Montreal Juniors vs Soviet Selects, Dec. 1974

Pic One

Pic Two
Time for another little research project looking at rarely seen photos courtesy my new 'cyber'-friend Doug Petepeice. He has sent me alot of shots of the Montreal Junior Canadiens playing against a Soviet squad. Let's figure out when and where they are from.

Seeing the two photos above at first glance one may say they are from the same match. Looking closer there are many differences between them suggesting they are from different games. The main difference is the fact that the Junior Canadiens goalie is different, perhaps they shared duties or is it two different games?

Even with a large amount of googling the archives of the Montreal Gazette newspaper and the great site of the Society for International Hockey Research which has jersey numbers for most teams ever, it has proven pretty tough to narrow down which game is which. My best educated guesses are as follows.

I found out that the Soviet Selects played at the Montreal Forum against the Junior Canadiens at least four times between December 1974 and December 1976. What makes it even tougher is that they played within two weeks in early Dec. 1974 and right before Christmas '74. As well the Junior Canadiens were reinforced in each game by either players from other junior teams or by professionals from Montreal Canadiens AHL team, Nova Scotia Voyageurs.

Pic One is from I believe Dec. 9, 1974 when the Soviets lost 4-3. The goaltending for Montreal that day was split by pro fill-in Dave Elenbaas and regular junior goalie Andre LePage, fairly sure the first one is LePage and the second pic is Elenbaas. The fact that the shots are from a nearly identical spot leads me to believe they're from the same match. This is the only game in which Montreal had two goalies play. Elenbaas is oddly wearing #24 as a goalie, a number rarely used by the team that year. It's very conceivable they gave Elenbaas this jersey simply because it was available.

 The Montreal Juniors were strengthened by other AHL pro's including #4 Gilles Lupien (unmistakable at 6ft, 6 inches) in the second shot.

Pic Three
Pic Four
These last three shots are definitely from the Dec. 9, 1974 game as evidenced by the Soviet goalie Vladimir Polupanov wearing #20. He is easily seen in the photo from the front page of  the Gazette here, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4JAjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=v6EFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4520%2C2294793

The Soviets outshot Montreal 18-2 in the third as regular junior goalie Andre LePage had to replace Elenbaas early in the period after an injury tweak. The Soviet coach for this game, legendary Viktor Tikhonov.

Pic Five


Comments

CASEY ELENBAAS said…
I've been searching for the game between the Soviet Selects and the Junior Montreal Canadiens Dec 1974, finally found it on Nitzy's Hockey DEN. My son David Elenbaas, a Montreal Voyageur at that time played goal , until injured through the 3rd period, then came back with his leg frozen to play to the end of the game 5-3 for the Canadiens. He was on crutches after the game, flew to Boston where Al McNeil his coach hustled him off to the hospital for x-rays. It revealed his knee cap was displaced at the side of the knee, was sent to Wellsley Hospital in Toronto , and was operated on there. He was out for the rest of the season. Casey Elenbaas Email KCANTHON@ROGERS.COM
November 5, 2013 at 1:57 PM
Unknown said…
I’m searching for the roster from Dec 1975 game against the Moscow Selects. I played on the Montreal team-was with Concordia
University Stingers at the time-.team gad some AHL
Players and Mike Bossy-Gilles Lupien-I believe
We lost 5-3?

Don Morris-Don.Morris@sympatico.ca
September 29, 2020 at 4:34 PM
Steven said…
A Soviet team played the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in Halifax at around this time. As a child I attended the game at the Halifax Forum but can find no information about it. Would you have any? All the best ...
April 1, 2023 at 9:43 AM
Anonymous said…
Looking for photos/videos of montreal juniors 1975/76 and 1978/ 79. Any info is appreciated. Thanks, gary
December 20, 2023 at 6:25 AM
kassie f said…
hello, Im doing some research on my dad, Mike Wong, he played for the Montreal Jr Canadians in the 1974-75 season, i am trying to find photos of him, i was wondering if he was playing at this game? is there a schedule somewhere online where i could see for that year?
March 11, 2024 at 4:52 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WHA Ottawa Civics, The Two Week Franchise

Image
Tom Earl, Daryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Gary MacGregor, Garry Swain "Please let the fans make up their own minds," Henry Feller told a press gathering. "Let them decide if they want pro hockey here. We have to average 7,000 or 8,000 in the remaining 19 home games for a break-even point." Feller was a director of the Founders Club who had interest in buying the WHA's Denver Spurs club. Ivan Mullinex, owner of the Spurs had brought his team to Ottawa in an attempt to drum up interest and save his investment. The date was January 2, 1976 and Mullinex was in debt to a Denver bank to the tune of $1 million dollars. This same day, the newly christened Civics lost their first game under the new moniker by a score of 2-1 at Cincinnati. Star of the team, Ralph Backstrom said after the game, "Our first official notice of the move hit us when we entered the Cincinnati rink and the names on the big scoreboard read: Stingers and Civics. Until that moment we were un
Read more

Team Canada 1972, What Might have Been

Image
Guy Lafleur, if he had played in the 72 Summit Series "No way. Can you imagine what our fans would say if we allowed Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to play for Canada in that series and either...suffered an injury that might prevent them from playing with us for a year or more?" This was the concern of Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins as quoted on April 20, 1972. After being speculated and discussed since February 1972 at the Olympics in Sapporo Japan, the series was set to go. Early on however, controversy stirred as to who exactly would be representing Canada. Bruins GM, Milt Schmidt agreed with his boss saying, "My only interest would be to see the Russians play the Bruins for the world championship...or whatever team wins the Stanley Cup." In the Vancouver Sun a few days later, the legendary Jim Coleman responds to the American naysayers suggesting that Team Canada should be made up strictly of players from Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal
Read more

Ron Hextall and the stolen Conn Smythe Trophy

Image
Ron Hextall did not deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1987....there, I said it. I recently caught game seven of the '87 finals on ESPN Classic, where the Oilers beat the Flyers 3-1. Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy to the disdain and boos of the Northlands Coliseum. Hextall was (and remains) the fourth player to win the trophy in a losing cause. Even as a teenager following these playoffs as they happened, I thought this was an injustice. Upon further inspection, I believe he only won because he was a rookie, and was the "sexy" pick as opposed to the proper pick. When looking at his numbers, it's hard to figure why he won. Hextall finished with 15 wins, 11 losses and a GAA of 2.77. Oilers, Grant Fuhr went 14 and 5 with an average of 2.46. I realize that stats cannot tell the whole story, but even if we dig further the award doesn't seem justified. His .908 Save Pct was the same as Fuhr's and tied for third behind Ken Wregget and Kelly Hrudey. Also,
Read more