But the Soviets were unflustered and stormed back for a 7-3 victory in Montreal. Kharlamov, Boris Mikhailov and Evgeny Zimin each scored twice against Dryden.

Clarke, the last man chosen for the Canadian team and a surprise pick over Norm Ullman, scored the other Canadian goal. The three Canadian scorers -- Henderson, Esposito and Clarke -- would prove to be their best players in the series.

After the Canadians beat the Soviets, 4-1, two nights later in Toronto, their supporters believed Game 1 was a fluke. Tony Esposito made 20 saves while his teammates poured 36 shots in on Tretiak. Esposito and Yvon Cournoyer put Canada up 2-0 before Alexander Yakushev scored on a power play. Peter Mahovlich, on the same power play, scored an amazing goal with two teammates in the penalty box and Frank Mahovlich one-timed a Stan Mikita pass for the fourth goal.

Team Canada blew a pair of two-goal leads two nights later in Winnipeg and settled for a 4-4 tie. The Soviets were out-shot, 38-25, but the new, youthful line of Yuri Lebedev, Alex Bodunov and Viacheslav Anisin scored twice late in the second period to gain the tie. There was no scoring in the third period.

Canada was stunned. Regardless of the outcome of the series, the belief that the Canadian professionals were superior had been shattered. But no one was prepared for what happened on Sept. 8 in Vancouver.

Bill Goldsworthy, playing in place of the injured Serge Savard, and Guy Lapointe, picked up two penalties in the first six minutes and Mikhailov scored on both power plays. Gilbert Perreault's second-period goal got the Canadians within one goal, but Yuri Blinov and Vladimir Vikulov scored to make it 4-1 at the end of the period. Goldsworthy's third-period goal was matched by Vladimir Shadrin before Dennis Hull closed out the scoring to make it 5-3.

Vancouver fans booed their team at the close of the Canadian part of the series. A visibly upset Esposito addressed the nation after the game:

"To the people across Canada, we tried. We gave it our best," Esposito said. "To the people who booed us, geez, all of us guys are really disheartened. We're disillusioned and disappointed. We cannot believe the bad press we've got, the booing we've got in our own building. I'm completely disappointed. I cannot believe it. Every one of us guys -- 35 guys -- we came out because we love our country. Not for any other reason. We came because we love Canada."

Canadians rallied to Esposito's heartfelt plea and more than 3,000 accompanied them, first to Sweden and then to Moscow. Team Canada spent eight days of the 13-day interval in Sweden and played a couple exhibition matches. Before Game 5, though, three Canadian players -- Vic Hadfield, Richard Martin and Jocelyn Guevremont -- left the team due to lack of ice time.

The exhibition games convinced Clarke the rest of the world was catching up to the Canadians.

"We played the Swedes in two exhibition games and one game against the Czechs," Clarke said. "We couldn't tell how long it was going to take for them to start playing in the NHL but we knew they were as good as we were. The Swedes had a defensemen, Lars-Erik Sjoberg, who was outstanding against us in two exhibition games. I knew if he came over, he would be a star in our league. And, some of their players did come over and became stars."

Clarke's skill as a talent evaluator was apparent even then. Sjoberg, at age 30, came to North America in 1974 and put in six seasons with the Winnipeg Jets. He was the WHA's top defenseman in 1978 and team captain for four years, including 1979-80, Winnipeg's first season in the NHL.

The Canadians jumped all over the Soviets in Game 5 at the Luzhniki Ice Palace in Moscow. Henderson scored twice and J.P. Parise and Clarke had goals to give the Canadians a 4-1 lead with 11 minutes remaining. Then the Soviets struck.

Blinov had scored just before Henderson's second goal. Then Anisin and Shadrin scored eight seconds apart with nine minutes to go. Alexander Gusev scored the tying goal on an assist from his defensive partner, Alexander Ragulin, and Vikulov scored the winner with an assist from Kharlamov.

The Soviets needed only a tie in the final three games to capture the series. Canada's hopes looked dim as Henderson had suffered a concussion shortly before scoring his second goal in Game 5.