Jacques Plante aided Tretiak prior to series

Vladislav Tretiak had a special visitor right before game one - arguably the greatest goaltender in the history of the game Jacques Plante.

Plante, who publicly predicted an 8-0 sweep for Team Canada, had met Tretiak 3 years earlier, but returned only a short time before the opening puck drop of the series. Tretiak never understood why he showed up, accompanied with an interpreter, but assumed it was because he felt sorry for him for what he was about to be exposed to.

Plante, with the aid of a chalk board, gave Tretiak tips on each of Canada's big shooters. He told him to never take his eye off of Phil Esposito when he was in the slot. He told him about Frank Mahovlich's booming shot which he unleashed from just about anywhere. He told him about Yvan Cournoyer's speed. He went into great detail how to play against them. As suddenly as he appeared, he quickly disappeared.

Tretiak of course went on to stone Team Canada in game one and through out the entire series, and much of the next decade.

"I will always be very grateful to Jacques Plante whose suggestions helped me so much," wrote Tretiak in his autobiography.