The 1993 Canadiens: Seven Magical Weeks, Unlikely Heroes And Canada’s Last Stanley Cup Champions

by K.P. Wee

Never to be confused with any previous Montreal Canadien “Flying Frenchmen” juggernauts who dominated the NHL between the 1950s and 1970s, the 1992-93 Canadiens, whose lone superstar was future Hall-of-Fame goaltender Patrick Roy, were essentially a nondescript team coming off an embarrassing second-round playoff series sweep against the Boston Bruins the previous spring.

Yet these Habs, led by the goaltending of Roy and with timely goals from various unlikely heroes, stunned the hockey world by winning a record 10 consecutive playoff overtime games over a magical seven-week run during the spring of 1993. Montreal ultimately captured hockey’s ultimate prize that June—the 24th championship in franchise history—in the last Stanley Cup Finals series ever played at the venerable Montreal Forum.

While the Canadiens had veteran presence in Kirk Muller, Vincent Damphousse, Brian Bellows, Denis Savard and Guy Carbonneau, Montreal might not have won the Cup without unlikely heroes like Gilbert Dionne, Stephan Lebeau and Paul DiPietro scoring goals in the clutch. Others such as Gary Leeman and Mario Roberge, despite not always being in the lineup, contributed in ways that didn’t necessarily show up on the scoresheet. And behind the bench, while Jacques Demers made all the right moves that spring, he isn’t even considered today among the top 50 coaches of all-time.

More than a quarter century later, these Habs remain the last Canadian-based team to win the Cup—and in The 1993 Canadiens: Seven Magical Weeks, Unlikely Heroes and Canada’s Last Stanley Cup Champions, K. P. Wee relives the story of this incredible season.

Genres: Hockey

318 pages, Paperback

Published January 26, 2020

About the author

K.P. Wee is the author of several books, most recently
- "The 1988 Dodgers: Reliving the Championship Season" (baseball history),
- "The End of the Montreal Jinx" (hockey history),
- "Don't Blame the Knuckleballer!" (baseball research, Volumes 1 & 2),
- "Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs" (baseball biography),
- "Fess Up, Jessup!" (short fiction), and
- "Oh So Close, Canada!" (Canadian sports history).

A regular in-studio contributor on "Vancouver Canadians Game Day" on TSN1040 Radio Vancouver during the 2018 baseball season, K.P. was previously recognized as a Top Writer on Bleacher Report, a sports website creating and curating content about trending news topics. He currently writes about his daily thoughts and opinions on his own sites at kpwee.com, alifeofknuckleballs.com, and letseatoutonceaweek.wordpress.com (a food blog). He also has, in the past, provided commentary and advice on Quora.com, a Q&A site focused on sharing knowledge and practical solutions to everyday problems.

K.P. enjoys writing sports, psychological fiction with a twist of romance, and (some day) chick lit. He spent a decade working as a program developer and instructor for a private school, before joining the media relations department of the Vancouver Canadians baseball club. Though the experience was fun, K.P. found that he had very little time to do what he truly enjoys - writing - so he left to pursue a job in advertising. As of 2019, he is back to his old ways... working in both sports and education.

K.P. can be contacted at kp.wee.is@gmail.com. Follow him at @kpwee1 on Twitter & IG.

Reviews

[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, the prized trophy that is awarded to the champions in Canada's national sport, was 27 years ago when the Montreal Canadiens surprised the hockey world and took home the Cup. Stories about that team and some of its players are told in this book by author K.P. Wee.

What sets this book apart from other books focused on one season for a team is that this one talks more about some of the unsung players on that Canadiens team instead of the stars like goaltender Patrick Roy and captain Guy Charboneau. Instead the book shares some excellent stories about lesser-known players on that team such as Gary Leeman, Gilbert Dionne and Stephan Lebeau. Each of them had a key play, goal or other performance that helped Montreal continue on its unexpected path to the championship that year.

