One day, one return to the past...
24th April 1976
The day When the Soviet Union humiliated Canada
The day When the Soviet Union humiliated Canada...A year after with absolute glory won the enormously prestigious Canada Cup in 1976 wanted to returne after it´s 7 years "Splendid isolation" to the IIHF world Ice Hockey international ice in the same beauty and glory but it ended in a total nightmare
A brief hockey report appeared in the Russian media yesterday: "We commemorate 43 years since the Soviet Union achieved the highest victory in history over Canada 11-1, It was at the World Championships in Vienna in 1977 and the then selection of the USSR finished the tournament with bronze, but Canada finished even worse without any medal ... " The championship in the Austrian capital was dominated by the Czechoslovaks with the legendary Vladimír Dzurilla in the net or brothers Peter and Marián Šťastný (later defected to quebec and represented Canada for years before returning after the fall of the communism and playing for Slovakia) in the attack, but the history of hockey from this tournament includes mainly the two Canadian losses to the Soviets. In the first round part, they lost by 1-11 and in the final round they received another massacre 1-8.
What actually exactly happened? The year before, the confident cradle of hockey had triumphed in sovereign way at the "home" ultra-prestigious Canada Cup and was about to celebrate its return to international ice with great ambitions.
The Canadians have been missing for seven years because of the protest about the IIHF rule banning professionals from starting at the World Championships and the Winter Olympics. However, the international situation eased after the Canada Cup and the "maple leaves" sent a strong NHL enclave to Vienna with brothers Tony and Phil Esposito, defenders Carl Vadnais, Dallas Smith and Phil Russell, or forwards Rod Gilbert, Ron Ellis, Pierre Larouche, Jean Pronovost or Eric Vail.
But the expected celebration turned into a nightmare...
"They threw us into wolves. We've never experienced anything like this before. We've had a successful Canada Cup, and if we still wanted to have this competition in the future, we had to play in the World Championships. Some of it took a lot of money, but we weren't , "said forward and then Canadian captain Phil Esposito after years.
The legendary center of Boston bruins and New York Rangers scored 1,590 points during his NHL career and is ranked tenth in the historical table of the most productive players. But at the world championship in Vienna, he was not surprised when he lost 1-11 and 1-8 to the Soviet Union. Even a later clear victories over the reigning and future world champions from Czechoslovakia (8-2) or the Swedes (7-0) did not bring the Canadians a medal
"I don't like to remember the events of 1977. Before the championship they told me that I didn't have to put on my helmet and they changed it a minute before the first match. After the last match I was so angry that I threw my helmet towards Gunther Sabitzky the former president of IIHF, He was so stupid that he came to me and asked for an autograph. I told him something very vulgar at the time," Phil Esposito, 78, now remember in his memoirs.
The Canadian professionals from the NHL had a hard time digesting the lesson from the Soviet hockey machine whch scored eleven goals in their first game. Alexander Yakushev scored four goals, Helmut Balderis and Boris Mikhailov both added two goals. After the match, four Canadian players Wilf Piment, Walt McKechney, Greg Smith and the aforementioned Phil Esposito refused to take off their helmets during the Soviet anthem. However, there were also those who recognized the qualities of the opponent. "The Soviets were efficient and accurate in shooting. We played against a great team," admitted Canadian goalkeeper Jim Rutherford.
The later general manager of the NHL teams, who also brought to the Stanley Cups the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes, was the secong GK of the team behind Tony Esposito in Vienna. "At that time, the World Champs had no interest in Canada at all. There was no television broadcasts, not even pictures of our matches in the evening news. I remember my parents calling me when they wanted to know how we played," Rutherford added.
The Canadian selections that have come from the NHL to the European ice in the past have never been a let say real model for fairness and decency. The team from 1977, led by the little-respected coach Johnny Wilson, crossed the limits of roughing several times and also collected some memorable derogatory attributes such as the team from ZOO.
Wilf Paiement hit one of the Soviet players with a hockey stick, and Eric Vail performed the same, both receiving higher penalties. In the case of Vail, this was a key moment in the second match between Canada and the USSR, when the Soviets scored two goals in a power play at the beginning of the second period within 24 seconds and jumped off to 3-1. The Canadians failed mentally, collecting 52 penalty minutes by the end of the match and losing the match 1-8.
After the match, the overseas players did not have a nice word for the Finnish referee Raim Sepponen, they were especially angry at the key exclusion of Vail. "I haven't seen such a referee in 16 years of my career. Our opponents have, of course, influenced him," said Phil Esposito. His brother Tony evaluated the whole tournament a little more concisely. "Circumstances did not suit us, but with stupid fouls we lost better results. They cost us a medal," said the Canadian goalkeeper.
Years ago, player agent and later popular hockey commentator Bill Watters described the Canadian failure against the Soviets in Vienna over the years: "It was a hard lesson for us to behave on the international ice. Once we noticed that our hard game was being judged too harshly, and "We gave up, we started winning. After years, we learned how to play in Europe. We got used to the wider rinks and the European way of deciding matches."