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The following
is an excerpt from Thunder and Lightning: A no-B.S. Hockey Memoir by
Phil Esposito with Peter Golenbock, published by McClelland & Stewart
Ltd., The Canadian Publishers. Reprinted in the Toronto Star by permission of the
publisher. Available in stores this week.
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Air Canada sent a Boeing 747 to fly us home. Had we lost the series to the Russians, they wouldn't have sent a Piper Cub. But we won, and
Air Canada flew us home in style. On that flight we ate anything we wanted: lobster, steak, french fries, and plenty of booze.
We landed in Montreal. Alan Eagleson was a member of the Conservative
Party who had been a politician and was still politically involved. Pierre Trudeau, the prime minister, was a Liberal. Trudeau drove up
to the back of the plane, and we were supposed to walk down the ramp
in the back to greet him, but Eagleson decided to snub him, and for fifteen minutes there was an argument about which end of the plane
the players should exit from.
Wayne Cashman, my brother, and I decided, "F--- them. We're not
getting off the plane at all." My brother and Cashman were too drunk
to get up anyway, so the three of us just sat there while Eagleson
made the rest of the players leave by the front door.
Prime Minister Trudeau came into the plane to see us. I said, "I'm
sorry, Mr. Trudeau, but they want us to go out the front because
you're a Liberal and they're Conservatives, and I just decided, the
heck with it."
"I understand," he said. "But I just wanted to shake your hand. Thank
you."
When the players and Eagleson came back on the plane, he said to
us, "Why didn't you guys get off with the rest of us?"
I was sickened by his using us to advance his political agenda. I
said to him, "F--- off. Get away from me, you piece of s---."
Our next stop was Toronto. We landed in a fine, misty rain. The
premier of Ontario was a Conservative, so Eagleson allowed him right
on to shake hands with everybody. We got into cars and took part in a
parade from the airport to downtown. I made a speech. My nose hurt from being broken, and my tie was undone, and I had my Team Canada
blazer on. Everyone must have been happy with what I said, because they applauded.
Eagleson wanted us to go to a party, but I went back to the hotel. I
didn't want to be used as a political football. The mayor of Sault
Ste. Marie wanted to throw a parade for Tony and me, but Tony wanted
to go home to Chicago, and I didn't want to make Tony look bad, so I
told the mayor we were both going home after four weeks on the road,
that I wanted to get back to Boston. He said he understood.
The next morning I was in Boston, training with the Bruins for the
upcoming season. Two days later I played in a pre-season exhibition
game. Wayne Cashman had returned, though he still was having serious
problems with his tongue.
It was good to be back with the guys on the Bruins, good to be home in Boston. Prime Minister Trudeau called and asked if I would come to
Ottawa for an award ceremony. I said, "No, thank you, I don't want to. I've done what I've done, and that's all."
Paul Henderson took advantage of his fame from playing in that
series, and he has made a living out of his celebrity from playing
and beating the Russians. I guess if I had lived and played in Canada
I'd have done the same thing.
Looking back, it was one hell of a series. It was the toughest thing
I ever had to do in my life as a hockey player.
The mental anguish we all went through was overwhelming. And I never
was able to play at that level again.
From that moment on, for me as a player, it was all downhill.
Visit
McLelland & Stewart's website
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Phil Esposito's
Autobiography @
Amazon.ca
Remembering Phil
Esposito @
Amazon.ca
The Thrill of Victory
@ Amazon.ca
Team Canada: From Eh to Zed
@ Amazon.ca
Kings of the Ice
@ Amazon.ca
The World Cup of
Hockey
@ Amazon.ca
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