And how. The biggest hero of the biggest hockey series ever played unloaded with a two-handed smash right between the eyes of Bobby Clarke Monday, and if Clarke isn't feeling a little woozy today, he should be.
Amid all the touchy-feely, warm and fuzzy stuff associated with the 30th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series, Henderson broke out the heavy lumber and went after his former linemate for that vicious, two-handed whack Clarke delivered to the ankle of Valeri Kharlamov in Game 6.
Henderson unloaded on Clarke the way Clarke unloaded on Kharlamov. Henderson's remarks were so explosive they bear quoting in full:
"To me, that was the low point of the series. ... If Clarke hits him with a bodycheck and knocks him out, that's fair and square. To go out and deliberately try to take somebody out, there's no sportsmanship in that.
"To me, it's the same as shooting a guy in the hallway. Clarke was probably the only guy on the whole team that would have done it.
"We had a lot of tough guys on that team, but there weren't many guys who played hockey that way. We had guys who would stand up and look you right in the eye, punch you in the nose if you had a fight, but I don't think they would bushwhack.
"But that's the way Clarke was as a player, and that's the team he's put together down in Philadelphia. That's been his trademark. But it's a free country. You can do that. You have a choice.
"It's not something I would subscribe to. That's not sportmanship. If you can't beat a guy straight up ...
"Can you imagine a golfer going out and whacking a guy in the leg? Can you imagine a tennis player doing that?
"Hockey is meant to be a tough game, and it's a physical game, but to go out and deliberately try to take a guy out, I don't think there's any place in hockey for that. I don't think there ever has been, and I don't think there ever will be. But that's just my opinion."
But what an opinion. For Canadians, Clarke's slash has been little more than a minor footnote to what might have been the greatest sports series ever played, never mind the greatest hockey series. But now Canada's hero has spoken, and the conclusions he draws are not pretty.
Wow, has this just been translated? I remember seeing both guys reaction countless times like... 5 years ago.
My take : Henderson's words changed absolutely nothing. Didn't change the views of those who had no problem with it, and those opposed were already opposed. Not to mention Clarke's legacy is much bigger than Henderson's, for the best and the worst.
Time for the general warning: if this turns into the country-versus-country pissing match that's become all too common around here, there will be consequences.
Time for the general warning: if this turns into the country-versus-country pissing match that's become all too common around here, there will be consequences.
Tks Doctor. I should take your trivia more often, as long as there are no questions about Warren Skorodenski or Paul Bibeault, I should do okay.
Hmm...you want to say, it was already posted at HFBoards? I made a search and found nothing...
It's a 2002 article from the Gazette, a Montreal newspaper, and I remember reading it like a hundred years ago.
You caught it on russian website, hence why I wonder if it was just translated.
And how. The biggest hero of the biggest hockey series ever played unloaded with a two-handed smash right between the eyes of Bobby Clarke Monday, and if Clarke isn't feeling a little woozy today, he should be.
Amid all the touchy-feely, warm and fuzzy stuff associated with the 30th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series, Henderson broke out the heavy lumber and went after his former linemate for that vicious, two-handed whack Clarke delivered to the ankle of Valeri Kharlamov in Game 6.
Henderson unloaded on Clarke the way Clarke unloaded on Kharlamov. Henderson's remarks were so explosive they bear quoting in full:
"To me, that was the low point of the series. ... If Clarke hits him with a bodycheck and knocks him out, that's fair and square. To go out and deliberately try to take somebody out, there's no sportsmanship in that.
"To me, it's the same as shooting a guy in the hallway. Clarke was probably the only guy on the whole team that would have done it.
"We had a lot of tough guys on that team, but there weren't many guys who played hockey that way. We had guys who would stand up and look you right in the eye, punch you in the nose if you had a fight, but I don't think they would bushwhack.
"But that's the way Clarke was as a player, and that's the team he's put together down in Philadelphia. That's been his trademark. But it's a free country. You can do that. You have a choice.
"It's not something I would subscribe to. That's not sportmanship. If you can't beat a guy straight up ...
"Can you imagine a golfer going out and whacking a guy in the leg? Can you imagine a tennis player doing that?
