“If there's a goal that everyone remembers, it was back in ol' 72. We all squeezed the stick and we all pulled the trigger …” Those words, the second-most-famous hockey-related lyrics written by the late Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip, are the literal embodiment of the feelings of those who lived the event that Canadian sports fans dubbed the Series of the Century.
Not only is it still a part of the collective memory banks of the vast majority of Baby Boomers and early Gen-Xers, but it was also a shared televisual experience like no other before. We (well, not me, since I wasn’t born yet) were not only watching, we were also holding the stick and controlling the play, and hoping for the best.
In his recent book, “The Series: What I Remember, What It Felt Like, What It Feels Like Now’” scholarly goaltender turned author Ken Dryden trots out one key statistic more than once: 16 million out of a total of 22 million Canadians watched the final game of the Summit Series on Sept. 28, 1972.
As he also said in an interview with Maclean’s magazine, “That tells the story better than anything for a game that was on during work hours and school hours. Every hockey fan has their favourite memories — could be the 1987 Canada Cup with both Gretzky and Lemieux, or the 2010 Olympics (the Gold Medal game with Sidney Crosby) in Vancouver. So my challenge was, how do you get somebody who has other reference points to understand the 1972 series actually was different for Canadians?”
Similarly to Dryden (who by the way was my mother’s favourite player), my challenge here is to bring the importance of the series to you, but from a perspective much closer to home, via contemporary local media coverage.
How were Sudburians (both our sportswriters and the average citizen) feeling about the Summit Series while “our boys” were battling the “scary” Soviet hockey machine?
On the eve of the Series, local sportswriter Peter Desilets put the thoughts and feelings of many worried Canadian observers of the series down with a poetic flourish (and apologies to Clement C. Moore).
“Twas the night of the Game and throughout the land
not a hockey fan was stirring not even a rat (or rats).
The Team Canada stockings were pulled up with care;
in anticipation the Soviets would be there.
The people were nestled in their seats,
at the Forum and in front of their TV sets
while visions of victory swelled through their heads.
But the Soviet coach shouted "nyet," and called his players by name,
‘now Sidlenikow, now Shadrin!, now Vikulov, now Petrov!...On, Blinov, on Zimin, on Miskahov, on Shatalov’."
He then continued in a more serious tone. “Though there are approximately 115 shopping days until Christmas, citizens of Canada and the Soviet Union wait impatiently for the outcome of the first confrontation between the best of both countries. It's like watching the arrival of good old St. Nick, a fantasy about to become unbelievably true. At last, world amateur champions versus world pro combattants, and one small win for a team and one giant leap for hockey.”
He tempered this excitement with a simple warning to the fans.
“Before Canadians pull out their miniature flags from the Queen's last visit, let us try to review the situation which will befall the hockey fanatic Saturday night. The Soviet Union has dominated amateur hockey from the late fifties onward. Meanwhile, Canadian teams had been humiliated, shamed, whipped and beaten at home and abroad. Professional players were to avenge and erase such scars.”
Soviets win Game 1, 7-3
The day after Game 1, its nightmarish result became clear to a stunned nation, proud of its hockey tradition. Team Canada wasn't in good condition; they had practised for only two weeks. In fact, to many, Team Canada wasn't a team at all but a group of individuals.
The loss became a contest of excuses among fans and hockey executives. As Peter Desilets wrote, “We have been hoodwinked by the professional mandarins of the National Hockey League. They staked their prestige above national pride. They did not have the foresight needed for a series of such importance.”
He continued that they should have “at least taken the Soviets for what they are, the top amateur team in the world … That would have been the professional way.”
Canada wins Game 2, 4-1
With Game 2, Team Canada looked improved within the confines of Maple Leaf Gardens, leading to their win with a key goal from Peter Mahovlich (to my mind, the second most famous goal of the series).
On the eve of the third game, a lot of people were still trying to figure out just how good the Russian club was. Were they a one-game sensation? Did they finally meet their match in the second game?
