Michael McKinley - Its Our Game: Celebrating 100 Years Of Hockey Canada

ITS OUR GAME

ITS OUR GAME

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF HOCKEY CAN ADA

MICHAEL McKINLEY

In memory of my mother, Betty, and my Uncle Bernard

CONTENTS

Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux celebrate after Lemieuxs winning goal at the Canada Cup against the Soviet Union in 1987.

FOREWORD

by Wayne Gretzky

A nyone whos played a team sport knows theres something about the bond between teammates that inspires you.

As soon as you pull on a sweater, whatever the sport, youre playing as much for the guys or girls wearing the same colours as you are for yourself. I have played on some pretty good hockey teams over the years, and I can tell you that it was always that sense that you were playing for the other guys on the bench that brought out the best in us. In other words, its not just a game when others are depending on you. When others are counting on you, everything seems to matter more.

And thats what a team iseveryone depending on each other.

When you pull a Team Canada sweater over your head, its not just the guys in the room that you dont want to let down. And its not just those guys who give you inspiration. Its a whole country.

Ive worn the maple leaf a few times now. The first time I was only sixteen. I cant tell you what an honour it was, at that age, to play for my country, and that never changed. It was always a thrill to do whatever I could for Canada because there was always a sense that you were part of something much bigger than just a team. You were part of an entire history.

Thats why when I was executive director of the mens team at the Salt Lake Olympics, I brought pennants from previous Olympic championships into the dressing room for the guys to see. I also brought in a team photo of the Edmonton Mercurys, which youll read about in this book. The Mercurys were the last Canadian team to bring back gold in fifty years, and that 2002 edition of Team Canada was on a mission to make sure the birthplace of hockey didnt have to wait any longer to get back to the top of the podium. Playing for teammates inspires you, but playing for an entire tradition inspires you even more.

That may sound like a lot of pressure, and I suppose in a sense it is. But thats the kind of pressure athletes love. Remember, for hockey players, the ice is where they feel most comfortable. Too much pressure can be a burden, of course. It can make something that should be easy feel impossible. But on the other hand, if you handle it right, it can make something youve never been able to do before feel like the simplest thing in the world. Pressure can make you better.

If youre a hockey player, you want the puck. You want to be in position to make the big playthe overtime goal or the breathtaking save that steals a game. Those are the kind of heroics that get recorded in a book like this. They are what you dream about when youre playing road hockey with your friends or doing drills at an early-morning practice. Pressure can inspire you to make that big play.

But even more important, it can inspire you to make the small play. The little thing the fans may not always notice. Taking a hit to make sure the puck is moving in the right direction. Ignoring a slash when youd love to give one right back. Taking away a passing lane. Tying up a guys stick just long enough that he cant make a play. These small plays are what make the difference.

Its worth mentioning them here, because otherwise they might be overlooked in a book like this. There is no way to capture all the small sacrifices behind the success of Canadian hockey teams over the past hundred years. There are just too many of them to record. And yet, without them, the glorious goals would never have been scored. We need to remember that those unforgettable moments were built on a foundation of small sacrifices.

There is something about wearing the maple leaf that inspires you to dig deep and do those small things. And I can tell you, when a Canadian team plays like that, theyre all but unbeatable.

Im not saying that Canada should win every game they play. There are always great teams from other countries. I have suited up against teams that have given Team Canada everything we could handle, sometimes more. Lets not forget that in 1972, in the most memorable series ever played, even after eight games, it came down to the dying moments for a victor to emerge. The message there was not that Canada dominates in hockey. It was that it took everything we had to win.

The thing is, its giving everything we have that Canadians are so good at.

Im already on record saying that Game 2 of the 1987 Canada Cup final series against the USSR was the best game I ever played. By far. It wasnt just me. That may have been the best game the players on both teams played. It was the fastest, most fluid, exciting game Ive ever been part of, and I know I never played better than I did that night. Was that because the Soviets game-winning overtime goal in Game 1 had gone in off my skate? I knew Id let people down, so maybe I was making up for that.

But you dont need to have made a mistake to have something to prove. We all wanted to win, and we all dug deep. And though, as I say, it was the best I ever played, I didnt score a goal. But I did give it everything I had.

We won in overtime, setting up a third and deciding game between two evenly matched teams. Make no mistakethe Russians could skate with us. They were strong, they were well coached, and they had individual skills that were out of this world. And they had already beaten us twice in the tournament.

It was a quiet dressing room before Game 3. But there wasnt anyone in the room who didnt think we could win. We all knew the kind of opportunity that was in front of us, and it would have been impossible not to be aware of what this meant to Canada. The energy and the excitement was incredible.

I dont know whether the pressure got to us, whether we were a little flat after the emotion of Game 2I know I was exhaustedor whether the Soviets just had our number, but we fell behind 30 early in that game. Not the start we wanted, but if not for that early stumble, one of the games most exciting moments might never have happened.

Though we scored a lot of goals in that tournament, being down by three in the championship game against arguably the best team in the world is not a comfortable place to be. We could easily have folded. But I dont think thats something that happens when youre wearing the maple leaf on your sweater.

What happened instead is that our guys went to work. Rick Tocchet, Kevin Dineen, and Brent Sutter just took over the game. They took control of the tough areas of the ice and started grinding down the Russians. It was pure willpower. Nothing dirty, nothing unsportsmanlike, just willpower. They were giving it everything they had. It cant have been fun being a Russian that night. Its never fun to watch a lead slip away. And I would be surprised to hear anyone say its fun to battle for the puck along the boards in an important game with anyone wearing a maple leaf.

By the end of the period, we were back in the game. By the end of the third we were tied 55.

We know what happened next. Dale Hawerchuk wins a draw in our end. Mario Lemieux takes the puck up the ice. Larry Murphy goes to the net. I was there too, and I had the puck on my stick as we came into the Soviet zone. But I already knew I wasnt going to shoot. I knew all along that I was going to give it to the guy with the best shot in the game, and thats what I did.