1972: The Summit Series: The Untold Story

It is a little late to the 40th anniversary party, but 1972: The Summit Series: The UNTOLD Story is now hitting the bookshelves.

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Researcher and 1972 Summit Series fanatic Richard J. Bendell has put together this fantastic look at the Summit Series. I can vouch for Bendell first hand as I have participated in many conversations with him regarding 1972 and international hockey. His passion is simply unbeatable. Bringing Paul Patskou and Robert MacAskill - two of the top hockey historians - in on the project was a great move.

Their ideas for further understanding the series itself are impressive. Impressive enough to fill nearly 450 pages! They re-analyze every aspect of the series from every angle imaginable, resulting in the most in depth quantitative and qualitative look at series ever produced. The fresh insights accurately and comprehensively reveal new layers of the fascinating history of the series.

At 450 pages the book is daunting - almost overwhelming. It is not for the casual 1972 fan, but for the true hardcore fans who want to understand it at an even deeper level. That market might be somewhat limited as more than a month of 40th anniversary celebrations tested the exhaustion levels of the tournament's hype. It took 40 years, but they might finally have reached that point.

In some ways it is too bad this book does not have the push of a major publishing house behind it. It could benefit from their polishing and marketing/promotional machine. But on the other hand it is a god send that Bendell and company went at it on their own. A publishing house would have killed a lot of the content and shrunk the project considerably. That would have been a significant loss for hockey fans everywhere.

Bendell's passion for 1972 is almost unparalleled and certainly not exceeded. He presents all of his passion right here in this 450 page book - a true treasure chest of the 1972 Summit Series.

A Wild Stab for It: This Is Game Eight from Russia by Dave Bidini

The critically acclaimed Dave Bidini is back with a new hockey book dedicated to the 1972 Summit Series' 40th anniversary: A Wild Stab for It: This Is Game Eight from Russia.

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Published by ECW Press, Bidini offers a brief look at the 1972 Summit Series. The small book is only a little over 100 pages long, but Bidini makes each and every page worth the purchase price.

For the 40th anniversary of what was arguably the single-most important sporting event in Canadian history, the writer shepherded Canadians of all backgrounds—artists, athletes, politicians, and pundits—shared interviews, anecdotes, and memories of September 28, 1972.

People like players from both Team Canada and Team USSR. People like political cartoonist Aislin, who actually tried his best to get arrested in Moscow. People like Russian women who fell in love with the bombastic Phil Esposito. People like internet sensations Arthur Chidlovski and Dennis Kane, who found freedom and found love, respectively, courtesy the 1972 Summit Series. People like Dave Bist, who tried teaching Russians how to chew gum.

Bidini brilliantly weaves this greatly eclectic collection of stories into a wonderful and original re-telling of the events of September 28th, 1972. The day Paul Henderson became immortalized. The day Canada began celebrating itself.

Simply put, this a brilliant little book. That is no surprise given that comes from Dave Bidini, Canada's most poetic hockey journalist.

Team Canada 1972: The Official 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Summit Series

Andrew Podnieks has put together the new commemorative book Team Canada 1972: The Official 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Summit Series

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Podnieks, who has put together over 50 hockey books now, offers a comprehensive text complete with in-depth interviews of every surviving player and a large collection colour photographs.

Team Canada 1972 is the definitive look at the Summit Series 40 years later, still powerful, still resonating, still remarkable. With every living player contributing to the book with personal memories and thoughts of the series, this official publication provides fans with the most detailed and exciting look at the series.

Brian McFarlane put out a similar book for the 30th anniversary. At 293 pages, Podnieks' version is more in depth. He retells the familiar story of the 1972 Summit Series events by letting the players' memories take center stage.

All in all, if you are a well studied 1972 Summit Series fanthe narratives in this book are all a little too familiar. There are a lot of books on the 1972 Summit Series over the years, and with this being the 40th anniversary of the Super Series there is a whole slew more hitting bookshelves this fall. Podnieks new book does not offer a lot of new light on the series. The real value lies within some of the players' direct interviews.

