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Red Berenson reflects on Summit Series
It was perhaps the most
important hockey series of all
time.
In the 1960s, the Soviet
Union
hockey
teams
were
dominant. While only amateur
hockey players were allowed to
compete in world competition,
the USSR gave its players
positions in the military while
allowing them to play hockey
full-time.
This
change
allowed
them to unseat the previous
top
country:
Canada.
The
Canadians’ best players mostly
competed
professionally,
so
they were no match for the
quasi-professional Soviets.
So when the USSR was looking
for a new challenge, Canada was
eager to put together a team of
its professionals to take on the
Soviets. It would be the first time
the best players from the USSR
would play the best professionals
from somewhere else.
Michigan
coach
Red
Berenson was one of those
professionals.
At the time, Berenson was
about to start his 13th season
in the NHL and his first full
season with the Detroit Red
Wings. In the summer of 1972,
he was among nearly 40 players
chosen to play for Canada,
and Berenson admits he didn’t
know what to expect from the
USSR.
“We knew they were really
good amateurs, but we didn’t
think they were as good as the
pros,” Berenson said. “Nobody
really had a really good scouting
report on them. So we had our
training camp, and we were
fired up. It was just a matter
of how bad we were going to
beat them. Nobody gave them a
chance to win a game.”
The two sides decided to
play an eight-game series, later
dubbed the “Summit Series”:
four games would be played in
Canada and the other four in
the USSR.
It didn’t take long before
it
seemed
the
Canadians’
confidence was well-founded.
Legendary
forward
Phil
Esposito — who played 19
seasons in the NHL — scored
just 30 seconds into the game
before Paul Henderson — a
13-year player in the NHL —
added another to give Canada a
two-goal lead.
The Soviets rebounded in a
big way, though. They scored
four
straight
goals en route to
a 7-3 victory.
“By the end
of
the
second
period,
we
were
on
our
heels, and they
were
flying,”
Berenson
said.
“Then,
the
country was in
shock.
‘Holy
Christ, what’s wrong with our
team, our players, our system?’
So we had a day off — a day to
practice and try to regroup
—
and
then
we
played
in
Toronto.”
And
in
the
second
game
of
the
series,
the
Canadians
responded. They
dominated their
way
to
a
4-1
victory, tying up
the series.
From
there, it seemed Canada was
outmatched. The teams played
to a tie in game three, before
the USSR regained the series
lead with a 5-3 win in game
four.
The
displeasure
from
Canadian
hockey
fans
increased, too. Prior to game
four, the crowd booed Canada
and cheered for the Soviets
instead. To them, the home
product they were seeing was
simply not good enough.
“I
didn’t
blame
them,
really,” Berenson said. “I don’t
know that they were blaming
individual players, but they
were blaming Canadian hockey.
games got just about out of
control. But the hockey still
took over, and the hockey
benefitted from them, and the
games turned out to be great
games.
“Like the whole rink was
circled with soldiers — the
whole outside of the boards. So
Paul Henderson, one of our best
players, got hurt and slid into
the boards, and they tried to get
the doctor out. They wouldn’t
let the doctor out onto the ice.
… So they had all kinds of little
issues.”
All of this led to great
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Red Berenson discussed his experience travelling to the Soviet Union and competing on the side of the Canadian hockey team during a turbulent time across the globe in the 1970s.
Like, ‘We’ve got to be better
than this. This is the best in the
NHL?’ ”
Esposito took notice, too. In
a post-game interview, he gave
an impassioned speech to his
country, assuring them that the
Canadians were trying their
best, but that the USSR was
simply a very good team.
Either way, things looked
bleak for Canada. It had blown
any semblance of home-ice
advantage it may have had, and
now faced the daunting task of
needing to win three of four
games in the Soviet Union to
win the series.
Things got even worse when
the Soviets overcame a three-
goal deficit in
the third period
to win again in
game five. Not
only did the loss
create a bigger
challenge
for
the
Canadians
on the ice, but
upon
arrival
in
the
USSR,
the
players
began to realize
the
experience
transcended
hockey.
“It was becoming a national,
political challenge,” Berenson
said. “This was the free world
against communism, and it was
our way of life against their way
of life. It was amazing. It took
on a life of its own.”
Canada
began
to
mount
a
comeback
in
game
six.
Berenson tallied an assist —
his only point of the series —
to help his team to a 3-2 win,
before the Canadians earned
another victory, 4-3, in game
seven to tie up the series, 3-3-1.
And as the series grew tighter,
the play on the ice became more
contentious as well. Though
there weren’t any fights allowed
in European hockey, Berenson
says the Soviets still knew how
to get even.
“It was nasty,” Berenson
said. “They played with a lot
of sportsmanship, but they
played with an edge, too. They
knew how to spear you, and
they knew how to kick you, and
they played rough differently
than we did. And I don’t think
our players handled it well,
and I don’t think their players
handled it well either. So the
anticipation for the deciding
game. Canadian schools gave
their students a half-day off
school so they could watch the
game. As a result, game eight
was the most-watched sporting
event in Canadian television
history until 2010.
It ended up being worth
it. With less than a minute
left, and the score tied at five,
Henderson collected a rebound
in front of the net and scored
what would is now known as
‘The Goal of the Century’ to
give Canada a victory in the
Summit Series.
Despite the win, Berenson
recalls that he couldn’t wait to
get out of the country.
“You just felt
like
you
were
in a large, not
necessarily
a
prison,
but
you were in a
confinement
of some kind,”
Berenson
said.
“Even when you
left
your
hotel
room, you had to
turn your key in,
and then we found out all of our
stuff had been gone through and
so on.”
Berenson wasn’t the only one
who wanted to leave quickly.
After the series ended, most
of the team went on to play an
exhibition game against the
Czechoslovak national team.
Berenson, on the other hand,
wanted to join the Red Wings
in training camp.
So, he boarded a plane with
many of the Canadian fans who
travelled to the USSR. They shared
his feeling of homesickness.
“The minute that plane took
off, the whole plane started to
cheer,” Berenson said. “There
were people crying, cheering.
It was like they’d escaped. And
then the pilot said, ‘We are now
crossing the Iron Curtain,’ and
they cheered again. … I mean
that’s how we were feeling.”
Ultimately,
the
Summit
Series will be remembered
for showing the world exactly
what the Soviets were capable
of in hockey, and for providing
a glimpse into their daily lives.
“ ‘We’ve got to be
better than this.
This is the best in
the NHL?’ ”
In the summer of 1972, the Michigan hockey coach played for Canada against the Soviet Union
“And it was
our way of life
against their
way of life”
MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Editor
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
8A — Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com