Nitzy's Hockey Den

From the chronicles of The Montreal Gazette and The Canadian Press. The Russians flew through two practice sessions at St. Laurent Arena and observers were hard-pressed to find a skater who was even breaking a sweat, despite some gruelling end-to-end rushes. Head coach Vsevold Bobrov watched with seeming disinterest from the bench as his assistant Boris Kulagin ran the drills. One member of the Soviet entourage said, “In Russia, the coach plans strategy. His trainer and his assistant work out the players. The team laughed and joked it's way all the way through the demanding workouts. Then, at the end of the session, Bobrov ordered several more demanding rink-length sprints. The superbly conditioned Soviets laughed their way through these. Although impressive to outsiders, coach Bobrov lamented afterward that, "the shape of the players is not up to mark". Vladislav Tretiak, who appears to have the inside track to start in Saturday night's Forum ...

 The Russian team on the bus from the airport, Tretiak at far left of photo. The Russian hockey delegation arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal on Wednesday, Aug 30 at about 5:00am Moscow time. The players dined by candle-light down the hall from the press conference where the Russian brass met the media. Most of the team was too tired to eat, sipping Cokes and eating a light meal, mainly salad. They then retired to their rooms to prepare for Thursday's 10:00am practice at the St. Laurent Arena in the north end of Montreal. This would be followed by another on-ice session at 8:00pm. Russian head coach, Vsevold Bobrov stated, "We shall have to play in Canada at 3:00am Moscow time. We will also have to adjust ourselves to the quite peculiar size of Canadian playing grounds." He added, "However, I think these difficulties will be overcome." Meanwhile Harry Sinden continued his pre-series worrying over his players and their e...

From the Canadian Press, Aug 28, 1972. With less than one week before the first game with the Russians, Harry Sinden expresses some concern about the impending pressure the series will inflict on his squad.    Right now Harry Sinden is worried more about 'poise' than conditioning of Team Canada for it's forthcoming exhibition hockey series with the Soviet Union. “I hope we don't get so high that we're emotionally stupid. We could forget to put the puck in the net.” Comparing his current squad to his Whitby Dunlop team of 1958 Sinden says, “These Team Canada pros are more poised and mature than we were. But under the pressure of what winning the series means to Canada there might be a tendency to lose some poise. When that happens, you lose some of your ability. 'Shoot that Puck' Sinden tells troops This was the headline in the Montreal Gazette on August 28, 1972 as Sinden continues to hammer home his demand to keep pressure on the Russian...

      Contnuing look at Team Canada's preparation for the 1972 Summit Series through the articles of Montreal Gazette Sports Editor, Ted Blackman. Aug 25, 1972 Cracks in Team Canada’s seemingly invincible armor appeared yesterday as Harry Sinden eliminated a workout to give his exhausted troupe a breather and began grappling with one of his most critical decisions…the conservation of stamina. “My coaching practice has always been to get the maximum ice time out of the best players.” Sinden explained, “But I may have to change my style for this series. We play those first four games in a seven-day period and we may have to use four lines on a near-equal basis.” “You just die out there. You want to go all out but when you’re suffocating, gasping for air literally, it’s physically impossible to push yourself,” explains Brad Park in reference to the heat in Maple Leaf Gardens. Sinden also stated, “I won’t name my team until the last possibl...

Further look at Team Canada's 1972 training camp through the first-hand accounts of Montreal Gazette Sports Editor, Ted Blackman. Aug. 23, 1972 Bobby Orr skated with Team Canada after arriving in camp yesterday. He took part in three-on-two rushes, skating cautiously as if he had nitroglycerine sewn in his shin guards. “Sure he can skate – and if it was a Stanley Cup final he might even play,” said Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins. “But to Boston, this isn’t important. Canada will beat Russia any way and to ask us for Orr’s services, before he’s fully prepared, is not reasonable.” He continued, “We’re being pressured and we don’t like it at all. I don’t mind making sacrifices to help Canada beat Russia, but I’m not about to tolerate the abuse of the Boston Bruins franchise.” Orr was greeted by cries of “Moses, Moses,” as he skated onto the ice, Team Canada was glad to see him. Orr said he believes checking in with Team Canada will speed up his recovery sin...

