"Cournoyer has it on that wing. Here’s a shot. Henderson made a wild stab for it and fell. Here’s another shot. Right in front. They score! Henderson has scored for Canada!"

 

Those were the unforgettable words of Foster Hewitt calling the play-by-play of Paul Henderson’s game winning goal in the Summit Series exactly 40 years ago.

 

I rarely write about nostalgia or history, but today I reflect on “the game” that occurred on September 28^th, 1972.

 

For Canadian hockey fans that are old enough to remember, nothing in sports will ever compare to the thrill of when Henderson touched off an unparalleled wave of national pride. He notched the historic goal with only 36 seconds left in game eight to give Canada a 6-5 victory over the Russians. It allowed Canada to escape with a 4-3-1 series triumph.

 

I was a junior high school student in Winnipeg when that series took place. While I often joke my memory fails me as I get older, its remarkable how much I remember about those eight games. I am able to recite more about game eight in that series than I can about game six of this year’s Stanley Cup final between LA and New Jersey.

 

Prior to game one in Montreal, I was playing street hockey with friends when we decided to stop so we could watch the opener on TV. About half a dozen of us teenagers made predictions on the series. Five of the six were confident Canada would win all eight. I was considered the oddball, because I told my buddies Canada would only win seven because they would take the Russian Bear lightly.

 

This may seem preposterous, but I actually thought game one would end up 7-3. So I had the score bang on, but like everybody else, I believed it would be 7-3 for Canada.

 

When Canada led 2-0 six minutes into the opening period, I phoned a friend and told him he was
right. It was going to be a Russian massacre into double digits.

 

Just imagine what was going thru my mind when Russia tied the game 2-2 after one, took a 4-2 lead after two and went on to kick “OUR” butts 7-3. For the record, I never refer to teams I cheer for as “us” or “we” however, this was the one exception. It was them, the Russians, against us, the Canadians. This wasn’t just hockey, this was about life. It was a political battle, our free world against their Communist society.

 

After the opener, I went to my room, refused to talk to any of my family members and just stared at the walls with no light on in the bedroom. I asked myself many questions including: did Tretiak actually play better than Dryden in goal? How could Kharlamov, Yakushev and Mikhailov skate circles around Awrey, Bergman and Lapointe?

 

I felt a little better after the game two 4-1 victory in Toronto but we all knew this was going to be a series like no other.

 

I was not lucky enough to get tickets for game three (a 4-4 tie) in my hometown as a lottery system was needed and my family’s name never came up. Thankfully, there was no local blackout.

 

 

Game four (5-3 Canada loss) is when I gained newfound respect for Phil Esposito who went on national television to lash out at the Vancouver fans that booed the Canadian players off the ice:

“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.”

 

 

It looked bleak going to Russia especially after the Russians took game five 5-4 erasing a 4-1 deficit. Thank goodness Canada had the leadership of Esposito and the uncanny scoring of Henderson who notched the winner in game six (3-2), game seven (4-3) and game eight.

I still remember the audacity of the Russians who stated that if game eight was tied they would be declared the winner because of total goals.

 

40 years ago, there was an unparalleled game in history when J.P. Parise nearly swung his stick at the incompetent referee, Josef Kompalla; Alan Eagleson was subdued by the Soviet police and was escorted across the ice by the coaches and Paul Henderson delivered a moment that will not be duplicated.

 

A National campaign is now underway to induct Henderson into the Hockey Hall of Fame. His NHL (236 goals, 241 assists in 707 games) and WHA numbers (140 goals, 143 assists in 360 games) may not be worthy but he deserves a spot since quality is often more important than quantity.

 

In Canadian hockey terms, this “Paul” was clearly a “Saint”.

 

 

 

 

 

I love this league and love the game of football, but tonight’s debacle hurts me greatly. This is NOT
the league we’re supposed to represent.

 

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees on twitter after the Seahawks 14-12 controversial victory over the Packers

Can someone please tell these f—— zebras foot locker called and they’re needed Back at work !!!! #BreakingPoint.

 

New England Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes on twitter

 

 

 

 

NFL substitute refs continue to make horrible decisions; last night one of the refs went to Red Lobster and ordered sushi.

 

 

Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg http://thordoggie.blogspot.com/

 

 

The University of Minnesota-Crookston painted its midfield logo at the 45 yard-line–they must’ve
used replacement painters.

During the labor dispute, Ed Hochuli has been running training sessions with the regular referees—I hear some of them have had trouble with the standing barbell curl.

Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California

 

 

 

A short video released on Youtube depicting gross ignorance and incompetence has inflamed religious people across the world. A spokesman for the NFL says there is nothing they can do to remove the final minutes of the game between Green Bay and Seattle from the internet. An NFL spokesman then reminded players and coaches to protect the shield during the riots.

Love the new slogan for the replacement referees “For a few dollars less…”

 

Contributor Derek Wilken of Calgaryhttp://smacksport.blogspot.com

 

 

Maybe some of these replacement refs should run for office: They’ve done a better job than anyone else in America of getting bipartisan agreement on something.

 

Hard to remember that before this lockout started, one of the favorite pastimes of hardcore NFL fans was complaining about the regular refs.

 

 

 

Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, Californiawww.leftcoastsportsbabe.com

 

 

The NFL had a female ref for the first time in league history. Nobody noticed her, as everyone thought she was part of the half time show.

Another replacement ref gave both benches the ’2 minute warning’ two minutes after the opening kickoff.

Comedy writer TC Chong of Vancouver (http://alwaysfunny.com/)

 

 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I’M NOT #1 ANYMORE???" – Gary Bettman, reading the "Most Hated Commissioner in Sports" rankings.

Down Goes Brown

 

 

Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the PG Free Press. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to hmiller@94xfm.com.