My ’72 Story

I was 13 3/4 years old when the illustrious Canada-Russia hockey series got underway. For me, the story starts many years before, watching European and Olympic hockey on television. The world game seemed so slow and ponderous. I was not aware at the time of the large ice surface being influenced by the sport “Bandy” played in Iceland, Greenland, Northern Europe and Asia. Here in Canada, our First Nations had a hiatory of playing a version of this game on turf and ice.

It was a cold spring day March, when my father took me for a ride to see a business colleague in a nearby rural area. I chose to wait in the truck, while they did business. The truck had an AM radio that I took the opportunity to listen to. I tuned in to CBC this day and there had just been an announcement about an upcoming 8 game international exhibition series between an NHL dream team and the Soviet national hockey club. It caught my ear, because never had I heard of such a concept in my life to this point.  These teams were from completely different spheres. How could anyone assess how such a series might go?

 

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