Team Canada at the 1980 Olympics

[reckoning]

I was watching the Canada/Soviet game from the '80 Olympics, and decided to start this thread since I don't recall that Canadian squad ever being discussed on here much.

Canada refused to play in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics to protest the fact the they weren't allowed to use any professional players, while the Eastern Bloc countries could use their top players because they weren't "technically" professionals. Canada was back in 1980, but still prohibited by the IOC from using pros. Since they couldn't use anyone from the NHL or the minor leagues, the national team consisted mostly of guys who were playing for universities; and the pickings were slim since at the time most Canadian prospects went the major junior route rather than pursuing post-secondary education.

Kevin Primeau - John Devaney - Dave Hindmarch
Ken Berry - Kevin Maxwell - Paul MacLean
Jim Nill - Ron Davidson - Glenn Anderson
Brad Pirie - Dan D'Alvise - Stelio Zupancich

Warren Anderson - Randy Gregg
Don Spring - Tim Watters
Terry O'Malley - Joe Grant

Paul Pageau
Bob Dupuis

There's a few names there fans will recognize. Glenn Anderson, Paul MacLean, Randy Gregg, Jim Nill and Tim Watters would all have full NHL careers. But most of the players on this squad either never made it to the NHL, or were only there briefly. A note about two of the players on the team: Bob Dupuis, one of the goalies, was 27 and had been playing senior hockey for the previous five years. Defenceman Terry O'Malley, who had played on Father Bauer's teams in the 60s, was 39 years old and had been asked to come out of retirement to join the team. So expectations were not high.

The format consisted of two 6-team divisions. Teams would play in a round-robin against the other 5 teams in the division. After that, the top two teams in each divsion would advance to the medal round. Canada was placed in the same division as the Soviet Union, Finland, Poland, the Netherlands and Japan. While the Soviets were heavy favorites to finish first, second-place was not out of the question for even this substandard Canadian team.

Canada easily defeated the three weaker teams, but suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Finland. What made the loss such a bitter pill to swallow was that one of Finland's goals came when they cleared the puck out of their zone about 160 feet away, and Dupuis somehow missed it when it inched towards the Canadian net.

Still, because the Finns lost earlier in the tournament, Canada still could make the medal round with a win or tie in their last game. Unfortunately, that game would be against the Soviets. A year earlier, the NHL's best players lost to the Soviets in the Challenge Cup, so what chance did a bunch of college kids have?

Well as it turned out, they gave the Soviets quite a scare. Early in the second period Canada scored twice to go up 3-1, and continued to have several good scoring chances immediately after that. I love the way Canada plays in this game. This isn't the "let's try to bore the opponents to sleep" strategy that Canada's Olympic teams would go on to use in the Dave King era. Instead, they're actually trying to skate with the Soviets, putting on pressure, forechecking aggressively. And they clearly had the Soviets rattled, as they started making mistakes Soviet players rarely made at the time, the most glaring one being a careless giveaway by Kharlamov at his blueline on a power-play that nearly resulted in a Canadian shorthanded goal.

Sadly, it wasn't to last. The Soviets slowly regained their composure and regained the edge in puck possession. Kasatonov scored with 15 seconds left in the second period, then early in the third the Soviets got two quick goals to take the lead. Canada wasn't finished yet. A minute later, Dan D'Alvise beat Tretiak on a breakaway to tie it. Paul MacLean almost scored shortly afterwards, but most of the period would be played in the Canadian end. On one of the stretches where Canada couldn't clear the puck out of their zone, Pageau lost his goal stick and Mikhailov scored to give the Soviets the lead. With about three minutes left in the game, Aleksandr Golikov put the game away on a nice individual effort. (Canada requested a stick measurement after Golikov's last goal, but he'd conveniently gotten rid of it before the referee could check it). A disappointing 6-4 loss for Canada, but still a gutsy performance from an overmatched team that wasn't expected to be competitive.

