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Wednesday, October 20, 1999
Fuhr's law
Classy Flames 'keeper just hates to lose
But he remembers something else very clearly.
And what he remembers explains everything you need to know about why Fuhr will someday retire as one of the game's all-time great goaltenders.
"I can't remember my first win," says a sweat-soaked Fuhr as he leans casually back in his dressing room stall after the morning practice for last night's game.
"But I do remember my first loss."
If Fuhr has been anything in his career, he has been a guy who has refused to lose.
His critics will point to the fact that, for much of his career, he played behind a team that could make a bag of pucks into an all-star goalie. There is some merit in that.
But after 18 seasons, all those games, the second-most playoff victories of any goaltender in history, that observation is insufficient to explain Fuhr's amazing success.
When a game has been on the line, when the next goal would determine winning or losing, Grant Fuhr bent, but he rarely broke.
And that's one reason he remembers the first loss, and not the first win.
"I lost the first game I played (Oct. 14, 1981) and then I didn't lose again until January some time," laughs Fuhr.
Those were the days. He lost more games as a Calgary Flame in one week than he did in three months as an Edmonton Oiler rookie.
When Fuhr broke into the NHL that 1981-82 season, he posted an amazing 28-5-14 record and was runner-up for both the Calder Trophy and Vezina Trophy.
Five Stanley Cups later, Fuhr is focused on joining a select group of goalies who have won 400 games: Terry Sawchuk (447), Jacques Plante (434), Tony Esposito (423), Patrick Roy (415), and Glenn Hall (407).
He took some of his teammates out to dinner in St. Louis Monday night in an effort to encourage the milestone win against his former team.
Talk about a lack of gratitude.
Fuhr was totally abandoned by his team in last night's dreadful loss.
But eventually, despite the team in front of him, 400 will come.
"There are a lot of good memories," he says of the first 399. "There have been lots of ups and downs but I think the biggest thing is that I've had some fairly good consistency. I've only had two years where I've had a losing record, so I take pride in that.
"When I started, I figured if I get 10 years in, it would be a good career. If it get 15 years in, it would be a great career and I'd be long gone by then. I'm still here. I don't know what that says other than I'm an old guy.
"But I take pride in the durability. I'm trying to get to 1,000 games but whether I get there, I don't know. Even if I get to 900, it shows I've had some longevity in the game.
"You read sometimes how I am injury prone, but I'm still here, so it couldn't have been all bad. I've played 850 games so I couldn't have been that unhealthy."
Of his wins, the biggest, of course, did not come in the regular season. Goalies earn paycheques in the regular season, but they earn reputations in the playoffs.
Fuhr's 92 playoff wins are second to Roy's 110. He might not get any more in Calgary.
"I thought the biggest win for me was Game 1 in Long Island against the Islanders in the 1984 finals. (The beginning of Edmonton's Stanley Cups). That's probably the best game I ever had. But they don't count those for career wins.
"The guys I'm chasing now are all the guys you grew up watching, so I kind of get a kick of looking at some of the names I am going to catch.
"They're all within reach. If I can play another year after this, maybe two, then I think I can catch all of them. My goal right now is to get to 450."
As for the critics who suggest Fuhr's wins are more a product of his team than his skill, there is one good answer.
"When I look back, I have 150 playoff games, so somewhere along the way, besides being on good teams, I must have been half-good somewhere," says Fuhr.
"Playoffs are what counts the most. Numbers don't mean a whole lot, goals against average, save percentage ... what matters is whether you win or lose."
In the record books, they don't ask how.
One day in the not-too-distant future, Fuhr will retire as one of the game's all- time winningest goalies.
Because more than winning, Grant Fuhr refused to lose.
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