Montreal Close To Vladislav Tretiak's Heart
Dave Stubbs at the National Post: There is no more famous athlete in Russia than this elected member of the State Duma whose 60th birthday celebration in Moscow last April was attended by more than 500 people from every walk of life from the breadth of his motherland and from far beyond.
Today, it’s likely that Tretiak would be more familiar to passersby in Montreal than would Henderson, whose series-winning goal remains, as the goalie wrote in his 1987 autobiography, “the most maddening of all goals scored on me in hockey.” He adores this city, which returns the love generously. Full Story
Summit Series Still Resonates With Canadians
From Randy Sportak of Sun Media: The way Canada won -- claiming victory in the final three games, capped by Paul Henderson's moment-in-time winning goal with 34 seconds remaining in the finale that erased a two-goal deficit and resulted in a 6-5 win -- is a story usually only found in movies.
It's probably why, four decades later, everybody talks about it with a special reverence.
It was Canadians winning "our game." It was democracy beating communism in the throes of the cold war.
It pulled a country together then, and still resonates today.
"After 40 years, I'm amazed at the people's reaction to it," said Rod Gilbert. "When I go to Toronto, there's not one day when I don't meet somebody that reminisces about it, wants to reminisce about it." Full Story
Battle For Hockey Supremacy Thawed Cold War
From Gord Stellick at CBC: When it was all over, Canadian hockey fans were able to exhale in unison and thump our chests with pride once again as the greatest hockey nation in the world.
But it was a different thump. We had gained an admiration for the Soviet players' abilities and their style. As they had with us. And the loathed and despised "commies" were actually humanized to a degree over the month. It would signal the start of greater things in the international world for "our" great game, as the following years would see an overall softening of the Cold War and Russian and other players would be joining "our" NHL. Full Story
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