MacAdam was one of the NHL's best two-way players in the 1970s and 80s.

MacAdam works magic
with Mooseheads
By John McGourty | NHL.com
March 25, 2005

Sidney Crosby, star of the Rimouski Oceanic with 168 regular-season points, wasn't the only one tearing up the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season.

Since he took over the coaching ranks of the Halifax Mooseheads, former NHL star Al MacAdam went 24-6-4 and his team won the QMJHL's Atlantic Division and finished just two points behind Crosby's Oceanic for the overall league lead.

Amazingly, the Mooseheads had only one player in the top 25 scorers, undrafted right wing Daniel Sparre, and three in the top 50. The second-leading scorer, Rane Carnegie, also is undrafted, while third-leading scorer Francois-Pierre Guenette was the Vancouver Canucks' seventh-round pick, 222nd overall, in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Jason Churchill, the fourth-round selection of the San Jose Sharks last summer and Jeremy Duchesne, acquired in January, have done most of the goaltending.

"The team is a mature team, mobile, with good puck movement," MacAdam said. "They've really responded in being consistent in their play. This time of year it tightens up. We're not winning like we were earlier. It gets that way."

MacAdam, who played in the NHL from 1974-85, spent the previous four seasons as an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks. He returned this season to his alma mater, the University of Prince Edward Island, to serve as an assistant coach before Halifax owner and former Phoenix Coyotes' GM Bobby Smith tapped him to take the helm of the Mooseheads in January.

MacAdam coached St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, for 11 seasons before taking over the head-coaching reins of the AHL St. John's Maple Leafs in 1997. His teams qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs his first two seasons. MacAdam said he enjoyed coaching this winter at the junior level.

"When you are here, it is very much like pro hockey," he said. "We're at the rink all day. We play 70 games. The players are a tad younger. I like that part of it."

Smith said he hopes MacAdam will stay with the Mooseheads for a long time.

"I expect him to be the coach here for the long term," Smith said. "I offered Al a 2 1/2-year contract and he said, 'Hey, you know what, I don't need a written contract. Let's just talk about it at the end of the season.' "

Smith responded to NHL.com's interview request by saying he'd have no problem talking about "one of the people I admire most in the whole world."

That bond was built with the Minnesota North Stars when MacAdam was teamed with Smith and Steve Payne when the North Stars absorbed the Cleveland Barons in 1978. Smith had been the first overall pick in the draft that year and Payne was the first pick in the second round. The North Stars missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs that first year, but went to the Wales Conference Finals in 1980 and the Stanley Cup Finals the next year, where they lost in five games to the New York Islanders.

MacAdam was a fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1972 out of college and played two years with AHL Richmond. He was called up for five games in 1974 and played one game in the playoffs as the Flyers went on to win the Stanley Cup. So, he won a Stanley Cup in his first partial season, but always longed for a bigger role in a championship. It always looked like he played that way.

MacAdam was traded to the California Golden Seals with Larry Wright for Reggie Leach after the 1974 playoffs. The club struggled, but the deal gave MacAdam a chance to play a first-line role.

MacAdam spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks.

"Going to California, I got a chance to play in all situations, so I got the confidence to play in the NHL," MacAdam said. "I started playing on a pretty good line with Bob Murdoch and Dennis Maruk, who had 30 goals his rookie season. The line stayed together when the franchise transferred to Cleveland, but the team was still challenged. When the merger with Minnesota came, I felt it was time for me to play with a better team. I was itching to play with a better team and Minnesota developed into a better team.

"Smith and Payne wanted to play right away in the NHL and the coach felt I was the guy who could balance them out at both ends of the ice," MacAdam said. "I was the mature guy on the line. We had a big line. They were 6-3 and 6-4 and I was a little over 6 feet. We clicked right away. They came out of a winning environment with the Ottawa 67s. Bobby was a high draft choice and he had that to prove and wanted to prove it. He pushed himself and others rose to a higher level. Then, we got key people like Paul Shmyr and Curt Giles, people who knew how to win and came from winning teams."

The team achieved its first significant success in 1980 when it ended the Montreal Canadiens' dynasty after their four straight Stanley Cups from 1976-79. MacAdam had the series-winning goal.

"Guy Lafleur was injured for that series and Jacques Lemaire and Ken Dryden had retired," Smith recalled. "But, they were still an elite team. To beat them in Game 7 in the Forum was a highlight for all our careers. MacAdam scored with less than 90 seconds to play. I had the puck on the left side and made a pass in front to Steve Payne. He deflected it toward the net and Montreal goalie Bunny Laroque. It popped loose for a second and Al put in the rebound."

"I remember my father and sister and our next-door neighbor were at the game in Montreal and they were pretty excited about that," MacAdam said. "The CBC did an article about it this summer and they had a clip, so I saw it again. Smith carried down the boards and I went where I normally would, to the net. Steve tipped it and I picked up a quick rebound. There was about a minute and a half to play and we had to gather ourselves together, then shift gears and get ready for Philadelphia.

The Flyers won that series and it left MacAdam and some others upset. Not that they didn't win, but that they didn't compete as hard as in the first two rounds. That lingering feeling led to an improved attitude the next season. That, and an infusion of young talent.

"I don't remember it being a physical series so much as we didn't have the same emotion," MacAdam said.

"We had instant chemistry that second year," Smith recalled. "Both Payne and 'Mac' scored over 40 goals and MacAdam led the team in scoring. I missed 20 games with a broken ankle. We just had a very good line and big. MacAdam was a very strong player, but not a heavy guy. He was very fast. We were three very different players."

The North Stars defeated the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres and Calgary Flames to advance to the Finals against the Islanders in 1981. The first test was getting past the "big, bad Bruins." The teams had set a penalty-minutes record a few weeks earlier.

"The theme that year was getting back to the playoffs and going further," MacAdam said. "We had new players like Neal Broten, Steve Christoff, Brad Palmer and Dino Ciccarelli. Guys like Mike Polich and Tom Younghans were excellent role players, fourth liners and penalty killers. We all knew it's quite a journey to get back and I wanted to get back. We had a row with the Bruins in early March that set the tone for that series. We weren't intimidated by them anymore. We went in there very mentally prepared to play them. We felt we could compete, had a good game plan and we were emotional. Everything came together and Don Beaupre gave us good goaltending. I didn't think the Bruins could skate with us and that proved true. The Buffalo series was pretty intense, but good hockey, no foolishness."

The Islanders were at their peak in 1981, with one Stanley Cup under their belt and three more to come. MacAdam sensed an inevitability about the outcome among his teammates. As a coach, he ponders to this day the right motivating tools for a team facing a stronger opponent in a playoff series.

"I felt we weren't ready to emotionally to attack the Islanders," he said. "As a coach, I'm trying to rationalize that. We're going into the playoffs and I need to get everybody rolling, feeling good and up on their game. In 1981, I didn't think the aura around our team was the same as it was for the first three series."

In 864 career regular-season games, MacAdam scored 240 goals and 351 assists. In the playoffs, he added 20 goals and 24 assists in 64 games. In 1979-80, he was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy for sportsmanship, perseverance and dedication to hockey.