Easily Canada's best player, Bobby Orr was unable to play due to his bad knees. He was coming off of knee surgery and although he was named to the team, he never had medical clearance to play. He did practice and travel with the team, and you know it killed him to not be able to play.

One has to wonder how the series outcome would have been effected had Orr been healthy - or even 80% healthy like he often played in the National Hockey League. Undoubtedly the Russians would have still pushed Team Canada to the limit, but Orr was the best player on the planet. He was arguably the greatest player ever.

"I practiced with Bobby Orr every day," said Brian Glennie, who didn't get to play in the series either, "and believe me, if Bobby's knees had been good, i don't think it would have taken that long for the results to be in Canada's favor. in junior I watched him dominate the game we lost to the Russians 2-1, but he was the best player on the ice by far."

Orr still counts the Summit Series as one of his most cherished memories however.

"What that team did, I don't think there has been a greater feat in sports," Orr says. "They had to win three of four in Russia under terrible conditions.

"They lose the first won and win three in a row to win the series. It was an unbelievable comeback against a great Russian team. I've never seen anything like it."

Not playing in the series would probably rank as Orr's most disappointing aspect of his career, but he made up for in the 1976 Canada Cup. Canada only played Russian once in that classic series - Orr dominated in what he ranks as one of his greatest games. He was named as Canada's players of the game despite not picking up a point in the 3-1 Canadian victory.