Summit Series
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The (1972) Summit Series as it eventually came to be known, was the first competition between full-strength Soviet and Canadian national ice hockey teams. (AKA French:La Série du Siècle, Russian: Суперсерия СССР — Канада (1972)).
The Series was played at a time when only amateurs were allowed in the Olympic games. The Soviet players were amateurs by strict definition only, as they were elite players playing hockey full-time in their native country. Team Canada featured the country's best professional NHLers. The eight-game series consisted of four games in Canada, held in Montreal (Montreal Forum), Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens), Winnipeg (Winnipeg Arena) and Vancouver (Pacific Coliseum) and four games in the Soviet Union, all of them held in Moscow (Palace of Sports, Lenin Central Stadium). The series was played at the height of the Cold War. Intense feelings of nationalism were aroused by the contest in both Canada and the Soviet Union.
Canada's Bobby Orr, the most dominant NHL player at the time, was made part of the team but did not play because of a knee injury that eventually ended his career. Bobby Hull, another dominant player, was named to the team by coach Harry Sinden, but was ruled to be ineligible because of his defection from the NHL to the rival World Hockey Association. Alan Eagleson, a player agent and the future head of the National Hockey League Players Association, was involved in forming the Canadian team. He was also largely responsible for the decision to exclude Hull and other WHA stars.
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[edit] The Games
In Game One, held in Montreal on September 2, Phil Esposito scored for Canada after just 30 seconds of play. When Canada took a two-goal lead six minutes in, Canadian spectators and pundits alike felt that pre-series predictions of a rout had been proven correct. The hard-working Soviets staged a comeback, though, tying the score before the end of the first period. In the second period, Valery Kharlamov scored twice, giving the Soviets a two-goal lead. Bobby Clarke scored to bring Canada within one, but the Soviets pulled away with three more goals in the third and won 7-3. The Canadian players later commented on the superior physical conditioning of the Soviets, as well as their disciplined and relentless playing style. This general scheme—of the Canadians playing well initially but declining near the end of the game due to insufficient physical conditioning—was to be a common feature of the series. Another difference was that the Soviets stayed in peak physical condition all year round, while the Canadians had a summer offseason and relied upon the last-minute training camp to get back in shape.
Canada came back strong in Game Two, with Tony Esposito taking over goaltending duties from Ken Dryden, winning 4-1. Canada held leads of 3-1 and 4-2 in Game Three but had to settle for a 4-4 tie. Canada played poorly in Game Four in Vancouver, losing 5-3, and the crowd of 15,570 fans echoed the rest of Canada's sentiments: Team Canada was booed off the ice at game's end. Phil Esposito's famous emotional outburst went out on national television:
- "To the people across Canada, we tried, we gave it our best, and to the people that boo us, geez, I'm really, all of us guys are really disheartened and we're disillusioned, and we're disappointed at some of the people. We cannot believe the bad press we've got, the booing we've gotten in our own buildings. If the Russians boo their players, the fans... Russians boo their players... Some of the Canadian fans—I'm not saying all of them, some of them booed us, then I'll come back and I'll apologize to each one of the Canadians, but I don't think they will. I'm really, really... I'm really disappointed. I am completely disappointed. I cannot believe it. Some of our guys are really, really down in the dumps, we know, we're trying, like, hell, I mean, we're doing the best we can, and they got a good team, and let's face facts. But it doesn't mean that we're not giving it our 150%, because we certainly are."
This lit a fire under Team Canada and the whole country. After a two-week hiatus, during which the Canadians played exhibition games in Sweden, Team Canada went to the Soviet Union for the final four games as a team, accompanied by 3,000 proud Canadian fans. On September 22, in Game Five in Moscow, Canada led 4-1, but ended up losing the game 5-4. Team Canada was now faced with the hard fact that with three games remaining in the series, the Soviets were ahead by two victories.
Game Six was a Canadian 3-2 victory. The Canadians complained that the West German referees were biased since Canada was handed 31 penalty minutes during the game, while the Soviets only received four [1]. This game also saw the most controversial play of the entire series. In the second period, Bobby Clarke deliberately slashed Valery Kharlamov's ankle, fracturing it. Years later, John Ferguson, Sr., an assistant coach with Team Canada, was quoted as saying "I called Clarke over to the bench, looked over at Kharlamov and said, 'I think he needs a tap on the ankle.'" Kharlamov was the Soviet's best player; although he played the rest of the game, he missed Game Seven and was largely ineffectual in Game Eight.
