CSKA Moscow vs. Montreal, Dec. 31, 1975

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mcphee

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The greatest game of all time is either mythical or personal, I'll say it was a great game. I watched it with friends before going to a great party and remember it like yesterday. My brother attended and was lucky enough to have great seats in the 'reds'. If anyone has this game on tape, you can see my then teenage little bro's claim to fame. Late in the game, he was struck in the back by a sponge rubber puck that some clown tossed down from the blues. He picked it up and held onto it and as the game was ending, and the Soviet players went to congratulate Tretiak, he tossed it towrds the Russian end. It hit Tretiak on one bounce and skittered off to the side. If you look closely, you can see the puck lying between the players and the boards. Not an exciting story, not particularly interesting, but true all the same.
 

Bring Back Bucky

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mcphee said:
The greatest game of all time is either mythical or personal, I'll say it was a great game. I watched it with friends before going to a great party and remember it like yesterday. My brother attended and was lucky enough to have great seats in the 'reds'. If anyone has this game on tape, you can see my then teenage little bro's claim to fame. Late in the game, he was struck in the back by a sponge rubber puck that some clown tossed down from the blues. He picked it up and held onto it and as the game was ending, and the Soviet players went to congratulate Tretiak, he tossed it towrds the Russian end. It hit Tretiak on one bounce and skittered off to the side. If you look closely, you can see the puck lying between the players and the boards. Not an exciting story, not particularly interesting, but true all the same.
Hell of a tale if you ask me.
 

Trottier

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mcphee said:
The greatest game of all time is either mythical or personal, I'll say it was a great game. I watched it with friends before going to a great party and remember it like yesterday. My brother attended and was lucky enough to have great seats in the 'reds'. If anyone has this game on tape, you can see my then teenage little bro's claim to fame. Late in the game, he was struck in the back by a sponge rubber puck that some clown tossed down from the blues. He picked it up and held onto it and as the game was ending, and the Soviet players went to congratulate Tretiak, he tossed it towrds the Russian end. It hit Tretiak on one bounce and skittered off to the side. If you look closely, you can see the puck lying between the players and the boards. Not an exciting story, not particularly interesting, but true all the same.

Is the KGB still in existence? If so, your younger brother better hope they are not monitoring this website. ;)
 

mcphee

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Trottier said:
Is the KGB still in existence? If so, your younger brother better hope they are not monitoring this website. ;)
I posted in the hope that they are. My other story regarding that game was walking into a Montreal bar about 2 months later on a weekday afternoon and the entire Club de Hockey Canadien sitting at a table watching a replay of the game. I took a seat in a corner and sat in awe for 2 hours. I believe it was All Star week was Lafleur,Shutt,Robinson and a few others weren't there. Cournoyer was getting the waitress to check Tremblay's ID, Awrey was giving Risebrough a hard time, Van Boxmeer was sent to Harveys' for burgers. Jimmy Roberts walked in late and was arguing that he shouldn't have to chip in for beer and I'll always rememebr Gainey's deep voice, 'I'll pay Jimmy,drink it fast' Cournoyer was getting excited just watching, he's got to be as competitive a guy as I've ever seen. And yes, someone did say something snotty about Dryden's play though I didn't catch who. Lambert seemed to be the nicest guy of the group, friendly to everybody,always a smile on his face. Damned if I can remember why I was walking into a bar on a Tuesday afternoon though.
 

chooch*

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svetovy poharu said:
Vladimir Petrov finally pushed his way through a barrier of Canadiens at the blue line and made a quick pass to Kharlamov, who scored on a waist-high shot with 3:39 remaining in the second period to close the margin to just one goal.

Not to be nitpicky but that shot was along the ice to Dyden's right - a beautiful goal (like Shutt's ;) ).

I thought Dryden was darn unlucky, he had his glove on the other 2 goals including on a 2 on nothing and both shots trickled in. Inches from a resounding 3-1 victory (Wilson hit a goalpost and so did the Soviets).

Nice story about the rubber puck, I'll look for it next time I watch it (New Years Day).

The 87 CC games were awesome tense. And so was 79 Bruins Habs G7. But the New Years Game was the first time the best teams in the world ever played each other at midseason form and deserves the Title of Greatest Game Ever.

