*1547. Холодная война на льду

[Николай Озеров]

https://www.nhl.com/news/canada-rall...eries/c-641849
by John Kreiser / NHL.com
September 24th, 2012

Forty years ago, the hockey world fundamentally was changed by the start of an eight-game series between national teams from Canada, loaded with NHL players in their prime, and the Soviet Union -- considered the two best hockey-playing nations in the world at the time -- that played out across the month of September. The series was a must-follow for hockey fans across the globe and after its dramatic conclusion --- a 4-3-1 series win for the Canadians -- there was no question that the NHL never would be the same again. This month, NHL.com looks at the historic Summit Series with a month-long collection of content.

Previous 1972 Summit Series recaps: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5

When a team is in the kind of hole Canada was entering Game 6 of the Summit Series -- down 3-1-1 and facing three more games in a hostile building -- it's sometimes best to look at the little picture, rather than the big one. That's what coach Harry Sinden did at practice, encouraging his players to think about the next shift and the next period, rather than the entirety of the task at hand.

He also changed strategies, getting away from the straight-line tactics that were common in the NHL and pushing the tempo with head-man passes and criss-crosses to take advantage of the Soviets' biggest weakness: their play in their own zone. The Canadian players were also starting to round into shape as they took the ice on Sept. 24, 1972 -- and they were becoming more familiar with the Soviets' tactics, which were unlike anything they had seen in the NHL.

GAME 6: CANADA 3, SOVIET UNION 2

Canada left the ice after Game 6 with a 3-2 victory that gave them renewed confidence and kept alive their hopes of winning the 1972 Summit Series.

First Period: No scoring

Second Period: 1, USSR, Liapkin 1 (Yakushev, Shadrin), 1:12. 2, Canada, Hull 2 (Gilbert), 5:13. 3, Canada, Cournoyer 2 (Berenson), 6:21. 4, Canada, Henderson 5, 6:36. 5, USSR, Yakushev 3 (Shadrin, Liapkin), 17:11 (pp).

Third Period: No scoring.

Shots on Goal: Canada 7-8-7-22. Soviet Union 12-8-9--29

Goalies: Canada, Dryden 1-2-0 (29 shots on goal, 27 saves). Soviet Union, Tretiak 3-2-1 (22-19)

Attendance: 15,000

"It caused us, and especially our goaltenders, a lot of problems early," Bob Clarke told NHL.com when asked about the Soviets' style of play. "They would pass from areas where we would always shoot. That led to a lot of confusion with our goalies and with our team. Also, our conditioning was poor. But once we got into shape and were at the same level of physical conditioning as them, we were able to handle it. And once we got into the same condition as them and had some games under our belt, they couldn't handle us."

The specter of having to return to Canada after losing to a team they were expected to rout provided some additional incentive.

"Fear is a wonderful motivator," Paul Henderson told NHL.com. "After we lost the first game [in Moscow], I said to my wife, 'If we don’t win the last three games, we're going to be known as losers for the rest of our lives. We have got to win the last three games.'"

In addition to dealing with Canada on the ice, the Soviet authorities were trying to figure out how to tamp down the enthusiasm of the 3,000 Canadian fans that had made the trip to Moscow. The noise and behavior of the visiting fans was such that Soviet authorities broke up the visitors' section and scattered the fans around the building. All that succeeded in doing was getting the red-clad visiting fans to cheer louder.

Their cheers in the first period were for goaltender Ken Dryden, who hadn't expected to play for the rest of the series but got the start after the Soviets' five-goal barrage against Tony Esposito in the third period of Game 5. Dryden stopped all 12 shots he faced in the opening 20 minutes as the Canadians killed off three power plays called by the West German officiating crew of Franz Baader and Josef Kompalla.

Yuri Liapkin fired a slap shot through a screen and past Dryden 1:12 into the second period to put the Soviets ahead, but Canada retaliated with three goals in a span of 83 seconds. Dennis Hull flipped the rebound of Rod Gilbert's shot over Viacheslav Tretiak at 5:13. Red Berenson hit Yvan Cournoyer in the slot for a blast that found the net at 6:31, and Henderson intercepted a pass, split the defense and blasted a slapper past a surprised Tretiak 15 seconds later for a 3-1 lead.

In a game and a series that was becoming increasingly nasty, Soviet star Valeri Kharlamov had become a marked man. Clarke drew a minor and a misconduct after a scrum with Kharlamov; after serving his penalties, he returned to the ice and slashed the Soviet star in the ankle -- which remarkably went unpenalized, though Hull was called for a mysterious slashing call seconds later, at 17:02.

Alexander Yakushev, another Soviet player who was making a major impression on the NHL, got one back by scoring a power-play goal nine seconds after Hull was penalized. But Canada's penalty-killing was flawless the rest of the way, shutting down the Soviets during a high-sticking major to Esposito late in the period that turned into a two-man advantage for 2:00 when Canada was given a bench minor for protesting the call -- Sinden and assistant coach John Ferguson were so irate that Berenson had to calm them down.

