Canada Russia '72

First, let me say I enjoyed this TV movie more than I thought. Like nearly every other Canadian over 40, I remember the Henderson goal and the drama leading up to it. So, I thought a drama about "the drama" would surely fall short. I was pleasantly surprised. The key characters are all well represented with their most memorable features intact. We have Eagleson the Shyster, Sinden the Skinflint, Espo the Braggart, Ferguson the Vulgar, Cournoyer the Shy, Dryden the Intellectual, and Henderson the Hero (sort of a Canuck 7 dwarfs). The period setting and feel is dead on, reminiscent of the movie TRUDEAU which took place roughly the same time. Like TRUDEAU, the true Canadian soundtrack helps immensely. The Poppy Family's "Evil Grows", Lighthouse's "One Fine Morning", Crowbar's "Oh, What A Feeling", and 2 tunes each from Five Man Electrical Band("Signs","Absolutely Right") and The Guess Who("No Sugar Tonight" and "No Time")punctuate the plot at appropriate times. The film ends with Leonard Cohen's haunting "Avalanche" playing as a sense of relief settles over the players. This 70s soundtrack serves to remind us that we've produced great musicians as well as great athletes. Personally, I prefer watching highlights of the original thing (Cournoyer, the Roadrunner who got the TYING goal was a bigger hero to me than Henderson at the time), but this movie's heart is in the right place and you can't fault them for that. This movie will have limited appeal to non Canadians and non hockey fans, but for the rest of us, it is a pure delight to be reminded of our MIRACLE, our shot heard around the world, at least this part of the world.

First of all, know this. My most vivid childhood memory is of classes being suspended on September 28, 1972 and everyone going to watch Game #8 of the Summit Series in the high school library. When Cournoyer scored the goal that tied things at five, I heard myself say aloud "They're gonna win" before several witnesses. Later, with 34 seconds left, Paul Henderson saved my hide and made me a seer.

I have always thought the '72 Summit Series was tailor-made for a movie, or TV mini-series. At last we have developed enough confidence in our Canadian film-making prowess to attempt something. The casting in this program is dead-on, with Booth Savage 'being' Harry Sinden, akin to Kurt Russell 'being' Herb Brooks in MIRACLE. I am reminded of Sinden's book 'Hockey Showdown' whenever Savage and Mark Owen (John Ferguson) perform together.

The interesting sub-plot about Frank Mahovlich's obsessive disdain for the Russians is something past documentaries have seen fit to gloss over. Does the storyline appear in this TV drama because Frank was appointed to the Senate and his life is now public domain? Alan Eagleson is portrayed with surprising sympathy despite his present incarceration for misappropriating NHL pension funds.

The kid who plays Esposito seems almost too handsome and clean for the role (Espo was exponentially more greasy, not to mention more arrogant and vulgar), although he did a great job with Phil's "speech" after Game #4 in Vancouver. The original play-by-play by Foster Hewitt and Brian Conacher still gives me goosebumps today - I'm glad they kept it in, particularly Hewitt's call of the historic climax.

The show isn't perfect, but it is a project that took kahunas to tackle and everyone involved should be proud to have been part of it.

I think many of the 'actors' are gifted hockey players & lookalikes--there's not much on their resumé at IMDB. The photo of the guy playing John Ferguson is more like a Mugshot, which is fitting for the character! (Meant in a good way). Gerry Dee, though, plays an awesome chippy Wayne Cashman.

I am re-watching this amazing CBC production, from which the only thing I recall is 1) the Vancouver fans booed Team Canada from the beginning 2) Ferguson's later response to Bobby Clarke breaking Kharlomov's ankle: 'Hockey is a real tough game.'

A three-Cd set, with tons of insight & anecdotes you won't see on the package that has the 8 full games (yeah, I got that, too).

Watching this movie was difficult because of the shooting style used. Far too jumpy and with some pretty strange camera angles. I know they were trying to use a documentary style but the jumpiness of the cameras and the editing make it harder to watch and get a feel for what is going on. There wasn't a lot of flow, especially in the first of the two parts. The best parts of the film were the behind the scenes looks. The thoughts and actions of the players, coaches, politicians behind the scenes were definitely interesting. Unfortunately we don't know how much of it was accurate and how much of it was dramatised but hopefully they kept it as accurate as possible. Was The Big M (that's Frank Mahovlich) really that paranoid? Did Paul Henderson really just call Peter Mahovlich off and jump on the ice to score the winning goal in game 8? It would have been good if they had given some time to some of the other players who didn't play. There was no mention, for example, of Bobby Orr, yet he practised and travelled with the team but couldn't play because he was coming off knee surgery and didn't have medical clearance. Getting some insight into what he was thinking and how difficult it must have been to watch would have been interesting.

The Canadians did not "blow the Russians away" as the previous uninformed commentary claimed, they were hammered several times in the series by the Russians who were every bit their equal and in the end, Canada won the last game with 34 seconds left. If the Russians were so blown away by multi goal victories, then they wouldn't have been leading on goal difference by the end, would they? Anyways, it accurately shows the sometimes shameful tactics of both sides to gain the advantage. The Canadians started things by mistreating and talking down to the Russians and then attacking them and refusing to shake hands because they were blown out in game 1, the Russians responded by ensuring the Canadians' time in Russia was as difficult as possible by removing conveniences and selecting certain aspects of the games. However, the real defining moments come down to the Canadians' refusal to honour the agreements made months before and demanding official changes or they wouldn't play, sounding like spoiled brats, and then of course Bobby Clarke's famous cheap shot. In Game 6 Clarke's blatant slash on Russia's best player Valery Kharlamov, carried out on Coach Ferguson's orders, was an absolute disgrace and ruined the series, denying people the opportunity to see both teams at their best in the last games as Russia lost them in closely fought battles that their hero was unable to impact thanks to his severely injured ankle.

As good as this series was and as fantastic as both teams were, people like Clarke and Ferguson make it hard to understand just how things like that can be tolerated, as in any other sport an intent to injure like that is roundly condemned. The Canadians won, but they hardly steeped themselves in honour regarding the way they achieved that victory, and this film accurately and fairly portrays this aspect of the teams.