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Saturday, October 3, 2009

1972 Soviet Union National Team Vladislav Tretiak Jersey

On this date in 1989 hockey history was made, as Vladislav Tretiak became the first European player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

An unknown 20 year old, Tretiak was the starting goaltender for the Soviet National Team as the historic 1972 Summit Series began in Montreal. Since the Canadian scouts had only seen him play once, a dismal performance in which he allowed eight goals against due to excessive celebrations at his bachelor party the night before, he was dismissed as no threat to the best professionals Canada had to offer.

Two Canadian goals before the game was seven minutes old only seemed to reinforce the scouts opinion on Tretiak, which would soon change, as the Canadians would manage just one more goal for the remainder of the contest as the Soviets came alive and pummeled the startled Canadians 7-3.

His continued outstanding play in the first half of the series earned him a tremendous amount of respect and admiration as the Soviet showed that they were able to compete with the Canadians. Eventually Canada would prevail in the series by the slimmest of margins, but Tretiak's reputation had been cemented by his play in the series.

Although he was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 1983 , it was at a time when Soviet players were not allowed to leave for the NHL. Tretiak would spend 15 full seasons playing for Central Sports Club of the Army (CSKA), or as more commonly known, the "Red Army".

During his 15 seasons in the Soviet Hockey League, Tretiak and Red Army would win the championship 13 times and finish runners up the other two. Tretiak was also named the First Team All-Star Goalie 14 consecutive seasons and league MVP five times. Outside of the Soviet Union, Tretiak and the club would take home the European Cup 13 times.

Internationally, Tretiak's resume would show three Olympic gold medals (1972 - Japan, 1976 - Austria and 1984 - Yugoslavia), ten World Championship gold medals (1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 & 1983) and gold medals in the European Championships nine times. In addition he would be named the winner of the Golden Hockey Stick as the most outstanding player in all of Europe in 1981, 1982 and 1983.

He would also participate in two Canada Cups, earning a bronze with a depleted squad in 1976 and gold in 1981 where he would be named the tournament's MVP. His final goals against average in 98 international games was an outstanding 1.78.

Another career highlight is the 1975-76 Red Army tour of North America, where the Red Army faced off against various NHL club teams, the first time any Soviet club team had faced an NHL team, and came away with dominant victories over the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins and a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, but the most memorable game was a New Year's Eve contest against the Montreal Canadiens, that season's eventual Stanley Cup Champions, that ended in a 3-3 tie with Montreal out-shooting Red Army 38-13 in a game considered by many to be one of the greatest games ever played.

After his early retirement in 1984 at the age of 32, ranked as #37 in the Top 100 Stories of the Century by the International Ice Hockey Federation, due to his desire to face a new challenge and play in North America and the Soviet authorities refusal to grant him permission, the strain of the eleven month a year commitment required by the Soviet hockey system plus friction with his coach Viktor Tikhonov, Tretiak would finally make his way to North America, having been hired by the Chicago Blackhawks as goaltender coach in 1990.

He would become the first Soviet-trained player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and the first European voted in without ever having played in the NHL. His induction would be ranked as #55 on Top 100 Stories of the Century. In 2000 he would be voted the Best Russian Hockey Player of the 20th Century and named the Goaltender for the IIHF Centennial All-Star Team. Tretiak would be elected as the head of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation in 2006.

The many highlights of Tretiak's career appear over and over again of the IIHF list of the Top 100 Stories of the 20th Century. The Soviets victory over Canada in the 1981 Canada Cup ranks as #9, the New Year's Eve game with Montreal #23, the shock opening game of the 1972 Summit Series as #3 and the Soviets victory over the NHL All-Stars in the 1979 Challenge Cup as #36. Even the defeats of the Soviets during the Tretiak era were so uncommon that they merit recognition on the list as well. A loss to Poland in 1976 was #39, the conclusion of the 1972 Summit Series was #2, the loss to the USA in the 1980 Olympics was #1, their loss to the Czechs in 1972 was #5 and in 1974 was #67.

Today's featured jersey is a 1972 Soviet Union Vladislav Tretiak jersey as worn in the 1972 Summit Series. It's unusual in that it is a heavy-weight knit sweater with felt letters and numbers.

This photograph was taken by the author and features several additional items from the Third String Goalie memorabilia collection.

Tretiak still life

Today's first video is his introductory video from Tretiak's Hall of Fame induction.


