1972 Summit Series teammates gather during Hall of Fame weekend

TORONTO --Serge Savard saw the opportunity and made no mistake.

"When's that jacket from, Frank? Nineteen-sixty?"
Frank Mahovlich looked down at the crest on the breast pocket of his blue jacket and, feigning hurt feelings, replied, "It just so happens to be 1981."
Both men laughed, pecking at each other with the bond of friendship and the camaraderie of teammates.
The jacket was Mahovlich's crested 1981 Hockey Hall of Fame Honoured Member blazer. Savard wore a slightly more modern crest on his, from his Class of 1986.
The two legends were teammates for two Stanley Cup championships with the Montreal Canadiens in 1971 and 1973. But between them, more famously, they skated together for Canada in the 1972 Summit Series, the historic eight-game showdown between a team of NHL all-stars and the best team assembled by the former Soviet Union.

Brothers Peter (left) and Frank Mahovlich flank Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a Team Canada celebration on Parliament Hill on Sept. 22, 2022. Alexandre Tetreault, Prime Minister's Office
What was predicted to be an eight-game blowout for Canada went down to the final 34 seconds of Game 8 in Moscow, a nation holding its breath when Paul Henderson scored his third consecutive game-winning goal for the series win, four victories against three losses and a tie.
On Saturday, Mahovlich and Savard were joined at a downtown Toronto liquor store by three fellow Team Canada members, Mahovlich's younger brother, Peter, and Hall of Famers Yvan Cournoyer and Guy Lapointe, all five former Canadiens. The group gathered for the signing of limited-edition 72 Canada Dry Gin and 72 Canada Blond Beer, produced by the Quebec distillery Noroi and Quebec microbrewery Le Bilboquet.
Sitting shoulder to shoulder for a few hours, Frank and Peter flanked Lapointe, Cournoyer and Savard, passing bottles and cans among each other for their signatures, fans lined up dozens deep for the occasion.

Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp in September 2022 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Summit Series. Courtesy Canada Post
Throughout the past few months, on this 50th anniversary of the Summit Series, Team Canada has been celebrated at many functions, most notably by the Canadian government, on a postage stamp and Sept. 28 on Scotiabank Arena ice, 50 years to the night of Game 8 in Moscow.
The teammates who gathered Saturday won 34 Stanley Cup championships among them, 30 with the Canadiens, 10 by Cournoyer, eight by Savard, six by Lapointe, four by Peter Mahovlich and the pair by Frank, who had won four with the 1960s Toronto Maple Leafs before his final two in Montreal.
"It's amazing how time flies, 60 years since my first Stanley Cup in 1962 with Toronto," the Big M said, placing a beer can on his thigh, signing with his familiar script. "I think there's about six of us left from that team, but I haven't checked lately."
At 84 the elder statesman of this group, he paused mid-signature.

Frank Mahovlich autographs a can of limited-edition 1972 Summit Series-themed beer on Saturday at a Toronto signing. Dave Stubbs, NHL.com
"Do you know (mobster) Bugsy Siegel? The guy who built the Flamingo hotel and casino in Las Vegas?" he asked out of nowhere. "Well, you'll notice that the 'F' in my signature looks just like the 'F' in the Flamingo's (neon) sign and logo."
And that it does, almost exactly; it's a toss-up whose 'F' came first, Mahovlich days from turning 9 when the Flamingo opened in 1946.
Fans came for a few hours Saturday, patiently lined up wearing the jerseys of the Maple Leafs, Canadiens and at least one in the colors of the Vancouver Canucks. Cournoyer arrived 45 minutes after the start, having been a featured signing guest at a sports card exposition across town with fellow Summit Series stars Henderson and Phil Esposito.
The star-struck fans and thinly disguised dealers arrived with scrapbooks, photos, pucks and even a record album, a French-language, pressed-on-vinyl summary of all eight games of the Summit Series. Players graciously signed most everything, even as all in the queue were gently reminded that this was not a memorabilia show, but a signing of limited-edition products distilled and brewed to benefit a fund supporting the members of Team Canada.

