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Canada VS USSR. The Summit Series 50 years later:
CBC doing a 4 part mini series about this monumental event in Canadian hockey and history.
Some hi-lites
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Paul Henderson scored with 34 seconds remaining in the eighth and final game to lift Canada to a win in its first best-on-best meeting with the Soviet Union. Schoolchildren watched on television screens wheeled into gymnasiums and businesses across the country ground briefly to a halt. (The actual size of the Canadian viewing audience on Sept. 28, 1972, became more legend than fact.)
It was a national celebration. It was Canadian hockey Woodstock.
To mark the 50th anniversary this year, a group of filmmakers is aiming to strike a balance between the ritual celebration with the fact Canada is changing at a faster pace than the game it has embraced. New voices, layered context and a flash of modern commentary have been added to the old story.
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“For certain generations and demographics, this will be quite nostalgic,” he said. “We put in some of the cheesy old ads, and we put in some of the culture of the time, and archive that isn’t hockey.”
On the day of Game 8, he said the CBC dispatched crews across the country to document how ordinary Canadians were watching the game. A film crew had also been following the Canadian players, and the sum total left de Pencier with access to “time capsules” that had been “unseen for 50 years.”
He also gained access to many of the surviving participants from the Series, including Henderson, Ken Dryden and Peter Mahovlich. Several Soviet stars — notably goaltender Vladislav Tretiak — have also been given a voice over the four episodes.
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In 1972, Canada had already gone 20 years since its last Olympic gold-medal win. (Women’s hockey was not included in the Olympic roster until 1998.) The Canadians were also enduring a prolonged drought at the world championships. The country’s best — the NHL players — were excluded from both events.
The Summit Series set out to change that. With NHL stars on the roster, some pundits suggested the Canadians would sweep all eight games against the Soviets. Some Canadian players proudly partied harder than they trained during the pre-series camp in Toronto. The documentary has an old interview with forward Phil Esposito, with a reporter asking about the Canadian training regimen leading into the Series.
“(Coach) Harry (Sinden) made a comment on the weekend saying that the Russians get up at 6 o’clock in the morning to run around their hotel to keep in shape,” the reporter says, “and some of you fellas are just coming in at that time.” Esposito responds: “That’s their fault for getting up that early.”
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Canadian forward Bobby Clarke chopped Soviet star Valeri Kharlamov across the ankle with a two-handed slash in Game 6, effectively ending his opponent’s series. Winger J.P. Parise came within an inch of carving referee Josef Kompalla like a holiday turkey in Game 8, wielding his stick above his head in a moment of frustration.
In the domestic version of the story, the Canadian players rallied to victory around a shared sense of grit and determination. A sober review of the tape five decades later raises a challenge to that view.
“Totally legit in terms of a lot of play that would not be countenanced today,” said de Pencier. “Does that make us villains? I’m not going to impose moral values on a nation of hockey-lovers. I would be a fool. I think there’s some amount of presenting it without sugar-coating anything, and then everyone’s going to find their reaction.”
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“It was political to include Eagleson at all,” said de Pencier. “We don’t have any context for that. The people who know will know. Is it relevant? Maybe? Was there really room for it, or an elegant way to include it? We didn’t find one.”
Baichwal said some players still defend Eagleson, while others have gone on record saying they want nothing to do with him.
“It was a very tough call,” he said. “But to ignore Alan Eagleson in this wouldn’t, I think, have been journalistically accurate to help tell the story. He’s in it where he needs to be in it, and that’s pretty much it.”
Ken Dryden's book "The Game" is a great read in and of itself, but is also worth mentioning here because he discusses this series a fair bit and it was written shortly afterwards with fresh memories.
Ken Dryden's book "The Game" is a great read in and of itself, but is also worth mentioning here because he discusses this series a fair bit and it was written shortly afterwards with fresh memories.
The audiobook is even better, Ken is the narrator, and a great speaker. It really adds tone and colour to his description of the events.
To confirm the accuracy with no 'time embellishment' from the first quote in the OP, our school (like every school I have discussed with others) stopped all classes and gathered kids in every room that had a TV. We watched every game in it's entirety that happened during school hours (the 4 home games were evening games) and we watched them from start to finish. During intermissions, we had recess.
During the first 4 games in Canada, that were evening times of course, we had parties for every game (as did pretty much all hockey fans). Parents at one TV, kids at another. Everything else came to a stop.
