The Goal of My Life (9 page)

Despite the problems in managing such a large roster, I think if we had to do it all over again we’d have picked the
same guys. Maybe some guys didn’t work quite hard enough to merit playing time, or maybe some guys just couldn’t find the right linemates. Whatever the case, you are always going to have some issues when you have that many stars all together. They picked the right players for this huge assignment, no doubt in my mind.

In the Red–White game, I scored twice and Clarke scored once in a 5–3 win for our team that really cemented us as one of the top lines as the series drew near. The series would open at the Montreal Forum, and we felt as ready as we could be.

How wrong we were about that.

In the dressing room at the Forum before game one, we were like caged animals. We were so pumped up it was crazy. Everyone in the country had been talking about this series for so long that we were at a fever pitch, eager to finally get at it.

We charged out onto the ice and the place was electric. We couldn’t wait to get going and run all over the Russians and prove Canadian hockey superiority once and for all. We were all tired of the Russians claiming to be better and beating Canadians at other international events because we didn’t send our best players.

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau dropped the puck for the ceremonial faceoff and the first game was finally underway. Phil Esposito was so charged up that he won that ceremonial faceoff and almost fired the puck all the way back into our own end, that’s how much the juices were flowing!

And the start of the game went according to the script we had planned. Esposito scored just thirty seconds into the game, swatting a shot past Vladislav Tretiak, and at 6:32, Clarke got the puck to Ellis off the draw and he dropped it
to me. I slapped a quick shot low just inside the post and beat him again, and we were up 2–0.

I’m sure the entire country was going nuts. The Forum sure was! And I’m positive that most fans and media thought this series was going to be a joke, that the Canadians were going to run all over the Russians in a rout. But those of us on the ice with that 2–0 lead knew even then that this was going to be a long series – we saw a tsunami in the background and it was coming right at us.

These Russians were good! They were so composed. We thought they’d just be awestruck by us and collapse, but they weren’t the least bit fazed even being down by two goals so quickly. They just kept coming – their physical conditioning was unnerving.

And they scored soon after to get right back into the game. They just kept coming in droves, and looking back on it now, we had expended too much energy in the dressing room before the game. Also, we were nowhere near the physical shape needed to play against this well-oiled machine. Right from the start, we realized their physical conditioning was vastly superior to ours.

How bad was it? It was like getting into a fight and becoming so tired that you couldn’t throw another punch if you’re life depended on it. We would come back to the bench and be so out of breath it was hard to have a conversation. We knew the game was slipping away from us and it was – and it did. We wound up losing the opener by a 7–3 score.

The gory details are well known: we got hammered. And in stunned silence in the Forum the game ended, and we knew now that this series was going to be anything but a cakewalk. What a terrible feeling that was.

The country was stunned – absolutely stunned – after that opening-game loss, but there was little time to stew over it. Two nights after that debacle, we were back at it with a chance to even up the series and make amends. Game two in the series was played at Maple Leaf Gardens, and for obvious reasons I was really looking forward to it. I would be playing in front of my mother and other family and friends in the Leafs’ home arena, and we were all looking forward to this game to right the ship in this series.

There was a lot of nervousness, too, because we knew there were going to be changes to the lineup; there had to be. We needed to be a lot more defensive than we were in game one, and we needed to be grittier.

And frankly, some of the guys we had out there just couldn’t keep up. Out went Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert, Vic Hadfield, Rod Seiling, and Don Awrey; in went Wayne Cashman, J.P. Parise, Stan Mikita, Bill Goldsworthy, and Serge Savard. Tony Esposito replaced Ken Dryden in goal.

The pressure was really on, of course, but we were a lot more composed for that game. There was more of a sense of professionalism in the room before the game, that we had a job to do, and come hell or high water, we were going to do it.

It was another tough game, going back and forth, but it was a much more solid one from our standpoint. We started well and outplayed the Russians in the opening period, but the game was still scoreless after the first twenty minutes.

