Where were you in '72?

[Disgruntled70sHab]

38 years ago today Paul Henderson scored his third-straight game-winner on Moscow ice. I was home from school after breaking my arm the day before playing football. Can't remember having too much pain after that.

Cheers.

[jkr]

Watched the game at school. I was going to Dawson College at the orginal Viger Street campus. There were TVs set up around the school & you just had to squeeze in where you could - they rooms were all packed.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

Attended game 1 and walked down St. Catherine St with a heavy heart.
Watched the games from Russia at the tavern next to the Sun Life building.
Molson's had just released Brador and we returned to the office drunk after every game.
Nobody cared how we were. The game was the thing.

[duster]

Fall term in Britain that year didn't start till end of September so I was at home in Ottawa watching it on our brand new colour TV. It was a big improvement over black and white

I flew out the day after Henderson scored. Once in Europe, no one had a clue what I was talking about and why I was so excited. It wasn't big thing there like it was here or in Russia.

[Skilly]

Sleeping in my crib .... 8 months old

[Tankdriver]

a twinkle in my dad's eyes.

[CentreHice]

Grade 10. Highschool football...away game.....so it had to be a Friday. We lost a close game....and as we were getting on the team bus, the coach said, "Well, at least Canada won today."

What a #%#$ he was.

==============================================

Looking back at that series, I can't help but think that Canada's MVP may very well have been Bobby Clarke....infamously, that is.

Asst. coach John Ferguson said, "I called Bobby over to the bench and I just said, 'Bobby, this guy's killin' us.' Bobby did give him a little slash over the ankle...and slowed him up."

Clarke: "I kinda hunted him down....and gave him a whack across the ankle. I guess it...I don't know if it broke his ankle, it hurt it anyway. And uh...it was something that was done during the heat of battle, and I did it."

A little slash. Kinda hunted him down. Heat of battle. Love the choice of words.



Kharlamov stayed on his skates...and stood up to Clarke right afterwards. The clip above shows him favoring it at the bench. But he was out on the ensuing PP. Foster Hewitt seemed to have missed it entirely. "Kharlamov comes over to the Soviet bench and seems to be rather exhausted from whatever check he took."

Kharlamov didn't play Game 7. Canada won again.

He was back for the first two periods of Game 8, getting one assist in building a 5-3 lead. He didn't play the third. The Soviets didn't generate much of an attack at all in the third, and Canada got the 3 they needed.

In short.....

Before the slash....the series was 3-1-1 Soviets.
After the slash....Canada went 3-0-0 and won it.

Not saying it's that simple....but coincidence or what? Yakushev, Mikhailov, and Petrov were excellent, but Kharlamov was arguably their best forward.

[franko]

Actually, CH, it was a Thursday .

Grade 10 as well. Small Catholic [all-boys] High School. Limited A/V resources. Teachers had begun the day pretending that nothing was out of the ordinary and life /classes would go on as normal. Instead, the class crowded around a radio that someone had brought in. Pandemonium broke out at Henderson's goal.

[CentreHice]

Thursday....that works, too. Our football team was capable of losing any day of the week.

[franko]

I didn't realize we were on the same team! ;D

[clear observer]

Well, I was in the 2nd grade and remember it vividly.

The ENTIRE school was assembled into the auditorium/gymnasium in front of what must have been a 24 or 26-inch B&W television nestled onto one of those chrome A/V stands.

I recall the feed being very poor, choppy. Cournoyer was a beast, as was Espo.

We weren't allowed to stand at all but when Henderson scored the game-winner the eruption saw every single student jump to their feet in celebration that must have lasted several minutes. Students and teachers embracing one-another was one thing, but to see that goal bring our beloved principal (Mr. Caswell) to tears was, indeed, very moving.

It was a glorious moment that I'm certain NO-ONE in that room will EVER forget.

Good times.


p.s.

Mr. Caswell was, in fact, a Canadiens fan.

[blny]

Not even a figment of my parents imaginations. I was -4 years old .

[duster]

I was talking about it last night with some friends. Am I the only one who remembers Toronto Dominion Bank television commercials in Russian on English CBC during the series? Right now, I stand accused of delusional thinking due to too much Stoli in my wicked youth.

[franko]

did banks even advertise in the 70s?

I remember hockey brought to you by Esso, Ford, and Labatts -- never a bank.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Sept 29, 2010 1:33:35 GMT -5 CentreHice said:

Grade 10. Highschool football...away game.....so it had to be a Friday. We lost a close game....and as we were getting on the team bus, the coach said, "Well, at least Canada won today."

What a #%#$ he was.

==============================================

Looking back at that series, I can't help but think that Canada's MVP may very well have been Bobby Clarke....infamously, that is.

Asst. coach John Ferguson said, "I called Bobby over to the bench and I just said, 'Bobby, this guy's killin' us.' Bobby did give him a little slash over the ankle...and slowed him up."

Clarke: "I kinda hunted him down....and gave him a whack across the ankle. I guess it...I don't know if it broke his ankle, it hurt it anyway. And uh...it was something that was done during the heat of battle, and I did it."

A little slash. Kinda hunted him down. Heat of battle. Love the choice of words.



Kharlamov stayed on his skates...and stood up to Clarke right afterwards. The clip above shows him favoring it at the bench. But he was out on the ensuing PP. Foster Hewitt seemed to have missed it entirely. "Kharlamov comes over to the Soviet bench and seems to be rather exhausted from whatever check he took."

Kharlamov didn't play Game 7. Canada won again.

He was back for the first two periods of Game 8, getting one assist in building a 5-3 lead. He didn't play the third. The Soviets didn't generate much of an attack at all in the third, and Canada got the 3 they needed.

In short.....