Here are highlights from the memorable game between the Red Army and the Montreal Canadiens on New Year's Eve in 1975.


Friday, October 2, 2009

1995-96 Canadian National Team Glenn Anderson Jersey

Born on this date in 1960, Glenn Anderson took a different path through his career than most players. It started out conventionally enough, as Anderson moved up through the junior ranks, including a stop in United States college hockey. He then joined the Canadian National Team, a program in which a dedicated national team would play a season long schedule of games, highlighted by representing Canada in various tournaments, highlighted by the annual Spengler Cup, in an effort to establish a cohesive squad as opposed to a temporary club thrown together with little time to prepare, as was the norm prior to the full-time Canadian National Team program.

Many players used the Canadian National Team as a stepping stone to gain more seasoning in an effort to make the next step to the NHL. As part of the team, Anderson was a member of the Canadian Olympic Team at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid where Canada went 3-2 in the preliminary round.

He would then embark on his NHL career, joining the Edmonton Oliers for the 1980-81 season. He would play 11 seasons for the Oilers, winning five Stanley Cups as part of their dynasty. Always one to play for Team Canada when given the chance, he would also participate in the Canada Cup in both 1984 and 1987. 1987 would also see him skate for the NHL All-Stars versus the Soviet Union in the two-game Rendez-vous '87 held in place of the traditional All-Star game. He would make his first appearance for Canada in the World Championships in 1989.

In 1991, he was involved in a blockbuster trade, along with Grant Fuhr, that would send him to the Toronto Maple Leafs. While a Leaf, he asked permission to participate in the 1994 Olympics, which the club agreed to in his contract, but the request was denied by Commissioner Gary Bettman. After being traded to the New York Rangers at the end of the 1993-94 season, he arrived just in time to capture his sixth Stanley Cup.

At this point, armed with more than a fist full of Stanley Cup rings, Anderson's career now took him on a path that would see him cross the Atlantic and back multiple times. The 1994-95 season would see him play for Lukko Rauma in Finland, the Augsburg Panthers of the German DEL, 26 games for the Canadian National Team and 36 games for the St. Louis Blues.

1995-96 was no different, with 11 more games for the Canadian National Team, 9 more back in Augsburg in Germany, 17 games once more with the Edmonton Oilers and a second stint in St. Louis to finish the NHL season with 15 regular season and 11 playoff games.

His career would wind down with a pair of games for HC Bolzano in Italy and 23 games for HC La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Swiss league in 1996-97.

His final NHL totals would show 1129 games played, a tantalizing 498 goals and 601 assists for 1099 points with 225 more playoff appearances which included 93 goals and 121 assists for 214 career playoff points and six Stanley Cup Championships. His #9 has was retired by the Edmonton Oilers on January 18, 2009 and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008.

Today's featured jersey is a CCM 1994-95/1995-96 Canadian National Team Glenn Anderson jersey. This style jersey was worn only by the Canadian National Team. A similar jersey using the diagonal waist stripes was used by the 1995 Canadian World Junior Team, but was produced by Reebok and featured their large, distinctive logos on the shoulders.

This is one of our favorite jerseys in the Third String Goalie collection due to it's unique and fairly obscure place in Canadian hockey history, combined with it's how unusual it is to find the CCM version of this jersey style. It was a fun and enjoyable project to research, which paid off handsomely by being worn by such a player of note, whose unique career path matched the unique nature of the jersey.

While we were never able to find any photos of Anderson wearing this particular jersey style, we felt safe in assuming that an NHL player with six Stanley Cups and over 1000 games played would have been named team captain on a club mostly made up young players looking to step up to the NHL.

Canada 1995-96 F
Canada 1995-96 B

This video was made by the Oilers on the occasion of his jersey retirement.


This similar video is part one of the actual retirement ceremony, and features quotes from Anderson not found in the previous video.


Dasherboard: If you have not heard about this one yet, check out this player for the Brandon Wheat Kings named... Wheaton King.


Wheaton, who is from Brandon, Manitoba is 17 years old and survived training camp to make the team roster.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

2000-01 Ottawa Senators Daniel Alfredsson Jersey

It was on this date in 1999 that Daniel Alfredsson was named captain of the Ottawa Senators.

Previous Senators captain, Russian Alexi Yashin, who became captain in 1998-99 and was the original Senators draft pick, second overall in 1992, had already been involved in a contract holdout at the start of the 1995-96 season which lasted until late December and concluded with Yashin signing a new contract.

Prior to the start of the 1999-00 season, Yashin refused to report for the final year of the contract signed in 1995, demanding a raise. When the Senators refused, Yashin demanded a trade. Not only did Ottawa refuse to grant his trade request, they stripped the petulant Yashin of his captaincy and awarded it to Daniel Alfredsson, who continues to hold the position, now for ten years as of today.

Alfredsson had been selected in the sixth round by Ottawa in 1994 and would win the Calder Trophy in 1995-96 after a rookie campaign in which he would score 26 goals and 35 assists for 61 points and represent the Senators at the NHL All-Star Game in Boston.

He would increase his point total by ten, to 71, in his second season and again make the All-Star Game while helping Ottawa qualify for the playoffs for the first time.

1997-98 would see him sign play only 55 games due to an ankle injury, but he would once again be named to the All-Star Game. On the Senators return to the playoffs, Alfredsson would score 7 goals in 11 games as they advanced to the second round for the first time.

Injuries would again limit him in 1998-99. He would score just 11 goals and 33 points, his lowest NHL season totals, in just 58 games.

While again playing less than 60 games in 1999-2000, a more productive Alfredsson, now named team captain, would score 59 points from 57 games, roughly twice the rate of the previous season.

Yashin would return to the Senators after his season long hold out to play out the final year of his contract, but Alfredsson would remain as the Senators captain despite the Russian's return. Alfredsson's games played would increase to 68 and he would maintain his previous season's scoring pace with 70 points.

Today's featured jersey is a ProPlayer 2000-01 Ottawa Senators Daniel Alfredsson jersey. This jersey features the Hockey Fights Cancer patch, worn for one game only by each NHL team's captain sometime in mid-January. The jerseys are then auctioned off for charity as part of the subsequent NHL All-Star Game's weekend festivities.

The original emboridered patches are not available for public sale and are another of my custom made patches using my transfer printing method.

Ottawa Senators 00-01 F
Ottawa Senators 00-01 B
Ottawa Senators 00-01 P

Here is a an NHL Player Profile on Daniel Alfredsson.



Wednesday, September 30, 2009

1997-98 Toronto Maple Leafs Mats Sundin Jersey

On this date in 1997, Mats Sundin was named captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, a position he would hold for ten seasons, and the 16th person to hold that distinction.

The first Maple Leafs captain was Hap Day, who was captain from 1927-28 until 1936-37. He would have a 14 season career in the NHL for both the Maple Leafs and New York Americans, winning the Stanley Cup in 1932. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961 after a 33 year career as a player, referee, coach and general manager.

Charlie Conacher was next for one season. He had been with the Maple Leafs since 1929, leading the league in scoring twice, but moved onto the Detroit Red Wings the year after being the Leafs captain. He was also elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961 and part of the 1932 championship team.

For the next two seasons, 1938-39 and 1939-40, Red Horner took over the captaincy. Horner was with the Maple Leafs from 1928 until retiring in 1940. His induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame occurred in 1965. When he passed away at age 95, he was the oldest surviving member of the 1932 Stanley Cup team.

Syl Apps was not only a hockey player, but a pole vaulter as well, winning a gold medal at the 1934 British Empire Games and represented Canada at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin where he took sixth. He was captain from 1940-41 to 1942-43 and then again from 1945-46 to 1947-48 until his retirement, for a total of six seasons. He would hoist the cup for the Maple Leafs three times, in 1942, 1947 and 1948. He was also the winner of the first Calder Cup in 1937. It must have been quite the celebration in Toronto in 1961, as Apps was also enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame the same year as Day and Conacher.

Bob Davidson spent his entire 12 season career with the Leafs, wearing the "C" in 1943-44 and 1944-45. He was on Stanley Cup winning teams in both 1942 and 1945 and was known as being one of the best hockey scouts of all time after his playing days ended.

Following Apps second stint as captain, Ted "Teeder" Kennedy came next. Kennedy was with the Maple Leafs for 14 seasons, from 1942-43 until 1956-57 as the Leafs won the Stanley Cup five times in seven years and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966. During an exhibition in 1951, Kennedy greeted the future Queen Elizabeth II as a representative of the players.

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A 12 year member of the Maple Leafs, Sid Smith captained the Maple Leafs in the 1955-56 season and was a member of three Stanley Cup teams in 1948, scoring a hat trick in Game 2 of the Finals after only playing one regular season game, 1949 and 1951.

