This Week’s Video: Brett Hull’s 699th and 700th Goal (2003)
Game Dates: 1/22/03, 2/10/03
Notable Nostalgic Names To Look For: Brett Hull, Igor Larionov, Brendan Shanahan, Nick Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Datsyuk (sadly, he counts now) Doug Brown (on FSD color commentary), Bobby Hull (trying to make his son’s achievement about himself), Dave Lewis, Dave Strader, Evgeni Nabokov
Uploader: awood40
Cultural Significance: Other than Gordie Howe, no player reached 700 goals in a Red Wings uniform until Brett Hull. While Hull carved distinguished and distinct legacies for himself in St.Louis and Dallas, his time in Detroit was certainly with merit.
Hull finished his Red Wings career with 92 goals in 245 regular season games. And ostensibly, it was the end of his NHL career, as he came back post-lockout playing for Wayne Gretzky in Arizona, looking closer to Homer Simpson than his peak when he scored 86 goals with the Blues in 1990-91.
Hull was a conduit from one generation of elite Red Wings talent to the next. In between Yzerman, Shanahan, Larionov and Fedorov, there was Hull infamously anchoring the “Two Kids and a Goat” line, which in 2001-02 was him, Datysuk and Boyd Devereaux. The following season, Devereaux was felled by post-concussion syndrome, which opened up a spot for a baby faced Swede named Henrik Zetterberg.
Both goal no.699 and no.700 came on the power play. Hull had 29 power play goals in his three seasons with the Red Wings. It came as no surprise, just look how devastating that set up is; Larionov to Fedorov to Lidstrom to Hull for no.699. Or how about Fedorov to Datsyuk to Hull; always perched just within the left circle, cocked with ammo so powerful, every NHL caliber goaltender knows it’s coming yet is still powerless to stop it. The two goals look almost identical, actually most of Hull’s goals as a Wing looked identical, but again, Hall of Famers moving the puck to another Hall of Famer unloading arguably the greatest shot in hockey history.
Last week I showed you the “Dead Wing” era, well this week I’m rewarding you with the franchise at its finest.
Oh and a real quick side note here: the fans were holding signs that said “700 Goals JUST DO IT!” HUH?! Um. Severe lack of creativity? Potential lawsuit? Just….wha? Huh?
The footage of Hull’s 700th goal comes from an often forgotten ESPN produced documentary following 2002-03 Red Wings through out the season. Does anyone remember this except me and the fine folks like awood40 who chop it up for You Tube videos? It was like NHL 24/7 long before its time. And that Wings team was far more intriguing than the one followed by HBO for the Winter Classic.
Follow the rabbit hole in the ‘recommended videos’ section on You Tube and let me know what old Red Wings videos you dig up in the comment section. Especially if you find anymore clips from the Red Wings ESPN documentary!