For that entire 2 or 3 weeks (or whatever it was), I recall talking about nothing BUT the series. We discussed the merits of the Soviet National Anthem, why Canadians were better players, even though the Russians had better fundamentals, why the Canadian players had long, shaggy hair but the Russians were crew-cut, and every other possible topic that popped up from the event. And nothing else. It was The Series, 24/7, until it ended in (pseudo) glory.
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Ken Dryden's book "The Game" is a great read in and of itself, but is also worth mentioning here because he discusses this series a fair bit and it was written shortly afterwards with fresh memories.
Ken Dryden's the best writer hockey has ever had. Dryden wrote a book in 1990 called Home Game which was also a six-part TV series. This episode focused on the then-Soviet hockey system, and featured the Summit Series as well. Worth the watch.
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I have a dvd set of the entire series in all its unedited glory, lost feeds and all. Amazing hockey played at that time, so different than anything played even in the 80’s….since I started watching hockey. It didn't help that the Canadians did not take it seriously coming into the tournament, it could have turned out a lot different.
Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
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Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Still, 50 years later, THE strongest and most passionate memory and experience that I have had from sports.
Yup....im guessing the same for anyone that watched it.
It wasn't "just" the hockey though. It was us vs them, good (democracy) vs evil
(communism), the whole geo-political thing coming off the FLQ crisis and dead in the middle of the cold war.....an incredible time to be a Canadian.
As a child i certainly didn't understand it all at the time but it was clear to anyone of any age that it was a huge deal.
Yeah, every other series is just about the game. This was Us vs Them. An ideological war on ice. And back then, people didn't know much about the other side. There was no internet, there was no electronic social media. Opinions were based on the few (biased) things we read, and the views of the (very biased) people we talked to.
I was alive but too young to have any clue it was going on.
But then became a major hockey fan as a little guy and was inspired to read everything I could about it when the Canada Cup became a huge part of my age 11 summer.
Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
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Originally Posted by Bingo
I was alive but too young to have any clue it was going on.
But then became a major hockey fan as a little guy and was inspired to read everything I could about it when the Canada Cup became a huge part of my age 11 summer.
Have a Henderson jersey in my closet!
That's awesome.
Its funny but it tends to be forgotten, he didnt just score the wining goal in game 8, but in games 6, 7 (with just over 2 minutes left), AND 8 (with 34 seconds left).
Amazing stuff and pretty clearly was one of Sindens go-to guys.
Its funny but it tends to be forgotten, he didnt just score the wining goal in game 8, but in games 6, 7 (with just over 2 minutes left), AND 8 (with 34 seconds left).
Amazing stuff and pretty clearly was one of Sindens go-to guys.
and was a pretty controversial pick when the team was assembled
I was alive but too young to have any clue it was going on.
But then became a major hockey fan as a little guy and was inspired to read everything I could about it when the Canada Cup became a huge part of my age 11 summer.
Have a Henderson jersey in my closet!
My dad was at game one in Montreal, he 'gave' me (or I took) his game program around that age or a little younger and that was my gateway drug to accumulating also every book etc I could about the series, some of which were later signed by Henderson...now where are these things? presumably in my garage
my dad was also at the pub the night before, and I think the general mythology about the preparedness of the Canadians for the series is correct given the presence of several of the players in 'good cheer' that night
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I barely remember the series. Just finished watching game 1 and 2 last night, dvd, watching the rest over the week. Some pretty incredible plays in game 2. Phil's hands on the first goal in front of the net. Cournoyer flying down the right wing and sniping one after a tape to tape pass from Park. Peter Mahovolich shorty, deked the d then Tretiak, incredible. And Tony made about 5 9 bell saves in addition to stoning all the routines. For those that continue to diss these guys in other threads, they simply don't know.
and was a pretty controversial pick when the team was assembled
I recall that. The line of Henderson, Ellis and, Bobby Clarke was quite controversial at the time, as none were expected to start (accodring to fans) and ended up being huge performers.
I was young at the time, and many fans didn't have the same understanding at that time that a team filled with the top scoring starts was not the best team.
Amazing memories. I’m going to have to rewatch my dvd set on the series.
I had a guy that worked for me for a few years who was in Russia for the games there as a member of the media entourage. I can’t reiterate all his stories, but the culture shock was extreme. The locals were doing everything they could to make things difficult…construction outside the hotels, inedible food, transportation obstacles…it was very much us vs them on both sides. For Team Canada to overcome the odds and obstacles they did over there is a testimony to the huge dig down deep and gut it out effort they put in that became the trademark of Canadian hockey.
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Canada VS USSR. The Summit Series 50 years later:
