2010 Olympics vs. 72 Summit Series

[Yakushev72]

The biggest news about the '72 series was that it debunked the mythology of North American professional sport superiority - that a league championship in an NA pro sport was by definition a World championship, and that no other entity belonged on the same playing surface with an NA pro sports champion. That mythology was what prompted Dick Beddoes to declare that Canada would win all 8 games by a margin of at least 10 goals. It forced the NHL to focus resources and effort on upgrading their product or risk falling behind.

 

[JackSlater]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/pronger-talks-favourite-game-favourite-slashing-victims/

Somewhat relevant regarding 2010 vs 2002 - Pronger picks 2010.

Just from a pressure standpoint and being on home soil and all the rest of the buildup that went along with 2010... winning in Salt Lake was awesome and great, but being able to do it on home soil with the pressure and all that came with that, the hype and drama... coming back from 2006 where it was a bit of a disaster in Italy. It was pretty amazing and exciting,

 

[nitz]

In my mind, 1972 has always been Canada's biggest hockey triumph. 2010 is #2 and 1987 is #3.

Just my opinion though.

 

[93LEAFS]

You had to be there to truly understand. Canada wasn't good at much of anything back then. Our movies, TV shows and music mostly stunk. We were lousy at pretty much every other sport. We rarely won medals at the Olympics. And on top of that we lived next to the most powerful nation on earth. We were a young country and we were dwarfed culturally, politically and militarily, but we had hockey. We were secure in the belief that we were the best, even though that belief had never been tested. In the end, we won narrowly and in dramatic fashion and it was a relief and we celebrated. To lose would have been devastating.

Bit bold, we had Neil Young and the Band. I wouldn't say our music stunk.

But its Summit series and I don't think its close. We were expected to kill them and they embarrassed us on home ice in the first game, and it was a series not one game. I visted van during 2010 and it was special, but it was just hockey. The summit series (and the Miracle on Ice) were representative of a battle on our countries ideologies and way of life. Can't imagine what it would be like expecting our team of stars to be facing an AHL team then have guys like Malkin, Datsyuk and Ovi show up.

 

[Macman]

Bit bold, we had Neil Young and the Band. I wouldn't say our music stunk.

I said mostly stunk, and both had to go south to make it.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

72 not even close

 

[Sentinel]

Not being Canadian, I definitely rank 1972 much higher, even though I was born four years later. Despite the Clarke's slash. The sport gained tremendously from it. There was a rollercoaster of emotions.

2010 was a big shock, given how terrible Russia was (well, not to those who actually followed Russia's abysmal and cocky path), but it was far more even emotionally.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

1072 was transcendant. It was more important for the global game.

2010 was a moment for the Canadian people which meant more and might and probably will be be remembered in brighter light for future generations of kids born because of the scope of the moment.

Olympic Games, biggest stage in World Sport in your country
One medal away from setting a World mark for most Gold Medals at a home games
Overtime
Country's Golden Boy scores the winner

It was a fairytale that will never happen again.

1972 was not a fairytale.But 1972 led to 2010. Canadian Hockey has changed for the better. And they can only thank the influence of the Russians and Europeans because of it.

 

[canuck2010]

1972 was not a fairytale.But 1972 led to 2010. Canadian Hockey has changed for the better. And they can only thank the influence of the Russians and Europeans because of it.[/QUOTE]

Although it certainly was great for hockey on both sides of the Atlantic I disagree that it was not a fairy tale.

If you set the scene, especially in hindsite of what we knew then and now know about Team Canada 72, much less the cold war situation it was unbelieveable. To go to Moscow and win the last three games on Soviet ice was a tremendous acheivement for a team that was hamstrung by its own organizer and its own hubris. A much more indelible mark on Canadian hockey than 2010.

To this day I believe that with our top team of that era, with serious preparation, taking their opponent seriously and not providing a guarantee to all players that they would play at least one game Canada would have one all 8 games. This doesn't take away from the unbelievable skill of the Russian team. Canada was very fortunate to escape with the series win in fairy tale fashion.

 

[JackSlater]

To this day I believe that with our top team of that era, with serious preparation, taking their opponent seriously and not providing a guarantee to all players that they would play at least one game Canada would have one all 8 games. This doesn't take away from the unbelievable skill of the Russian team. Canada was very fortunate to escape with the series win in fairy tale fashion.

That's pretty unlikely. Canada probably would have won more than four games but who knows. With the best team and preparation Orr still wouldn't be there since he was injured, Henderson quite possibly wouldn't have been selected, and the Soviets were still a very competitive team. Beating a very competitive team eight consecutive times is extremely unlikely in hockey.

 

[Scotty B]

Yeah the historian answer would be the summit series because it's been celebrated for longer and it had a lot more going on with the politics at the time, but were the people of this generations moment not as deeply involved and did they not celebrate just as hard as the people in the 70's with there's?

I was in grade 9 in 72. The whole nation was in shock after that 7-3 beatdown in Game 1 in MTL. The whole country came to a stop for game 8...every minute of every game in Moscow was watched in every school classroom, cafeteria, etc by teachers and students alike.

Edit: Believe it or not, we had TV's not just in cafeteria and classrooms, BUT in the hallways too, on both floors!

If the post 72 celebrations look more muted than 2002 ( 2010 was no biggee ) it's more a case of ppl not quite knowing what to do...

BUT trust me...72 was The Biggest thing that ever happened in Canadian Sports History...And nothing else comes close... The Henderson Goal is and always will be, ' THE GOAL'

ENDOFSTORYYY!!!

****

PS: Remember those old black n white TV's on stilts?