This summer marks 50 years since the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union, a series which changed the course of hockey.
This morning, MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Red Wings play-by-play announcer and former Team Canada member Mickey Redmond regarding his experiences in the Summit Series, all ahead of a new set of documentaries set to air on the CBC starting on September 14th:
The Soviets led 5-3 in Game 8 before Esposito and Yvan Cournoyer scored in the third period to tie it. Then, with 34 seconds remaining, Paul Henderson fired in his own rebound past Vladislav Tretiak. Canada prevailed 6-5 to win the series 4-3-1.
“It was pure jubilation,” Redmond said. “For them it had to be devastating that we were able to come back like that. Tretiak was supposed to be, at least by international standards, the best goaltender in the world, but I think we proved that to be different. That’s where our advantage came — screened shots and confusion in front of the net. European players never played like that, so (their goalies) could see everything. Part of our strategy was getting in front of this guy as much as you can because he’s not used to it and he’s going to have trouble. Obviously, his goals-against wasn’t very good in the series (3.88).”
Players sang ‘O Canada!’ on the flight home and returned to massive parades and a hero’s welcome.
“There was a lot of nationalism, patriotism,” Redmond said. “Going back, right or wrong, we were considered the supreme hockey players in the world, and basically, we were defending that mindset going against the Russians. If we had tied that series at eight points apiece it would have been considered a loss for us and a win for them. We had to win to continue that supremacy thought.”
Continued; it’s a hell of an interview, so give Khan’s article a thorough read.