The one player who stood out to me was Randy Gregg. He was clearly Canada's leader and best player in the game, and showed some offensive skills that usually wasn't seen from him in the NHL (he made a nice move on Kasatonov on Canada's second goal). It's enough to make you wonder how his career may have turned out in different circumstances. It was admirable that hockey wasn't his top priority in life, but if he had put aside his education to concentrate solely on hockey, and maybe ended up on a team where he wasn't behind Coffey and Lowe on the depth chart, could he have been a team's legitimate #1 blueliner in the NHL?

All of this brings up two interesting questions about the 1980 Olympics. Had Canada managed to get a tie in just one of their two close losses to Finland or the Soviets, then they would have been in the medal round instead of Finland. What's often forgotten about America's "Miracle On Ice" is that the win over the Soviets didn't win the U.S. the gold medal. It put them one point ahead in the standings, but there was still one game left against Finland; and had the U.S. lost that game, then the Soviets would've won gold. How does the Americans tournament play out if the clinching game is against Canada ? Two teams made up of collegiate players playing similar styles. Does anything change?

The second question is that considering how close Canada came to beating the Soviets, was the U.S. victory over the Soviets really such a "miracle"? I don't mean to take anything away from what the U.S. accomplished, but were the Soviets more beatable than usual that year? They were a team in transition, with Kharlamov, Petrov and Mikhailov having their last hurrah, while youngsters like Makarov and Krutov were just starting to take their place on the roster.

Anyways, looking forward to any comments from anyone here who remembers the 1980 Olympics, and has any theories on them.

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[Theokritos]

Nice write-up!

I don't mean to take anything away from what the U.S. accomplished, but were the Soviets more beatable than usual that year? They were a team in transition, with Kharlamov, Petrov and Mikhailov having their last hurrah, while youngsters like Makarov and Krutov were just starting to take their place on the roster.

The answer is yes. A write-up from a few year ago:

USSR were nearly upset already by Finland in the tournament; Finland was leading 2-1 with just six minutes to go in the 3rd period. USSR did score 3 quick goals to win it, but no way the Finnish team would have given them that much trouble, if USSR had been in the same form as around the Challenge Cup and the 1979 WHC (where they were even better than in the Challenge Cup IMO).

Also, in the USSR vs. Canada game the score was still 4-4 early in the 3rd period. The Soviets managed to win it 6-4, but looked very bad doing so. A fairly nameless Canadian team (the 'names' were young Glenn Anderson, Randy Gregg, Paul MacLean, Tim Watters & old Terry O'Malley) should not have given them any troubles at all:



The problems were already evident during the 1979-80 Super Series; the Makarov-Zhluktov-Balderis line was clearly the best and most effective forward line for CSKA in the Series. The ineffectiveness of the MPK line was definitely a topic during the Series and especially before the Quebec Nordiques game there were questions like "will Mikhailov, Petrov and Kharlamov play at the Olympics?". Then they scored 3 goals vs. Quebec and 'everything was fine again', I guess...

 

[decma]

The second question is that considering how close Canada came to beating the Soviets, was the U.S. victory over the Soviets really such a "miracle"? I don't mean to take anything away from what the U.S. accomplished, but were the Soviets more beatable than usual that year? They were a team in transition, with Kharlamov, Petrov and Mikhailov having their last hurrah, while youngsters like Makarov and Krutov were just starting to take their place on the roster.

Further, that US team was very good. Christian, Broten, Johnson, Pavelich, Ramsey, and Morrow went on to be very good NHL players, Christoff was a regular for several seasons and Silk, McLanahan, O'Callaghan, and Baker stuck around for a little while.

That is probably more future NHLers (and impact NHLers) than Canada had from 80 through 94 combined.

Their Cs (Broten, Pavelich, and Johnson) and top 3 D (Ramsey, Christian, and Morrow) would have compared favorably with most NHL teams at the time.

