - EVER won a game at the Boston Garden. 14 years. 0-27-7 going into this game. That defies statistical probability. We wouldn’t even watch these lots of times. Why would we? It was always a good old fashioned fanny kickin. The Bruins would push and the Stars would wilt.
February 26, 1981 would be no exception in the win/loss column. At the end of the night the Bruins recorded another victory over the Stars 5-1, moving the mark to 0-28-7. But this time lines were drawn, the Stars stood up for themselves in a way the team hadn’t before. No matter what - this team wasn’t going to be pushed around by the Boston Bruins anymore. It was a message to Boston and the NHL. Seeds were planted that night that would sprout six weeks later in ways no one could imagine.
It took only 7 seconds to begin - but it lasted for 3 1/2 hours and beyond…
Even in the NHL’s barbaric 1980’s, this game was the standard bearer. The records set would be held for a quarter of a century and only barely eclipsed by the Flyers and Sens in 2005 (419 PIMS). It was harsh and violent from the get go. 81 penalties. 12 game misconducts. 406 penalty minutes. 211 of them in the first period. A 35-minute delay to sort things out.
Boston’s Keith Crowder and Minnesota’s Bobby Smith went first before the puck was passed for the second time. Crowder also was the guy who threw a punch at the Stars Greg Smith in the corridor as he was heading to the locker room.
It was the donnybrook of donnybrooks. Listening to Al Shaver on the radio that night calling every battle, every scrap, every blow was spine-tingling. Al was a frustrated Boxing announcer and could belt those calls with such force and ferocity you were just riveted. I was engrossed.
Stars Coach Glen Sonmor, a tremendous guy who I would spend some time with in later years, was ready to fight Boston Coach Gerry Cheevers. That didn’t happen, but Sonmor had to be restrained after a fan went after him.
And at night’s end - the Stars walked off the ice with their heads up for the first time in this building against this opponent. The boxscore reads like nothing you’ve ever seen.
The Stars make the 1981 Stanley Cup playoffs with a very good team - and they draw Boston in the first round…
In those days, the opening round featured best of 5 (not best of 7) series. The first two games and the fifth went to the higher seed. Boston was the higher seed. To win the series required something that the team had never done. They had to get at least one game at the Garden. They had earned some confidence after the brawl, but the hill was extremely steep.
Desperate times calling for desperate measures and so on.
The story goes - as told to me by Al Shaver, and reported by others of the era, that Minnesota North Stars coach Glen Sonmor received a phone call from a psychic prior to the start of the series, telling him that she had a vision…
In the vision, she told Sonmor, she saw the North Stars beating the Bruins and winning the series. However… she followed up - in the vision she saw Glen Sonmor on the Stars bench wearing an eye patch.
Sonmor, who had a glass eye, and like all in the hockey business was extremely superstitious, essentially said - Fuck it - what do we have to lose here. He found a Pirates eyepatch (black with a black strap) and wore it for the series.
No joke. This actually happened.
1981 - Round One - Stars - Bruins
It’s April 8, 1981. We watched Stars playoffs as a family. We settled in in front of the TV that night. Nobody was super optimistic. But they had to get one. At least one in Boston. C’mon - just get one.
Game 1 was a nerve-wracking nail-biter all the way. 60 minutes wouldn’t be enough. They were right there. Get the next goal. Please God. Please can we get the next goal???
Minnesota North Stars forward Steve Payne found the net 3 1/2 minutes into overtime - his hattrick goal gave the Stars, the Stars fans, me - us - the first win ever at this house of horrors. We were exhausted - I mean as fans - this was nuts.
14 years and an 0 for 35 streak pulverized in one shot. Payne’s shot, the Stars 40th of the game slipped past Rogie Vachon and the curse was lifted. Gille Meloche made 32 saves. 5-4 good guys.
Now we gotta win 2 more.
It’s the next night, April 9, 1981 and we’re back in front of the TV set, but with new energy and a different perspective - we can hang with these guys. We’re not afraid of them. And better yet - the Stars weren’t.
The Stars outscored and outlasted the Bruins in Game 2 - 9-6. The big guys hit the scoresheet and this time it was Don Beaupre in net kicking back 34 in the win.
Holy shit - we’re coming home with a 2-0 series lead and we have 2 shots to get it done at home. Is this real???
The North Stars had never really made a run in the playoffs prior to this. This was the spring it all came together.
April 11, 1981, Game 3, Round 1 - Stars Bruins, Met Center, Bloomington, MN
The Twin Cities was vibrating. The State was locked in. Everyone was ready to see the Stars put their lights out.
They did in Game 3, scoring 4 first-period goals and never relinquishing the lead. Meloche was back in net. Steve Payne scored the GWG, and added the empty netter to seal it 6-3, and complete the first-round sweep of the "Big Bad Boys from Boston”, as North Stars TV PXP man Bob Kurtz described them.
In fact - Game 3 showed the Stars had broken the will of the Boston Bruins, no small trick - and all that began by standing up for themselves in a regular season game in which they had to stand up for themselves.
Sonmor wore the eyepatch the whole way in that round and the prophecy was fullfilled.
A Cup run just short.
The North Stars needed only 5 games (best of 7 series) in the second round to dispatch the Buffalo Sabres, and 6 to beat Calgary and advance to the 1981 Stanley Cup Final.
I was at Game 6 against Calgary. Gille Meloche was to my left and pumping his fist as the clock expired. That image is seared into my head. It was a night of nights. I was so lucky to be there.
The New York Islanders won 4 consecutive Stanley Cups in the 1980’s, and the North Stars were victim number 2. The Islanders rolled 4-1 in a series that wasn’t close.
But for the Stars, it marked the first time they hit the big stage and garnered respect from all corners. They would have good teams and some playoff success in the years to come.
We would be back in 1991 - and I would be in the booth for it. That’s another story for another time.
But this one - this story - is a seminal moment for the franchise. And though the Dallas Stars have always been one foot in and one foot out on the history back in Minnesota - and you may have not heard this story - it’s as good a story as I’ve witnessed in all my years in and around hockey.
Great piece Ralph. Crazy days… and reminds me that the only highlights I seem to recall of Mike Millbury were these type! At least he didn’t have a shoe in his hand!