Notes from Aug. 19 & Aug. 21, 1972 Montreal Gazette by Sports Editor, Ted Blackman -Regular season prices will be charged for the three Team Canada exhibitions. “If I charge full prices for Leaf exhibition games, could I charge anything less for something better than an all-star game?” Harold Ballard explained.  -Members of Team Canada will receive as much as $5,000 each from the receipts from the intra-squad games. “We only told them about it the other day -   long after they’d agreed to play for their country for nothing, Harry Sinden said. “It could be as low as $1,500 per man or as much as $5,000. But it’s much more likely to be $2,500 or so. They play the Russia-Canada series for nothing, but I insisted we owe professional athletes something for using their valuable services in other games.” -During practice yesterday, Sinden worked on power-play and penalty-killing techniques once again stressing that his players shoot at every opportunity. Dale Tallo...

A continuing look at the how Team Canada's preparation progressed as chronicled in the newspapers of the day. Again, mainly looking at the writing of Ted Blackman, Sports Editor of the Montreal Gazette who was covering the proceedings. Aug 16, 1972 – On Ice Practice Day 3 Under the headline, “Shoot high, glove side, Team Canada told”, Blackman relays the thoughts of Harry Sinden after analyzing video of the Russian team. Sinden took Team Canada into the classroom for the first in depth look at the enemy and came away convinced that while the Russians have improved at most aspects of hockey, they haven’t developed their goaltending in more than a decade. Which isn’t really news, but confirmation of his theory. “We’ve got to shoot often, and when we do we’ll score” Sinden said as they watched videotaped recordings of the last five world championship games involving the Russians. “The Russians are weak with the glove on high shots,” Sinden pointed out as a Russian go...

Today is the 50th anniversary of the moment Team Canada transitioned from names on paper into a flesh and blood hockey team. Aug 14, 1972 at Maple Leaf Gardens was the date of the squad's first ever on-ice appearance. Using mainly quotes and descriptions from Ted Blackman of the Montreal Gazette who was on the scene, the following are some of the main notes and observations from the first few days of training camp. (Blackman's word's in italics) Aug 13, 1972- Players Report, Medicals Conducted 32 players checked in on time and coach Harry Sinden said only “a few look paunchy” as a result of summer loafing. All look fit. Alan Eagleson described the medicals as more detailed than those for normal team training camps and said every player who suffered an injury during the last six months would be x-rayed. “We don’t want some NHL owner saying we returned damaged goods when they were damaged when they got here.” Sinden said there would be a full blown scrimmag...

“I foresee a lot of Europeans trying out for the National Hockey League in the near future. Sweden has made tremendous strides in hockey recently, so have Norway, Finland, Switzerland and West Germany. They are catching up to Canada in developing good, young hockey players.” New York Rangers General Manager Muzz Patrick is quoted by the Canadian Press on Aug 20, 1963. He was referring to the fact that Swede Ulf Sterner had agreed to report to the upcoming Rangers training camp. In 1963, the 20 year-old Sterner had been a large part of Sweden’s surprise showing in the World Championships and counted a hat-trick in Sweden’s 5-3 win over Canada. According to Patrick, Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs were also high on signing Sterner before the Rangers beat them to the punch. Speaking of ‘Punch’, Leafs General Manager Imlach was not to be shutout of the European invasion as two other members of Sweden’s silver medal winning squad, goaltender Kjell Svensson and forward ...

I picked up this beauty a few weks ago at a local garage sale. I immediately recognized it as an early Munro table hockey game, and had to have it for the den. Donald H. Munro was the inventor of table hockey and started making wooden games at his Toronto home in 1932. They would eventually be sold in Eaton's Catalogue and various sporting good stores and were marketed as "6 Man National Hockey" games.  A detail of the woven net with the "goalie" peg. The beautiful leaf logo at "centre ice". I believe my game was manufactured and sold in 1948.  The official rules that came with the game are as follows. A game of skill - 2 to 6 players A steel ball is used instead of a puck Use finger tip only on controls Rules : Play is started by shooting puck from shooter and continues until a goal is scored or puck goes out of play. Puck is out of play when it is motionless behind goal net or caught between goalie and g...

Most good hockey fans will know that all-time Toronto Maple Leaf great Syl Apps was an Olympian before turning to pro hockey. After starring with the Hamilton Tigers in OHA senior hockey with 22 goals in 19 games, Apps represented Canada in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The 21 year-old would finish tied for sixth place in Pole Vault with a leap of 13 feet, 1 and 5/32 inches. Later that summer, Conn Smythe signed the highly touted player who was regarded as the best amateur player in the country. Apps would step in to replace the retired Joe Primeau between Busher Jackson and Charlie Conacher. The future Hall of Famer would end up leading the NHL with 29 assists and collected 45 points in 48 games winning the Calder Trophy in the process.