And, unlike the 84 US team, when Lafontaine and Olcyzk were only 18 and 17 years old, or 88, when Leetch and Janney were 19 and 20, the main US guys from 80 were all experienced college players around 22 years old.

 

[MadArcand]

top 3 D (Ramsey, Christian, and Morrow)

Dave Christian was a RW in NHL - did he play D before?

 

[decma]

Dave Christian was a RW in NHL - did he play D before?

Yeah, Brooks shifted him to D right before the Olympics.

 

[vikash1987]

The second question is that considering how close Canada came to beating the Soviets, was the U.S. victory over the Soviets really such a "miracle"? I don't mean to take anything away from what the U.S. accomplished, but were the Soviets more beatable than usual that year? They were a team in transition, with Kharlamov, Petrov and Mikhailov having their last hurrah, while youngsters like Makarov and Krutov were just starting to take their place on the roster.

Interesting question. Historically, nothing will ever take away from the miraculousness of the "Miracle on Ice." And each game of each national team kind of stood on its own throughout the tournament.

That said, Canada definitely put up a gallant effort against the Soviets, and they definitely exposed the Soviets as not being invincible in Lake Placid. One of the newspaper writers went on to say that this was Canada's finest hour in international hockey since 1972, and that, while Canada didn't "do it" (i.e. upset the Soviets), they proved that it could be done. In fact, Canada's coach said, post-game, that he'd bet the U.S. team would do it. There were enough chinks in the Soviet armor for the thought to cross people's minds. The mere thought would've been met with nothing but laughter before the start of the tournament.

Maybe more credit/significance should be given to Canada's effort? I'm not sure.

I always found it interesting that, at that point, the Soviets had not lost a game in the Olympics since the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France---the last time Canada had iced a team in the Olympics.

 

[koyvoo]

One of the best analysis I’ve read about the mindset/psyche of the Soviet team in and around the 1980 Olympics was by Lawrence Martin in his Book - The Big Red Machine.

 

[Sanf]

That was certainly interistingly build team. They kind of tried to make it old fashioned way. Out of the players that played in the Olympic tournament 17 were already in the first camp selection that was made in late 1978. Glenn Anderson and Kevin Maxwell were aditions in summer of 1979 (IIRC) and goalie Pageau even later adition.

7 of the players were selected to 1979 Izvestia tournament (Gregg, Anderson, Hindmarch, Devaney, Primeau, Zupancich and D´Alvise).

Cary Farelli was surprising cut from the team. He had excellent junior career and was drafted by Canadiends in 1977. He later represented Italy. Including 1984 olympics.

IIRC Paul Reinhart was candidate and played at Rude Pravo, but later signed pro contract with Flames.

 

[Big Phil]

Even as a Canadian I can't remember Canada at that Olympics. I know they were there, but 1980 is all about the Miracle on Ice and the Soviets. The rest is a blur. Pelle Lindbergh was in those Olympics. So was Jari Kurri. Some eventually great players, but no one remembers anything much about Lake Placid other than that.

 

[a79krgm]

I would argue that the game helped the Americans win the gold as the Canadiens showed them they needed to play all 60 minutes against the Soviets. People forget, but it was a miracle within a miracle that the US could hold the Soviets for the last 10 minutes of their game.

 

[Professor What]

I'm kind of surprised no one has mentioned Tretyak yet. He was probably the best goalie in the world at the time' but it's widely acknowledged that he was far from being on top of his game during that tournament. I'm not so sure that his having such a rough game vs Canada didn't have a lot to do with his being yanked in the Miracle game. There's a part of me that wonders if that game might have played out differently with him in net, so I think it's possible that the Canada game helped contribute to the American win by putting Tretyak on thin ice (no pun intended).

