'It's the last hurrah for all of us'
Team Canada '72 has basked in the glory of its victory for 50 years now. As the years pass and the memories fade, there are fewer and fewer left to carry the torch
The first thing that strikes you as they walk into the room is the same men who were so strong and stood so tall for Canada exactly 50 years ago on this day are now old and frail. There are nine of them here for this celebration – Ken Dryden, Paul Henderson, Serge Savard, Yvan Cournoyer, Peter Mahovlich, Ed Johnston, Dennis Hull, Red Berenson and Rod Seiling. Time has been kinder to some of them than it has been to others, but it has definitely not blunted their memories or their enthusiasm for the 1972 Summit Series.
You can see that when Canadian hero Paul Henderson talks about anything, but most of all what led to his goal with 34 seconds left in Game 8 with the score tied 5-5. You see his eyes light up, his voice go higher and his hands moving in all directions and you realize just how enormous this was for him, for all of them. This is their moment, and it’s one they deserve.
“I’m the only guy who played professional hockey for 18 years,” Henderson said, “and scored one goal.”
Henderson points out that of the 35 players who were on the team, 10 of them are gone. Bill Goldsworthy was the first to die, in 1996 of complications of AIDS, which still seems a little unfathomable. The latest to go was Rod Gilbert, who died in August of 2021, nine days after Tony Esposito died of pancreatic cancer. Gary Bergman, Pat Stapleton, Bill White, Stan Mikita, J-P Parise, Rick Martin and Brian Glennie died in the years in between. And that group of 10 doesn’t include assistant coach John Ferguson, who died in 2007. Johnston, who turns 87 in November, is the oldest of the group. Martin, who would be 71, was the youngest. Coach Harry Sinden turned 90 eight days ago.
“And there a few guys who are really sick,” said Serge Savard. “Guy Lapointe couldn’t come. Brad Park couldn’t come. (Park) has heart problems and Guy has cancer, he can hardly talk. I talked to him a couple of times in the past two weeks and he said, ‘Serge, I can’t make it. I can’t get out of my bedroom.’ ”
As the 50th anniversary of the Summit Series approached, I had mixed feelings about all of it. I’ve spent a good number of years referring to it as, “a meaningless exhibition series,” which was wrong in so many ways. On a day like this, you realize what it meant to those who played in it and a country of hockey fans that was gripped by the drama it created. Where I have a problem with the Summit Series is the “be-all and end-all” aspect of it - that Henderson’s goal was the biggest ever scored, that the series surpassed anything before it and anything since. Tell that to the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, or the 1972 Czechoslovakian World Championship team or the 1998 Czech Olympic team. Even Savard, on the day of the 50th anniversary celebration, acknowledged that the Canadian team that played in the 1976 Canada Cup was a far superior team to ’72.
So let’s just all settle on the fact that the Summit Series was seismic, one of the most important moments in the game’s history. To be sure, there’s something to it when guys such as Savard and Dryden say it was a bigger moment in their careers than all the Stanley Cups they won. But it shares a spot with other big moments. It doesn’t surpass them.
So the day 50 years after Henderson’s goal is the best one to give it its due. Because as Dryden pointed out, the years will pass between now and the 60th anniversary and the numbers will dwindle even more. In some ways, in fact, the 50th anniversary celebration is the closing chapter on the story.
“Really, we knew probably for a while, but we were really conscious of it for the last five or 10 years, that this was the last hurrah,” said Dryden, who is 75, but looks about a decade younger. “You don’t commemorate a 52nd anniversary. You can make an excuse for a 60th, but that’s in 10 years. That’s a long time when you’re our age. What is the right kind of last hurrah? It’s the last hurrah for all of us as players, but also for our wives and our families. And that’s the way it is.”
At one point in the proceedings, Savard is at the dais alongside Henderson and Dryden. Then he gives up his spot and hands the microphone to Peter Mahovlich, one of the most underrated players on the team and in the history of the game. He might also be one of the most gregarious. He talks about being on the ice with linemates Phil Esposito and Cournoyer when Henderson yelled for him to get off. He did so, with Esposito and Cournoyer staying out there. “I was accused of not listening to anybody,” Mahovlich said to Henderson. “And that was the first time I listened to anybody, when you called me off the ice.”
“I never did that before in my life,” Henderson said. “And I never did it again.”
The anecdotes continue and you get the impression that these guys could talk about this all day. It’s so much fun to watch. At one point, Mahovlich is asked why this story has endured for so long. “Hollywood ending,” he said. “That’s what it’s about.”
“The Hollywood ending is the punchline,” Dryden replied. “But the punchline only works if the story is great.”