How Does 2010 Compare To ' 72?
by Chad Klassen
VANCOUVER (CUP)—“He’s on
the ice with Iginla—Crosby scores!
Sidney Crosby, the golden goal,
and Canada has a once-in-a-lifetime
Olympic gold!”
It’s a call Canadian hockey fans
will not soon forget, as Chris Cuthbert
delivered the line of the 21st
century when Sidney Crosby sent
the country into euphoria with his
overtime winner in the epic gold
medal game.
The golden boy scored a golden
goal and in the process of beating
Ryan Miller, etched his name in
Canadian sports lore forever. It was
one of those instant classics, a rare
unforgettable moment in the realm
of Canadian sports history.
Indeed, there have only been
a handful of sentimental sporting
events that Canadians can look
back on fondly, including the 3-2
overtime thriller against the U.S. in
2010.
The country’s first Olympic
hockey gold in 50 years during the
2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake,
beating the U.S. on its home soil,
undoubtedly fits among the greatest
moments. Of course, there’s arguably
the most famous of them all:
Canada’s hockey win over the Soviet
Union in the 1972 Summit Series.
The question is: How does Canada’s
gold at the 2010 games stack
up against the 1972 Summit Series?
A whole generation—largely
comprised of people under 30, especially
university students in their
20s—remains somewhat naive
about the impact of Paul Henderson’s
historic game-winning goal,
which propelled Canada to the
1972 Summit Series victory.
After falling behind, the Canadians
had to win three in a row—
similar to the 2010 Olympic team
that was forced to win four straight
to capture gold.
In the eighth and deciding game,
Henderson, who scored all three
game winners, put a rebound past
Vladislav Tretiak with 34 seconds
left to help the Canadians triumph
6-5, overcoming the major deficit to
win the series 4-3-1.
Based on the goal differential, a
tie in the final game would have given
the Soviets the victory, but Henderson’s
goal for the ages saved the
day for the hockey-crazed nation.
Many who are old enough to
have lived through the Summit Series
would argue that Canada winning
the gold on home ice would
never compare to the events of
1972, given the ongoing political
tensions with the Communist bloc
during the Cold War.
It is largely why the famed “Miracle
on Ice” in 1980 was so incredibly
significant, coupled with the
fact that a group of college hockey
players persevered and beat some of
the best professional players in the
world. More importantly, however,
it became a moment in history that
transcended sports into the political
realm.
While the Summit Series win
takes the prize in the political world
of sport, there are certainly similarities
between the two historic sporting
events in 2010 and 1972, mainly
the anticipation in both instances of
Canada maintaining its position as
the world’s hockey power.
In 2010, with the lead-up to the
anticipated Olympic hockey tournament,
there was ever-growing
pressure on the Canadian program
to deliver the gold on home ice. The
disastrous events of 2006, when the
country was shut out in three games
and ousted in the quarterfinals, only
heightened the nationwide crunch.
Much like it was after the failure
in Nagano 1998, Canadian
hockey was heavily criticized and
placed under intense scrutiny for
not producing the results following
the seventh-place finish in Torino
four years ago, and there was a lot
to prove for Canada as the onceuntouchable
hockey nation.
Despite the recent failures on
the international stage—only one
Olympic gold medal in over 50
years—Canada was the favourite
entering the tournament and faced
enormous expectations to win it
all.
Moreover, 1972 was also an important
year in the hockey arena for
Canada, at the height of the Cold
War, when sports served as a political
arena for global superiority. The
country was still seen internationally
as the undisputed hockey king,
and the eight-game series was an
opportunity to reinforce the country’s
hockey supremacy.
With the greatest NHL stars
such as Esposito, Cournoyer, and
Dryden, Canada was supposed to
roll over their Soviet opposition.
But the Soviet Union, who had
won three straight Olympic gold
medals entering the series, seriously
challenged the Canadians and
pushed them to the brink of defeat,
at one time leading 3-1-1 through
the first five games.
With a trio of game-winning
goals by Henderson, including one
in the all-important eighth game,
Canada eventually prevailed and
sent the nation into a similar euphoric
state.
Not only did the country win at
its own game despite the incredible
push from the Soviet Union, but the
series victory represented a huge
victory for the Western world.
In Vancouver, Canada took
down another rival in the United
States, but it doesn’t quite live up to
the significance of the 1972 Summit
Series.
Even for the people who experienced
their inaugural “moment of a
lifetime” last month, it should only
be considered one of the greatest
moments in Canadian sports— but
not the greatest, which belongs to
Henderson’s goal on Sept. 28, 1972.
The Canadian passion and nationalism
ignited by the entire Vancouver
2010 games arguably trumps
that of 1972, but that’s a debate that
will need to wait for another day.