Eruzione outright said that the Canada game contributed to the U.S. win because the team saw that Canada had the Soviets on the ropes. He said that he thought if the Americans got them on the ropes line that, they wouldn't let them off. They lived up to that, of course, holding off the bombardment for the last 10 minutes of the game. Who knows if they pull that off if not for being so determined to prove that they were the team that would finish in that scenario.

That said, I still think the mentality of the Soviet team had more to do with it than anything. It's well documented that Brooks believed going into the tournament that the Soviets were ripe for defeat psychotically, having gotten to the point that it was just another day at the office, and the pre-Olympic game didn't help that since it allowed the Soviet team to take the Americans lightly. I can't imagine that the close call against Canada had them in the best state of mind either.

Part of me thinks that Brooks was crazy going into that tournament. There was no way his team was going to beat the Big Red Machine. But they did. It was a lot of little things, but yeah, I think the Canadian game against the Soviets created or contributed to several of those little things.

 

[Ben Grimm]

The USA basketball team was treated the same way until 1992. European pros were allowed to play, but NBA players weren't.

 

[Theokritos]

Part of me thinks that Brooks was crazy going into that tournament. There was no way his team was going to beat the Big Red Machine. But they did.

Interestingly, one Czech observer, Vladimír Kostka, didn't think Brooks was crazy. More than one month before the tournament, he said that he thought Team USA was favoured to win the Olympics:

Former coach of the Czechoslovak National team Vladimír Kostka was also present in America and he provided to journalists such information about teams Canada and USA, that it lately fulfilled to the last word. When he talked with superlatives mainly about the team USA, many men surely wouldn´t pay attention to him… but let´s repeat his words:
‘It is the strongest team, the United States ever build! It incorporated the combination game taken from European elements and the coach Herbert Brooks taught players a defense system to the extent that they do not make a mistake during their active defensive plays. Doing so while showing their counter-attacks having an enormous effort. It is the favourite of the Winter Olympic games.(...)

Let´s repeat once more that V. Kostka expressed these words more than month before the start of the WOG!”

 

[Slapshot7777]

Looking for some help/assistance here. There's a guy I know who's claiming to be a member of the 1980 Canadian Olympic Hockey Team. I can NOT find him listed on ANY source as a member or even find him listed on ANY hockey team for that matter. his name is Dwayne "Dewey" Gantz. He has been telling people for decades that he played on Canada's 80 Olympic Hockey Team. Obviously I checked websites, rosters and even Canada Olympic page and found nothing. Here's a picture of him with a REAL Olympic/Paralympic Athlete at his current position in charge of finances for a major insurance carrier. IF he's this dishonest about his past, thinking he should be called out on it. Thanks- Randy

 

[Bear of Bad News]

I don't see anything relevant in newspapers.com.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Wouldn't his "leadership" page highlight his Olympic experience if it were so?

Dewey Gantz

Explore Dewey Gantz's role at Church Mutual, leading with dedication and focusing on innovative insurance services.

www.churchmutual.com

 

[Slapshot7777]

Wouldn't his "leadership" page highlight his Olympic experience if it were so?

Dewey Gantz

Explore Dewey Gantz's role at Church Mutual, leading with dedication and focusing on innovative insurance services.

www.churchmutual.com

You'd think so, wouldn't ya,

 

[reckoning]

There were a lot of players who tried out for the 1980 team and didn't make it (Mike Keenan said in his book that he was one of them), so I thought maybe this guy might be one of those players. But if so, there'd be record of him playing in some league. There are no matches for his name on hockeydb.

It kind of reminds me of the story about the late comedian Norm MacDonald. When he was starting to become well-known in the 90s, he would often say in interviews that he played for the Ottawa 67s. He never did, but back then it wasn't as easy to quickly look it up and disprove it as it is now.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

That's sort of Norm Macdonald's thing, though, and God bless him for that:



(This is Canada related.)

 

[Bear of Bad News]

As far as this guy goes, I don't see a reference for him under any Olympic sport (let alone men's ice hockey).