I can't believe ..no comments on the 72 mini-series

Forum Fan · Veteran Member

I can't believe ..no comments on the 72 mini-series

The Kahuna · Guru

I thought it was pretty good, some of the actors did a really good job and the story seems pretty accurate. What really cracked me up was, at the end credits, it showed the producers as Barrie Dunn & Mike Volpe, the guys that produce Trailer Park Boys.

Nil d · Guru

Forum Fan wrote:

I liked it even though we looked like a bunch of smucks , the Ruskies were playing their own brand of head games , .............a waiter in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal told me that upon their arrival the Ruskies ordered cases and cases of Coke , and that individuals attached two the yeam got busted for shoplifting blue jeans ....... well did you like it ?

I was going to watch, then forgot. I had taped the Masters and was watching that at the same time as the show was on.

So, FF, now that you're back on-line, what the hell was that post about noodles all about? You must be pleased about the reaction!

The Kahuna · Guru

Ok, After watching part two, I have to say I really liked it. The guy playing Dryden (on and off the ice) was perfect. The actor playing Sinden was really good too (but did Sinden sound as much like Norm Macdonald as the actor did?). The Eagleson actor was right on too, as were many of the others. The guy playing Ferguson looked nothing like him, but that's a hard face to match up. The Bobby Clarke actor portrayed him so well, it reminded me how much I really hated that gap toothed little cheap shot artist

The Vic Hadield actor reminded me what a selfish jerk Hadfield was for his whole career.

Yes, I'm actually old enough too remember the series, I was about 11 years old in 1972. Everything in the movie struck me as very accurate. I remember how bad the fans turned on Team Canada, I stuck with them all the way, how could I not...Ken Dryden was my Theo of that time (and Kenny had his share of controversey too) and he's the reason I started playing goal...an amatuer career that's spanned 33 years (so far). But, I will say that I had a tremendous respect for Tretiak from game one on. My brother actually tried to get me a Tretiak jersey (my brother was living in Toronto at the time), but they were all sold out...so I ended up with a number 17 Kharlmanov jersey that I took a lot of abuse over

Anyway, I reccomend this movie for people who lived it or people who just want to wonder what the fuss was all about. Very good time capsule movie and the period music done in lo-fi really ads to the overall feel.

-- Edited by The Kahuna at 01:12, 2006-04-11

hockeyman · Senior Member

In part 1 after the game loss at the Forum, I wonder who the Hab player was being berated by his brother in the hallway after the game. It wasn't the guy playing Courny and wasn't the Mahovlichs. It must have been Savard or Lapointe. Did anybody see the scene? And wonder if it was only put in for theatrical measures or if this really happened......Hmmm!!!

The Kahuna · Guru

I saw the scene, not sure who it was. It didn't have to be a Hab, just a French Canadian, maybe Gilbert, Parisse or Rattelle. Lapointe, Savard, Cournoyer were the Habs that played. if I had to guess, I'd guess Guy Lapointe as he had an older brother who was a cop. That is if the incedent really happened.

Ando · Guru

Forum Fan wrote:

...well did you like it ?

And-o would like to pose a question to the board re: the '72 series...

...what if Russia had scored a flukey 'Henderson' type goal in the dying minutes of the deciding game to win the series???

Would there have been another international tourney...ever???

Would there be any international stars in the NHL??? Or sooner???

Would Canada still be considered the best hockey nation???

...And-o was 2 in 1972...but one thing remains true 33.5 years later - this series seems wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy over-rated and over-hyped!

Thoughts???

The Kahuna · Guru

Ando, you can't call it overated and overhyped if you didn't experience it. The WHOLE country was hanging on to every pass on this one. This truly was like a battle for our way of life vs theirs. This was 1972, the tail end of the coldwar and we were hockey supremecy...the godless communists (no disrespect meant, just conveying the feeling at the time) dare to challenge us at hockey, hockey is our game! You had to live it Ando to fully appreciate how much this meant to Canada.

Calling Henderson's goal flukey may get some people's backs up. It was a hard working, desperate goal by a guy who in my opinion was our biggest star in the last 3 games.

Would hockey be different if it had gone the other way? Great question, but can it be answered. I feel that series changed Canadian hockey and the way players trained. Before that series, they were hockey players. After they saw the conditioning level of the Russians, off season training in North America started happening, this turned our players in to atheletes. Strategies probably changed a lot after watching the Russians so closely for 8 games.