Jimmy Thompson was captain the following season of 1956-57. His Maple Leafs career started in 1945-46 and lasted until 1956-57. He was a member of championship teams in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1951. He would relinquish his captaincy when Kennedy would come out of retirement that season and was sold to the Chicago Blackhawks as a result of his attempts to organize a player's union.

George Armstrong would begin his NHL career in 1949 and play until the 1970-71 season, all 21 of his NHL seasons with the Maple Leafs, including being the captain from 1957-58 to 1968-69, twelve seasons in all, and the longest serving captain in Maple Leafs history. His time in Toronto included the dynasty of the mid-60's, and he was a member of the Stanley Cup winning teams in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967. He also played the most games in Leafs history, with 1187. His election to the Hockey Hall of Fame came in 1975.

Following Armstrong's record setting run, Dave Keon was the next to wear the "C" after Armstrong was said to be retiring. After Keon was named captain, Armstrong did return and continue to play for two additional seasons, but Keon remained captain. He was a Maple Leaf for 15 seasons and was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986. He joined the Maple Leafs in 1960, winning the Calder Trophy that season. He would go on to win the Stanley Cup four times as part of the same clubs as Armstrong, in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967, the last time the Maple Leafs would win the cup. Keon eventually left the Leafs to join the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the WHA and came back to the NHL with the Hartford Whalers to finish his career.

Toronto favorite Darryl Sittler would take over the captaincy in 1975-76 and would wear the "C" until 1981-82, although not during the 1979-80 season due to disputes with cantankerous Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard. He would eventually agree to waive his no-trade clause and be dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1982. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989 an holds the NHL record for most points in a game with ten, on six goals and four assists on February 7, 1976.

Following Sittler's unsettled run as captain, Rick Vaive held the position from 1982 until 1985-86, until being stripped of his captaincy for missing a morning practice. He would become the first 50 goal scorer in Maple Leafs history, which he managed three years in a row. He would play 13 NHL seasons, eight of which were in Toronto.

After the dismissal of Vaive the Leafs would not name another captain until Rob Ramage in 1989. He would only play two seasons with the Maple Leafs in a much travelled career that would see him play with one WHA team and eight NHL clubs.

Wendel Clark would rise to the captaincy in 1991-92 and remain the captain until 1993-94. A fan favorite in Toronto, Clark would lead the Leafs to team records in wins (44) and points (99) in 1992-93 and a return to the playoffs for the first time in three years. He would eventually be traded to the Quebec Nordiques in a deal that would bring Sundin to Toronto, but would return to the Maple Leafs again in the 1995-96 season. He would sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a free agent for the 1998-99 season, but return to Toronto one more time in 2000 to finish his career appropriately as a Maple Leaf. He holds the record for longest time span between All-Star appearances, 13 years.

Following Clark's trade, Doug Gilmour would assume the role of captain. Acquired from Calgary in February of 1992, Gilmour would also become a favorite in Maple Leaf Gardens. He would spend six seasons in Toronto, acting as captain from 1994 until being traded to the New Jersey Devils in 1997.

It was on this date in 1997 that Sundin would be named the 16th captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sundin would become the first European captain in Maple Leafs history and the longest serving non-North American captain in NHL history. During his time with the Maple Leafs, he would lead the team in scoring 12 of his 13 seasons in Toronto, finishing second in the other. In a model of consistency, he would score at least 72 points 12 seasons in a row. He was the first Swedish player to score 500 career goals and leads the Maple Leafs franchise in goals with 420, the only Leaf to ever reach 400, and points with 984.

Apps, Armstrong, Clark, Conacher, Day, Glimour, Kennedy and Sittler are all among the 15 players to have had their sweater numbers honored by the Maple Leafs and one would expect Sundin to join that select group someday.

Today's featured jersey is a 1997-98 Toronto Maple Leafs Mats Sundin jersey which features the Swedish Flag patch on the left chest as worn during the 1998 NHL All-Star Game Super Skills Competition on January 17.

This was the first year of the "World vs. North America" format for the All-Star Game to promote the appearance of NHL players at the upcoming Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.

This would be the one and only time that the players would wear the flag of their home country on their NHL club's jerseys. While the World vs. North America format would remain in effect through 2002, the flag patches would not be used on the individual team jerseys during the Skills Competition again.