If you are looking for a nice combination of coffee table photo book with detailed written history of the 1972 Summit Series, Team Canada 1972 is a fine choice. 

The Goal That United Canada: 72 Amazing Stories

A moment in time.

It's rare for a person to remember exactly where he or she was at a single moment in time, some four decades later. It's rarer still for an entire nation to hold a collective memory of such a moment. This kind of hardwired retention usually results from group trauma -- the shock of assassination, large scale tragedy, or natural disaster.

Occasionally, the event that galvanizes a population is a happy one. Such was the case when Paul Henderson scored the memorable goal in '72, that won the game and united Canada.

The Goal that United Canada contains 72 stories that revolve around the '72 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union. Viewed separately, they are very personal, even intimate in nature. When they are strung together they begin to tell a larger story, a uniquely Canadian story of love for our country and its game.

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Hockey is often the focal point of the Canadian narrative. Author Sean Mitton found that out himself when he moved to North Carolina and founded the Canadian Expat Network website. Hockey united Canadians abroad, and often it was 1972 that dominated the discussion.

Mitton then got the idea of collecting people's stories and compiling them into a book for the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series. He claims he wasn't sure if he was crazy for undertaking this project. Deep down, he knew this project would succeed since he was three years old.

Mitton was just 3 in 1972 and has no direct memory of the series. But his mother - a non-hockey fan at that - was moved to extraordinary measures.

“She wasn’t even a hockey fan,” Mitton recently told the Toronto Sun. “She was a housewife in Georgetown, Ont., who happened to be listening to Bob Cole’s CBC radio feed from Moscow during Game 8. But she got so nervous, she couldn’t help just wandering around, cleaning everything. When Henderson scored, she just started crying, then felt she had to go outside and talk to the lady next door, who probably thought she was crazy.”

The story would be re-told throughout the years, triggering her son's insatiable curiosity about this amazing event. And over all the years he learned that almost everyone in Canada was someone how touched by the eight game hockey series in many different ways.

So Mitton, and co-author Jim Prime, set out interviewing Canadians from many walks of life. In their collection of stories they try to show not just the tried and true typical 1972 story, but the many layers beneath it.

Some of Canada's most recognizable names are included among the 72 stories - Peter Mansbridge, Walter Gretzky, Don Cherry, Denis Brodeur, Bob Cole, Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo, Howie Meeker, Darryl Sittler, Johnny Bower.

The book even features Paul Henderson himself, telling the story of how his goal actually saved a marriage.

But they also include everyday Canadians - including some of the 3000 fans who travelled to Moscow with Team Canada. Others who were working in hospitals, or parked at a shopping mall in the United States or walking home across a deserted campus.

Oh yeah, the stereotypical story of watching the game in the gymnasium of a school is included, too. But by and large this is a completely entertaining collection of fun and at times bizarre stories that shines a whole new light on just how deeply Paul Henderson's heroics and the 1972 Summit Series affected Canadians.

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"It was the greatest tournament ever played in sports. There's no doubt in my mind about that." -- Don Cherry

"We sang Oh Canada. I started to leave the arena, only to see a young Russian boy in tears with his mother trying to console him. I wanted to stop, and try to explain -- but I couldn't. We were worlds apart." -- Jim Herder

"That didn't even come to my mind - that I was a descendant of the Russians. I never ever thought of it. It was just 'I'm a Canadian and we won! We beat the Russians.' Absolutely no mixed allegiances!" -- Walter Gretzky

"…you could pretty well point to anyone across the country and you knew they were all watching the same thing. That doesn't happen very often in our country, as big as we are and as diverse as we are. But on that day, they were, and whether it was in a little school in Winnipeg or somewhere else in the country you knew it was that kind of feeling." -- Peter Mansbridge

