It’s always good when there’s a game seven in the Stanley Cup finals.  it makes players, owners, program sellers, hot dog vendors, and Gary Bettman very happy. Seven games means money for some, honour and jubilation for others. Seven games means jitters for players and fans of the teams involved. And at seven games, wives and non-fans across Canada [...]

This has absolutely nothing to do with the Stanley Cup finals taking place right now, but I decided to post this because, well….. I decided to, dammit.
In 1974, when the best from the renegade World Hockey Association played the Russian National team in the series that followed the original ‘72 Series, the Russian program distributed at Luzhniki Ice [...]

Sports Illustrated emailed me this little NHL poll that is published in their current edition. The question was; Which Country Produces The Best Players?
324 players voted, and players couldn’t vote for their own country. Here’s the results:
Canada 30%
Sweden 28%
Russia 27%
US 7%
Finland 4%
Are you surprised by this? For me, I suppose it looks about right, but [...]

I’ve just thought of the perfect guy to coach the Habs. Victor Tikhonov

 
Those dastardy Russians. We knew they were good before they played their first game of the 1972 Summit Series. But we didn’t know they were THAT good. And they brought a ringer with them.
 His name was Valeri Kharlamov, and he was an unbelievable player. So good, in fact, that Bobby Clarke broke the guy’s ankle [...]

Canada won gold tonight by taking it to Sweden, 5-1 in Ottawa. But they won more than that. They won our hearts too.
 
It’s a shame that it has to end. Such emotion, such excitement, such noise from a usually quieter crowd in Ottawa for Senators games. But it’s the juniors, for goodness sakes. You can’t help [...]

Like has happened so many times before, Canada has found a way to win. Canada’s Jordan Eberle tied the game with just five seconds to go, and then scored, along with John Tavares, in the shootout, to thrust Team Canada into the World Junior gold medal game Monday against Sweden.
 
And I’ve never agreed more with [...]

Our teenaged hockey wizards play later today against the Russians in one of two semifinal contests held on this dreary Saturday.
 
Starting shortly is Slovakia against Sweden, and later on, Canada takes on their old international rival, Russia. http://www.iihf.com/
 
Russia, like Canada, always seems to have one player every year in the World Juniors who is destined [...]

Team Canada, led by John Tavares who popped three goals, rallied from a three-nothing score against the Americans to win big.
 
John Tavares would look great in a Habs uniform. But alas, we don’t have a sniff. We’re going for first place, not last in the standings. 

 
I could hardly wait for that New Year’s Eve of 1975 when the Russian Red Army team would show up at the Forum to play my team. I had been mesmorized by the events of the 1972 Summit Series, and we had seen what this far-away power could do. But this was going to be different. This time the foreigners would [...]