Picture the excitement that preceded the gold-medal game at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Now double or triple it. That was the kind of excitement that gripped Canada on Sept. 28, 1972, as Canada and the Soviet Union skated onto the ice for the eighth and final game of the Summit Series.
While the 15,000 spectators at the Luzhniki Ice Palace in Moscow buzzed in anticipation of the final showdown that evening, parents back in Canada, where game time was in the afternoon, kept kids home to watch -- and many principals allowed TVs in the classroom so those who went to school wouldn't miss the action. Bars and restaurants were packed, and appliance and department stores mounted racks of TVs in the windows. It was like a national holiday. I can't remember if I had classes - I wasn't going any way. I jammed into a New College lounge at the University of Toronto watching every minute of it.
Momentum was clearly on Canada's side after back-to-back wins in Game 6 and 7, but it still had to win Game 8 to claim victory. A tie game would result in a tied series, but the Russians would have claimed victory because they had scored one more goal. That didn't sit well with the Canadians, so Team 50 set out to make sure that would not happen.
On the evening before the concluding game, the Russians switched officials. It was agreed upon earlier that Swedish referee Uve Dahlberg and Czechoslovakian referee Rudy Bata would officiate the final game, but Dahlberg had suspiciously fallen ill -- food poisoning was the story.
The Russians said that West German officials Josef Kompalla and Franz Baader, who both horrendously officiated Game 6, would have to officiate the final game. But Canada wanted no part of that. Those two, Kompalla in particular, proved to be brutally incompetent.
Canada wanted no part of such an arrangement. Alan Eagleson had threatened to leave without ever playing Game 8, and, at least on the night prior to the big game, he had the support of the players on that issue. By doing so the Soviets would lose out on thousands of dollars of television money. An agreement was made just hours before game time. The Canadians would stay and play Game 8 and each team would choose one official each. Canada chose Bata, while Russia chose Kompalla.
Team Canada's fears about referee Kompalla were quickly realized. Just 2:25 into the game Bill White was given a questionable penalty, followed by another to Peter Mahovlich just 36 seconds later. The game was just three minutes old and already Canada was having to kill off a two-man disadvantage. Thirty-three seconds later Alexander Yakushev opened the scoring. Less than a minute later, Kompalla was at it again. At 4:10 J.P. Parise was given a minor penalty that was even more questionable than the others. Parise became enraged, slamming his stick on the ice so that it splintered while he yelled obscenities. Kompalla added a 10-minute misconduct on top of the two-minute minor.
hat almost pushed Parise over the top. Parise aggressively skated up to Kompalla, who was positioned along the boards. Parise stopped just shy of doing what would have been one of the blackest marks in hockey history. He pulled his stick well over his head and was about to whack the referee like he was a piñata. Thankfully he stopped himself in time. Kompalla rightfully added a game misconduct on to Parise's penalty total.
Team Canada seemed to settle down after the outburst. And, for whatever reason, the refereeing improved somewhat, too. Canada was still getting penalties, but so were the Soviets. At least the bias wasn't as obviously blatant from that point on in the game. Phil Esposito scored at 6:45 to tie the game for a few minutes. But by 13:10 Soviet defenseman Vladimir Lutchenko tallied on a power play but Canada left the first period tied at two thanks to a wonderful passing play finished off by Brad Park. Canada had survived the early moments and appeared to be in good shape heading into the second period. But a fluke goal put the Soviets back in the lead just 21 seconds into the second frame. Vladimir Shadrin tapped in a crazy rebound behind a surprised Ken Dryden in the Canadian goal. Big Yakushev fired the puck well over the net, hitting the mesh netting that accompanied the boards instead of Plexiglas as in North American rinks. The springy wiring caused the puck to bounce right back into the slot where Shadrin was waiting.
Despite the brilliant netminding by Ken Dryden in the second period, the Russian's persistent attack paid off with three goals compared to Canada's one. The Russians held a commanding 5-3 lead after two periods of play. Despite the score, Canada headed into the second intermission very positively. They felt they were playing a good game thus far.
Canada took to the ice led by Phil Esposito. He had an incredible period of hockey. Coach Harry Sinden called period 3 "his finest hour," which is really saying something since he had been Canada's undisputed leader all series. It was Espo who scored the all important early goal at just 2:27 of the third, narrowing the score to 5-4. Canada continued to pour it on, and at 12:56 tied up the score, thanks to Esposito once again. Espo refused to be denied as he shook off two defenders and tested Tretiak with a good shot. Tretiak made the stop, but he was unable to stop Yvan Cournoyer's tap in on the rebound.
The Soviet goal judge did not turn on the red light when Cournoyer tied the score. This enraged Alan Eagleson, who feared the Soviets were going to cry "no goal." Eagleson, who was in the stands, tried to make his way to the public address announcer's booth to make sure that the goal was announced. He pushed his way past several military men who did not appreciate Eagleson's actions. They apprehended Eagleson and started to drag him off. That's when Peter Mahovlich showed up and poked the militia men with his stick. Mahovlich, who actually hopped the boards and was in the crowd in a scrum with the Russian military men, was quickly followed by his teammates. Eagleson was escorted across the ice to the Canadian bench. Embarrassingly, Eagleson shook his fist at the crowd in disgust.
Then the greatest moment in Canada's sporting history, perhaps in Canadian history period occured. Yvan Cournoyer intercepted a Soviet clearing attempt and fired a cross ice pass to a streaking Paul Henderson, who had called off the line's usual left winger Peter Mahovlich in order to get on the ice. The pass was behind Henderson. No. 19 was also tripped up on the play and went crashing into the end boards behind the Soviet defenders. Esposito poked the puck towards Tretiak for an easy save, but by this time Henderson had gotten back on his feet and gained the rebound. Henderson shovelled the puck towards the goal line. Tretiak made yet another save, but left another rebound, too. Henderson, unchecked by any Soviet player, was able to flip the final rebound over a sprawled-out Tretiak.
There just 34 seconds left in the game when Henderson scored. Canada went mad!
It was an historic series for both Canada but the Soviets. The NHL was never the same as a flood of talent crossed the Atlantic to transfor the game.
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