It's true, we have deja vu!
Once again it's us against them as Canada faces Russia
By TERRY JONES, EDMONTON SUN
TORONTO -- Canada vs. U.S.A. is OK, but Canada vs. Russia is what we thirst for when it comes to September summit series stuff. Just when we least expected it, we've got it again. Because nobody was expecting the Russians to do much, not much was made of the match on the way to this game.
Then the Russians played their eye-popping opener against the U.S. in St. Paul, Minnesota, and overnight this game got juiced.
All of a sudden we remembered how long it's been since there's been Canada vs. Russia and a game people can't wait to watch.
EVEN VLADY'S BACK!
One of them is Vladislav Tretiak, the legendary Soviet Union goalie who played in so many September series and will be watching tonight's effort - ironically on the 32nd anniversary of the 1972 game in Toronto - from behind the bench as an assistant coach with the Russians.
"For me it's going to be a holiday. Canada played unbelievable against the U.S. Russia played a good game, too. So it's going to be Canada-Russia again. Enjoy it.''
Canada vs. Russia didn't happen at the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games. The match wasn't made at Salt Lake 2002, either. You have to go back to the first World Cup of Hockey in 1996 and a 5-3 Canadian win for openers in Vancouver.
When it comes to Toronto, there hasn't been Canada-Russia here since the 1976 Canada Cup in Maple Leaf Gardens.
It's Mario Lemieux who brings it home. He hasn't played the Russians since that magic moment in Canadian hockey history when Gretzky passed him the puck and he scored the goal to win the 1987 Canada Cup down the road in Hamilton.
"That's just amazing,'' said Ryan Smyth, who was a kid in Banff back then, having Glenn Anderson run over his foot with a car in the parking lot when he was a stick boy for Team Canada at that training camp.
It hadn't occurred to Lemieux.
"I don't know,'' he said when he was asked the last time he played the Russians. Thinking about it for a few seconds, you could see the surprise start to register.
"It was 1987, I guess. I was retired in '96. In '91 I had my back problem.''
Lemieux puts the '87 Canada Cup "right up there at the top,'' conceding if it hadn't been for '87 and what he learned playing with Wayne Gretzky and the other Team Canada players, maybe he might not have had his two Stanley Cups.
"I'm looking forward to it. I think that atmosphere is going to be just like it was for our first game in Montreal. Toronto is a great hockey city. It's going to be great.''
So many players decided they didn't want to play for this Russian team that nobody paid much attention to the ones who did.
"A lot of guys didn't come because of problems with their contracts or the Russian federation, but the guys here want to play,'' said defenceman Darius Kasparaitis.
"It means a lot. Russia has had a lot of teams that looked good on paper but haven't been good teams,'' he said.
NOT IMPRESSIVE AT HOME
The most notable of those was when Russia played host to the world championships in St. Petersberg and a star-studded host lineup proceeded to go 1-4 in the tournament to finish 11th.
"Our goal was to play together as a team, to put our names aside," added Kasparaitis. "Ever since we got together in Switzerland, we've concentrated on coming here as a team, to play solid defence. We have a lot of young guys who are hungry.''
When the Soviet Union came to an end, it was no longer possible to put teams together for 11 months a year.
"Lifestyles changed. Winning internationally didn't become that important,'' said Kasparaitis. When they played, he said, all the skilled players wanted to dangle.
"We have our pride. We came here to say 'enough losing,' to start winning. We don't have all the stars, but we have the right people with the pride.''
Alexei Yashin said they decided if they're going to play there was only one way to play. "We decided to come here and play for each other, to try to play as a team.''
In the past 48 hours there's been major motivation for the Russians with the terrorist attacks in their homeland.
"It's very tough back home,'' said Yashin. "Our players just want to play hard for our people back home and hope our performance can help.''
For Team Canada it's all about hockey.
"Clearly, they were a terrific team in their first game. We all know they have formidable skills. In the Russia-Slovakia pre-tournament game it didn't look like either team was interested. But in St. Paul, they were interested,'' said coach Pat Quinn.
BEST HOCKEY EVER PLAYED
Joe Sakic says he was in training camp in Quebec City when the 1987 Canada Cup was played.
"I think the best hockey ever played was the '87 Canada Cup. The era changed a little bit from Canada-Russia to Canada-U.S. But obviously they're a skilled team. I don't know why so many people are surprised. They showed it.''
So many of the players on both teams were young kids (Jay Bouwmeester was three when Mario scored in '87) back then, they haven't really grown up with Canada-Russia. The same is true with the even-younger Russians.
"If they know the history of the game, they know,'' said Canadian defenceman Scott Niedermayer.
We all know. In Canada. And in Russia.
But to get to this game and suddenly have deja vu? Who knew?
