Summit Series 50 Years Ago, Arriving in Stockholm


Espo arriving in Stockholm

"We're determined to regain some of the prestige we've lost and to gain the edge in this series," stated Team Canada coach Harry Sinden upon arriving in Stockholm to prepare for the Russian leg of the Summit Series. He continued, "I'd like to see us play the way we can play. The big adjustment we must make is in conditioning. That was the biggest shortcoming we had. We expect Orr to start light scrimmaging with the team starting tomorrow, there's an outside chance he may start here."

Alan Eagleson commented,"The Russians are good hockey players. This is as good a hockey unit as I've ever seen. I have never seen anyone, other than Orr, as fast as Valery Kharlamov. He's the only guy I'd mention in the same breath as Orr. If he's consistent as I saw, the sky's the limit on an NHL  contract - I'd say $1-million for a five-year contract."

Maple Leafs coach, John McLellan, who scouted the Soviets prior to the series finally commented on how wrong he and Bob Davidson were in their analysis of Tretiak. "I'm no genius, you can only report what you see and that's what we did. Hell, we saw him once. Four of the first five shots went in and his team got beat 8-1. I watched the first game of the Canada - Russia series on the tube from Montreal and I said to my wife, 'There's no way that's the same guy.'" He added, "Ronnie Ellis told me its just unbelievable when you go into the corners with those guys. All of them are tremendously strong"

Harry Sinden, when asked the question: 'Do you think you may even learn something about the game of hockey in this series?' answered, "I think we already have."

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