NHL team following in UBC’s footsteps
‘73 university team played seven-game series against Chinese hosts
The Vancouver Canucks landed in Beijing on Friday for their second game in China and, as they did during their stay in Shanghai, immediately began to explore the capital city.
There were the wonders of old China, most notably The Great Wall. But as they made their way into town, they took in the sights and sounds of modern Beijing, the stunning Centre for the Performing Arts, the CCTV Headquarters, the China World Trade Centre, The Bird’s Nest and The Water Cube from the 2008 Olympics.
Like Shanghai, it’s a city where things move at the speed of light and bullet trains move at 350 km/h. A gleaming metropolis that stands as a monument to the country’s ambition and entrepreneurial spirit. And the Canucks are here now, ambassadors for their game and pioneers for the NHL.
There’s just one thing. They’re not the first Vancouver-based hockey team to travel to Beijing and China. They are, more to the point, 44 years late to the party. In one of the most under-recorded but remarkable events in Canada’s sports history, the UBC men’s hockey team coached by Dr. Bob Hindmarch travelled to China for a seven-game series in and around Christmas of 1973, a trip that was captured by the NFB and can be viewed on the web.
What can’t be captured, however, is everything that team saw and felt as they made their way around the dark and mysterious empire.
“There were virtually no cars,” says Bruce Brill, then a defenceman on the ’Birds, now a retiree. “The only cars would be government cars or trucks. Everyone was on a bike or walking. There were no street lights. They’d paint tops of trees white so there would be a bit of light at night.
“Everywhere we went we stayed in Friendship hotels. We were literally the only guests. They’d take us to Friendship stores and it was the same thing. We were the only customers. It’s amazing to think what’s happened since we were there.”
The Thunderbirds’ trip was conceived by the Trudeau — that would be Pierre — government as part of a larger attempt to open and normalize relations with China. It also followed the “pingpong diplomacy” conceived by Henry Kissinger and the Nixon government in which the American table tennis team toured China in 1971, the first Americans to visit Beijing officially since 1949.
The UBC trip wasn’t as dramatic or well-publicized. But the T-Birds still saw things in China that no Canadian had seen. There’s a bit in the film where one of the players undergoes acupuncture, a technique only a handful of people knew about in the West. There are images from Beijing of horse-drawn carts moving hay around the capital. There are highlights of a game in Harbin where a crowd of 17,000 took in the game at an outdoor rink the day after another crowd of 17,000 watched the Thunderbirds practice.
And there are pictures from another game at an outdoor arena in Changchun where the Canadians and Chinese played in snow, wind and minus-20 C weather. Don’t see the Canucks having the same experience this time around.
“I found a diary I kept during the trip,” says Richard Longpre, a forward on the Thunderbirds. “If you’d asked me before I couldn’t help you. It feels like such a long time ago.”
Maybe. With shaggy hair and an inclination toward large bow ties, the UBC players were certainly of their time and place. They were also the first Westerners many of the Chinese had seen. Brill says people would gather to watch the Thunderbirds board the team bus and gaze in wonderment at Bill Ennos, a forward with a shock of red hair.
“I think the biggest impact we had was going out and interacting with the Chinese,” says Longpre. “It was the first taste of the West for all those people.”
The university team was far superior to their hosts, winning all seven games by a combined score of 56-5. The tour opened in Beijing at The People Sports Palace, the largest indoor facility in the country which was also holding its first-ever hockey game. A crowd of 18,000 took in the game, which the Thunderbirds won 5-0.
Longpre remembers it for other reasons.
“The crowd wasn’t allowed to yell or cheer,” he says. “A loudspeaker would come on and tell everyone to be quiet. I’ve never been in an arena where so many people made such little noise.”
The Chinese team had also prepared themselves for a visit from the Broad Street Bullies, not a Canadian university team. As such, both Longpre and Brill report there was a lot of stick work from the hosts early in the game before they realized the Canadians weren’t interested in brawling.
The Chinese, in fact, were in top physical shape and could handle the game’s physicality. As for hockey’s skill aspect, not so much. Part of the problem was their hopelessly inferior equipment, which featured comically long wooden sticks and skates without rockers or twin edges.
Brill reports the Chinese would watch the Canadians sharpen their skates with the portable sharpener they’d brought from Canada. One of the players who could speak a little English finally gathered up the courage to ask if his skates could be sharpened by the wondrous new machine.
“His skating improved like 30 per cent,” says Brill. “All the Chinese players lined up to have their skates sharpened after that.”
In Hindmarch, the Thunderbirds had the perfect group leader for their great adventure. A legendary figure around the UBC campus. Hindmarch had been an assistant coach on Father Bauer’s Canadian team at the 1964 Olympics and served as a vice-president of the Canadian Olympic Association. In the film he can be seen speaking to his team before the first game.
“You’re representing Canadian hockey,” he says. “What we do, we do really well.”
“He was a wonderful diplomat,” says Longpre. “He was really good at getting us to understand this was important.”
Longpre has since been back to China a couple of times. Brill hasn’t, but both are aware they were part of a unique moment in history and if others have forgotten, they haven’t.
“We were briefed by the Canadian government before we left,” says Longpre. “Everyone was told there was a bigger issue and the issue was to exchange cultures.”
And play a little hockey. What could be more Canadian?