Soviets nearly had last laugh in classic series 40 years ago
Almost four decades have passed since the classic Canada-soviet eight-game series in 1972, which is why on Sunday some members of both teams will commemorate the occasion with a game on Red Square.
Serge Savard, Yvan Cournoyer and Guy Lapointe aren’t in Moscow, so Yvon Lambert is representing the Canadiens. Sounds like fun, but what this game does is bring back memories of my first visit to Moscow in July of that year to gather information for a number of pre-series articles.
USSR Hockey Federation secretarygeneral Andrei Starovoitov was among the 20 officials at the first meeting.
“Seth Martin, is he on your team?” Starovoitov asked through an interpreter. “No.” “Your Dryden, is he as good as Martin?” Starovoitov asked.
“Martin was a very good international amateur goaltender, but he wasn’t good enough to play in the NHL,” he was told. “Ken Dryden is the best goaltender in the NHL.”
“How do you think the series will go?” he asked. “Eight straight. What do you think?” “The games will show.” Now, fast forward to Game 1 at the Montreal Forum on Sept 2.
Phil Esposito beat Vladislav Tretiak 30 seconds into the game, with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau leading the cheering. Six minutes in, Paul Henderson scored, but the Soviets replied with two goals in the last half of the period.
Valeri Kharlamov scored twice in the second period, and it wasn’t until almost midway through the third period that Bobby Clarke lifted his teammates to within a goal. Alas, the next three were scored by the Soviets in a matter of only a little more than five minutes. Soviets 7, Team Canada 3. Several minutes after the devastating loss, several hundred shocked Canadian media people gathered in the Forum’s garage, trying to understand what had happened. At one point, Starovoitov made his way carefully through the media mob. He almost put music to his first question – this time without the help of an interpreter:
“Do you remember me from Moscow, Mr. Fisher?” he asked. “Yes, Mr. Starovoitov.” “Do you remember what you said to me about the series in Moscow, Mr. Fisher?”
“Yes, I said eight straight, Mr. Starovoitov.” “You could be right,” he snapped. Then he turned abruptly, and walked away ... laughing, while the rest of Canada wept.