Often overshadowed by the great Bobby Orr, New York Ranger and Boston Bruins defenseman Brad Park (who later also played with Detroit) might have been the next best defensemen in the game during the 1970s.
Park often teamed with Gary Bergman to form an awesome defensive duo in the 8 game series with the Soviets. Park scored 1 goal and and had 4 assists in the series. He was especially strong in Moscow. In the historic final game he and Paul Henderson (of course) were named as Canada's players of the game. That is quite a feat considering that Canada's best player in the entire series, Phil Esposito, had 2 goals and 2 assists in the game and had a big role in the last minute heroics.
Park, who was 24 years old in 1972, credits playing in the tournament as making him a better player as he embarked upon his Hall of Fame career. Playing and practicing with so many great NHL stars at the time, plus incorporating a few tricks from the new school Soviet game plan helped Park tremendously.
Park, one of 15 Hall of Famers on Team Canada, was one of just 7 players who played in every game against the Soviets.
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