Canada won Game Seven by the score of 4-3, with Paul Henderson scoring the winning goal late in the third period on a strong individual effort.
Heading into Game Eight, each team had three wins and three losses, in addition to the tie. Only a win in Game Eight would deliver victory in the series. Canada just about shut down for the game on September 28, with many watching it at work or school. In the game itself, Canada took a number of questionable early penalties. The game was delayed after a marginal call against Jean Paul Parise, and emotions boiled over. Parise swung his stick at the referee and got a match penalty. Sinden threw a chair on the ice. Despite the penalties, the score was 2-2 after the first period, but the Soviets pulled ahead 5-3 after two. Things looked grim for Team Canada. During the second intermission, goalie Ken Dryden was reported to have thought, "If we lose this one, I'll be the most hated man in Canada."
But the Canadians came out roaring in the third period, and Phil Esposito and Yvan Cournoyer scored to even it up. After Cournoyer's goal, Alan Eagleson (seated across the ice from the Team Canada bench) caused a ruckus in the crowd because the goal light had not come on. As he was being subdued by the Soviet police, the Canadian players headed over, Peter Mahovlich actually going over the boards to confront police with his stick. Eagleson was freed and the players escorted him across the ice to the bench.
At that point, with the score tied 5-5 and the series tied 3-3-1, a member of the Soviet delegation unexpectedly informed Canada that, if the score and the series remained tied, the Soviets would claim victory on goal differential.
Then, with just 34 seconds remaining in the game, Paul Henderson, in perhaps the most famous moment in Canadian sports history, scored for Canada, jamming in a rebound behind Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak. This goal is widely known as "the goal heard around the world". Canada held on for the win in the game and thus the series.
Almost all Canada erupted in celebration: it was truly a memorable moment for the country. In the Soviet Union, many people thought that their country would have won if the Canadians had not fractured the ankle of their best player.
In addition to the eight games against the Soviets, the Canadians also played exhibition games against Sweden and Czechoslovakia. The games against Sweden took place on September 16 and September 17 at the Hovet. Canada won the first game and tied the second. The game against Czechoslovakia took place on September 29 at the Sportovní hala, and ended in a tie.
[edit] Legacy
The success of the 1972 Summit Series would lead to the development of the Canada Cup hockey championships. It also lead to regular series "Soviet clubs vs the NHL", known as the Super Series, that also were held since 1976, as did the Canada Cup.
As time passed, the significance of the series grew in the public consciousness, and the term "Summit Series" became its unofficial accepted name. In Canada today, the Summit Series remains a source of much national pride, and is seen by many as a landmark event in Canadian cultural history.
Marcel Dionne was the last active player from the Canadian roster. He retired in 1989 as a member of the New York Rangers.
In 2005, the team was honoured, en masse, as members of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.
On April 9-10, 2006, the CBC aired a two part mini-series called Canada Russia 72 [2], directed by T.W. Peacocke, a film which details the 1972 Summit Series.
Henderson's goal in 1972 has been described as "the goal that everyone remembers" by the Canadian rockers The Tragically Hip in their song "Fireworks" from their album Phantom Power. The song describes the national eruption of celebration over the goal.
The hit CTV show Corner Gas paid homage to the series in the fourth season episode "The Good Old Table Hockey Game".
[edit] Rosters
[edit] Canada
[edit] Forwards (and Position)
Phil Esposito (C), Frank Mahovlich (LW), Peter Mahovlich (C), Bobby Clarke (C), Gilbert Perreault (C), Yvan Cournoyer (RW), Paul Henderson (LW), Ron Ellis (RW), Bill Goldsworthy (RW), Stan Mikita (C), Wayne Cashman (RW), Vic Hadfield (LW), Jean Ratelle (C), Marcel Dionne (C), Rick Martin (LW), Jean-Paul Parise (LW), Red Berenson (C), Rod Gilbert (RW), Dennis Hull (LW), Mickey Redmond (RW).
