Canada -vs- USA Another Hockey Summit

The best US college hockey players -vs- the OHA Memorial Cup champions ... why hasn't this kind of tournament ever happened?

The first time a Hockey Summit was played, hockey changed. 

It was 1972  Canada -vs- Russia.

Hockey learned a lot from the visiting Russians.

First, they could play ... man, could they play. 

What was expected to be a Canadian romp for our superstars was a lesson in humility. Every Canadian hockey fan expected the scores from each of the games in the 8-game tournament to be double digits in favour of Team Canada.

 I shouldn't do this but just to remind you ... in Game One, Esposito scored 30 seconds after it started and Henderson 6 minutes later. Then the roof caved in and we lost 7 - 3.

The "Golden Jet" might have helped. He was banned from the tournament because he had left the NHL for the newly formed World Hockey League. The Toronto Sun newspaper promptly created this slogan in hopes the NHL would change their minds and let him play.

We remember that the Russians took the tournament to the final game in the series to determine the winner.

Since that time and because of the Russians, everyone in the game has had to rethink how it's played putting emphasis on nutrition and meaningful exercise and workouts to improve basic hockey skills. 

Hockey teams at every level had to develop offensive and defensive plays ... nobody had ever heard of the 4-man box defence for penalty kills before the Russians let us in on their little secret on the ice at the Montreal Forum in game 1 of The Summit.

Before 1972, I would guess that most NHL teams had 3 or 4 players who could hit the puck at 85mph and another 3 or 4 players who could skate almost 20mph. 

Now, it seems every player can skate that fast (McKinnon and McDavid are clocked @ 24mph). Today's players make stick handling look like a sleight of hand, 70-foot-long "saucer" passes are common and every player can really hit the puck.

Hockey "Expert" Howie Meeker

Incidentally, don't credit that 4-man box observation to Howie Meeker ... it was uncovered by goaltender, Jacques Plante who was doing the CBC commentary for the French "Summit" broadcast. Between periods, he told Meeker what the Russians were doing, Meeker repeated everything he was told by Plante for the English audience, took credit for it and magically became a hockey wunderkind that day and went on to an undeserved Hockey Night in Canada career. 

Would it surprise you to know that 64 USA schools participate in the NCAA hockey program?  Boston University played its first game in 1917 and the University of Alaska first played in 1925. 

Dozens of NCAA graduates have made the leap to the NHL, namely and most recently; Makar, Fox, MaAvoy, Hellebuyck, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes, "Johnny Hockey" Pacioretty, Cole Canfield and Swayman.

Would you like to see a tournament between this year's NCAA champion and the winner of the Memorial Cup? Isn't it about time that hockey fans got a chance to see how each minor league organization has taken what was learned from Canada/Russia 52 years ago?

Ya, me too!

If a three or five-game tournament is a stretch, how about a one-game winner-take-all. It's understood that timing for such an event could be a problem -- the NCAA Final Four Tournament to decide the champ is played in April and the Memorial Cup is decided in June.

I think interest would far exceed the difficulty in logistics. It may just need a little creative thinking and imagine the bragging rights and money to be made for both organizations.

EPILOGUE

The 2024 NCAA champion is the Denver University Pioneers - it's a record - 10th time they've won. In the 1960s they won it twice with a goaltender, Gerry Powers from Guelph ON - he was selected as the NCAA 1st All-Star Team goalie that year, and the 2nd All-Star Team goalie was Ken Dryden.

Gerry was a NCAA superstar but ignored his draft by the Black Hawks and used his Denver University degree to become an advertising executive with Canada's largest agency.  I worked for Gerry in the 1980s when he purchased a publishing firm and we became the most successful sports publishing company in Canada.

Gerry was one of the hockey buddies that I referred to in the essay I sent to you "Playing Hockey is Important". If you missed it and you're interested, click on the link below ... 

Playing Hockey Is Important