Summit ‘Road’ Series
This series of caches follows the new path of Summit Road from Saskatchewan Ave to Sturgeon Rd. These roads use to a lot more visitors back in the day when it was the path to both Optimist Park (an athletic park with baseball fields, soccer pitches and even a BMX race track) and a major landfill site.
With the new Centre Port highway, it has been relegated to a road to nowhere. While this road may have been forgotten though, the ‘72 Summit Series will be remembered in Canada for years to come!
Hope you Enjoy!
The Summit Series
Canada had spent years dominating International competitions until the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) ruled that professional players would not be allowed to play in it’s competitions. THis paved the way for the Russians to become an unstoppable force in international play as their players were not considered pros.
After some debate, a contingent of hockey people led by much maligned Alan Eagleson was able to make a famous series of best on best between the Canadians and Russians. Making this even an even more engaging event was that it was during the height of the Cold War creating a huge sense of nationalism on each side.
Eight games would be played, the first four in Canada and the last four in Russia.
During negotiations for the series, the Russians asked for international rule changes and referees which Team Canada agreed to believing they could win easily under any conditions.
Coached by Harry Sendin and led by numerous Hall of Famers such as Phil Esposito, Serge Savard, Bobby Clarke, Stan Makita and breakout star Paul Henderson, Team Canada quickly found out that nothing was going to be easy.
Game 6 and 7 - Moscow
Down 3-1-1 in the series, it was time to get going. The Canadians were faced with the daunting task of winning 3 straight games against the Soviet Team that had an answer for everything Canada threw at them.
Game 6 started with Team Canada down by 1 but scoring 3 goals in 90 seconds to take a 3-1 lead. Paul Henderson, who scored the third and game winning golal, called the flurry the clear turning point in the series. The defense and goaltending were stellar putting the Canadians right back in the series.
Led by Esposito’s two goals and capped by Henderson’s second straight game winning goal the Canadians continued their charge. The team was consistently faster, harder on the puck and more physical. The Soviets were beginning to show small cracks and the Canadians were blowing them open with dynamite.
The two games were also full of controversy. With Kharlamov conintuing to kill the Canadians on a bad ankle, John Ferguson (Assistant Coach for Canada), during game 6 knowing called over Bobby Clarke and said “I think his ankle needs a little tap.” He later said he didn't think twice, “it was us against them.” Clarke found Kharlamov and gave him a wicked two handed chop, known as ‘The Slash’ square on his ankle resulting in a 10 minute misconduct while reportedly fracturing the ankle, though Kharlamov returned later and nearly scored.
In Game 7, a scrum broke out and Boris Mikhailov kicked Gary Bergman twice with the blade side of his skate and didn’t get penalized. Two German referees who were rumored to be pro-Soviet were asked to leave but the Soviets denied the request. Eagleson threatened to pull the team and not play but a compromise was reached moving the series to Game 8 tied at 3.
The Cache - Trees Less Climbed
A lonely tree in a lonely forest on a lonely road. At least it is another kid friendly pill bottle.