Canada Russia 1972 Shock and Trauma

Ahh it was forty years ago...In September 1972, Jean Beliveau one of the classiest hockey players of all time had been retired for over a year. I mention Jean Beliveau because in September 1972 Canada won the historic series against the Soviet Union but class should not be used to describe the victory. This series was incendiary, traumatic, and barbaric. It pitted Soviet athletes who were well-disciplined educated soldiers trained in a totalitarian regime versus barely educated junior-trained professional athletes raised in a capitalist regime.

For Canada the series was a revelation in that we saw Canadian players we had grown up with and who we believed to be vastly superior demi-hockey gods turn into mere mortals. The once demi-gods also wilted to extreme and bizarre behaviour patterns. The first four games in Canada created severe stress for the rabid hockey fan and some went into shock. It wasn't that the Soviets won but my god how they won. They toyed with our greats, Kharlamov deked out one of our legendary defenceman like he wasn't there and then beat Ken Dryden like it was child's play. Tretiak would stop a shot from the big M or Dennis Hull like he was stopping a minor leaguer.  The Soviets would pass and pass and skate and skate and play like a well-oiled machine, and the out of shape Canadians would lumber around like clueless drunken sailors. It was embarassing and humiliating to watch the mighty Canadian superstars. A young Ken Dryden, one of the few educated Canadians, was as confused and befuddled as his teammates. The legendary Frank Mahovlich was overcome with emotion and became a shadow of the player he really was. Vic Hadfield, a leader with the Rangers, mysteriously quit on the team because he was getting reduced ice-time.

The behaviour patterns of many a Canadian hockey legend became progressively more manic as the series progressed.  The Canadians had been misled into believing the Soviets were no match and could be easily beaten. After all hadn't the Gilbert Perreault-led Junior Canadiens demolished the Soviets in the late sixties? The NHL could without hesitation ban Bobby Hull because he joined the WHA, and Bobby Orr sadly would miss the series because of injury and Canada would still yawn win. Not quite.

A sense of  hysteria enveloped the country after the fourth game in Canada with the Soviets ahead and this affected the team immensely. Was it cold war hysteria or professional athletes realizing their livelihoods and professional stature was at stake?  In blurry screenshots, we witness how depraved things became. JP Parise about to swing his stick at a referee, Bobby Clarke intentionally breaking the ankle of the skilled Kharlamov, the mild mannered Rod Gilbert fighting, Phil Esposito bowing majestically after falling, Bill Goldsworthy goonishly exhibiting the italian salute after a winning goal, Alan Eagleson giving the finger to the Politburo...Then there were the premeditated vicious slashes and punches and the endless parade to the penalty box. The Canadians really thought they were in an actual war and not an athletic competition. How many times did they give a Soviet player the choke sign that they were about to murder them. Canadian hockey players were not conditioned to be embarrassed so the win at all costs approach became more intense and overwhelming as the skills failed.

Phil Esposito ranted after game four that they were trying but that was not the point to Canadians. They had lost and had been humbled, when they were supposed to be the best by a country mile. Phil Esposito lost it emotionally. If you watched him before a face-off his buffoon-like antics included lifting his hands like he had scored, or waving to the fans, or calling a huddle of his linemates. Even some of his own teammates seemed a little perplexed with Phil. However, Esposito began to grow under the bubbling pressure and his play entered an altered state. There was no doubt who the leader for Canada was, Esposito played like a man possessed and finally proved he was more than just Bobby Orr's sidekick. You can just see the expended energy on Phil's face as the games in the Soviet Union progressed. We should have realized how great Phil was after he obliterated the NHL single season goal scoring record by 18 goals in 1971.

What can be said of Paul Henderson's three game winning goals in the Soviet Union. His game winning goal in game 7 predated the rushes of Mario Lemieux and Alexander Ovechkin as he deked and swerved his way to the net. Others rose to the occasion as well like Yvan Cournoyer, Peter Mahovlich, and even Gary Bergman. We did win when the Canadian athletes got in shape, but it was so debilitating a win that in the end the victory led more to a sense of relief that the series was finally over. However, we knew things would never be the same. The country would endure post traumatic hockey syndrome for decades after.