The Gamerecorder, the 74' Summit Series and the Hockey Hall of Fame.

[aliboy]

The 74' Summit Series, between the WHA and Russia, is seldom discussed mainly because it's the one we lost, although I understand it's still appreciated in Russia. A piece of lost trivia is that the first 4 games in the series featured a statistics computer called the "Gamerecorder," which the Russians didn't allow in Russia, as they thought it's whole purpose was to make their team look bad. The computer was capable of producing real time stats, at any point during the game, and could produce a print out that could be handed to a coach, as he walked into the dressing room between periods. Nothing even close was seen anywhere else in 1974 and the system would have advanced real time statistics in professional sport by a decade or more had it not been for the untimely passing away of the inventor.

If you follow this link to Game 1, period 2 of the series, you will hear a good reference to the system, set the time to 2:30 and let play.



In 2018 a digital quality framed print of a 1974 Mississauga News article about the Gamerecorder was accepted into the collection at the "Hockey Hall of Fame," verification of this can be found on the Facebook page.

Gamerecorder

Click to read more...

 

[Yakushev72]

I would challenge the idea that the 1974 Series was a "big deal" in Russia. The 1974 Canadian team was clearly inferior to the 1972 team, even though there were some aging stars on the team. Gordie Howe was amazing for a 46-year old!

 

[aliboy]

I changed the wording, never thought it would bother anyone, based upon this article.

https://www.tsn.ca/in-russia-fond-memories-for-a-hockey-series-forgotten-by-canadians-1.157277

 

[Yakushev72]

I changed the wording, never thought it would bother anyone, based upon this article.

https://www.tsn.ca/in-russia-fond-memories-for-a-hockey-series-forgotten-by-canadians-1.157277

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I was not bothered, just thought "big deal" might be an overstatement. "Fond memories" is probably an accurate portrayal of how it was received in the USSR.

 

[Big Phil]

The 1974 WHA Series is one of those weird ones that you don't know how far down the totem pole it goes. Was winning that series akin to being better at hockey than Canadians to Russians? I don't know. To me it was too murky of a tournament to organize in the first place because it didn't prove a thing either way.

 

[Yakushev72]

The 1974 WHA Series is one of those weird ones that you don't know how far down the totem pole it goes. Was winning that series akin to being better at hockey than Canadians to Russians? I don't know. To me it was too murky of a tournament to organize in the first place because it didn't prove a thing either way.

For Canada, it was a chance to showcase and publicize the WHA. If you look at their lineup, several of the immortals of their game were represented: Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Paul Henderson, Frank Mahovlich, and so on. But they may have been past their best days.

For the Soviets, it provided an opportunity for recognition of being a world power, similar to the '72 series, and it also gave them an opportunity to earn some good cash, which they rarely were able to do. Overall, it was a good tournament for both sides.