December 31, 1975: Hockey's "Game of the Century"

Left to right: Peter Mahovlich,

Vladislav Tretiak, Yvan Cournoyer

December 31, 1975: A hockey game is played at the Montreal Forum. It not only ends up getting labeled "The Game of the Century," but it is often credited with "saving the sport."

Super Series '76 was scheduled, with 2 Soviet club teams taking on NHL teams. One was the reigning Soviet Champions, CSKA Moscow. Translated into English, "CSKA" (pronounced "CHESS-kah") became "Central Sports Club of the Army." It was a team sponsored by the country's Red Army, and that's what they were called in the American media: "The Red Army." The other was Krylya Sovetov, translated as "Soviet Wings." This suggests they were sponsored by the country's Air Force. Not quite: They were sponsored by the country's aircraft builders.

The Super Series began on December 28, 1975, at Madison Square Garden, and the Red Army pounded the New York Rangers, 7-3. This was understandable: Despite celebrating their 50th Season, the Broadway Blueshirts were in total disarray, having recently fired their head coach and general manager, Emile Francis; and traded away several key players, including goaltender Eddie Giacomin, defenseman Brad Park and center Jean Ratelle. On December 29, the Soviet Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-4. Also not a surprise: The Pens were not a good team at the time.

The next game got people's attention, though: On New Year's Eve, at the Montreal Forum, the Red Army took on the Montreal Canadiens, a team loaded with future Hall-of-Famers, and one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

Les Habitantes got on the board first, as Steve Shutt scored 3:10 into the game. At 7:25, Yvon Lambert made it 2-0. Boris Mikhailov scored for the Soviets, 3:54 into the 2nd period. At 9:39, Canadien Captain Yvan Cournoyer scored, to make it 3-1. So, of the Habs' 1st 3 goals, 2 were scored by men with the French variation on the Russian name "Ivan," meaning "John."

At 16:21, Valery Kharlamov scored, to make it 3-2. At 4:04 into the 3rd period, Boris Aleksandrov scored to tie the game. It ended in a 3-3 tie, and the entire game only saw 8 penalties called. Montreal goalie Ken Dryden saved 10 of 13 shots, while the Soviets' Vladislav Tretiak saved 35 of 38. Each man was reprising a fine performance in the 1972 "Summit Series." It has been called one of the greatest games in the sport's history.

"We outshot them 38 to 13, and that was pretty indicative of the way the game went," the Canadiens' Doug Risebrough said. "Vladislav Tretiak stole the game. He was just great. But the final score didn’t matter. Whether we won, lost or tied the game, we knew we had something special."

On January 4, 1976, an NHL team finally got a win. The Buffalo Sabres, who had advanced to the previous season's Stanley Cup Finals, beat the Wings, 12-6 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. But the Russians re-established their dominance: On January 7, the Wings went into the Chicago Stadium, and beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-2.

On January 8, the Red Army went into the Boston Garden and, playing a Boston Bruins team with Bobby Orr injured, Phil Esposito traded to the Rangers for Park and Ratelle, and Park and Ratelle not really settled in yet, dominated the Beantown Brats, 5-2. And on January 10, the Wings went out to Long Island, and beat the rising New York Islanders, 2-1.

There was one game left to play. On January 11, the Red Army went into The Spectrum in Philadelphia, to play the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-time defending Stanley Cup Champions. And the Flyers, in the process of standing up for America, undid a lot of the undoing of the damage.

They had a well-balanced team led by Captain Bobby Clarke and goaltender Bernie Parent. But they were also the most violent team hockey had ever seen, known as "The Broad Street Bullies." Philadelphia fans, enjoying their image as a city for tough people, loved it. 

In the 1st period, Ed Van Impe was sent to the penalty box for hooking. When his penalty ended, with the score still 0-0, he went right at Kharlamov, and elbowed him in the head. The referee, Lloyd Gilmour, did not call a penalty. Red Army coach Konstantin Loktev decided that his players were not going to be treated fairly, and, with the clock reading 11:21 of the 1st period (in other words, 9:39 to go), pulled his team off the ice. Bob Cole, calling the game for CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), yelled, "They're going home! They're going home!"

With the threat of losing their share of the gate receipts, the Russians were talked back into going back onto the ice, and the Flyers beat them, 4-1. Tretiak said the Flyers won by playing "rude hockey." Loktev called them "a bunch of animals." They were both right. But the Flyers had won, and came away believing the Russians were skilled but soft. They were right, too.

The Flyers made it 3 straight trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, and printed up memorabilia reading, "HAT TRICK IN '76." But the Canadiens put a stop to that, sweeping them in 4 straight, for the 1st of 4 straight Stanley Cups. They credited the New Year's Eve tie with the Soviets for sparking them into that dynasty. Dryden, Cournoyer, Shutt, Guy Lafleur, Jacques Lemaire, Bob Gainey, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe and Larry Robinson would all be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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December 31, 1975 was a Wednesday. There were 4 regular-season games in the NHL that day:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Atlanta Flames, 8-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Washington Capitals, 4-0 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

There were no games in the World Hockey Association. Nor were there any in the NBA. There was 1 in the American Basketball Association: The Denver Nuggets beat the Kentucky Colonels, 141-137 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

Baseball was out of season. There were 2 college bowl games played. Number 4 Alabama beat Number 8 Penn State, 13-8 in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. It was the 1st Sugar Bowl indoors, at the Superdome, after being outdoors at Tulane Stadium since New Year's Day 1935. And West Virginia beat North Carolina State, 13-10 in the Peach Bowl, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.