Titans of '72: Team Canada's Summit Series Heroes

Mike Leonetti combines his love for hockey history with the Harold Barkley photo archives to bring us Titans of '72: Team Canada's Summit Series Heroes

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Here's more from the publisher:

Phil and Tony Esposito, Paul Henderson, Ken Dryden, Frank and Peter Mahovlich, Ron Ellis, Yvan Cournoyer, Rod Gilbert, Bobby Clarke, Guy Lapointe, Stan Mikita, Brad Park - these are some of the Team Canada heroes who struggled mightily to defeat the Soviet Union's formidable superstars. For most of September 1972, Canadians were riveted to their television screens in what became one of the most-watched events in Canadian history.

At first, in Canada, the Canadians floundered so badly, losing two games and tying one, that it seemed impossible to overcome the embarrassment of total defeat. But in Moscow, after losing another match, Team Canada turned the tables on the Soviets, winning an amazing three games in a row to take the Summit Series.

Now, in Titans of '72, bestselling author Mike Leonetti tells the stories behind each Canadian on that fabled Team Canada, including those like Bobby Orr who didn't actually play. Accompanying Leonetti's portraits of these genuine Canadian heroes are superb pictures by Harold Barkley, a photographer who pioneered the use of stop-action colour photography in hockey.

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1972 Summit Series on DVD

There are several great options for 1972 Summit Series fans when it comes to DVD shopping.

The best all inclusive package is '72 Complete gift set is the second major dvd set about the 1972 Summit Series. The first, Canada's Team of the Century: The Best of '72, was a huge success. '72 Complete will cater more to the hard core fans, as the 8 games in the series have already been released and are already in many people's collection. '72 Complete does feature a bonus exhibition game against the Swedes, as well as many new features such as interviews, Hall of Fame coverage, an original documentary, reunion dinner coverage and a feature called Where Were You in '72?. Judging by early results, '72 Completeis going to be another unqualified success. The 1972 Summit Series will never die.

That being said, my favorite 1972 Summit Series DVD is a little known documentary entitled Summit on Ice. It expertly captures the thrill and emotions in a very well done documentary. It's pretty hard to find now, though Amazon does have some second hand options. Apparently it is also on Netflix for September 2012.

Launch Party For Dave Bidini's 1972 Summit Series Book

Those in Toronto on September 11th can take in the ECW Press launch party for Dave Bidini's new hockey book A Wild Stab For It: This Is Game Eight From Russia.

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Summit Series '72: Eight Games that put Canada on top of world hockey

Publisher James Lorimer and Company and author Richard Brignall bring us Summit Series '72: Eight Games That Put Canada On Top of World Hockey.

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Like all books in the RecordBooks series, this is a quick, easy read. It is brief and does not offer anything new on the much written about Summit Series, but it is a good introduction for new generations of fans looking to learn about one of hockey's most important events.

Here's more from the publisher: It wasn't until Canadian teams started losing in international tournaments in the mid 1950s that an epic hockey rivalry between Canada and the Soviet Union began. Canadians believed hockey was "their game." So Canadians were in for a rude awakening when they lost Game One of the 1972 Summit Series to the Soviets. The eight-game tournament quickly became a "war on ice" fuelled by competing Cold War ideologies. Hockey fans will enjoy reading about: small-town teams that represented Canada in international tournaments before there was a Team Canada; Father David Bauer and the first National Hockey Team; the birth of Hockey Canada; Canada and the Cold War; Canadian style of play in hockey versus the Russian style of play; and Bobby Clarke's dirty slash on Kharlamov.

About the Author: Writer and former sports reporter Richard Brignall lives in Kenora, Ontario. He is the author of several other titles in the Recordbooks series, including Fearless, Big Train, Forever Champions, Big League Dreams, and China Clipper. His also a frequent contributor to Cottage Life and Outdoor Canada.

Here's the specs:

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Lorimer (August 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552778835
• ISBN-13: 978-1552778838
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches