The Goal of My Life (26 page)

When we set foot in Maple Leaf Gardens, I swear, our eyes were as wide as saucers! Our tickets were in the second row from the top of the greys, so we couldn’t have been farther away from the play, but we loved every minute of it. Don’t ask me who won the game because it was so long ago now I don’t remember the details, but I never slept a minute on the long drive back home. We were still so excited afterwards that we talked about that trip for days.

There are so many great memories associated with the Gardens, and I was fortunate to be a part of many of them as a player
and
as a fan. I was at the Muhammad Ali–George Chuvalo fight, for instance.

The electricity in the building that night was unbelievable. And the fact that the fight was held in such a historic building made it all the more amazing to me. It was just a great battle to see in person. You really had a sense that you were seeing history in the making that night.

The Air Canada Centre is a terrific building, but anyone with memories of Maple Leaf Gardens was saddened to see it close and sit for so long with nothing happening inside it.
I’m really, really glad to see it open again and being used, at least in part, as a hockey arena once again.

It would be impossible to duplicate the 1972 Canada–Russia series just because of the kind of event it was. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But that doesn’t mean international hockey isn’t just as great as ever.

I love international hockey today mostly because it gives players a chance to represent their country. Hockey is in our blood in Canada, and players always want to prove that Canada is the best hockey country in the world. It is a source of pride when you get a chance to wear the maple leaf on your jersey.

Other countries are getting better all the time, though. We were surprised by the strength of the Russians in 1972, but there are no surprises anymore in international hockey. The other countries we play all have tremendous pride too, and would love nothing better than to knock Canada off the pedestal.

I thought the hockey at the last few world junior tournaments was as good as I’ve ever seen, and the Olympics are the same. There is great parity in international hockey now among the top teams, and while that might be tough for some Canadians to take, it’s good for the growth of the game overall.

In 1972, we had our eyes opened to just how good the skill level was outside of Canada when we played the Russians. Now we see it all the time. The athletes of today are so much better conditioned and so much better prepared from such a young age – kids nine and ten and eleven years old basically play pro-style schedules now – and the skill
level in Canada and around the world is greatly improved as a result.

I love to watch Canada in international competition any time. It’s still our game, and having to answer the challenge from countries that have improved so much over the years just makes us that much better.

There isn’t a more polarizing debate in hockey than the subject of fighting. There are those who think fighting is a part of hockey and those who think it has no part in the game.

Simply put, I don’t think the game of hockey needs fighting anymore. I think we’re past that now because the game has changed so much in so many ways over the years.

For one thing, it’s such a fast game now. And think about when the best hockey anywhere is played: in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Olympics. Now think about how the game is played during these events. There is hardly any fighting in the playoffs and none in the Olympics because it’s not needed.

It takes away from the game, in my mind, and besides, players today are just too big and too strong. I’m really afraid somebody is going to get killed out there.

Staged fighting in particular just drives me crazy. What’s the point of that – a staged fight that everybody can see coming? Those kinds of fights are definitely not necessary.

We also have to ask, seriously, just how many blows to the head players can take before it affects them psychologically. We’ve seen how players who have been enforcers all their careers have turned out. Some of these guys have admitted that they were up all night, worried to death, knowing that they would have to fight the next night and how that would go. During my career, I’d never thought of
it from that viewpoint – I just looked forward to playing. But it must have been really tough on some players, especially as they got older. To hear that guys were losing sleep over whom they had to fight next – well, life is just too short for that kind of stuff.

I have always believed that the game will police itself, and I think there is still accountability within the game without the need for fighting. A lot of young kids are quitting the game because the idea of fighting is just not in their makeup, and that is a real shame. I would hate for my grandchildren to have to fight just to play the game of hockey, so why would I wish that burden on somebody else’s grandchildren?

We teach our children that they don’t have to fight in life to be men, and hopefully we are evolving in a lot of ways on that front. The defenders of fighting in hockey will say that it’s always been a part of the game and therefore it should always be. I say no to that. There is no excuse anymore to keep fighting in the game of hockey. We don’t need it. It’s time to get beyond that mentality.

Mainly because of that goal I scored in Moscow forty years ago, I understand what fame is. There is both good and bad in fame and I have accepted it all.

But that fame and my achievement in hockey have not been enough to get me into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The 1972 Summit Series team has been recognized and honoured throughout the hockey world, including inside the Hockey Hall of Fame. Heck, being named the Team of the Century is certainly getting recognized. None of us, myself included, suffer for a lack of recognition in this great country of ours. We were national heroes when we returned from the
Soviet Union and we are still recognized and saluted wherever we go for the achievement. The twenty-fifth-anniversary celebrations in 1997 were tremendous, and the upcoming fortieth anniversary promises to be the biggest yet. We all love the attention, even after all these years.

Wherever I go across the country, I guess nine out of every ten people tell me I should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. It is flattering to me that people would think that way and let me know how much they support me. I appreciate their thoughts, I really do. But let me state here, clearly, for the record, once and for all: I have no problem with not being in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Hall has a selection committee, and that committee has its criteria. I understand that. I also understand that if it were not for the 1972 series and what I did, I wouldn’t even merit consideration for the Hockey Hall of Fame. I was a good
NHL
player, but I don’t have the numbers or the All-Star status or major trophy wins to be a candidate. I feel there are many retired players more deserving than me who still haven’t been inducted.

I had a month for the ages, that’s for sure, but the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee criteria is all about great
careers
. Don’t take that to mean that I don’t appreciate all the support, or that I am not proud of the career I had in the game. I’m still very proud of my
NHL
accomplishments. I’m especially proud to have played on two top lines, with Norm Ullman and Bruce MacGregor in Detroit, and then with Norm and Ron Ellis in Toronto.

I thought the Henderson–Ullman–Ellis line was as good as any in the
NHL
. We were defensively responsible and we could play any style and play with any forward unit in the
league. I get great satisfaction in knowing that, and in the way we all contributed. While we were playing together in Toronto, Ellis had 152 goals and 147 assists, Ullman scored 152 and had 267 assists – he was always the playmaker! – and I had 157 goals and 150 assists. How is that for consistency and sharing the wealth!

There was one season where I led the league in game-winning goals with nine out of the twenty-two goals I scored overall. I was an opportunist in that sense, and I really tried to score important goals. I think everybody wants to be on the ice at key times, but I really thrived on that during my entire career, not just in Russia.

I always enjoyed when the pressure was on, and I didn’t shrink away from those situations. I also played with some great linemates who felt the same way, and that made it a lot easier to succeed in those situations as well.

It was tough playing on some teams that didn’t win, but any player would feel the same way about that. The Toronto teams I played on were generally older and, thanks to Harold Ballard, were generally in disarray. Nobody was going to win any championships in that situation.

I thought we had a great team in Detroit before I got traded to the Leafs. We seemed to be really close to winning the Cup, but then Doug Barkley lost an eye, Marcel Pronovost got traded, and Bill Gadsby retired. We just couldn’t get over those losses, but I thought we really had a chance to do something special there.

But there are really no regrets from that standpoint either. I had a long career, I made some decent money, and I had the kind of life that the vast majority of people in the world would be very envious of.

Thanks to September 1972, I had lots of fame too! And I had my time in the spotlight, which gave me recognition and a platform in this country to do the work I have been doing with my ministry for many years now, to an extent that wouldn’t have been possible without that recognition.

Every player would love to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but the fact that I’m not seems to bother other people a lot more than it bothers me. The bottom line is, I’ve had a wonderful life and career in hockey that I am very proud of. I’ve been a very fortunate guy.

Even after forty years, the 1972 Summit Series is still receiving accolades for what it meant to the game of hockey.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (
IIHF
) recently introduced an
IIHF
Milestone Award, to be granted periodically “to a team or teams that have made a significant contribution to international ice hockey or had a defining impact on the development of the game.” The council decided that the first such honour would go to the teams of the 1972 Summit Series.

The timing of this first award was intended to help mark the forty-year anniversary of the series, and it really is quite an honour for all of us to receive, especially after all these years.

IIHF
president Rene Fasel was gracious in his comments as he outlined the rationale for the award: “The
IIHF
has honoured individuals since 1997 with inductions to the
IIHF
Hall of Fame, but we felt we were missing an award which recognized great events, great teams, or defining moments which have shaped our game. This is why we introduced this new award, and the council felt it was appropriate that
the historic 1972 Summit Series would receive the inaugural honour.”

The award was presented as part of the
IIHF
Hall of Fame induction ceremony on May 20, 2012, in Helsinki, Finland, on the day of the gold medal game of the seventy-sixth
IIHF
Ice Hockey World Championship. In 1972, Canada was sitting on the sidelines as far as international hockey went, so when you consider how much has happened since then – with Canada earning both respect and gold medals at the Winter Olympics, world championships, and world junior championships – the tournament seems to be a perfect setting for the teams of the Summit Series to be remembered.

My good feelings about our accomplishment in Moscow only get deeper as the years go on. But as I watch today’s players at the Air Canada Centre, it is really hard to believe how time sure flies, especially as you get older.

And my goodness, to think that the fortieth anniversary of that series is upon us! Now where did that time go? It certainly is a perfect time for reflection and looking back, that’s for sure.

Eleanor and I will look in the mirror some days and say, “Who are those people?” We’ve got a lot more wrinkles, and sometimes it does make you wonder where the years have gone. I’m sure my teammates think the same thing some days, although we really have been blessed. In those forty years we’ve only lost three players and one coach from Team Canada ’72: Bill Goldsworthy, Gary Bergman, and Rick Martin, along with assistant coach John Ferguson. But time catches up with all of us, and several of us are battling cancer. We know this fortieth anniversary is
likely our last hurrah, so we’re all looking forward to it.

There really is a certain amount of luck that comes with just being around as long as we’ve all been, and having the opportunity to celebrate an event forty years after it ends. When you look back and see all that we have survived, from injuries to illness to other challenges, and you realize that we’ve all made it and had such great lives, you just say “Wow!” to yourself.

When you are young, you think you are immortal. You get a real sense of appreciation for everything in life as you get older, as you realize just how lucky you have been in your life, even just to have played in the
NHL
for as long as you did.

The Goal in 1972 was an epic moment. We knew that then, but we know that even more so today. I certainly cherish it more today, that’s for sure. It is such a thrill even to be able to share it with my grandchildren, who are so proud of me for the accomplishment. It’s another generation being exposed to what happened, and when I saw all the young people walking through the Henderson Jersey Homecoming Trailer, well, it really made an old man feel good.

But as you reflect back on your life, it’s the friendships and relationships that really matter the most, isn’t it? That is true of all of us. It’s not how much money you have made, it’s how many friends you have made over the years that is the important thing.

Look, whenever there’s a fire in a house and people have to leave in a hurry, what’s the first thing they grab? The pictures. That says a lot about what is really important to people, doesn’t it?