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Tretiak reflects on Summit Series: “The winner was the game of hockey”

Ottawa Senators v Toronto Maple Leafs

TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 12: Hall of Fame inductee Ed Belfour embraces Vladislav Tretiak during a ceremony prior to the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators at the Air Canada Centre on November 12, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Bruce Bennett

The 1972 Summit Series kicked off 40 years ago today.

John Kreiser provides an interesting look back at the eight-game series (which Canada won 4-3-1), describing the resulting competition as “a landmark cultural event in Canadian history and a huge source of national pride.”

Kreiser also points out that the matches provided compelling evidence that the Soviet Union’s team were far from “amateurs.”

In fact, Kreiser believes that the Summit Series’ biggest impact came from what Boris Mikhailov called a “meeting between two schools of hockey.”

It prompted Vladislav Tretiak to say that both teams really “won.”

“Both teams won in 1972,” Tretiak told TSN. “It was a great series for all of hockey. The best that Russia had and the best of the NHL. The winner was the game of hockey.”