Myself included, there has been a lot of discussion and writing devoted to comparing the gold medal for Canada in men’s hockey at the Winter Games in Vancouver this past weekend, to other great sports moments in the history of the country. It may seem insignificant to some, but among my favorite memories of the 1972 Summit Series, was where and with who I was watching game 8, the final and deciding game of that epic event in Canadian sports history. As a high school student at the time, I was looking for a TV set, and knew there was one in the janitors office. I poked my head in, and sure enough, there were three janitors who I knew by face but not by name. I grabbed a chair and sat with them, and for the duration of game 8 of the Summit Series, we were one unit, cheering in a common cause,the good guys versus the bad guys, and in this room with these gentlemen, mostly about Democracy versus Communism. I don’t remember the names of the school janitors, but their were several memories that stayed with me about that afternoon, that go beyond hockey, and help to illustrate why this series has no equal, and never will. This point of view, is something that those who weren’t alive then, or were not old enough to remember, would have difficulty relating to.
The gentlemen watching game 8 with me, were all émigré's from communist countries, although I’m not sure which specific Soviet satellite nations. They could hardly speak any English, but they had enough to get by. One thing that they didn’t have trouble communicating, was their desire for Canada to win this game and the series. As we were gathered around the TV set, there was not a lot of conversation among us, although the men with me would occasionally speak briefly in their native language, whichever one that was.
The memory of that monumental afternoon that stuck with me, was the reaction of theses school janitors, when Paul Henderson scored with less than 30 seconds to go in the third period. They were jumping for joy, even more than I was, as a young Maple Leafs fan, who was excited that Canada was about to win the series, but also, that a Toronto Maple Leaf was going to be a lifetime Canadian icon. It didn’t take to long for me to understand that their excitement probably had more to do with their feelings about Communist rule and living under the thumb of the Soviet Union, than it did about Team Canada specifically, or the Summit Series in general. Although they didn’t and probably couldn’t articulate for me, what they liked best about the Team Canada win, I got their drift without saying a word, even though I was much younger than they were. I didn’t really need to hear them say anything, to understand that they had just illustrated for me through their emotions, everything I needed to know, about the vast differences between living in Canada, and living in a Communist nation. It was a lesson in reality, that was taught through the most special moment in Canadian sports history, and one that I will never forget.