The Canadians completely stifled the Soviets in the third period, killed off a final power play when Ron Ellis was called for holding with 2:21 left in regulation, and left the ice with a 3-2 victory that gave them renewed confidence and kept alive their hopes of winning the series.

"The most important thing was the psychological power that derived from not wanting to be what my brother called 'a bunch of bums' and 'a disgrace to my country,'" Gilbert said. "We didn't want to lose. We couldn't have come back to Canada."

[Николай Озеров]

http://www.cbc.ca/sports-content/hoc...ito-fumes.html

By Malcolm Kelly Posted: Saturday, September 8, 2012 | 11:01 PM
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Phil Esposito, left, gave an interview for the ages after his Canadian team lost to the Russians in Game 4 of the Summit Series in Vancouver. (Peter Bregg/Canadian Press)
Phil Esposito, left, gave an interview for the ages after his Canadian team lost to the Russians in Game 4 of the Summit Series in Vancouver. (Peter Bregg/Canadian Press)

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CBC Sports sent columnist Malcolm Kelly through a time warp and into the body of a veteran Vancouver sportswriter, circa 1972, to report on Game 4 of the Canada-Soviet hockey series. Here's what he sent back.

VANCOUVER, Sept. 8, 1972 - As we trooped down from the press box at the suddenly empty Pacific Coliseum on Friday, a dreary score of Soviets 5 Canada 3 pasted on the big board overhead, Dick Beddoes must have been wondering what else he might have to eat in embarrassment.

The Globe and Mail scribe, fiddling with his famous fedora (salt? pepper?), had gone the rest of us one better before this series started by saying if the Soviets won just once in this eight game affair, he would partake of that Ukrainian delicacy borscht, one we are told is cold and made mainly of beets.

Eat of lot of it in Winnipeg, apparently.

Well, he's already had that meal, back there in Toronto when the club he's lately been referring to as "Team USA NHL" because most of the Canadians earn their wages in undervalued Greenbacks, actually came out and beat the Soviets for the one and only time.

Dinner has arrived for many of us, though, especially those who suggested chomping on their own hats would be in order if anything but a sweep occurred.

What's been shocking, as the ink-stained troops have made their way across the country from Montreal (loss) to Toronto (win) to Winnipeg (tie) is how our scribes have gone from unabashed cheerleaders to the Spanish Inquisition.

And no one expected the Spanish Inquisition.

Canada slow, undisciplined

Canada is too slow. Too undisciplined. Our hockey isn't skilled enough. We aren't organized enough. Just a bunch of goons.

Wasn't it our pack that decided this Summit Series (nice phrase Bedclothes, by the way), was going to be a walkover?

Everybody in the press box is pretty down in the dumps now, feeling embarrassed. Trying to make up for it by dumping on the home side.

The players have noticed.

On the way down to the dressing room I had to find my wife for a moment to tell her to dodge home with the blue Dart and not wait up for me.

Interview for the ages

Babs was at the Zamboni entrance, so was Johnny Esaw, splendid in his red CTV jacket, and along came Phil Esposito for one of the best TV interviews I've ever seen.

Espo was one angry Italian Canadian (as Mr. Trudeau says we can call him because it's "multicultural"), I'll tell you.

Especially when some of Vancouver's finest drunks hung over the seat rails and booed the sweaty Sault Ste. Marie stalwart, something that only made him madder.

"We're disillusioned and disappointed. We cannot believe the bad press we've got, the booing we've got in our own building," said Espo, who was warming up like Lawrence Welk ("A one, an a two ...").

"I'm completely disappointed. I cannot believe it. Every one of us guys ... we came because we love our country. Not for any other reason. We came because we love Canada."

After scratching that down on a pad already wet from tears for these guys Vancouver fans think are clowns, it was time to repair to the dressing rooms. On the way, some wag late for a date in Hastings Park yelled out "See, I told you Communism is best. Can't you see it?"

They don't call this the Left Coast for nothing.

When we arrived by the Canadian dressing room, coach Harry Sinden looked like he'd died and gone to hell, judging by his pallor. Wished we had Max Ferguson's alter ego Leslie Lovelace around to ask the first question, in case someone was punched.

Just then Espo clomped by. I'd swear on Kruschchev's shoe what he was muttering was "This is a war, man. This is a war."

One wonders if anyone else in that room, where quiet was the order of the late evening, and those sucking back on post-game cigarettes seemed to have taken on the look of a soldier just back from Vimy Ridge, is thinking that now.

Down the hall, Soviet coach Vsevolod Bobrov, who is only considered a happy fellow because his assistant, Boris Kulagin, is so grim he's now being called "Chuckles" by the Canadian writers, was holding fort again.

A win such as this might have at least brought a smile to Bobrov's features but, perhaps fearing any misspoken word might result in a trip to Siberia, he went on again about how this was a result of hard work, and it was possibly a surprise.

