The six previous
tournaments have given hockey fans all over the
world some unforgettable moments over the years.
Nowhere else were we given the opportunity to watch
the greatest players duke it out against each other.
Let's take a trip down memory lane to recapture some
of the exciting and odd action that have taken
place.
The comeback...
Swedes have fond memories of their incredible
comeback during the World Championships in Helsinki
2003 when they stormed back from a 1-5 deficit to a
6-5 victory against their archrival from Finland.
The Finns managed a comeback on their own against
Sweden in the inaugural Canada Cup tournament back
in 1976. They were trailing 1-4 before turning it
all around, stunning the Swedes with a 8-6 victory.
One of the heroes was the veteran Lasse Oksanen who
at that time was winding down in the Italian league.
He sealed the victory with his 6-5 and 7-5 goals.
The one-sided victory...
In the first ever Canada Cup game in 1976 the star
packed Canadian team squared off against Finland. 16
out of the 21 players on the Canadian squad were
eventually inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Finnish players were clearly awestruck and
before they even knew what hit them, they had been
trounced 11-2 by the powerful Canadians.
The humiliation...
It all started when the dynamic and energetic
Russian Vladimir Krutov totally fooled the Canadian
superstar Guy Lafleur and scored to put the Russians
ahead 5-1 in the 3rd period. To make matters worse
the goal was scored while the Russians were
shorthanded. Another blow for Canada was that the
Russians scored three more goals and that the game
was the final of the 1981 Canada Cup tournament. Not
to mention that it was played in the Mecca of
Canadian hockey, the classic Forum in Montreal.
The greatest honour...
When Sweden's defenseman Börje Salming received a
5-minute standing ovation from the fans in Toronto
just before the first ever Swedish game in Canada
Cup vs. USA. No other player has received such a
rousing welcome in the history of the tournament.
Salming didn't disappoint his fans and had a goal
and an assist in the game.
The classic...
Not only one, but all three of the finals in the
1987 showdown between Canada and the Soviet Union
are classics today. These games had everything one
could desire, furious tempo, incredible individual
performances and gut wrenching drama. All the games
ended 6-5. The teams split the first two games in
overtime. The third and final game wasn't decided
until Mario Lemieux scored with 1:34 left on the
clock to put Canada ahead 6-5.
The fiasco...
Of course, the 1-8 loss to the Soviets in 1981 was a
fiasco by Canada, but the most disappointing overall
performance versus the expectations belongs to
Sweden 1981 and the Czech Republic 1996.
Half the Swedish team consisted of NHL-players, and
only three of them never played in the NHL.
Sweden only won one of five games and missed the
playoff round. Before the tournament the Swedish
media proudly proclaimed that it was the best
Swedish hockey team ever.
The Czechs were in a similar position. The Czech
media hailed the team as the best ever in the
country. The Czechs lost all three games and
finished the tournament with a 1-7 crash-landing
against the lowly Germans.
The bone crusher...
Eric Lindros was only 18 when he played in Canada
Cup 1991. The young kid from London, Ont crushed
anything in his path. Against Sweden he plastered
Sweden's super pest Ulf Samuelsson so hard to the
boards that the Swedish menace damaged his shoulder
and never played again in the tournament. In the
following game against the Czechs, Lindros crunched
the Martin Rucinsky and broke his collarbone.
Lindros didn't back down against USA either. He had
a monster collision with 6' 4" and 220 Ibs Joel
Otto that sent the American flying to the ice.
Highlights for each team throughout the
tournaments.
FINLAND:
September 9 1976 vs Sweden (8-6)
The Finnish players showed a lot of morale and
fighting spirit against their Nordic archrivals.
They came back to win after trailing 1-4. Veteran
Lasse Oksanen and WHA player Juhani Tamminen had two
goals each. Hockey-wise Finland played better
against both Canada (2-2) in 1991 and against the
Czechs (7-3) in 1996. But this victory was the
sweetest.
CANADA:
September 13 1987 vs Soviet Union (6-5 overtime)
Canada have played in many memorable games, but the
best one came in the 2nd game of the finals in 1987.