As Ted Saunders wrote at the time, “I, along with a lot of other people, was stunned at the comparative ease with which the Russians won the first game. They did it the same way they have been walking over the opposition in International competition for the past few years. Skating, stickhandling, discipline and co-ordination are their big plusses.”
He did add one caveat to it that would eventually serve the purpose of the Canadian players, as he observed, “they stick to the fundamentals so strictly that they can be beaten.”
Tie in Game 3, Soviets take Game 4
After the close of the Canadian leg of the series, ending on such a sour note that team leader Phil Esposito felt it necessary to address the nation, some sports pundits felt that Canada could never make a comeback.
European-style hockey, with less emphasis on physicality, would be foreign to our lads, they figured.
“Take the hitting away from the pros and their game is not even as good as a junior contest,” wrote Ted Saunders. However, he felt differently than many about the results of the upcoming final four games. “I still say the Russians will win one more game. It could be the first one in Russia. It might take the Team Canada players one game to catch on to the officiating.”
Peter Desilets countered that the Soviets “continue to skate seemingly miles (effortlessly) and will do so in Moscow adding a few more kilometres with the morale boosting presence of their own people.”
Prior to Canada and Russia going at it again, in the first of four games played in Moscow, a quick check of "the man on the street" in Sudbury showed scant optimism of the final outcome. The reporter asked a cross-section of people: "How many games do you think Canada will win in Russia?" and "What did you think of the games played in Canada?"
Half of those questioned figured Canada to win only one or two games and another third said they might get a split. Conditioning was mentioned by many as a difference between the teams, while others said the games were being played at the wrong time and that one NHL team would be better than an all-star club.
Here are some of those opinions:
Alphie Bujold: “They won't win any games over there. They just were not ready. The defence is not good, the coach is no good and the goalies are not the best, and they're not getting any help."
Bob Sloan: "We're going to be lucky to take one. Basically the Canadians are out of shape and the morale seemed to be way down. The first game was rotten but with the second game they started to play and their attitude seemed to change."
Norman Charette: "Canada will win one at the most in Russia by the way the past games have gone. It's been very good hockey. I think they are good but the Russians seem to be in better shape."
Roland Boudreau: "I don't think Canada will take any of the games in Russia. I don't think they are strong enough. The first part of the series was disgusting."
Bob Gawalko: “Team Canada may win two. I was impressed with the way the Russians moved the puck and their positional play. Their game is possession and waiting for a good opportunity in front of the net.”
Prior to the commencement of the Russian half of the series, Peter Desilets published a tongue-in-cheek response (by “Harvey Rondelle”) to the foibles of our guys on the road to Russia. (“The following letter grapples with the imagination of hockey fans much like our professional hockey players do with the puck overseas. Both have a sense of fantasy.”)
“Dear Team Canada:
“Hope you enjoyed your stay in Sweden, though I hear the mineral water in Russia is refreshing. I read in the newspaper, the Russian government wants people to drink mineral water instead of vodka so they won't be drunk. Me and my wife, Ethel, saw pictures in the paper the other night of cases of food, spring water, beer and toilet paper being loaded onto planes for Russia. I guess you guys won't be short of anything. …
“Tell Sinden I like the way he changes the line-up each game. Isn't it exciting not knowing who is going to play and giving us fans a chance to see all our NHL stars in action? Except the ones who decide to come home, I guess. …
“Them foreigners must be bird brains, puckering their lips (to whistle) and not booing like they do here. …
“Tell Phil I'm behind him 100, no, 200 per cent, even if some Russians get ahead of him on the ice. Great speech he made. I'm still trying to get a copy for framing.”
Games 5, 6 and 7
Noel H. Fortier of Paroisse La Toussaint chimed in with his feelings on the series (written for the local French newspaper) published just prior to the conclusion of the series.