Perhaps? These commies can put the dig in, can't they?

Tretiak real deal

What helps the Russkies, of course, is they knew all along that Tretiak is as good as any NHLer. That the glorious skating Valeri Kharlamov is one of the best forwards in the world. That Boris Mikhailov can be as bruising as any guy in the big league.

One of the kid reporters calls Mikhailov a "power" forward...whatever that means.

But did the Reds know goalie Ken Dryden would fall like a house of cards on that Brady Bunch show my kids watch? Or that the GAG (goal a game) line from the Rangers would be so slow in this series, with Vic Hadfield especially struggling to keep up to the speed?

The way these Soviets work, they likely did. Probably have the opposing dressing room bugged already. And that sweeper over there? How do you know that's not a KGB agent?

Maybe that fan was.

When the Soviets arrived at Dorval a week ago, Andrei Starovoitov, of their ice hockey federation, chatted on through French, English and Russian translation about how his team had no preconceptions about this series and just wanted to learn from the Canadians.

Apparently there was an error in that translation. What he meant was they wanted to teach the Canadians a lesson.

Mission accomplished.

So, here we are. Down 1-2-1 to a team that all wears helmets (everyone?), can't find enough matching gloves to be presentable and uses hockey sticks made in Finland, of all places (Does anyone know if Koho is a person, a place, or a thing?).

Bobrov did say one thing interesting through his interpreter. He wondered if the Canadians would loosen up and play better in Moscow when they weren't under the pressure of their own fans.

Can't see it. But maybe this is something else he knows the rest of us don't.

As for all the national agony, perhaps it's best, after what has happened at the Olympics in Munich, to remember this is, after all, only hockey.

[Николай Озеров]

http://thechronicleherald.ca/thenova...-summit-series

By IAN THOMPSON
Published September 30, 2012 - 9:33am
Last Updated September 30, 2012 - 9:35am

Our fans were half-crazed, boastful, funny
Canada’s NHL stars stand in line before a Summit Series game against the U.S.S.R. in Moscow in 1972. (ITAR-TASS)
Canada’s NHL stars stand in line before a Summit Series game against the U.S.S.R. in Moscow in 1972. (ITAR-TASS)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Associate publisher Ian Thompson was a staff reporter for The Chronicle-Herald in 1972. With his wife, he travelled as a tourist to Moscow for the final four games of the Canada-Russia hockey series and he filed game reports for this newspaper. Forty years later, he offers some observations on that experience.

OUR NEWEST FRIEND from Burnaby was clearly drunk. He had joined the tour hours earlier in Vancouver and we were now leaving Montreal for Moscow and the most talked about hockey series of all time.

We were 3,000 Canadians with tour packages to visit Moscow and, in our case, Leningrad (St. Petersburg). Feel*ing extravagant, my wife and I paid $1,400 for the two weeks of travel, meals, the Bolshoi, the circus, the Her*mitage, Red Square, Lenin’s tomb, the Summer Palace and, of course, the hockey tickets.

We were in good Nova Scotian com*pany. Edwin “Oogie" Jones, “Big" John Dunlop, Winston Bradley, Eddie Ray*mond, Clyde Fraser, Gerry Munroe, Creel MacArthur, Peter and Alexa McDonough, Stuart MacLeod.

[Николай Озеров]

http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com...e-we-lost.html

It was supposed to be a cake walk for Canada. The Soviet amateurs would be crushed by Canada's top professionals. Oh, we'll show them just how good Canadian hockey really is. Sure, they could beat our amateur teams that were made up of mill workers and car salesmen, but this was going to be different.

Everything was going according to the script when Canada scored on the first scoring chance of the game just 30 seconds into the action. Phil Esposito, who seconds earlier enthusiastically won the ceremonial faceoff, potted a Frank Mahovlich rebound past a flopping Russian goalie named Vladislav Tretiak.

By the 6:32 mark Canada upped the score to 2-0 when Paul Henderson wired a hard, but seemingly harmless shot to Tretiak's far side. Tretiak looked awkward as he feebly attempted to knock down the puck.

The predicted rout was on. The party was on.

"When I got on the ice," remembered Rod Gilbert in Scott Morrison's excellent book The Days Canada Stood Still, "it was already 2-0. Before I played my first shift it was 2-0, so I'm sitting on the bench saying, 'Let me on. Let me score my goals.' I figured it was going to be 15, 17-0, and I wanted to score a few goals."

Gilbert's thoughts at that point were the common thoughts of almost every Canadian watching the game, and certainly of all the players playing in it. It was a feeling that Canadians not only shared during those opening minutes, but during the entire training camp and since the day the tournament was announced. For that matter, Canadians felt that confident about their hockey dominance ever since the Soviets arrived on the international hockey scene in the 1950s.

Those thoughts were abolished forever before the night was over.

Full Story and Box Score @ 1972 Summit Series.com

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