Nil d · Guru

Good reply, Kahuna. I was 15 and remember the series very well. The whole community was hanging on to that series like it was the only thing going on in the world at the time. I remember being in shock after the first game - a 7-3 USSR win at Montreal. Canada led 2-0 in the first minute or two, and we all thought it was going to be a romp - which it was, but only not for our side.

It was only sports, but that series was a defining event in the history of our nation.

RicherForever · Newbie

I watched it and loved it..

I asked the guys at work this morning "Did anyone watch Canada Russia 72?"

An old guy in the corner just mumbles... "Ya... in 72!"

Beauty

norskipaul · Senior Member

I have to say I find this all very interesting. Looking at it from a European perspective it was exactly the opposite. I mean ideologically people in western europe were, of course more familiar with the Canadien way of life, but when it comes to hockey...the only top class hockey we got back then was the world championships and the olympics. In those days the Soviets were so far ahead of eveyone else that it was ridiculous. Every once in a while a country like Czechoslovakia in'68 would upset them, but that was as much a reaction to the soviet invasion as anything that has to do with hockey. Of course we didn't see any of the games here, they were only mentioned briefly in the papers, if at all. I think the reaction here was one of surprise that the Canadiens actually defeated the Soviet juggernaut. Of course the soviets mostly played for CSKA, the red army team (k a, Krasny armii-red army). We used to say like, yeah, red army, they only play hockey, there as professional as the north americans. The truth, of course, was slightly different. They weren't pros, they were slaves. They did nothing but train and play. No life outside hockey. This explains their "conditioning". There was a very good Swedish documentary on TV about Soviet hockey a couple of years ago. Kind of shocking, actually. It's no surprise really that your Fedorovs and Larionovs decided to go west and cash in after 15 years under Tichonov...who wouldn't?(my all time longest post, sorry, won't happen again)

Let me just finish by saying that in '72 I'd just moved here from the states and was one of the very few who knew the NHL and was rooting for Canada. Young people of today can't even imagine what it was like back then, especially in a country like Norway.

donnyd2 · Newbie

I was 14 when this series was played. My school had the final game on T.V.s in the library and cafeteria. Everybody was out of class to watch. I watched the mini-series and enjoyed it very much. I thought that they did a pretty good job.

I even cheered last night when Henderson scored the winning goal. Still get the goosebumps after all this time.

By the way, I have a framed limited edition print of "The Goal" signed by the artist and Paul Henderson, hanging in a place of honour in my home.

habsforeverfan · Veteran Member

The Kahuna wrote:

Ando, you can't call it overated and overhyped if you didn't experience it. The WHOLE country was hanging on to every pass on this one. This truly was like a battle for our way of life vs theirs. This was 1972, the tail end of the coldwar and we were hockey supremecy...the godless communists (no disrespect meant, just conveying the feeling at the time) dare to challenge us at hockey, hockey is our game! You had to live it Ando to fully appreciate how much this meant to Canada. Calling Henderson's goal flukey may get some people's backs up. It was a hard working, desperate goal by a guy who in my opinion was our biggest star in the last 3 games. Would hockey be different if it had gone the other way? Great question, but can it be answered. I feel that series changed Canadian hockey and the way players trained. Before that series, they were hockey players. After they saw the conditioning level of the Russians, off season training in North America started happening, this turned our players in to atheletes. Strategies probably changed a lot after watching the Russians so closely for 8 games.

Kahuna, you are absolutely right about the significance of the Summit Series. The cold war, us vs them, democracy vs communism added to the drama of an intense hockey series. In today's hockey age, the world chamionships, olymipcs, and the world cup of hockey all pale to the intensity of past Canada Cups and the 72 Series. I don't want to take anything away from the skill of the players but since Russians and a greater influx of Europeans started playing in the NHL, the excitement of seeing Olympic hockey and the world championships with NHL players no longer warrants the hype that has been given to the past few international tournaments. I remember the 76 - 87 Canada Cups, seeing Russians playing hockey was truly a hockey spectacle.

The Kahuna · Guru

Ya, I watched all the Canada Cups, there were some great ones, but in my opinion they all pale next to the 72 series.