by Barry Stagg
February 1998
OLYMPIANS
The gloomy rains of January have descended on an unappreciative Toronto. Allan Eagleson has just pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges that taint the Godfather of Hockey with an unwashable stench that will follow him to the end. These are not good times for followers of our national game. When an icon associated with legendary happenings goes nova then revisionism and regret go hand in hand.
The 1972 Canada- Russia series is forever entwined with Eagleson. The television image of Peter Mahovlich rescuing him from the Russian police and sliding him across the ice to the undiplomatic immunity of the players' bench is second in memory only to Henderson's goal and the magic countdown of those last thirty-four seconds in game eight. Eagleson's salute to the Soviet Union was the personification of all our belligerent thoughts on that wonderful September afternoon.
Now Eagleson is suddenly yesterday's man re-cast as a common thief and shyster. His story serves to reaffirm that we should not look to sports figures for moral leadership and examples. From players on through to union leaders and owners, the professional ranks contain those who have more than a passing acquaintance with criminality. Former player Craig McTavish did jail time for an alcohol based motor vehicle death while he played for the Boston Bruins. NHL Chairman of the Board, Bruce McNall went to jail in California for a massive commercial fraud. Now the founder of the NHL players union is doing time for his crimes. What a piece of work is man, indeed. Shakespeare would have a sack full of plot lines if he wrestled with the muse today.
So the thoughts of sports fans must necessarily return to the core of sport that is in the playing, winning and losing instead of in the pleading, conviction and sentencing. While former titans of hockey languish in ignominy and humiliation, the game goes on. This month will see full NHL participation at the Winter Olympics. The league is taking a three-week break to accommodate the Olympians of the various countries. The antidote for too much bookkeeping and jurisprudence will be found in this classic athletic event.
This Olympic year will see drama for both the Canadian men's and women's hockey squads. The men have to confront the American triumph in the World Cup tournament. The women have the Americans pushing them competitively as well after a pre-tournament defeat at the hands of the southern upstarts.
In the men's tourney we will see some last hurrahs for Wayne Gretzky and Raymond Bourque. These players are dealing with time and the ravages of competition and injury just as Bobby Orr did in his 1976 Canada Cup appearances. In 1976 Orr dominated the ice on one good leg in a heroic throwback to his early years when he was rewriting the hockey playbook like some jazz musician improvising at 2:00 a.m. Allan Eagleson's star client was saying goodbye to his career twenty-two years ago this fall.
It will be harder than ever for Canadian hockey fans to devote full allegiance to the national team what with so many of the Canadian teams in the National Hockey League being led by foreign players. In Toronto, Sweden's Mats Sundin is the team captain and in Vancouver, Russian Pavel Bure is leading the team in scoring and general excitement.
The Canadian team will rely on the wiles of Gretzky and Bourque and the huge physical presence of Eric Lindros. Fans and players alike are wary of the absence of tough campaigner Mark Messier from the Canadian roster. Many hope for a late addition of Messier to the team, perhaps as a replacement for his Vancouver teammate, Trevor Linden who is experiencing a sluggish transition to the Mike Keenan regimen.
A few weeks of solid, tough hockey would do a lot to cleanse the sporting palate and make hockey fun again. Hockey needs the Olympic Games this year like never before. Onward and upward.
Until next month: Be proud, Be prosperous