Longest 34 Seconds In Canadian Hockey History

September 28, 1972 - 43 years ago today

Paul Henderson scored with 34 seconds to go in the last game of the Canada-USSR "Summit" hockey series in the Luzhniki Palace of Sports, Moscow. Canada thus won the series 4 games to 3 (1 tie).

This pair of stamps (#1660ii - 1997) shows the moment.
Besides Henderson, #12 Ivan Cournoyer is there, #6 Ron Ellis, Tretiak on his back, #15 Alexander Yakushev, #19 Vladimir Shadrin.
Who else?

Most Canadians were smugly confident that their team would blow the Russians away and had no idea how good European hockey was, especially in the USSR. While the Canadians style was to dump the puck in the opposition's end and then go after it with body-checking, the Russians would skillfully stick-handle around the defence for numerous scoring attempts. This ability made the end of the game the longest half minute in Canadian hockey history!

I remember where I was at the time: cutting class at Bishop's University. Where were you?

For the hockey guys in here:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/291575341498....m1555.l2649

I have the Canada Post box containing the sweat-shirt, special hockey-stick booklet etc. I'll wait a couple of years, or maybe seven, before putting it up for sale.

That was a great moment. I believe I watched that game in elementary school on a crappy black and white TV with rabbit ears just like we watched the moon landing on. I recently visited Toronto for a number of things including a trip to the Greene Foundation and a tour of the Hockey Hall of Fame where I watched a really interesting and quite long film on the history of that series. It brought back a lot of great early hockey fan memories and I learned a great deal about the politics and style of play between nations in that series that I knew nothing about as a young boy. Good stuff!

I was 5. :)

That was a fantastic moment..I held my breath for the whole time...But Tretiak was a great goalie.

Robert

I was in High School and when the game started we had no classes.

There were TV's setup all over the school so everyone could watch the game. Phil Esposito shot the puck at the net and Paul Henderson tapped in the rebound for the big Goal.

I went to an autograph signing and Paul didn't showup. This was when he was battling cancer last year. He seems to have won the fight and is doing much better now, I hear. But look who came through the snow to sign autographs ! Isn't he a great guy !

Jim I was in line with you that day! I already had Paul's autograph so I was there to get Phil's. FYI Paul will be signing with Vladislav Tretiak on 11th November at Frozen Pond https://www.frozenpond.com/page/autograph.html

Here's what I got signed by Phil that day.

canadianphilatelist, thanks for the heads-up ! I have Paul's autograph, too but I"d love to get a pic with him. I'll have to find something nice for him to sign!