Jim Montgomery was a kid in Montreal during the Canadiens' dynasty of the late 1970s. After his Bruins broke the 1976-77 Habs' single-season points record on Tuesday, Montgomery reflected on some of his memories of those historic Montreal teams during his postgame press conference.
At one point, while reflecting on the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry during that time, Montgomery mimicked then-Bruins coach Don Cherry's reaction to the infamous "too many men" call in Game 7 of the 1979 semifinals, stretching his arms out (2:13 in the video below).
"Wasn't his fault, the too many men," Montgomery added with a chuckle.
It didn't seem like a big deal, but one former player who was on that 1978-79 Bruins team has taken exception. Making his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show on Thursday, Mike Milbury had some pointed words for Montgomery.
"He chuckled in sort of a derogatory fashion," Milbury said. "I want to just say this, Jim... This is a wonderful year you had, but Don Cherry was an unbelievable coach and we put together a great team that was entertaining. We had, not nine Hall of Famers, but we had the Lunch Pail Gang that played the historic Montreal dynasty three years in a row, came within a whisker before we imploded with that too many men on the ice game. But I'm proud of that team, and I'm proud of what we did. You can kiss my wide, old, ample Boston Bruins ass for mocking that team, jerk."
Personally, I didn't really think Montgomery was mocking Cherry or that Bruins team or being "derogatory," but clearly that's how Milbury took it.
Montgomery and the Bruins wrap up their historic regular season Thursday night in Montreal before beginning the playoffs early next week, likely Monday night.
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