We didn’t get discouraged by that and stayed patient. Phil Esposito finally scored a goal from the slot on a delayed penalty at 7:14 of the second period to open the scoring, setting off a great celebration on the ice and in the stands.
Getting the first goal in that game was crucial for us; it really lifted our spirits.

Yvan Cournoyer then used his blinding speed at 1:19 of the third period to breeze past the Russian defence and snap a shot past Tretiak to give us a 2–0 lead, and we were all feeling much better. But when Alexander Yakushev slipped a rebound past Tony Esposito four minutes later, the heat was on again – especially after Pat Stapleton took a penalty right after that.

It was then that Peter Mahovlich scored one of the most beautiful and important short-handed goals in hockey history. He took a pass from Espo and made a great move on a Russian defenceman before deking Tretiak to complete a remarkable individual effort and make it a 3–1 game. It was such a terrific play that we all leapt off the bench to congratulate him as the Gardens crowd went crazy.

Frank Mahovlich later scored to make it 4–1, and we had the win we so desperately needed. We knew by now that the series was going to be a real dogfight, but at least we were back to square one and we had a real sense of relief in the dressing room.

It was a very satisfying win for me personally, especially in front of the home crowd. And it was really important for our team’s state of mind to be headed to Winnipeg for game three with the series tied.

That was a game we led by two goals in – twice – but couldn’t close out. It was one of those games where we were just a little too lackadaisical at the wrong times and it cost us dearly. We committed several turnovers and the Soviets pounced on them, but I really felt we should have won that game.

J.P. Parise opened the scoring for us, and after the Russians tied it, Ratelle put us ahead once again before the period ended. Phil Esposito with yet another goal made it 3–1 for Canada at 4:19 of the second period, but Valeri Kharlamov again brought the Russians back to within one. I then fired a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle just inside the left goal post to beat Tretiak to again give us a two-goal lead at 4–2, but unfortunately we allowed the Russians to creep back with two more goals before the second period ended.

The third period was scoreless, so the Russians had another point and the series was again tied. Boy, that was a frustrating night in a lot of ways. We felt we let that game get away.

The Russians were tougher than we had expected, especially Tretiak. He was playing a lot better than we’d thought he was capable of before the series, and to this point was probably as good as either of our two goalies had been. We had a lot of great goal scorers, but they were having a lot of trouble beating Tretiak.

We had one more game to play in Canada – two nights later in Vancouver – and despite the bitter disappointment of blowing the leads in game three, we felt to a man that if we could win this game we’d be in pretty good shape.

The coaching staff thought it was a pivotal game as well, making more changes to try to avert another collapse. Dryden was brought back in to replace Tony Esposito, who had been playing very well, and Gilbert, Goldsworthy, Dennis Hull, Vic Hadfield, Rod Seiling, Awrey, and Gilbert Perreault were added at the expense of Ratelle, Mikita, Parise, Cashman, Peter Mahovlich, Lapointe, and Savard. Those changes raised a few eyebrows, but there was pressure
on the coaches to get everybody into the lineup at least once. And we had played so poorly in blowing the leads in Winnipeg, so maybe they were warranted.

That fourth game was a bad one for us. We just couldn’t seem to get anything going, and I had a really bad feeling as it went on. We were never in this one, and I felt we didn’t have any jump at all.

Goldsworthy wound up taking two minor penalties early and the Russians took advantage on the power play to lead 2–0. Perreault scored a nice goal to get us back to within one in the second period, but two more goals by the Russians restored their two-goal lead. Goldsworthy redeemed himself a little by scoring after that, but another Russian goal followed by a marker by Dennis Hull made the final 5–3 Russia, which was a flattering score for us.

It was not a good performance. We had been soundly outplayed, and worst of all, we were booed by the fans in Vancouver throughout the game – basically booed off the ice. It was a horrible ending to the game.

It was then that Phil Esposito made his famous speech to the country when interviewed on
CTV
after the game. Esposito was such a leader, and his leadership was never more on display than it was after that game.