[edit] Defencemen
Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Gary Bergman, Bill White, Rod Seiling, Dale Tallon, Jocelyn Guevremont, Brian Glennie, Pat Stapleton, Don Awrey, Brad Park.
[edit] Goaltenders
Tony Esposito, Ken Dryden, Ed Johnston.
[edit] Coaches and Managers
Head Coach & General Manager: Harry Sinden. Assistant Coach & Asst. GM: John Ferguson
[edit] Notes
Paul Henderson remains best known for scoring the winning goals in the sixth, seventh and eighth (deciding) games of the 1972 Summit Series.
Only seven Canadians played in all eight games: Phil Esposito, Clarke, Cournoyer, Henderson, Ellis, Bergman, and Park. In goal, Tony Esposito and Dryden each played four games.
Team Canada defenceman Savard has a unique claim to fame — Canada won or tied all five games in which he played, but lost all three games in which he sat out.
[edit] Soviet Union
[edit] Forwards
Boris Mikhailov, Vladimir Petrov, Yuri Blinov, Valery Kharlamov, Alexander Yakushev, Evgeny Zimin, Vyacheslav Starshinov, Vladimir Vikulov, Yevgeny Mishakov, Alexander Maltsev, Vladimir Shadrin, Yuri Lebedev, Alexander Volchkov, Viacheslav Anisin, Alexander Bodunov, Alexander Martyniuk, Viacheslav Solodukhin.
[edit] Defencemen
Valery Vasiliev, Alexander Ragulin, Viktor Kuzkin, Vladimir Lutchenko, Gennadiy Tsygankov, Yuri Liapkin, Yuri Shatalov, Alexander Gusev, Vitaly Davydov, Evgeny Paladiev.
[edit] Goaltenders
Vladislav Tretiak, Viktor Zinger, Alexander Sidelnikov, Alexander Pashkov.
[edit] Coaches
Head Coach: Vsevolod Bobrov. Asst. Coach: Boris Kulagin
[edit] Games
Canada Wins Series 4-3-1
| Game | Results |
| Game 1 | USSR 7 - Canada 3 |
| Game 2 | Canada 4 - USSR 1 |
| Game 3 | Canada 4 - USSR 4 |
| Game 4 | USSR 5 - Canada 3 |
| Game 5 | USSR 5 - Canada 4 |
| Game 6 | Canada 3 - USSR 2 |
| Game 7 | Canada 4 - USSR 3 |
| Game 8 | Canada 6 - USSR 5 |
[edit] A New Summit Series?
It was reported on March 28, 2007 in a Moscow-based daily newspaper that Russian prime minister Mikhail Fradkov is keen for a second Summit Series to mark the 35th Anniversary of the original 1972 Series. According to the paper, Fradkov has called upon Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper to support consideration for another Summit Series. Journalist Vsevolod Kukushkin reported that the first to suggest a new Series was Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson. Kukushkin wrote in his article:
In Nicholson's opinion the situation is very good now for such a series. Since the 1972 series, which was one of the most important sports events of the last century, a generation of players and fans have come and gone ... and a new generation of fans and players in both countries deserve to see such a great product.
Vsevolod Kukushkin served as the interpreter for the Russian team when it played four games in Canada during the 1972 Series.
[edit] See also
- 1974 Summit Series
- Canada Cup
- Super Series
- Ice Hockey World Championships
- List of international ice hockey competitions featuring NHL players
- World Cup of Hockey
- Canadian national men's hockey team
- Soviet national ice hockey team
- International Ice Hockey Federation
- National Hockey League
[edit] External links
- Canada Versus the Soviet Union (now Russia) The heyday of the battle for world hockey supremacy (1972-1987)
- The Globe and Mail: The Summit Series, 1972-2002
- 1972 Summit Series.com
- The Summit in 1972
- CBC Digital Archives - Canada-Soviet Hockey Series, 1972
- Hockey Hall of Fame - Team Canada '72 Tribute
- Canada-Russia '72 - a mini-series based on the events of the Summit Series
- AVTrust.ca - honoured MasterWorks (2004) broadcast (video clip)
- Russian PM Asks Canadian PM to Consider New Summit Series
