If you are unfamiliar with Roch Carrier's childrens book The Sweater then you are missing a bit of cult hockey nostalgia. It was originally published in French (Le Chandail) in 1979 and tells the story of a small boy growing up in rural Quebec during the great days of Maurice Richard and what happens when he is sent a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater by mistake.
The story became such an ingrained part of Canadian literature that a portion of it appears in both English and French on the back of the country's 5 dollar bill. (Note the number 9 jersey)
The book was made into an animated short in in 1980. For some reason I've always looked at the book as somehow Christmas related, in fact it always reminds me of when I got my first hockey jersey in the mail at Christmas as a kid. If you haven't seen the animated version it is included below in it's entirety (approx. 10 minutes).
I don't think I've ever seen footage that more accurately portrays just how insane the WHA was. From blue pucks to all glass boards, to Bill Goldthorpe (aka Ogie Ogilthorpe...) and fights that make the current NHL look like the Olympics. The following comes from MyHockeyTV.com a site dedicated to WHA videos. It's actually focused on only one team - the aptly named Minnesota Fighting Saints - but it makes you realize just how untame the world of professional hockey was in the mid-seventies.
If you're looking for even more WHA game footage check out Mark Willand's WHA Blog. If you have an interest in the ludicrous uniforms then just as there is an NHL Uniforms website detailing every NHL jersey, there is one by the same creator called WHA Uniforms detailing all 7 years of the league's colorful existance.
And you thought Slapshot was far fetched and exagerated...
....35 Years Ago "Henderson has scored for Canada!"
Background In September of 1972 Canada and Russia met in what may still be the defining moment in international hockey competition. It could very well have been the most important event in modern hockey history. The so-called Summit in 1972 would nearly break up a team, turn a country upside-down, bring one legend out of retirement and create a new one. The Canadian team would be named "Team of the Century" in Canada and two members of the Russian team, Tretiak and Kharlamov, would make the "Top Russian Athletes of the 20th Century" list. It changed the face of the game and nothing like it would ever be seen again.
In 1972 the US and Soviet governments were meeting in Moscow at the height of the cold war, Bobby Fischer had defeated Boris Spassky in chess in Rekyjavik, the US and other countries were withdrawing from Vietnam and for the first time ever a true battle between the greatest hockey powers in the world was about to take place.
The series would be 8 games, four games would be played in arenas across Canada with the remaining four in Moscow.
Team Canada consisted of the best players selected from the NHL (WHA players were not permitted to take part which meant no Bobby Hull), Bobby Orr was on the team but would not play due to a knee injury. (He did however travel with the team.) Instead Canada would be led by the likes of Phil Esposito (30), Paul Henderson (29), Bobby Clarke (23), and Gary Bergman (33). Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito split goaltending duties.
The Soviet team was compiled of the best players playing at the highest levels in Russia. Although technically amateurs by Olympic standards, they were the country's equivalent of the Canadian squad and included some of the greatest technical players in the world, all backstopped by arguably the greatest goalie ever - Vladislav Tretiak. The First 7 Games Game 1 was played in Montreal, and an optimistic Canada was dealt a rather startling blow when the Soviets came away with a 7-3 victory. Game 2, in Toronto, evened the series with Canada winning 4-1. Game 3, in Winnipeg, despite ending as a 4-4 tie, would in the end be the deciding match, as barring another tie meant that one team would actually come out of the series with a clear win. In Vancouver for Game 4 things began to fall apart for Canada. They would lose 5-3, actually be booed by the nation, members of the team would quit due to lack of ice time and other reasons, and they would be up against a wall - down 2-1-1 in the series and heading to Moscow for the final four games. Phil Esposito's near plea to the nation would restore the peace....
"To the people across Canada, we tried, we gave it our best, and to the people that boo us, geez, I'm really, all of us guys are really disheartened and we're disillusioned, and we're disappointed at some of the people. We cannot believe the bad press we've got, the booing we've gotten in our own buildings. If the Russians boo their players, the fans... Russians boo their players... Some of the Canadian fans- I'm not saying all of them, some of them booed us, then I'll come back and I'll apologize to each one of the Canadians, but I don't think they will. I'm really, really... I'm really disappointed. I am completely disappointed. I cannot believe it. Some of our guys are really, really down in the dumps, we know, we're trying, like, hell, I mean, we're doing the best we can, and they got a good team, and let's face facts. But it doesn't mean that we're not giving it our 150%, because we certainly are."
Team Canada, an entourage of fans (several thousand), and a 70-year old Foster Hewitt, brought out of a 7 year retirement to announce the games, headed to Moscow via Sweden...
In Game 5 Canada led 4-1, but would fall in the end 5-4. Two more players would leave the team. They were now down by two games, playing far from home, where there was a most formidable home ice advantage... Game 6 the Canadians would win 3-2, and if anything it showed just how ugly the series was. Bobby Clarke, admittedly broke Kharlamov's ankle after being told to by assistant coach John Ferguson. The German referees loyalties were called into question. Off the ice the team was being harassed and having their food parcels from Canada stolen...half a world away a country started to hold it's breath.
Game 7 would bring Canada to a stand still as their team would come out with a 4-3 victory. Tempers on the ice were getting uglier as Boris Mikhailov would actually kick defenseman Gary Bergman with his skate... Maple Leaf forward Paul Henderson was fulfilling childhood dreams by scoring his second game-winning goal in as many games. The series was now tied at 3-3-1.
Game 8 1-0 Russia, 1-1, 2-1 Russia, 2-2, 3-2 Russia, 3-3, 4-3 Russia, 5-3 Russia...and so began the third period with Canada down by two goals. Two minutes into the period Esposito would score his seventh goal in the series, 10 minutes later Cournoyer would tie the game at 5. It would stand that way till the final minute of the game...and then history would take over as Paul Henderson would score his third consecutive game-winner with only 34 seconds left...putting his own rebound over Tretiak. People would write songs about that goal...
"I still talk about that goal 300 days a year. And the thing about it: they felt a part of it. They always say, 'We'. They don't say, 'You did this.' We as Canadians did it."
The following is the last 10 minutes of game 8 with the original announcing by Hewitt. It shows just how grueling the series had been and how much is drained from both teams, the two completely different styles of play, and the 150% that Esposito refers to.
If you are unfamiliar with Roch Carrier's childrens book The Sweater then you are missing a bit of cult hockey nostalgia. It was originally published in French (Le Chandail) in 1979 and tells the story of a small boy growing up in rural Quebec during the great days of Maurice Richard and what happens when he is sent a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater by mistake.
The entire series is available on DVD at Amazon.ca for $72 CDN 