I still say Bowman played the wrong hunch (like the rookie Straka's getting caught on his first shift in OT when Volek scored in 93). He started Cournoyer on the Habs top line in place of the NHL's leading scorer, Lafleur. And while Yvan was a star of the game (along with Pete and Tretiak) he must have goofed up a half dozen chances, while Guy was stuck with hands of stone Gainey all night.

I never understood that move nor why the Forum faithful blamed Kenny.
 

John Flyers Fan

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chooch said:
The 87 CC games were awesome tense. And so was 79 Bruins Habs G7. But the New Years Game was the first time the best teams in the world ever played each other at midseason form and deserves the Title of Greatest Game Ever.

Not to be nitpicky, but at the time the best team in the world played 450 miles south of Montreal.
 

Buffalo Stylee

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I know in the 70's the Sabres decimated a Russian team (can't remember if it was thier national team or whatever it was) 10-4 or something like that. It was thier worst loss ever.
 

John Flyers Fan

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Fake Plastic Sabre said:
I know in the 70's the Sabres decimated a Russian team (can't remember if it was thier national team or whatever it was) 10-4 or something like that. It was thier worst loss ever.

It was the Soviet Wings ... a good team, but not on th elevel of the Red Army team.
 

svetovy poharu

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The Soviet Wings (Krylya Sovetov) were beaten soundly by Buffalo 12-6 on January 4, 1976. It was the Wings only loss in 4 games on their tour. They opened with a 7-4 win over Pittsburgh, then the loss to the Sabres, beat Chicago 4-2 and edged out the NY Islanders 2-1.

The Wings featured the Soviet national team's backup goalie Alexander Sidelnikov but borrowed 4 players from Moscow Spartak team for this tour including LW Alexander Yakushev (1 goal, 3 assists), C Vladimir Shadrin (1 goal, 3 assists), RW Victor Shalimov (who led the Wings with 4 goals and 4 assists) and D Yuri Liapkin (3 goals, 3 assists). Names familiar from the '72 Summit Series and '74 WHA Summit Series. The Wings roster contained such players as LW Sergei Kapustin, D Victor Kuznetsov, Sergei Babinov, Vladimir Repnev, RW Sergei Kotov, Vyacheslav Anisin, Yuri Lebedev, LW Alexander Bodunov, D Yuri Tyurin and Vladimir Krikunov...and unfamiliar names like Yuri Terekhin, Vladimir Rasko, Vladimir Gostyuzhev, Konstantin Klimov, Gennady Maslov and Igor Lapin. But the Wings talent level was nowhere near CSKA Moscow (Central Sports Club of the Army).

CSKA team had Tretiak, Kharlamov, Mikhailov, Vasiliev, Maltsev, Vikulov, Aleksandrov, Gusev, Popov, Lutchenko, Tsygankov, Solodukhin, Volchenkov, Zhluktov, Kutergin, Volchkov, Lobanov, Kuzkin, Petrov, Glazov and Lokotko.
In the 4 games against the NHL, Kharlamov led with 4 goals, 3 assists, followed by Aleksandrov (3 goals, 3 assists) and Mikhailov with 2 goals, 3 assists.

At the conclusion of the tour, on the request of the organizers, CSKA played the Soviet Wings in Washington on Jan. 12, 1976, and it resulted in a 7-7 tie. CSKA jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first period, but the Wings scored 4 goals in the second to none for CSKA, but then CSKA outscored the Wings 3-2 in the third for the tie. The Wings were led by a pair of goals from Shadrin.
 

chooch*

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John Flyers Fan said:
Not to be nitpicky, but at the time the best team in the world played 450 miles south of Montreal.

How do you explain the roar from the hockey world a few months later in 76 when the Habs swept the Flyers? Might it have something to do with the disgraceful display of the Bullies against the Soviets (yeah, lets beat up Kharlamov) or maybe The End of Garbage Hockey.


I remember the last few minutes of G4 76 Finals, Lafleur scoring on a slapper from the slot to break the tie and the Habs bench emptying; then Houndog Kelly (Hof?) running Lafleur, but Guy spinning, twisting and feeding Mahov, 5-3, let the fat lady oops Kate Smith sing.

Jeez, a franchise that hasnt won a Cup in over 30 years - got any 70's fight videos?
 
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