Each one of them has a different story in which they had some difficulty in their NHL careers but were able to overcome the adversity to come up big for the team. The most interesting story to me was about Dionne. Playing in the shadow of his older brother Marcel, who had a Hall of Fame career playing mostly with the Los Angeles Kings, Gilbert scored a winning goal in the second round in overtime against the Buffalo Sabres and also a goal in the third game in the Finals against the Kings. Leeman had both of these players as linemates and scored a key goal in the opening round against the Quebec Nordiques. It was a great moment for the player who once scored 50 goals in a season for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Information like this on these players makes the book very informative. The writing in the book, however, is very repetitive as the same stories about these three players as well as others are repeated throughout the book. Also, there are some other points that are repeated later in chapters or after the event happened that didn't need to be said again. As an example, in the conference finals series against the New York Islanders, two Islander players had chances to win the game on a breakaway in overtime in games two and three. That the Islanders failed to capitalize on those opportunities and Montreal later did were important moments in the Canadiens' march to the Cup.

However, in the chapter about the conference finals, it was asked multiple time how would the series (a sweep by Montreal) would have been different had the Islanders scored on those plays? That is a rhetorical question that really didn't need to be asked multiple times. Other events during the playoff run, such as the famous illegal stick penalty called on the Kings' Marty McSorely during game 2 of the finals, are also repeated often, something that hampers the flow of reading the book. Which is a shame, because otherwise, this was fun to read about that Canadiens team which may not have been the most talented Montreal squad to win the Cup, but certainly knew how to get the most from every player. Overall, a decent book on Canada's last Cup winner. Three and a half star rating, rounded to four for NetGalley, Goodreads and Amazon.

I wish to thank Riverdale Avenue Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...

[Zandt McCue · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Canadiens are not a team I give much thought to as I am a Penguins fan first and foremost. I had read a book about the Bruins recently whom I consider to be one of our rival teams and decided that by reading about the Canadiens I would have a greater appreciation for that team as well.

I'm actually shocked that I didn't feel much different after reading this book. I liked learning about players that aren't named Patrick Roy for a change. It could be the fact that after reading a handful of sports books they all start to sound the same. A group of guys coming together for a memorable moment of time to become the Champions.

Maybe someday there will be a book about a team that *almost* made it but were still important enough in the grand scheme of things. Until then, I'm sure fans of the Canadiens and people who haven't read many other Hockey books will enjoy this.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Habs fan, I enjoyed this trip down memory lane, reliving the Canadiens Stanley Cup triumph of 1993. This book takes a bit of a different angle than most, in that it focuses on that playoff year through the eyes and remembrances of some of the lesser lights on the team, players such as Gary Leeman and Gilbert Dionne who were not the top stars yet who played a key role during the playoff run. A chronological narrative of the playoffs is interspersed with interviews with these players years after 1993, and a look at the roles they played in the cup victory. One criticism I have of the book is that it should have made use of footnotes or endnotes. The constant prefacing or following of many sentences with "as so and so said in a Montreal Gazette interview", or "as so and so said in his book such and such" really disrupted the flow of the book and became a bit monotonous. That notwithstanding, it was still an entertaining read that examines an historical event in hockey from a unique angle.

[Brendan Morphett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Riverdale Avenue Books for the digital review copy of this book.

An interesting book chronicling the Montreal Canadiens path to the 1993 Stanley Cup, their latest and the last one by a Canadian based team since. What sets this book apart from others that are around about the same subject matter, is that K.P Wee focuses more on the lesser lights and unsung heroes of the team as opposed to the Hall of Fame stars like Patrick Roy. Taking the playoff run one week at a time, the book flows well with chapters spaced in between profiling different players and the obstacles they had to overcome to get on that team. Overall an interesting read and one that will interest many sports fans, not just those who worship hockey.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have received this title via NetGalley and publishers in exchange for an honest review
I really really liked this book. Reading it in a time when sports are not happening like they normally do, it was super interesting. I do think this book was a little slow and probably could have been a little shorter. I felt like some parts felt super repetitive.