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Canada s Team of the

Canada’s Team of the Century on DVD

1972 Canada vs USSR

by Les Enser

Team Canada 1972, Universal studios, Hockey Hall of Fame have teamed up to produce the series of the century- the actual broadcast of this famous hockey battle.

The result is a 4 disc DVD collector’s item featuring all eight games, along with player interviews and original opening ceremonies in each game. All this bound in a thick DVD case that looks like a pocket book.

Inside one will notice the team poster with the player’s names along with liner notes that features each hero scoring goals for his country. It is even broken down as to the time and period in which they were scored.

Watching this disc series was like reliving 1972 and thinking about the time I was in grade 9 listening to the final game on the radio over the school’s PA system. The entire school shut down for that magic moment when Paul Henderson tenaciously scored the winning goal in game eight at 19:26 of the third period, with the tireless help of Phil Esposito for the assist. Of course, back then the games played in Russia were broadcast during the day and some of us baby boomers-to be could not see the overseas games.

Now I had the opportunity to see what is was really like!

Expecting the clarity that DVD can offer, I was mildly disappointed. Don’t get me wrong it was incredible to see the games again, but the quality isn’t there.

Game one suffered from many technical difficulties, such as the loss of audio for about six minutes and video quality that was downright poor. To be fair, the liner notes explain that the material used for these games came from a set of 2” Quad videotapes that were discovered in 1998. Since broadcasting back in the seventies was vastly inferior to today’s standards, one has to overlook these problems and concentrate on the action.

Even with production of this DVD, digital enhancements were necessary to reduce picture noise and sound distortion.

Since the first four games took place in Canada, the quality is the best on the set because there was no translation of signal required from an overseas television source. Game one was played in Montreal with game two in Toronto and games three and four in Winnipeg and Vancouver respectively. This first game featured Pierre Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister of the time, conducting the ceremonial faceoff.

Game two had the best quality of all, with decent color definition and sharpness. However at times, what appears as a dub from the original broad cast had to be used to fill in some missing gaps.

Game three featured the opening ceremonies with Father David Bauer presenting “opening ceremony” medals to both Canada and Russian hockey teams.

Both head coaches also received medals.

A shocking moment occurs as the Canadian players are announced and the Winnipeg crowd begins a mixture of boos and cheers.

It was also interesting to see the style of hockey coming from players such as Wayne Cashman, Jean Ratelle, Brad Park and Paul Henderson, who is the only Canadian who at the time was wearing a helmet (all the Russian players wore them). These players exhibited some great passing and checking skills against the Russians.

Of course Russia showed the prowness by greats such as Vladislav Tretiak, Boris Mikhailov, Alexandre Gusev and Alexandre Yakushev. They were a team everyone underestimated with their accurate shots and quick skating.

Game four, in Vancouver, had the famous “history in the making moment” with Phil Esposito, during a post game interview, showing his disappointment and displeasure at Canadian fans who booed team Canada off the ice after its 5-3 loss.

Game five through eight makes it way over to the Luzhniki Ice Palace in Moscow and the battle truly begins. It was interesting to note the hockey advertisements on the boards back then from companies such as Heineken, Gillette, and Electrolux. Also the famous moment in game five, when Phil Esposito slips and fall on the ice while accepting flowers during the opening ceremonies.

Picture quality originating from Moscow encounters all sorts of problems such as audio not in sync, smeary and fuzzy picture, satellite feed break ups throughout the games.

Again, in all fairness to 1972's television technology and the conversion from PAL to NTSC, they've done what they could. Also the satellite feed had to be linked from Moscow, to Helsinki, to London where conversion took place, and then sent as an NTSC signal to Canada.

Despite all these problems it was a pleasure to truly see how Canada battled its way to win the series and to listen to the late Foster Hewitt, the father of hockey play by play, anouncing the sometimes furious action on the ice.

A total of 19 hours of hockey and interviews and titbits makes this disc set worth owing for the true hockey fan who wants to relive the moment.

Disc features:

Chapter stops for each period and opening ceremony.
Player interviews
Team Canada 2002 Returns to Luzhniki Ice Palace in Moscow
Previously unreleased footage
8 page colour booklet

 

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Updated May 13, 2006