This Day in Hockey History – September 15, 1987 – It’s Canada’s Cup
In the fall of 1987, the third Canada Cup tournament took place with six countries represented. For Team Canada, there was a desire to reclaim the trophy, which had been won by the Soviet Union in 1981 in the second Canada Cup tournament. For the Soviet Union, there was certainly a motivation to continue to show the “capitalists” that they were the best.
In addition to Canada, and the Soviet Union, the other countries represented were Czechoslovakia, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. With the six teams, there was a five-game round-robin for each team to establish a ranking of which teams would continue on to the semi-finals. Unfortunately for the United States, they would win just two of their five games (a 4-1 victory over Finland played August 28 at the Civic Centre Coliseum in Hartford, Conneticut; and a 5-2 win against Sweden which took place at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario on August 31) which eliminated them from continuing past the round robin. Finland failed to win any of their games and were likewise eliminated.
The rankings after the round robin were:
- Canada, 8 points (3-0-2)
- Soviet Union, 7 points (3-1-1)
- Sweden, 6 points (3-2-0)
- Czechoslovakia, 5 points (2-2-1)
Based on those rankings, Canada played Czechoslovakia in a semi-final while the Soviet Union took on Sweden in the other game. Both were single elimination games with the winners moving on to the best-of-three Final.
It perhaps shouldn’t have been surprising that just as in 1981, the final would once again see Team Canada and Team U.S.S.R. going at it to try and prove whose system was the best. After all, for Canada, hockey is more than a pastime, while the Soviets wanted to continue to dominate in a sport that they had come into much later, but with a system that seemed almost unbeatable.
Game 1 took place at The Forum in Montreal on September 11th. The Soviet Union would take the game, but it would require overtime to decide the winner.
“Aleksandr Semak’s 30-foot shot at 5 minutes, 33 seconds of overtime gave the Soviet Union a 6-5 victory over Team Canada Friday night in the opening game of the best-of-three Canada Cup final,” reported the Hartford Courant. “The goal, which was rifled in under the glove of goalie Grant Fuhr, brought a jarring end to a game in which Team Canada made one of its most spectacular comebacks against the Soviets, erasing a 4-1 deficit and capturing a momentary lead in the final moments of the third period.”
For the Soviets, two of their six goals came while on the power play and another was shorthanded. Canada had only one power play goal and the remaining four were event strength.
Two days later, on September 13th, the teams met again, this time at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton. Once again, the score would end with a 6-5 overtime victory, only this time it would be Canada with the win. The Canadians were up 3-1 at the end of the first period. The Soviets got one back on the power play 12:11 into the second and tied the score, once again on a shorthanded goal two minutes later. The Canadians weren’t going to give in to the Soviets though, as they regained the lead to with 3:15 remaining in the middle frame to go into the intermission up 4-3. The third period saw the U.S.S.R. tie things up again 4:45 into the period, and then with 9:46 remaining in regulation Canada got a go-ahead goal. The clock was down to less than two minutes remaining in regulation when the Soviets once again tied the game. Game 2 would end up going into double overtime before a winner could be decided.
“When you play with the best hockey player in the world, you always get a lot of scoring chances,” said Mario Lemieux the following day.
He had three goals in the game, and they were all assisted by Wayne Gretzky, including the game winner at 10:07 of the second overtime.
“It’s one of the most satisfying wins I’ve been involved in. I really feel that I’ve played the best hockey I can play,” said Gretzky.
With the series tied, the teams would stare across from each other over the puck one more time on Tuesday, September 15th. With this game also taking place in Hamilton.
And perhaps it should have been expected that yes, once again the score would be a 6-5 decision. And once again Team Canada would find themselves playing from behind as the Russians were up 3-0 eight minutes into the game. Like the other two games, it also looked like the teams might be heading to sudden death, when, after Canada managed to get a lead in the third period with their fifth goal, the Soviets knotted it up with 7:39 remaining.
Would you care to guess who got the winning goal? As the clock ticked down to 1:26 left in regulation Mario Lemieux notched his 11th goal of the tournament, assisted by none other than Gretzky.
“It was just another hockey series, if Gone With The Wind was just another movie, or if MacBeth was just another play, or if Rembrandt was just another artist,” described Bob Hughes for The Leader-Post the day after. “They should take the tapes of the best-of-three Canada Cup final, and stash them in a time capsule. This, you understand, was one hockey series no generation should be denied viewing. It will become a collectors’ item. It is one which will withstand the ages. It transcended time, elevated itself into a never-never land. It forced everybody to stand back, even the referees, and just let it happen.”
To this day, this best-of-three series continues to be considered the best exhibition of hockey in history, as described by Ken Campbell in The Hockey News in 2017. And there have been a lot of international games and Stanley Cup playoffs that were absolutely amazing since 1987, but maybe just not quite amazing enough to claim the rights as the best.
Additional Sources:
- “Soviets top Canada 6-5 in OT,” The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), Saturday, September 12, 1987, p. E7
- “Lemieux, Gretzky lead Team Canada to overtime triumph,” Times-Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia), Monday, September 14, 1987, p. B1
- Bob Hughes, editorial, The Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan), Wednesday, September 16, 1987, p. B1
Enjoy Game Three here:
