The 1972 Summit Series
A 4 Part Series by Bruce Kish
Brought to you buy Decisive-Action Sports

SUMMIT PART 3:  FIFTY AGAINST THE WORLD

GAME 6: THE ROAD BACK

After Game 5, Ken Dryden had figured the series was over for him.  On the evening before the next game, he took a leisurely midnight walk through Red Square with his wife, but neglected to wear anything heavier than a sports jacket against the freezing Moscow autumn temperatures. On the following morning, he awoke with a stuffy nose and a throbbing head. Learning that Sinden elected to put him in goal did little to make him feel better.

As usual, the Canadian coaching staff shuffled the lineup before the start of the game. Serge Savard replaced Rod Seiling, Dennis Hull in relief of Frank Mahovlich, and Red Berenson in lieu of Perreault.

The Soviets, on the other hand, replaced their most veteran players in favor of younger, faster ones. Alexander Gusev and Victor Kuzkin, who had tormented the Canadians in Game 5, were scratched. The "Kid Line" of Anisin-Bodunov-Lebedex would finally make its Moscow debut.

What disturbed the Canadians, however, was the Soviets' choice of referees, West Germans Franz Baader and Josef Kompalla. The tandem had worked the exhibition games in Stockholm and had enraged the NHLers with many questionable penalty calls. After the second game, they had dubbed the officials "Baader and Worse" and "Baader and Wurst."

The Soviet authorities were equally alarmed at the noise and strange behavior of the Canadian fans. Hoping to reduce their impact, the arena attendants broke up the visitors' section and scattered it around the building. To keep order, Soviet militiamen were conspicuously stationed throughout the arena. These acts, however, only inspired the Canadians to make more noise than ever.

As the first period was underway, Mrs. Kryczka, the wife of Canadian Amateur Hockey Association chairman Joe Kryczka, was having a problem with a Russian spectator in front who kept jumping up and blocking her view.  When she tapped him on the shoulder to ask him to sit down, he turned with an upraised fist and was about to strike her when Eagleson sprang to the rescue. Immediately, the Team Canada player liaison was jumped by several soldiers and a scuffle began. One of the soldiers noticed Eagleson's ID badge and told his comrades to back off. The Russian spectator who had harassed Mrs. Kryczka turned out to be a member of the Soviet National Team who had not dressed.

For the first 20 minutes, the Soviets peppered Dryden, but the returning goalie held firm, his confidence rising with each difficult save. One minute into the second period, however, the Soviets drew first blood.

Victor Yakushev and Alexander Volchkov spearheaded a breakout. The veteran Yakushev crossed up Dryden by not passing to his wide-open teammate and firing instead. The shot went wide of the cage, but the trailer Shadrin scooped up the rebound, and feathered a pass to Liapkin at the left point.  The defenseman's shot disappeared through a screen and hit the back of the net. 1-0, Soviets.

In an effort to get back in the game, Sinden began double-shifting Phil Esposito, first with Parise and Cournoyer, then Dennis Hull and Rod Gilbert.  The second combination paid off in spades. From the top of the right face-off circle, Gilbert snapped a wrist shot which was blocked in front by a defenseman. Through sheer willpower, Gilbert threw his body at the Russian and managed to outmuscle him for control of the puck. Twice, he slashed at the puck.  First, a forehand that Tretiak stopped, then a backhand. The second rebound popped over to Hull, who flipped the biscuit over the sprawling goalie at 5:13.

Exhausted, Esposito went off the ice, replaced by Red "The Roadrunner" Berenson with Parise and Cournoyer. A little over a minute after Team Canada tied the score, Pat Stapleton fired shot which caromed behind the net. Berenson managed to dig it out from along the boards and steer it to the right side of the cage in the path of the on-coming Cournoyer, who redirected it behind Tretiak.

On the ensuing face-off, Vladimir Lutchenko had a mental lapse and blindly passed through the neutral zone without looking up to find a teammate. Paul Henderson intercepted the puck, then stormed across the Soviet blue line. He split the defensemen Lutchenko and Gennady Tsygankov, then drilled a low shot by Tretiak at 6:36 who didn't even move.

In a reversal of Game 5, Team Canada rattled off three goals in only 1:23.  At that point, the officials took charge and began calling penalties. The most controversial call happened at 10:12 after the whistle. Clarke, who was tripped by Valery Kharlamov, arose and rubbed his glove in the Russian's face.  The big forward responded with a jab to the ribs and Clarke retaliated with another punch. Gary Bergman charged Kharlamov and rammed into him, but Baader managed to prevent a second brawl.  When the combatants were separated, Clarke received a penalty for slashing, and a 10-minute game misconduct. The Russian received nothing.

Kharlamov became a marked man. Whether or not he had the puck, the Canadians made runs at him. Up in the broadcast booth, analyst Brian Conacher noted the rough treatment the Soviet star was receiving:

"Team Canada is certainly showing a lot of respect for Kharlamov," he intoned, "They're giving him a lot of attention tonight. Every time they get a chance, they're taking him for a rough ride along the boards."

Frank Mahovlich, twice the Kharlamov's size, skated by and elbowed the Russian. On their way back down the ice, the Russian returned the favor dumped the Canadian.

Clarke, however, took horrible revenge. Back on the ice, he stalked Kharlamov like an assassin and waited for an opportunity to strike. The Russian entered the Canadian zone and shifted gears to pass to a teammate.  The act gave Clarke his chance. He took his stick back like an ax, then swung down onto Kharlamov's left ankle just as the Russian was completing his pass. His body tumbled like it had been shot. Kharlamov arose, but could barely skate; he managed to finish the game, but trainers discovered that the ankle was fractured.

Play continued, however, as everyone noticed the cheap shot except the referees and the TV cameras. Moments later, the play was whistled dead at 17:02 and Hull was called off the ice for a mysterious slashing call which Clarke should have received.

After the face-off in the Canadians' zone, the puck was loose in front of the net.  Dryden tried to grab it through the tangle of legs, but Yakushev got his blade on it first and stuffed it into the goal, nine seconds into the power play.  3-2, Canada.

Thirty-five seconds later, Esposito received a five-minute major for a drawing blood with a high stick. Both Ferguson and Sinden were livid, convinced that the officials were biased toward the Soviets. They threw

temper tantrum that alarmed even their own players. Sinden looked around, grabbed a towel and hurled it onto the ice. At length, Berenson, skated over to the bench and told Sinden to cool off.

Team Canada now had to kill off a two-man disadvantage. Kharlamov, hobbled but still mobile, captained the power play unit. From a triangle formation Canadian defenders, held their ground and tensely waited as the Russians worked the puck around the perimeter. Finally, from the right point, Vladimir Petrov found Kharlamov unguarded in the right corner.

He one-timed the shot that hit just inside the post and was immediately covered up by Dryden. For a moment, it appeared the Soviets had gotten the equalizer, but the officials' view was obscured by the Dryden's mitt and they blew the play down and ruled that no goal had been scored. The Russians protested in vain and Eagleson, whose heart had stopped for a second, agreed with their point. The play was so close, even Dryden wasn't certain whether the puck had hit the post or the mesh just inside it and bounced back out.  TV video replays were inconclusive.

The second period ended a minute later, but Sinden's fury hadn't. Both he and special adviser Bobby Orr chased the referees down the hallway to their locker room. When Baader stopped to confront Orr, the Bruin defenseman collided. Immediately, Russian police, who had been pursing the two Canadians, began ganging up on them.

Back in his own locker room, Sinden was still fuming. To get back at the Soviets, he ordered his team not to go back on the ice after the intermission was over. Five minutes later, he sent Stan Mikita, who hadn't dressed, out to inspect the ice surface. The forward came back and reported that the Russian attendants had deliberately flooded the ice to slow down the Canadians.  Sinden did not agree to come back out for the third period until after the excess water was removed.

In the third period, the Canadians completely shut down the powerful Soviet scoring machine and preserved their 3-2 lead for the victory. Late in the third period, Conacher summed up the outcome to Foster Hewitt:

"Foster, I can't believe it - down there on the ice, it's just sheer war.  These two teams are going at it, they're not sparing the lumber, they're not sparing the body, but is it tough down there!" he exclaimed. "But Team Canada are giving, I feel, their best effort in this whole series."

COLD WAR TACTICS

The Soviets led the series 3-2-1 and were still confident they would win it, but decided not to take any chances. They began using psychological operations on the Canadian players and fans away from the rink. To the Soviet officials, the ongoing series was not a friendly sporting event, but a clash of political ideologies.

Phil Esposito told one reporter he felt the KGB was trailing him and the others.  Stone-faced men, garbed in drab-colored suits and dark glasses seemed to be everywhere, watching, listening. As the Canadians strolled through Moscow in the evening, the larger-than-life statues of Communist Heroes appeared sinister with their grim expressions and piercing eyes.

Canadian embassy officials met with their Soviet counterparts to ensure Team Canada was comfortable in their quarters, but nothing could calm Team Canada's anxieties. Other problems arose. The quality of food served to the Canadians decreased severely.  The hotel staff became hostile.

In the dead of night, as Brad Park was sleeping, he was startled awake by static crackling on the intercom in his room. Garbled Russian voices shouted out, then the noises disappeared as quickly as they had come. In the rooms of Phil Esposito, Frank Mahovlich, and Paul Henderson, the phone mysteriously rang at 3 a.m. When they picked it up, the line at the other end was dead.

The intimidation tactics were beginning to take their toll. The players were convinced their rooms were bugged and began sweeping for wire taps. Wayne Cashman was convinced the mirror in his bedroom was bugged. He ripped it off the wall and hurled it out the window. Later that day, there was a knock on

Phil Esposito's door. It was Mrs. Cashman who asked if she could use the mirror in his room to put on her makeup.

Frank Mahovlich, who was paranoid, and another unnamed member of Team Canada were allegedly involved in another search for bugs. Furniture was strewn about and the walls and ceiling closely inspected. Finally, the players began ripping up the rug.  To their surprise and satisfaction, they found a peculiar metal device bolted to the wooden floor.

One of the players took out a quarter and began unscrewing the bolts. As the last one was pulled, they heard a distant melodious crash.  Unwittingly, they had uninstalled a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling below.

At length, the Canadian embassy officials listened to the players' complaints about mysterious phone calls. Diplomat Patrick Reid instructed the Intourist staff to route all phone calls to Team Canada through his office; predictably, the problem ceased.

At practice on the day before Game 7, the Soviet rink attendants changed the Canadian's ice time. At noon, a half hour before the Soviets were allowed to use the rink, Coach Vsevolod Bobrov appeared with an interpreter and told Sinden to get his players off the ice. The men argued over the itinerary.  Exasperated, Sinden tried brinkmanship.

"We're not leaving until 12:30. If you want to bring your players out on the ice before that, I don't know what might happen to them," he said.

Bobrov backed down.

When practice was over, Sinden went with an interpreter to the Soviet Committee on Sports and Physical Education for the ruling on his complaint about the officiating. Upon arrival, chairman Karel Romansky proceeded to berate the coach for his assault of the officials, the conduct of his players (especially Bobby Orr) off the ice, and for Gary Bergman's insults to coach Bobrov.

"You should teach your players to control their tempers," Romansky preached to a brow-beaten Sinden. "Coaches and officials are sacred in Russia. If your players address our coach in this manner again, we may not be able to control our players."

Satisfied that he had made his point, Romansky agreed to sideline the two German referees.

As he returned to the hotel, Sinden felt relieved that the issue had been settled. He could now relax with his players at an embassy party Ambassador Ford had arranged.  

1972 Summit Series
A 4 Part Series by Bruce Kish