"I was in the Norris Division and when I was in St. Louis, those home-and-home, back-to-back games against Chicago were something else," says ex-NHL coach Jacques Demers, who works as a broadcaster in Montreal. "You could not buy a seat. The scalpers had none.

"When I was in Detroit, those games against Toronto were wars. There was more hatred then."

The 1980s also will be remembered as a time when Europeans started to have an impact on NHL clubs. The Stastny brothers, Peter, Anton and Marian, played for the Quebec Nordiques and they were always dangerous when they were on the ice. The Winnipeg Jets had Tomas Steen on a line with Dale Hawerchuk. Hakan Loob was a star in Calgary, while Tomas Sandstrom was making a name for himself with the New York Rangers and Thomas Gradin was a hero in Vancouver.

"The Europeans added a lot to the game," says Crisp.

The '80s also produced what people feel was the greatest hockey ever played in the '87 Canada Cup. Canada played the Soviet Union in a three-game final and each game was decided by a score of 6-5. The Soviets won the first game and Mario Lemieux, on a feed from Gretzky, evened the series in double overtime in Game 2. And it was the Gretzky-Lemieux magic in Game 3 that iced the victory for Canada.

Playing for the Flyers for a decade during the '80s meant witnessing some great rivalries and few, if any, easy games.

"All three games were just tremendous games. It was a thrill for me to play in them," says Dave Poulin, who spent the '80s with the Flyers and now coaches hockey at the University of Notre Dame. "Earlier that year we played Edmonton in the Finals and lost and that was the third time for me in the Final. Coming so close to a Stanley Cup, you just wanted to get over the hump and being on the winning side of the Canada Cup, which is the best hockey I will ever remember, with the champagne in the room was something I will never forget. It was tremendous, tremendous hockey."

When Poulin talks about yesteryear, he remembers the camaraderie and how the business of the game seemed much simpler.

"My memories are teams staying together for a lot longer, players on a team. You would have players that would stay together for seven, eight years and they did not leave for other teams and once you made the team you did not worry about being traded or free agency," he says. "I think that made teams closer because guys were together a lot longer and in today's game, even if you are one of the star players, you are still not sure how long you are going to be in a city.

By the end of the decade, Wayne Gretzky was in Los Angeles and Mario Lemieux (above) was starting to make his rounds as a superstar.

"Everyone had their get together spot on the road. The Flyers' schedule was play Thursday night at home, Saturday on the road and then come back home and play Sunday night at home. So every Friday afternoon the team would leave on a commercial flight and go to the city you were going to and I remember that every time we went through a city, Bob Clarke made sure that the whole team got together at one spot for about an hour or so before they would go off to dinner. But a lot of times it was the whole team that ended up being together for the whole night and we stayed together as lot more than they do now."

Playing for the Flyers for a decade meant that Poulin witnessed some great rivalries and he says there were few, if any, easy games.

"You had the Islanders. There was always the Rangers-Flyers rivalry. Washington was a tough team to play against. You had Quebec that played pretty well and Montreal was always a powerhouse. The Eastern Conference had some great teams and great playoff series."

By the end of the decade, Gretzky was in Los Angeles and Mario Lemieux was starting to make his rounds as a superstar. Brett Hull scored 72 goals in 1989-90 and Steve Yzerman was asserting himself as "The Man" in Motown. Times were changing.

The last word goes to Crisp.

He was asked what the fish stories are like when he tells today's crop of NHLers what the '80s were like.

"We have some great stories and even the kids now, they listen and shake their heads about some of the things that were said and done," he said. "We were talking about how (Oilers coach Craig) MacTavish never had a helmet and I laughed the other day when someone asked him whether he ever considered wearing a visor and he said, 'What did you want me to do, bolt it to my head?’ The guys liked that story."

Those were the days.