Before the slash....the series was 3-1-1 Soviets.
After the slash....Canada went 3-0-0 and won it.

Not saying it's that simple....but coincidence or what? Yakushev, Mikhailov, and Petrov were excellent, but Kharlamov was arguably their best forward.

For many this incident ranks up there just as memorable as Henderson's series winning goal. Some also consider it a turning point in the series. However, many either forget or simply ignore Boris Mikhailov's kicking of Garry Bergman. Kicking with skates on is something that is never acceptable at any level; atom to professional. It wasn't a turning point by any means, but it showed (for me anyway) just what kind of adrenalin and passion was in the series.

Don't get me wrong, CH, I'm not saying two wrongs make a right. However, the series was a war that saw players on both sides do things they never did before or after just to win. And whether people want to admit it or not, the series was much more than just hockey. It was taken to higher, more political levels; a clash of societies if we can believe the media hype then and now.

But, to focus on the absolute low on-ice point of the series can be misleading. How about the Russians out-and-out cheating? How about the behind-the-scenes stuff that the Soviets used to gain advantage? Late night phone calls to the players' rooms; throwing on public skates during Canadian practice times. And how about the last-minute refereeing change in the final game after the Soviets agreed to the original officiating?

Sorry buds. Clarke's incident was the benchmark, but there were a lot of low points to the series. Conversely, the absolute high point was Henderson scoring his third game-winning, and series-winning goal in game 8. I've met the man twice in my life. The first time I was lucky enough to have him sign my Future Trends card "The Goal." The second time was at a Canada Day in Ottawa.

Right now he's fighting cancer, but he's probably the main reason I remember the '72 series. Not Bob Clarke.

Cheers.

[CentreHice]

Yeah, Dis...it does sound as if I'm saying the whole series turned on that play. I'm not trying to take anything away from Henderson, Espo, and the boys...it was the thrill of a generation.

But, IMO, it had large ramifications. Each of the last 3 games was a one-goal victory. Does a 100% Kharlamov make up that difference? Impossible to say for sure....but arguably, yes. That's the point I was making. Then again, if they'd have let Bobby Hull play, perhaps things would've been different, too. And a healthy Bobby Orr in his prime would've worked wonders. Imagine him with that extra room on Soviet ice?

What drama in that series.

In Game 6, Ellis got called for an obvious hold with just over 2:00 remaining in the game. Canada up 3-2. Dryden, who had looked shaky for a lot of the series, made two great saves on the PK. One with the right pad, the other with his glove. Ellis must've been kicking himself. A tie, and Canada can't win the series. Dryden came up huge there.

I remember the antics the Soviets pulled at home....and the kicking. The refereeing in Game 8 was unbelievably bad. Remember Parise motioning to hit the ref over the head with his stick?

========================================================

Didn't know Henderson is battling cancer. All the best to him in the fight.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

CH, as a young teenager I remember feeling elated and relieved that Canada proved itself as the First Nation of Hockey. However, nowadays I look at the series through a different set of eyes. We simply had to admit to ourselves that there were other countries that had caught up to us. Nothing was a given anymore and we simply had to earn it.

As far as the series itself, yes Bobby Orr and even Bobby Hull for that matter, would have made a difference. However, Dave Feschuck wrote a few years back about a Russian player, Yevgeny Zimin, who wasn't permitted to play after only two games. The Summit Series website states it was due to an injury, but Feschuck wrote many years later that the Soviet leadership felt Zimin was actually going to defect while in Canada (can't find the article but I'll drop Feschuck a line later. We've talked about '72 before). Feschuck also suggests that Zimin was just as good, if not better, than Valarie Kharlamov. There were also two other Soviet stars whose names escape me now, who didn't play either for whatever the reason.

We always see varying degrees of war in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but I don't know if we'll ever see as intense an on-ice war as we did in '72. And until we put ourselves in the same skates as those warriors on the ice, we shouldn't judge them. The Soviets gave as good as they got and visa-versa. But we wond that war.

Cheers.

[CentreHice]

True. Wasn't trying to judge.....just pointing out the interesting language that Fergie and Clarke used to justify the incident.

========================================================

What's really interesting to me is the 74 series between the same Soviet team and TEAM CANADA, comprised of WHA players.

I recall being not interested in the slightest. And I don't think I was alone in that regard.

Why?

Because I was programmed to think NHL players were better?

Because no Habs were on the team?

Because I thought, "If the NHL guys had that much trouble beating them, the WHA guys have no chance."?

Perhaps a combo of the three. Which is ludicrous. Team Canada is Team Canada, right? Henderson was on that team, as well.

I really don't think the country bought into that series, which the Soviets won 4-1-3. Whatever lustre it had, has certainly faded.

Anyone here get into that one?

[Disgruntled70sHab]

There`s a few other moments I remember from `72.

... Pete Mahovlich`s goal in game 2. I remember he had Tretriak `done like dinner` in the 1975 New Year`s Eve game only to hit the post.



... the leader.



... and of course

[CentreHice]

I remember Game 7 much better...(as I actually SAW that one).

Found this clip on YouTube.

Look at Bergman and Cournoyer going after Mikhailov. What a battle.

Henderson's winner in this one was perhaps his most "fantastic" goal. Surrounded by Soviets, he put it between the 2 d-men....went around to the left, picked it up, and scored on the way down as he was being hipchecked/tripped.

Great concentration/individual effort. A 4-on-4 goal, perfectly executed. Clarke with a clean face-off win....back to Lapointe, over to Savard who controls it up the boards (he was so good at that)....dumps it up to Henderson who did the rest.

All with about 2:00 left in the game.




And here's Espo and Henderson talking about the Soviet stickwork....with emphasis on Mikhailov.