Happy 40th Birthday to the Canada/Soviet 1972 Summit Series

Thanks. I was working for a book packager in the 90's and myself and another colleague pitched a book idea on the 25th anniversary of the series (1997) to the owner. We did a lot of research just to sell the idea and that's where I discovered the Trudeau letter.

Owner dismissed it with something like "Hockey fans don't buy books" or "No one cares about that series"

I bet we could have sold 100,000 copies in Canada--that translates into over a million books in the US

 

I hope some day, preferably beginning soon, you have the inclination and financial means to complete your project.

EDIT: Seems to me, the Summit Series is timeless.

 

Had Sinden figured out how to break the Soviets flow & cycle early, like after Game 1 or 2 instead of after Game 4, entirely different outcome; serious smackdown. The Soviets were absolutely "dirty". Butt ends, slashing, elbows, kicking. When Team Canada arrived in the USSR, the food they'd brought over vanished, they received odd phone calls all night long, every hour or so, partiers & revellers stationed on the streets right outside their windows.

Then there was the refereeing. Absolutely deplorable. Its a wonder there wasnt a full scale brawl just about everytime the ref blue his whistle; Canada, 2 Minutes. Dirty? What Clarke did was Justice. Gettin back some of Team Canadas' own. That was the "code" back then. You mess with us you pay the price and if the cops dont see it I didnt do it. If they do see it, accident. Stuff like thats been going on in hockey since the late 19th century. February 1899, Montreal vs. Winnipeg, Stanley Cup Challenge, MacDougall's slash to Gingras (below the knee, back of the leg). All kinds of examples. Amateur, Junior, Senior, semi & minor pro, ecy. You know of an opponents injury, as in where & what, you put him out. Take no prisoners. Your there to win.

I feel nothing but pride for Team Canada 72's win, watched the entire series transfixed to the television like everyone else. The ice was slanted against them & they triumphed. Shed not a tear for Kharlamov nor did I change an already formed opinion of Clarke that he was an extremely useful & talented nasty piece of work who I'd have on my team anyday

 

I suppose your first point has some merit, but had it not happened a serious smackdown would have been the result?

Fact is Canada overlooked the Soviets, didn't prepare properly during training camp and the Soviets were poorly scouted, particularly in regard to Tretiak.

The officiating? Don't disagree and it began with the stopover in Sweden. Ask Wayne Cashman. ;D

Clarke? We'll have to agree to disagree. I'm not a proponent of criminality in sport unless it's self defense or "self preservation." Clarke must of felt the latter was at stake.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but please enlighten this puck-avoiding Yank - born a month after the Bruins blew the '79 conference finals to the Canadiens - why this was such a big deal?

 

The Cold War.

 

Baron's right although there were obviously other factors.

Liut is absolutely right. Most of the players, most of the media and most of the country thought this would be an eight game sweep by Team Canada. No one--not even the scouts took the Soviets seriously.

There were a few hockey writers who suggested, "Beware" but they were all accused of being commie lovers.

I was 23 in '72 and it's hard to explain the country's reaction to the outcome of game one in Montreal, particularly when Canada scored two quick goals in the first period and it looked like a rout. Soviets came back and won 7-3. The country was in a state of shock. Canada won game two, game three was tied and the team was booed off the ice after the loss in Vancouver. That was when Phil Esposito's passionate speech kicked in

The series got nastier and nastier and hit full throttle when the tourney went to Moscow....it had literally turned from an eight game friendly to out and out war on ice. It was unbelievably dirty hockey. No quarter was given

And of course, Canada's hockey supremacy was at stake. We hadn't participated in the Olympics in years because all our best players were professionals while the Soviets who practiced and trained 12 months of the year were considered amateurs

Game eight basically shut the entire country down for three hours

A lof of Canadians forget that Paul Henderson scored the winning goal in games six, seven and eight.

I'm pleasantly astonished that this series has stuck in Canada's collective memory for forty years.

 

After watching Henderson's Game 7 winner more than a few times on YouTube,
I still don't know how he got that puck through the two defenders, then back on his stick and into the net. Incredible play with the game on the line.

 

Lost their first game to the IHL's Detroit Vipers - the only time Steve Yzerman or Sergei Fedorov ever played at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Miroslav Satan, who was deep in the Vipers doghouse for not playing hard, had a great game since no one was checking anyone, and ended up having a lengthy NHL career.

 

Here's a terrific column by the Star's Damien Cox on memory, the series and the game winning goal

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/article/1260643--column-summit-series-team-canada-russia-paul-henderson-1972-summit-series-you-didn-t-have-to-see-paul-henderson-s-goal-to-have-lived-it-cox

From here, from this point in my life, I can’t tell you with any honesty I know where I was when Paul Henderson scored. Might have been in a classroom at Norwood Park School on Hamilton Mountain because there’s definitely a memory of a TV being wheeled in to Mrs. Howard’s Grade 7 class and a game, not sure which game, being beamed in from Moscow.

Then again, I might have been in the park near my house, throwing a ball, because there’s also a memory of not being in school, being let out early because Team Canada was playing, and what 11-year-old was going to go inside to watch a grainy hockey image in his living room when it was September and sunny and we weren’t in school?

So did I see it? Do I remember it?

 

JR may not agree with me (quelle surprise) but I think the reason people haven't forgotten is because we have been beaten over the head with it by the media for 40 years. Evey quasi-anniversary is celebrated, every appearance by a 72 alum at the Hockey Hall of Fame - and there are plenty - is written up. I wonder how Huggy Jr's generation will look at Crosby's Olympic winner 40 years down the road

Having said that, I was seven then and have some memories of it.

I had this poster on my wall:



And I tried like hell to complete this set of Team Canada cards of which this Espo shot is a primo specimen:



I remember the old man being so convinced Canada would wipe the floor with the Commies that he didn't even bother to stay home for Game 1 and strolled up the street to the neighbour's drunk up/barbecue. He came back - probably for more cigarettes - and I told him that Canada was up early. he said later when they heard Canada had been routed it just sucked all the air out of the party. Don Cherry wasn't far off when he said it felt like a death in the family.

I have vague memories of the rest of it, I remember some guys leaving because they were pissed off they weren't playing enough and I remember seeing one of the Russia games on TV in school. I recall staying home from school after lunch (the first - but not last - time that happened in my scholastic career) the day of the last game after my old man went to work. He was a supervisor with Metro Toronto ambulance and he said they took the phones off the hook and even his station was full of cops from the area. Didn't matter, as JR says the whole country came to a halt, nobody was getting sick or breaking the law while that game was on.

The first NHL game I went to was the Leafs against the Canadiens a couple of weeks after the series ended and I remember a pregame ceremony for Henderson.

For Canuckistanis, TSN is revisiting the final game at 7:30 p.m. (ET) Wednesday, you Yanks check NHL Network, maybe they will pick that up.

 

I agree with you Huggy