Brad Park has been voted one of the 50 best hockey players of all time. The nine-time All-Star finished second of the Norris Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s best defensemen, a record six times, thanks to his one mistake: being born the same year as Bobby Orr, considered the best defenseman of all time. Here he talks about Team Canada coach Harry Sinden, who led the country’s first “Dream Team” of NHL All-Stars against the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summit Series.
Team Canada was supposed to win every game, but after winning just one game in the first five, plus a tie, Team Canada had to win all three games in Moscow. “We weren’t in the kind of shape they were, they played a style of hockey we’d never seen before, and we didn’t take them seriously – at first!” Park recalls.
But Team Canada discovered they had certain advantages, too: led by Sinden, they were smart enough to adjust, they knew how to handle a long series – unlike the Soviets -- and they created a team spirit where none had existed before during a two-game layover in Sweden, on the way to Moscow. They also had their country behind them. More Canadians watched the last three games in Moscow than the moon landing three years earlier. As Wayne Gretzky told me, “This was more important!
Under unprecedented pressure, and with Bobby Orr out with a bad knee for the entire series, Brad Park played some of the best hockey of his life, and Team Canada actually did win all three games, each by a goal, including Paul Henderson’s famous game winner with 34 seconds left in the final game.
“We learned humility and respect, and how to rely on each other,” Park recalls. “Hey, when it’s you against the world, you gotta come together! I’ll never forget it – and no one else will, either.”
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About our Host:
For info about the book or this podcast please visit our website:
http://www.letthemleadbybacon.com
You can connect with John via these platforms:
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