The first time I went to Russia, with my two kids and first wife, was in 1991, when St. Petersburg was still called Leningrad, and when historic changes were underway. Statues of Lenin had been toppled, revolution was in the air, the U.S.S.R. and its communist ways were in the process of collapsing, and although [...]

Things didn’t go nearly as planned during Team Canada’s two-game stopover in Stockholm on their way to Moscow. The first night, Sept. 16, the Canadians won 4-1 against the Swedish National Team, (with Borje Salming on defence for Tre Kronor), but Canada found themselves surprised by the blatant diving and other theatrics from the Swedes. The [...]

One of these days I’m going to stump everyone. I just need to think about it for a bit. Yes, you guys got it, and here’s the translation from the same page. It comes from the Swedish game program when the boys played in Stockholm on their way to Moscow in ’72.

In 1972, Team Canada decided to play two exhibition games in Stockholm in preparation for the final four games against the Russians in Moscow. It was a way to have some ice time on the bigger ice, to deal with jet lag, to work on some things, and to have some solid European opposition before the main [...]

The Canadiens ended their pre-season games with a 3-0 loss to Jacques Lemaire’s quite boring Minnesota Wild. So the final tally for the Habs was six wins and three losses.   And if you think 6-3-0 is okay, you’re right. But it really doesn’t say much about the upcoming regular season. These games, of course, are all about [...]

Right now, 36 years ago in 1972, Team Canada was not having a nice time with the Russian National Team. They were clobbered in Montreal and booed in Vancouver. They were tired and frustrated, and things looked bad. But in they end, as we all know, they pulled it out.  But it wasn’t just on-ice things going on. [...]

In early September of 1991, my first wife and I and our two kids stopped in Stockholm for a few days on our way to Leningrad, Russia. (St. Petersburg).   It was pretty well exactly 17 years ago. Time flies, as they say.   We stayed in a nice little hotel in Stockholm which was [...]