“To the people of Canada, I say we tried,” Esposito said. “We did our best. We’re really disheartened, disappointed, and disillusioned. We can’t believe we’re getting booed in our own building. I’m really, really disappointed. I can’t believe it. Some of our guys are really down in the dumps. They have a good team. Let’s face facts. We came because we love Canada. I don’t think it’s fair that we should be booed.”

We of course didn’t hear Phil’s speech since we were in the
dressing room. We sure heard about it later, however, and it became a rallying point for us and all Canadians, but right after that game the mood in our dressing room was pretty grim. We were embarrassed, and frankly, there was a real pity party going on. A lot of guys were moaning about the fact that they had given up their summer only to be booed off the ice. Didn’t these fans know we were trying?!

The situation was critical at that point. We were now headed to Sweden to play two exhibition games before the series would resume with four more games in Russia and we were in real trouble. We had been so engrossed in the series that I had really never even thought about the fact that in order to win the series now, we’d have to go to Russia and find a way to get this thing turned around – and we now trailed 2–1–1.

There was a lot of dissension, a lot of infighting among the guys. We were carrying a lot of players – we had to because they had all come to training camp and made themselves available – and everybody was really feeling the heat at this point.

As we went overseas, it was clear we would have to find some solutions in a hurry.

B
EFORE THE GAMES IN
M
OSCOW, WE STOPPED IN
Stockholm, Sweden, for a pair of exhibition games against the Swedish national team. Those games gave us a chance to work on our conditioning, which was very important, and to get used to the bigger ice surface that we’d be playing on over there. We defeated Sweden 4–1 in the first game – I had a goal and an assist in that one – and we played to an ugly 4–4 tie in the second, a tilt that was full of dirty shots and some really rough play. I sat that one out because I was still nursing a sore groin from earlier in the series. For whatever reason, that second game brought out the ugly side of both teams, as we hammered the Swedes physically and they responded with their sticks. It was a clash of styles; in the
NHL
, we played a hard-hitting style, while European hockey wasn’t nearly as physical but was still dirty. But those games helped us get our act together before we got to Moscow, giving us some more conditioning that we needed before the series resumed.

Another reason the games in Sweden were good for us is that we saw first-hand how international refereeing was very different from the kind of officiating we were used to in the National Hockey League. There was no consistency to the calls, and we realized pretty quickly that if we continued to play the hard-hitting
NHL
style over there, we were going to spend a lot of time killing penalties.

Tempers frayed quickly in those games, but as far as Ronnie Ellis, Bobby Clarke, and I were concerned, we just wanted to keep our noses clean and not upset the apple cart. We were playing well and we knew we’d be playing in Moscow; there were still some other decisions to be made about some of the other guys’ ice time, so for them it was different. We were happy with the way we were playing and expected to have a prominent role once the series resumed.

We did come closer together as a unit during those games, and we needed to. Some players had been in open rebellion against Harry Sinden for a while, and they were trying to get him fired right in the middle of the series. They weren’t even dealing with Harry by then; they were going straight to Alan Eagleson, so it wasn’t a very peaceful time in the dressing room, to be sure.

We did lose four players in Moscow, however. Vic Hadfield, Rick Martin, Gilbert Perreault, and Jocelyn Guevremont all decided to return home. Martin and Guevremont hadn’t played a game to that point, and Hadfield had only been used sparingly in a pair of games. Perreault was very unhappy with the limited amount of ice time that he was getting. They likely realized they wouldn’t be playing much, if at all, in Russia since our lineup now had pretty much been determined, so they made the decision to leave the team.

It was hard to criticize them, as I know that if I hadn’t been playing I would have been going crazy with frustration. Great players like Marcel Dionne, Dale Tallon, Mickey Redmond, Eddie Johnston, and Brian Glennie weren’t playing much or at all either, but they stayed and contributed as much as they could, even if it was only as cheerleaders. Other players just couldn’t take being in that role.