The Series of the Century has not finished moving Pete Mahovlich.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
Even 50 years later, memories of the legendary confrontation between the Canadians and the Soviets still bring tears to the eyes of the sympathetic colossus.
However, we did not think to make him emotional by simply asking him, last June, what he would like people to remember from the event, during a lunch of sports celebrities in Mount Royal.
“When we lost the first game in Moscow, there were 3,000 Canadians in the stands,” he recalls. They were standing and singing the O Canada. »
His eyes redden and mist up. His voice cracks.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
Pete Mahovlich, alongside his brother Frank
“We lost this game. But we were so proud. [L’entraîneur et directeur général] Harry Sinden told us: “Guys, that was our best game! We won’t lose any more.” They could have faced us ten more times and they would never have beaten us again. »
History proves him right.
Much of the emotion — and pride — that Pete Mahovlich feels as he recalls the European leg of the eight-game series comes from what happened just before.
The Canadiens were upset in the opener, losing 7-3 at the Montreal Forum. Then won 4-1 in Toronto. The third game was in Winnipeg: a 4-4 draw.
The last Canadian stop before the trip to the Soviet Union was at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. An infamous 4-2 defeat. The locals were booed. What Phil Esposito lamented in front of a national television microphone on the ice after the game.
“We are really saddened, disillusioned and disappointed to see the reaction of certain people, had notably launched the legendary center player. We can’t believe how badly we are treated in the media. We are booed in our own arenas. »
Pete Mahovlich, at 75, still has it on his heart.
“I didn’t play the game in Vancouver,” he told The Press. I was in the stands. And I was so embarrassed. »
PHOTO PIERRE MCCANN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
John Ferguson, Pete Mahovlich and Yvan Cournoyer in training
The 6’5″ guy, imposing even seated alongside his brother Frank, does not go easy on it.
“I told everyone, even them: Vancouver didn’t deserve a hockey club. Their followers were ignoramuses. »
I was angry. They were booing Frank Mahovlich because he was playing for Montreal. They were booing Esposito for playing for Boston. They were booing Bobby Clark for playing for Philadelphia. The fans forgot that the players were representing Canada, not our respective teams.
Pete Mahovlich
“We have become a team”
It was perhaps this resentment that later helped propel the formation.
“We became a team when we flew to Europe,” said Mahovlich.
Team Canada played two friendlies against Sweden before picking up the slack against the Soviet Union.
“The Canadian nation really started to understand what this series meant” at that time, remembers the one who won four Stanley Cups with the Habs.
After the 5-4 loss in Moscow, the Canadians trailed 3-1-1 in the series. They had to win the last three games.
“We were going in this direction, explains Mahovlich, mimicking an upward trajectory. And they went into the other. This is how they prepared for their tournaments: making sure to give their best from the start. »
Canada wins 3-2 in Game 6. Then won 4-3 in Game 7 to tie the series 3-3-1.
The ultimate match arrives. In Canada, some schools, notably in Toronto and Montreal, are allowed to close their doors for half a day so that they can watch it.
The next day, September 29, 1972, The Gazette reported that 10 televisions had been installed in Montreal’s Central Station. No fewer than 5,000 people gathered there to witness what was to become one of the greatest moments in Canadian sporting history. It was also, until Sidney Crosby’s golden goal at the 2010 Olympics, the most-watched sporting event in the history of the Canadian small screen.
Canada won 6-5, going on a three-goal comeback in the third period. Paul Henderson scored the winning goal, with about 30 seconds left in the game.
After the boos in Vancouver, the Canadians are greeted with glee by 10,000 fans at Dorval airport on 1er october. Then by 80,000 people at an outdoor ceremony in Toronto.
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PHOTO JEAN-YVES LÉTOURNEAU, PRESS ARCHIVES
Arrival of the Canadian players at Dorval airport after the Series of the Century, the 1er October 1972. Below, Serge Savard being interviewed on the tarmac with Jean-Maurice Bailly and Lionel Duval.
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PHOTO JEAN-YVES LÉTOURNEAU, PRESS ARCHIVES
Arrival of the Canadian players at Dorval airport after the Series of the Century, the 1er October 1972. We can see in particular Ron Ellis, Marcel Dionne and Rod Seiling.
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All these years later, Pete Mahovlich is convinced that “very few people expected” the Soviets to give the representatives of the Maple Leaf so much trouble.
“One of the only ones who saw him coming is sitting here to my left,” Pete said, pointing to his brother Frank, discreet during the interview. He said: “They come here because they know they can beat us. Not because they think so. Because they know it.” It shows how unprepared we were for what was to come. »