“Our gods have fallen from their pedestal,” he wrote. “We remember the anger of Phil Esposito when the Vancouver fans booed our champions to reserve a monster ovation for the Soviet athletes … Those who the public booed … (were) not so much the players themselves, our professionals with astronomical salaries, but rather the millionaire idol-making leeches who have managed for years to present themselves as the best hockey in the world but probably isn't.
“It is paradoxical that it is the totalitarian system that comes here to remind us of the demands of competition. We will no longer be able to believe that we have the best hockey in the world; there will always be the fear of seeing another type of less expensive professional appear who is a superior product to ours.”
Legendary Game 8
Successive generations have been regaled with the stories from their parents’ time, sitting wide-eyed and mouth agape while watching the final game in Moscow. Canadians from all walks of life stopped what they were doing to watch this unprecedented event.
“Where were you, and what were you doing when Canada won?” became the question-du-jour for decades.
Maria Casas was on a grade school trip to John Island camp at the time.
“The teachers with us stayed in to watch the game,” she remembers. “We were all gathered in the dining room when they came out to tell us the news. We were cheering and, some of us, crying. It was memorable, even though I didn't really follow hockey.”
Jane Rodrigues was a teacher at Marymount College at the time and remembers that they had “set up televisions all over the school — the gym, the cafeteria and classrooms and the whole school watched … it was incredible!”
At the same time, her sister, Elizabeth Franchetto Irvine, had gathered together with “the Coniston contingent of teenagers … in the AV room off the library at Marymount College … and when it happened … the roar was deafening” and in all of the excitement, “I even lost my gum into Lynn Conlon’s hair who was sitting in front of me!!!! It was freaking amazing!!!”
Of course, things were no different at other schools as well. Gord Nicholls recalls that “they pulled TVs into the cafeteria of Nickel District Collegiate and Vocational Institute (then on Second Avenue).” However, a devious Mr. Nicholls also “listened to some on the earlier day games on the transistor (radio) that I smuggled into school.”
Even within the hallowed halls of higher education, the final game was important to everyone. Doug Logan was attending classes at the University of Western Ontario in London, “and every classroom had the game on! There were even televisions between buildings showing the game to students changing classes.”
Watching the game was an absolute must within educational establishments, no matter the age: Janine Sartor Madden (George Vanier Public school in Lively, “We were all so proud to be Canadians that day!”), Paulette Willis-Carlson (Queen Elizabeth II school), Jorge Monte Carlo (St. Hubert School in the West End), Johan Montgomery (Copper Cliff Public School), Gerald Bronson (Lockerby), and Bill Petryshyn (RL Beattie Public School), among many (many, many, many) others.
And what of Frank Lennon’s famous photo of Henderson leaping into Cournoyer’s arms after scoring the penultimate goal of the series? In this day and age, with our country’s greatest athletic accomplishments adorning the front page of our newspapers (think Joe Carter’s successive World Series photogenic moments or Sidney Crosby’s Golden Goal), was this the centrepiece photograph announcing to Sudburians the result of the greatest hockey series to date?
Surprisingly, at least to this writer’s eyes, it was not. In fact, the sole front page mention of the game’s result was the final score tucked away in the top corner.
But in the end (famous photo or not), the local editorial that followed Henderson’s goal reminded us of what we already knew and what most feel to this day (whether you were there in the front row, in the school gymnasium or watching years later on a DVD, like yours truly has).
“There never will be another series to match it,” the editorial began. “This was the first, the most important, in the future all is repetition. Canadians from coast to coast sweated this one out probably almost as hard as the players themselves … It would have been unforgiveable of them to beat us at our own game … except that two first class hockey teams battled through an exciting series with the winner emerging only in the last 34 seconds of the schedule. It was a tremendous display of athletic skill … Well done, Team Canada.” (Even 52 years later)
Jason Marcon is a writer and history enthusiast in Greater Sudbury. He runs the Coniston Historical Group and the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page. Then & Now is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.