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- Thread starter LEAFANFORLIFE23
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My post wasn't directed at anyone, torlev. Just a general statement. If people think Canada needed to goon it up, that's fine. Maybe we did and I'm sure it went both ways.
Either way, it's history. I am very proud of Canadian hockey in its current form and it doesn't get there without 1972.
Compared to Canadians in the series they were archangels. Now you can continue to be sick of it.
Gigantor The Goalie
Speak for the Goalies
Kicking a player so hard you make it through the shin pad and actually draw a good amount of blood is being an angel?
I’m not sure you understood what was being said. When he precedes the statement with “compared to what…..â€, he’s not literally saying they were angels. He’s not trying to suggest that the Russians were actually floating around the ice surface (never actually making contact), with wings that flickered in the light, and hockey sticks in their hand. He’s saying that kicking someone in the shinpads is pretty light in comparison to targeting their best player and breaking his ankle, butt-ending in the face, etc. Does that help?
Oh were they?
You keep on believing the historical spin your media puts on it, I wouldn't want to disturb your fantasies.
Now, I will just carry on being sick of it as you suggest.
I'd rather a butt end to the face then a skate blade that was moved at such force that it could draw blood through a shin pad.
Think about it for a moment.
So no that doesn't help very much.
Here is what one Soviet player had to say about Esposito in that series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9V4bHQ0gOY
Yes, the same Esposito who is classified as a goon by Torlev and who supposedly did nothing but go out looking to maim and kill Soviet players during the series according to him.
Is there anything left to say regarding his outlandish viewpoint?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9V4bHQ0gOY
Yes, the same Esposito who is classified as a goon by Torlev and who supposedly did nothing but go out looking to maim and kill Soviet players during the series according to him.
Is there anything left to say regarding his outlandish viewpoint?
SanDogBrewin
Righteous bucks!
Begs the question, if they could have beat them playing hockey, why didn't they?
JackSlater
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- Apr 27, 2010
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While you have some valid points, you are ultimately exaggerating the thuggery of the series. Clarke's slash on Kharlamov is clearly the worst act in the series by far, and doesn't belong to hockey. No question. His stickwork against Czechoslovakia was also reprehensible, but ultimately it's outside of the realm of the series. If every player acted like Clarke then your statements along these lines would be justified, but ultimately (thankfully) Clarke was an outlier in the series. Outside of his play, the dirtiness was actually surprisingly close.
Unlike your claim, there are various hockey reasons (effective forecheck, superior play from defencemen) that Canada won. These things are just as valid as the Soviet advantages in forward play and goaltending. Canada didn't outplay the Soviets in Moscow (against some unfortunate officiating in some cases) solely because of Clarke's slash. Once again Clarke's actions were terrible, but to pretend that this was like the Flyers - Red Army game in 1976 is just as disingenuous as pretending that Canada played perfectly clean hockey. Your exaggeration takes away from your main point.
I can’t stand Bobby Clarke, and think he’s a coward and low life. As a player he was scum. As a GM he was scum. As a person he still is.
Question for you, if Clarke doesn’t take out Kharlamov, by request of the coaches, the Russians best player that series, a player some refer to as the Russians version of Gretzky, do you think they win the last three games by one goal? Or even, alternatively, they go after Esposito, and break his leg? Imagine the outcry if that happens….. Do they win then? It’s hypocrisy to brush that aside, knowing full well that had the Russians taken out Esposito in that manner, and gone on to win, there would be riots, and people claiming to this day it’s the only reason they won.
I don't think we'll really ever know if the results would change. I'd say there was a strong likelihood they do. And because of that, I don't really consider it a hockey win.
JackSlater
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I don't disagree with your statements, and if I had to guess then I would guess that USSR wins the series with a fully healthy Kharlamov. Your exaggeration takes away from your main point though. Clarke's actions in game 6 or against Czechoslovakia don't represent the whole team or even the level of play in the other games of the series.
Was the entire team an embarrassment to the extent Clarke was? No. He wasnt the only one. But he was the worst. There was some great play by some great players, I spoke to that earlier. In the end, they couldn't win without crap like that. They didnt beat the Russians by sticking to hockey. Could they have? I'd like to think so. Guess we will never know.
Would have been amazing if they had.
JackSlater
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I don't really think that anyone other than Clarke and I suppose Ferguson were "embarrassments". The other players played hockey in the manner typical of that era.
Why do you always try to exculpate Canadians by referring to some "your media" you have no idea about? I hear it so often from North Americans I have to ask how they get the idea they know a thing about russian media aside from being told by their media what the russian media is like?
I watched the games. I don't need the media to tell me anything about the series.
hyster110
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- Mar 21, 2011
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my two cents
am i happy canada won, of course i am
do i think the russians tried to mess with the canadian team, probably
was it the cleanest hockey i have ever seen, no but this was the era of the broadstreet bullies, that how the NHL was played. we had the gross slash by clarke, it was rough and tough hockey. thats really it
am i happy canada won, of course i am
do i think the russians tried to mess with the canadian team, probably
was it the cleanest hockey i have ever seen, no but this was the era of the broadstreet bullies, that how the NHL was played. we had the gross slash by clarke, it was rough and tough hockey. thats really it
I watched the games too so I don't need anybody or any media to know what the Soviets were up to as far as dirty play goes in the series either. They were a bunch of sneaky dirty players.
And why do you think I don't know anything about your media?
As a matter of fact there is a poster here who lived in Russia for years and has told me a lot about your media. So don't tell me I know nothing about your media because I do.
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