1974 Canada/Soviet Summit

[cam042686]

Indeed. Most fascinating story and I must get your book. I unfortunately didnt watch that series, otherwise occupied & out of the country at the time so no memories of it really. But yes, must have been highly entertaining, the WHA in its most formative of years vs the USSR.... Cheevers, backed up by Smoky McLeod & the eccentric Gilles Gratton; Rick Ley, Brad Selwood (who I remember as a Leaf), J.C. Tremblay & Pat Stapleton (amongst others) on Defence. Mike Walton, Rejean Houle, Hull & Mahovlich of course, even Johnny "Pie" McKenzie up~front who I trust refrained from any overt Shenanigans, like his Statute of Liberty Choke Dance or whatever huh? Doubt the Russians wouldve understood & if they did, not impressed. Maybe falling into a Stalin pose, like the Great Thinker or whatever right there at Center Ice, Luzhniki Ice Palace in Moscow.... I could see him doing that actually. Not at all hard to imagine.

McKenzie didn't do any sort of "dance" during the series. He played really well in Games 1 and 2 (1 goal and 3 assists) and then his game totally "tanked." He didn't get another point, and he really hurt Team Canada with some stupid penalties. In Game 4 in particular he took some bone-headed penalties. He was taken off the number one line after Game 6 and then didn't dress at all for Game 8.

Craig

 

[cam042686]

As this is the 40th anniversary of this great series here is a Toronto Sun article about it.

Craig Wallace

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/09/11/looking-back-at-40th-anniversary-of-canada-soviet-hockey-series

 

[space1999]

my name is Stephane Harvey, from La Baie, Qc. I am a member of SIHR.

I am very passionate by the 1974 Summit series

I love your book about that series.

Last year i met at Renfrew, Ontario, Richard Bendell, who contribute to your book. ( i love his book on 1972 too!) very great person.

I given to him on a cd all my research about the 1974 summit.
................


Thanks,

Stephane Harvey

Thanks so much Stephane, it was great to have the chance to meet and talk hockey with you as well.

I love Team Canada 1972, but also have a real soft spot for Team Canada 1974 as well!! At times, their performance in the '74 Series was right up there with the best of ANY Team Canada, ever.


FYI, I have done revised and enhanced stats for the '74 Series too for all the games we have footage for (just missing the 1st half of Gm 5), and was also VERY surprised to discover there were many mistakes in those official stats too!

In the '72 Series, I discovered that Brad Park was shortchanged 4 points that he should have received, so instead of 5, he should have been given credit for 9 points.

But, in the '74 Series, another Canadian player missed out on 3 points and you'll never believe who it was.... Gordie Howe! So instead of just 7 points, he should have been tied with Bobby Hull with 10 points, as Hull was shortchanged 1 assist as well.

How they could have missed 3 points for one of the greatest players in hockey history almost defies belief. But, it should be noted that the 3 missed assists were from Game 5, 7 and 8, all games in Moscow, where they weren't always the most accurate when assessing assists.


Richard

Author; 1972 – THE SUMMIT SERIES: Canada vs. USSR, Stats, Lies & Videotape, The UNTOLD Story of Hockey's Series of the Century
[email protected] | Facebook: www.facebook.com/72series | Twitter: www.twitter.com/72seriesbendell

 

[cam042686]

Don McLeod

Don McLeod who was Team Canada's 2nd goalie (back up to Gerry Cheevers) passed away on March 11th.

Smokey as he was known was a complete NHL bust but played well and in 1973-74 played great in the WHA with Houston. He unfortunately was a big disappointment for Team Canada 74. He had an erratic training camp, (just didn't look sharp) gave up 8 goals in Game 3 and looked shaky in Team Canada's exhibition 8-3 win over Finland in Helsinki. He then played very well in Canada's 4-3 win over Sweden and didn't appear again until their final game - a 3-1 loss in Prague against the Czechoslovakian National Team.

RIP Smokey.

 

[Scintillating10]

Found Game 4 on youtube. Team Canada played well but noticed most their players were past their prime. What younger players they had were not top players. Is this series on DVD? As youtube video was not very clear. Series carried by CTV I believe, because it was Eshaw, Meeker, Chevier doing the broadcasting.

 

[Sentinel]

Thanks so much Stephane, it was great to have the chance to meet and talk hockey with you as well.

I love Team Canada 1972, but also have a real soft spot for Team Canada 1974 as well!! At times, their performance in the '74 Series was right up there with the best of ANY Team Canada, ever.


FYI, I have done revised and enhanced stats for the '74 Series too for all the games we have footage for (just missing the 1st half of Gm 5), and was also VERY surprised to discover there were many mistakes in those official stats too!

In the '72 Series, I discovered that Brad Park was shortchanged 4 points that he should have received, so instead of 5, he should have been given credit for 9 points.

But, in the '74 Series, another Canadian player missed out on 3 points and you'll never believe who it was.... Gordie Howe! So instead of just 7 points, he should have been tied with Bobby Hull with 10 points, as Hull was shortchanged 1 assist as well.

How they could have missed 3 points for one of the greatest players in hockey history almost defies belief. But, it should be noted that the 3 missed assists were from Game 5, 7 and 8, all games in Moscow, where they weren't always the most accurate when assessing assists.


Richard

Has there been a comprehensive attempt to re-evaluate stats for both these series? Seems to me there've been quite a few mistakes in point counting.

 

[cam042686]

Another article on the 74 Series

http://www.tsn.ca/in-russia-fond-memories-for-a-hockey-series-forgotten-by-canadians-1.157277