Toronto Maple Leafs 97-98 AS Skills F
Toronto Maple Leafs 97-98 AS Skills B
Toronto Maple Leafs 97-98 AS Skills P

Today's featured videos are a tribute to Teeder Kennedy, who passed away just last month.



Tuesday, September 29, 2009

2009 ZSC Lions Victoria Cup Jersey

The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club (Zurich Skating Club) or ZSC Lions will take on the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks in the second annual Victoria Cup today at 2:15 PM EST in a game televised live on the Blackhawks website and on TV by the NHL Network at 8 PM EST tonight.

Last year's Victoria Cup game was a thrilling game, as the European representative and 2008 European Champions Cup winners Metallurg Magnitogorsk came out determined to show they could compete at the NHL level. Magnitogorsk did just that, beating the New York Rangers Henrik Lundqvist just 88 seconds into the game. They would add another before the first period ended. Metallurg would their lead to a surprising three goal margin at the game's halfway point before the Rangers would pull one back with less than thirty second left in the second on a two-man advantage.

In the third period the Rangers come roaring back and came within one on another power-play goal at 5:45 and Chris Drury tied the game at 3-3 with yet another powerplay goal less than five minutes later. The Rangers would win the game in dramatic fashion with the winning goal coming off an intercepted pass by Ryan Callahan, which sent him in on a breakaway to score with just 20 seconds left in the game for a 4-3 win.


The ZSC Lions won the right to be the European representative in the Victoria Cup by defeating last year's European representative Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the final of the 2009 Champions Hockey League.

"It's obviously an immense opportunity for ZSC to play not only against an NHL club, but against one of the Original Six teams. It's not only a great thing for our club but also for Swiss club hockey as a whole," said Sean Simpson, head coach of the Lions.

ZSC was founded in 1930 and became the ZSC Lions in 1997 after a merger with the Grasshoppers Club ice hockey team, and have won six Swiss Championships in 1936, 1949, 1961, 2000, 2001 and 2008. They have also won the Continental Cup twice in 2001 and 2002, the Spengler Cup in 1944 and 1945, the Swiss Cup in 1960 and 1961 in addition to their 2009 Champions League title.

They have announced a special jersey for today's game versus Chicago, one free of the usual European advertising to highlight the club's colors and logo.

Today's featured jersey is the Reebok ZSC Lions 2009 Victoria Cup jersey as shown below by head coach Sean Simpson.

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Here are highlights of the second game of the of two games that made up the 2009 Champions League Final. The first game ended in a 2-2 tie, making the second game a winner-take-all final between the ZC Lions and heavily favored Metallurg Magnitogorsk of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League.


Monday, September 28, 2009

1972 Team Canada Phil Esposito Jersey

"Here's a shot. Henderson makes a wild stab for it and falls. Here's another shot. Right in front. They score! Henderson scores for Canada!"


The most famous goal in Canadian hockey history occurred on this date in 1972, as Paul Henderson scored with 34 seconds remaining in Game 8 of the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union.

The Summit Series was a groundbreaking event in not only hockey history, but international politics as well. The series would be the first time that the Canadians were able to take on the Soviets with a full squad of professional players head to head with the best that the Soviets had to offer. Most in Canada fully expected an easy time of it for Team Canada, with some even predicting an eight-game sweep.

That was not to be, however, as all of Canada was stunned when the Soviets came back from an early 2-0 deficit in Game 1 to win 7-3 in Montreal.

Canada would win Game 2 in Toronto by a score of 2-1 with the Soviets coming from behind by two goals in Winnipeg to earn a tie in Game 3.

Game 4 would see the Soviets up 4-1 after two periods, with the final score being 5-3, earning Team Canada a shower of boos from the Canadian crowed, earning a tounge-lashing from a frustrated Phil Esposito as the series was about to head off to Moscow for the final four games.


Things did not start off any better for the Canadians in Moscow, however, as Team Canada led 4-1, only to have the Soviets come back to win the game 5-4, putting them ahead three games to one, along with a tie.

Game 6 went better for Team Canada, despite having 31 penalty minutes called against them versus only four assessed to the Soviets, Canada would win 3-2 in a game that would feature a pivotal moment in the series, as Bobby Clarke would fracture the Soviet's best forward Valeri Kharlamov's ankle with a deliberate slash.

Canada would even the series at three games each by winning Game 7 by a score of 4-3, with Paul Henderson scoring the winning goal with a shade over two minutes left in the game, setting up a decisive Game 8.