"Hockey is meant to be a tough game, and it's a physical game, but to go out and deliberately try to take a guy out, I don't think there's any place in hockey for that. I don't think there ever has been, and I don't think there ever will be. But that's just my opinion."
But what an opinion. For Canadians, Clarke's slash has been little more than a minor footnote to what might have been the greatest sports series ever played, never mind the greatest hockey series. But now Canada's hero has spoken, and the conclusions he draws are not pretty.
...
Henderson played that whole series on Clarke's line.
Funny I don't remember him saying anything at the time of the incident.
If somebody could find something like that said by Henderson in 1972, I'd be more impressed than it being done thirty years after the fact.
I wonder if the Russian Media is also now just printing this;
CBC.ca October 2nd, 2002
The hero has apologized to the villain.
Paul Henderson, whose memorable goal with 34 seconds left in Game 8 clinched the 1972 Summit Series for Team Canada over the Soviet Union, is sorry for criticizing Bob Clarke's infamous slash on superstar Valeri Kharlamov.
"I apologized to Bobby for causing him aggravation," Henderson told The Fan 590 on Thursday. "I don't think anybody needs that and that's not my style to trash somebody like this.
Henderson dubbed Clarke's slash, which broke Kharlamov's ankle, "the lowpoint of the series" during Monday's media conference kicking off 30th anniversary celebrations of the series.
"I think it's improper to criticize a teammate 30 years later," Clarke responded in the Globe and Mail. "If it was so offensive, why didn't he bother to say something after the game?
"I'm surprised at him because we were a true team. Thirty years ago, we put forth the ultimate team performance.
"It thought it was foolish for him to say that. It doesn't hurt me, but I don't understand why he would bring it up now."
Henderson didn't, actually.
Scrummed by reporters, he was simply asked for his thoughts on the slash, in retrospect.
"The context was in this thing, was it right or was it wrong?" Henderson explained. "Thirty years later, I think it was wrong in the sense of my grandchildren doing it.
"The last thing in the world I want is (to) trash Bobby Clarke. We've got a scrum and, people, they fire questions at you in a certain way that you're damned if you do, damned if you don't."
Henderson told Clarke as much via telephone on Thursday.
"At the same time, I said, 'You know, this is my opinion,'" Henderson continued. "I stand behind my opinion that, in terms of sportsmanship, I don't think there's any place for it then and I don't think there is any place for it there.
"In 1972, did I condemn him? No, I certainly didn't.
"I'm a lot different person today than I was back then."
It was a great series ... Team Canada won the series .... the Soviet Union lost the series ... the game of hockey was forever changed for the better.
It's been over 35 years ... time to move on.
Time to move on? If I'm not mistaken, this IS the history board.
Henderson's comments obviously illustrate just how much times and sentiments have changed.
I believe everybody can agree that Clarke's slash was about as low as one can get; however put in the context of the series, it was all part and parcel of the need to win at any cost........even if that meant intentionally injuring the opponent.
Time to move on? If I'm not mistaken, this IS the history board.
Henderson's comments obviously illustrate just how much times and sentiments have changed.
I believe everybody can agree that Clarke's slash was about as low as one can get; however put in the context of the series, it was all part and parcel of the need to win at any cost........even if that meant intentionally injuring the opponent.
Agreed, if you go through the papers and broadcasts of the time in Canada, you will see very little mention of what happened between Clarke & Kharlomov.
In retrospect, both sides gave their all and bent the line of good sportsmanship, both off and on the ice. In many ways it helps illustrate how that series was about so much more than hockey at that point. Even going back and watching those final games in Russia there is a desperation to the play that I would argue has rarely been matched since.
I seem to remember comments made from Henderson after the fact that people in the media tend to blow these things out of proportion. They do in a way. but what Henderson said he stood by and he didn't budge from his stance.
My opinion on the slash is that it was cheap. So was the kick from Mikhailov. So were some of the Soviet tactics outside of the rink and the political behind the scenes things with the refereeing in game 8.
Both sides were guilty of things and I wish we would just leave it at that (I know we never will). Both teams were great, and had some stellar players on both sides but the team that wanted it more and was better ended up winning. Both teams bent over backwards to win (not legally all the time either) so in the end from my viewpoint it certainly is even
