A self described journeyman hockey player, J.P. Parise was a surprise inclusion on the initial version of Team Canada. But his hustle and determination proved to be valuable assets for the team, and the man who was surprised to play any games ended up playing in 6 out of 8 games against the Soviets.

Parise claims his favorite part of the series was being able to play in that historic eighth game where Paul Henderson scored the most famous goal in hockey history. Of course Parise didn't get to finish that game. He was ejected from the game when he came perilously close to deliberately injuring incompetent referee Josef Kompalla.

Kompalla was a blatantly bias official who refereed games 6 and 8. In game 6 he did his best to all but officially give Russia a victory thanks to an unthinkable 31 penalty minutes to Canada vs. only 4 to Russia. Game 8 was supposed to be refereed by another official, but suspiciously he was said to be ill at the last moment, and the Soviets said Kompalla had to officiate.

At just 4:10 of the first period, Parise became the third Canadian player penalized for a questionable infraction. It was obvious that Kompalla was up to his tricks at that early stage of the game, and Parise had had enough already.

"He gave me a penalty and I broke my stick on the ice and then faked a swing at him. I never planned to hit him. I just wanted to show him we'd had enough," said Parise.

Parise's near decapitation of the cowering official is what this veteran of almost 900 NHL games is best known for. And he certainly doesn't seem to regret his now-famous (infamous?) actions.