Andrew Podnieks

Player vs. player, team vs. team, country vs. country and ideology vs. ideology.
40 years on and still the best series in sport history.

The 1972 summit series changed the sport of hockey and Canada. Tired of not being able to send the best to world championships and Olympics, the National Hockey League put together a team of Canadians to play the perennial winners from Russia (USSR). The finish was uncertain until the dramatic final seconds of the last game.

The book is a series of stories about each of the 8 games between Canada and Russia, and the exhibition games against Sweden (2) and Czechoslovakia (1), followed by recollections of the players from the Canadian team. Although I recall the series as a child and have watched and read other accounts, this series still evokes emotion. The book was enjoyed thoroughly and finished in two sittings, but I do admit some biases to the topic. If you are a hockey fan you probably already know the story but then you would enjoy the book anyway.… (meer)