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Wayne
Gretzky Peed Pants in 1987
Game 2 of the 1987 Canada Cup finals is
considered by many to be one of the greatest games ever played.
Wayne Gretzky, arguably the game's greatest player, considers that
game to be the greatest game he personally has ever played.
That game is also memorable to Gretzky
for another reason - one of his most embarrassing. He peed his pants
right there on the Team Canada bench!
The incident happened during the first
overtime. Gretzky, being double and triple shifted, had played a ton
of hockey in this game already, and was exhausted halfway through
the first overtime. He compared his physical state to that of a
marathon runner in his 26th mile. He was on the bench and had no
control over his own muscles.
Just as Gretzky realized what was going
on, one of the coaches told him to get ready, he was to be going
into action at the next chance. Somehow he formed enough energy to
go back out and play another shift.
By the way, no one knew Gretzky did
this. But as he revealed in his autobiography, he told everyone
after the game. His teammates, celebrating a great victory, laughed
heartily for nearly 30 minutes.
Two
Team Canadas in 1991?
Just days prior to the start of the
1991 Canada Cup, a political coup in the Soviet Union was making
headlines world wide. Mikhail Gorbachev was dismissed as the leader
of the powerful Soviet Union by hard line communists on August 19.
The fallout of such an act of course was far reaching, including the
Canada Cup. The coup left Canada Cup organizers scrambling for a
contingency plan in case the political upheaval led to the
withdrawal of Team USSR. Alan Eagleson, the tournament's
director, suggested the following. "In the event of a Soviet
withdrawal, I propose that Canada enter two teams in the
tournament." No contingency plan was ever approved by the
International Ice Hockey Federation and fortunately Team USSR was
not used as a political pawn of the communists
Swedish
Female Coach for Team Canada?
Fred Shero, then the coach of the
NHL's Philadelphia Flyers, said that if he were named head coach of
Team Canada 1976, he would have named a Swedish woman as one of
his assistant coaches. His insistence on this topic
was one of the main reasons why Team Canada opted for Scotty Bowman
as coach.
Though he would not name the woman,
he said that she was the head coach of a Swedish team and plays on a
men's team in Sweden. She also spent a
year in Canada studying Canadian hockey. Shero added that he had
seen the woman play and he felt she was
good enough to play in the minor leagues!
Team
Canada Snubs
Prime Minister Trudeau
Following the Canada Cup, the
organizers of the tournament had planned a luncheon for Team Canada
with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. However it was a
poorly planned event. The players weren't notified of the event
until after the final game. At that point all the players had
received their plane tickets to send them to their various NHL homes
across North America. Most players had to catch flights rather than
eat with the Prime Minister. In fact only three players showed up
for the meal - Larry Robinson, Butch Goring and Wayne Gretzky.
"I don't think I've ever been to
a more embarrassing event in my life" remembers Wayne.
"Here's the Prime Minister sitting at a table set for thirty
guys and three of us show up!"
"Naturally, we're all a bit
disappointed at the result of the game," said Trudeau.
"but all of us here are in a game of some kind, including
myself, where you win some and you lose some."
Team
Quebec in 1981?
Quebecer Guy Bertrand, a local lawyer
who acted as a player agent for several Quebec Nordiques including
Real Cloutier and Pierre Lacroix, called for a Team Quebec to be
allowed to play in the Canada Cup. Bertrand, an obvious supporter of
separatism, wanted to see a collection of French Canadians not only
take on the Soviets and Americans, but the rest of Canada.
The idea didn't get much support, yet
Bertrand would continue to make noise in the tournament. Even though
Canada had Quebec born stars such as Guy Lafleur, Gilbert Perreault,
Marcel Dionne, and Ray Bourque, Bertrand called for a boycott a
boycott because of Team Canada's ignoring of all Quebec Nordiques
player for training camp invitations.
Bertrand's movement was successful,
though definitely aided by high ticket prices that were creating
similar attendance problems in most rinks in the nation. Quebec City
was to host a couple of games, (Czechs vs Sweden in the round robin,
plus a semi-final game between the Czechs and Soviets) but ticket
sales were so poor that tournament organizers were forced to look
for an alternative.
The alternative proved to the
nation's capital, Ottawa. The people of Ottawa, starved for hockey
with no professional team located there, responded well despite
having a small rink.
In
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