The hockey was absolutely marvellous. Wayne Gretzky
himself ranks it as his best
performance ever. He had 5 assists in the game and
was the offensive catalyst on the Canadian team. The
whole final series was a victory for hockey as a
sport.
RUSSIA:
September 13 1981 vs Canada (8-1)
The Soviets played flawless hockey in the second
half of the game.
The KLM-line backed up by defensemen Fetisov and
Kasatonov had a great night and had 9 points. As
usual the Soviets had the steadiness of goalie
Vladislav Tretiak.
SLOVAKIA:
September 1 1996 vs Canada (2-3)
Slovakia have only played three games in the
tournament and lost all three. Their best effort was
undoubtedly in the game against Canada.
The Canadians had to gather all their strength to
finally squeak out a victory with less than 4
minutes left of the game. Slovakia's goalie Roman
Mega played great and turned away 34 shots.
SWEDEN:
September 12 1984 vs USA (9-2)
The line with Thomas Steen, Kent Nilsson and Håkan
Loob had an excellent game against the Americans in
the semi-final. The trio had 6 goals and 12 points
in the game and managed to chase out the young
phenom Tom Barrasso in net after only 12 minutes. It
was a sweet revenge for the Swedes who avenged a 1-7
loss to the Americans earlier in the tournament.
CZECH REPUBLIC:
September 9 1976 vs Canada (1-0)
The Czechs best game came against Canada in the
preliminary round 1976 when Milan Novy scored the
only goal of the game. Many rank that game just
below the three final games in 1987 when it comes to
hockey entertainment. The Czechoslovakian team had
only four Slovaks out of the 26 on the roster, but
one of them had a major role in the result. The
pudgy goalie Vladimir Dzurilla was like a wall and
kept a clean sheet.
GERMANY:
August 31 1996 vs Czech Republic (7-1)
The Germans came out flying in this game and
overwhelmed the Czechs by scoring three goals in the
first six minutes. Belgian born Jan Benda who had
Czech parents scored two goals in the game
and was one of the heroes for the Germans.
USA:
September 14 1996 vs Canada (5-2)
USA managed to dethrone the mighty Canadians in
1996. USA had an impressive roster where the stars
all worked together as a team. Goalie Mike Richter
was fabulous in the finals and without him
between the pipes it's doubtful that USA would have
won. He was rightfully named MVP of the tournament.
Did you know...
...Winnipeg-born goalie Karl Friesen who guarded the
net for the West Germans during the 1984 Canada Cup
was voted as his teams best player in all 4 games
that he played in.
...The second and third games of the World Cup 1996
finals between USA and Canada each drew 21,273
people, which is a tournament record. The worst
attendance was in the game between Soviet Union and
Finland back in 1981. Only 2,412 people showed up.
...Wayne Gretzky played a total of 39 games in the
tournament and was voted as Canada's best player on
11 occasions.
...Wayne Gretzky won the scoring title in four
consecutive tournaments (1981,84,87,91)
...Soviet Union's Viktor Zhluktov holds the single
game point record with his 6 point (4+2) performance
against Finland in 1976.
...The youngest player in tournament history was Ed
Olczyk (USA) who was only 18 years and 16 days old
in his first game (1984). The oldest player was
Sweden's Börje Salming who was 40 years, 4 months
and 26 days when he played his last game in 1991.
...The heavyweight was Peter Popovic (Sweden) with
his 235 Ibs in 1996 and the lightweight was the
Kazakh born Boris Alexandrov (Soviet Union) who in
1976 weighed a meagre 150 Ibs.
...The tallest guy so far has been 6' 6" Kjell
Samuelsson (Sweden) in 1991. The shortest was
American Doug Palazzari in 1976 with 5' 5".
...Players born in 18 different countries and four
continents have played in the tournament over the
years.
...When Germany played in the World Cup 1996 they
had players born in 7 different countries on their
team.
|
Legends
of Team Canada Book Oct 2004
|