While the series was supposed to be "a friendly" series of exhibition games with no overall winner, the tie result in game three left an odd amount of games to divide between the two sides and the Soviets proclaimed that even if Game 8 ended in a tie, they would be the winners on the basis of scoring one more goal in the series.

In an effort to ensure the best possible chance for a Soviet victory, they orchestrated a change in officials the night before the decisive game, choosing to replace the previously selected Swede and Czech referees with the West German pair that were responsible for the great discrepancy in penalty minutes in Game 6. Canada threatened to leave Moscow without even playing Game 8 if that were the case and a compromise was reached where the the Soviets hand picked their favorite West German Josef Kompalla, while the Canadians got to choose the Czech ref Bata.

Sure enough, just three minutes into the game Canada was two men short and gave up a power play goal. At 4:10, J. P. Parise was given yet another minor and his reaction earned him a ten-minute misconduct. Now enraged, Parise's threatening outburst got him thrown out of the game as a game misconduct was added on.

Phil Esposito would even the game once the hockey resumed to tie the game at 6:45 and then the teams would trade goals by Vladimir Lutchenko and Brad Park to finish out the first period tied at 2-2.

The Soviets would use a little home ice advantage to score in the first minute of the second, as the puck was fired over the goal, only to take a large rebound off the mesh netting that topped the boards rather than the plexiglass of North American arenas. Vladimir Shadrin would put the puck behind Ken Dryden after it landed back into the area in front of the Canadian goal.

Bill White would score for Canada halfway through the period, only to have the Soviets score just over a minute later to regain the lead and then again once more on the power play at 16:44 to take a 5-3 lead into the third period.

Phil Esposito would ignite the Canadians with a goal at 2:27 of the third to pull Canada back within one. Esposito again charged the net and Yvan Cournoyer was able to put the rebound past Vladislav Tretiak at 12:56, only to have the Soviet goal judge not turn on the goal light, but the goal did count to tie the game. Again, a tie would allow the Soviets to claim a series victory.

With the game no winding down in the last minute of play, Cournoyer intercepted a Soviet clearing attempt and passed to Henderson, but the pass was behind him and he was tripped on the play, which sent him crashing into the end boards to the side of the goal. At that point Phil Esposito, who was following the play, put the puck softly in front of the goal where Henderson, now back on his skates and coming from behind the net was able to jump on the loose puck and swat it towards Tretiak, which he blocked with his leg, allowing Henderson a second shot at glory, which he put over the sprawled Soviet goaltender to give Canada the series victory with only 34 seconds remaining in the contest.

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The success of the 1972 Summit Series led to an attempt at a repeat in 1974 with a team made up of players from the WHA and eventually evolved into the Canada Cup tournament, which again led to the current World Cup of Hockey. It also influenced many aspects of how the game was approached and played in North America, with off-season training now becoming important, as well as various strategy differences in puck possession and player positioning.

Today's featured jersey is a CCM 1972 Team Canada Phil Esposito jersey as worn during the four games in Moscow. Esposito led Canada in scoring in the tournament with 13 points from 7 goals and 6 assists, including a goal early in Game 8 and a goal and then two assists in the third period to lead Canada to the series victory.

Canada 1972 F
Canada 1972 B

There is much more than can be written and examined about this series, it's significance and it's impact, and in fact many have done just so, as there are a number of books available on the subject as well as DVD sets of the games.

In addition to the usual video highlights, here is a link to the CBC archives of radio and TV footage relating to the series, which give some insights into how the event was viewed at the time especially the shock of the loss in Game 1.

Finally, here is Paul Henderson himself, telling the story from his unique point of view of the series and his famous goal.


Dasherboard: In advance of tomorrow's Victoria Cup game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the ZSC Lions, the Blackhawks will faceoff against HC Davos, currently at the top of the Swiss National League, on the NHL Network tonight at 8 PM eastern. Davos, once coached by Herb Brooks, features former NHLers Alexandre Daigle and former Blackhawk Reto Von Arx.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Hockey Jersey Sunday

Only in Canada would a church have "Hockey Jersey Sunday".

St. Mark's by-the-Lake in Windsor, Ontario hosts "Hockey Jersey Sunday" to celebrate the start of the NHL playoffs, where all members of the congregation wear hockey jerseys to the church services that day.

Here are a pair of videos posted by the church showing the fun everyone had taking part.



St. Mark's by the Lake, we salute you.

Only in Canada...

 

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