This Day in Hockey History – February 5, 1972 – Some Sapporo Shots

Feb 5, 2020

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The XI Winter Olympic Games were held in Sapporo, Japan in 1972. In the ice hockey event, these games were most remembered for two reasons – Canada declined to participate and the U.S. pulled off a surprising win for the silver medal. The final round began on February 5 and ended February 13.

On the opening day of the finals, the six qualifying teams played each other in a round-robin tournament. Considering they were playing for their fourth consecutive gold medal, unsurprisingly, the USSR handily won their game against Finland, 9-3.

As expected, the other team-to-beat, Czechoslovakia, demolished Poland. In the process of raising the score of 14-1, the two teams set a record for most short-handed goals in one game. Czechoslovakia had two, and Poland’s sole goal was a shortie scored by Leszek Tokarz. The top scorer for the Czechs was Vaclav Nedomansky with six goals and two assists. He went on to play a few seasons in the WHA before spending most of his NHL career with Detroit. Recently, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019. Poland floundered in 1972 and left with five losses, placing them fourth for most losses in one Olympic tournament.

Again as predicted, the U.S. lost their opening game to Sweden. All five Swedish goals were scored by different players. The U.S. had two disallowed goals and just one allowed goal, by Kevin Ahearn of Milton, Massachusetts and Boston College. Despite having success internationally, Ahearn only played one season in the WHA (for the New England Whalers). After this first game, Coach Murray Williamson remained optimistic, saying, “We’re young, we’re aggressive and we’ll be back and ready for Czechoslovakia.”

Williamson was absolutely right. On February 7, the U.S. reversed the score to beat Czechoslovakia 5-1. The only goal they allowed was scored at 4:32 of the first period. Keith Christiansen of Duluth, Minnesota tied the game later that period, and then Ahearn netted the game-winner at 9:41 of the second.

Meanwhile, goalie Mike Curran of Green Bay, Wisconsin blocked 51 shots, including at the end of the game, when “he made a diving save off Czechoslovak star Vaclav Nedomansky and deflected the shot off into the corner with his stick.” He said afterwards, “I can’t think of a win which makes me more happy. I feel like I did a good job but [my teammates] were helping me play well.” Coach Williamson praised, “The number one reason [we won] was that Curran played a fantastic game. We asked for 110 per cent, and we got it.”

Coach Williamson also predicted, “Anybody can win this. I can see us coming home with a medal.” And so it came to be that after all 30 games had been played, the U.S. and Czechoslovakia had a matching record of 3-2-0. The U.S. was given silver and the Czechs bronze because of the result of their game against each other.

The year 1972 turned out to be the only one to have Olympic games, the World Championship, and the Summit Series. Just a few weeks after the Olympics, the Czechoslovakian team won gold at the World Championship. That September, Canada finally had the opportunity to sends its professional players against the USSR and barely edged them out.