Hall of Fame displays of Frank Mahovlich with the 1960s Toronto Maple Leafs, and a sweater that Yvan Cournoyer wore as captain of the Montreal Canadiens during the late 1970s. Dave Stubbs, NHL.com
"A sad part about this anniversary is that the Russians couldn't be over here to celebrate with us," Frank Mahovlich said, sharply aware of the day's political realities. "They had us over there for the 45th anniversary and treated us very well. (Russia goalie Vladislav) Tretiak and some of those players became very good friends of ours. Not to see them now is very disappointing.
"Tretiak has been over here to teach goalies at summer camps. He spent a couple weeks at my cottage up north (of Toronto) with his wife and daughter. We got to be real friendly. It's too bad, I don't even know how he's doing. He was a great gentleman."
Cournoyer's day began nearly 10 hours earlier with a 5 a.m. wakeup call at his home north of Montreal. He flew directly to the card-show signing, then was bustled into a waiting car for a sprint downtown for this event.
"The Roadrunner," as the speedy forward was nicknamed, was scheduled to appear for another hour Sunday morning at the card show, then be back downtown for a private evening function at the Hall of Fame before flying home.
"All I've got on Monday," he joked on the Saturday sidewalk before walking into the crowd of fans, "is an airplane."
Cournoyer assisted on Henderson's series-clinching goal, which he's seen many hundreds of times in the past half-century, having minutes earlier scored the goal that tied the game 5-5. But all these years later, he said he is still learning about the series.

Yvan Cournoyer in action during the 1972 Summit Series, and at home north of Montreal in September 2022. Melchior DiGiacomo, Getty Images; Evelyn Cournoyer
"I've been watching the CBC documentary," he said of the four-hour deep dive titled "Summit 72," now streaming after its network premiere. "I had no idea what to expect of it. But I've watched it five times and I always find something different.
"I thought the Stanley Cup was big, but the Cup is played for every year. The 1972 Summit Series will never happen again, ever. It's impossible to replay that."
Lapointe played seven of the eight games, missing only Game 4 in Vancouver because a swollen ankle from a slash in Game 3 in Winnipeg left him unable to put on his skate.
He would be a rock with Savard, his lifelong friend, solidly dependable behind Canada's blue line and a go-to defenseman for coach Harry Sinden when the chips were down.
Today, Lapointe has good days and some not as good, still recovering from oral cancer that was diagnosed three years ago. If he had little to say Saturday, his speech a bit of a struggle, he was in good spirits, smiling for all who had a memory to share as he signed autographs.

Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard, teammates with Team Canada and the Montreal Canadiens, in August 1972 training camp portraits. Graphic Artists/Hockey Hall of Fame
Savard, with Lapointe and Larry Robinson a member of the Canadiens' so-called Big Three on the team's 1970s blue line, still gets a kick out of those who remember where they were at the time of the Summit Series.
"Younger kids have come to me at signings in the last month or so, saying, 'My father talked to me about it, my grandfather talked to me about it,'" Savard said. "The last time I saw Wayne Gretzky, he told me he's watched the series about 10 times."
Then, with a laugh: "That's more than me."
The series changed the face of hockey forever, opening the doors to European methods and, in time, players.
If Canada had blown out Russia, "nobody would be talking about this 50 years later," Savard said. "It changed the times. Hockey started to change a little bit, we started to do things differently. We were training six months a year. The Russians were training 11. We're training 11 now.
"(Canadiens coach) Scotty Bowman was always looking at changing things. When we came back from Russia, he was changing things in practice. We started to train off ice and we'd never done that before. We hated it, but Scotty was different."
From his end of the table, a bushy grey beard framing his grin, Peter Mahovlich considered the 50 years that have passed since the puck dropped on a two-team tournament for the ages.

Peter Mahovlich looks to pass during a Summit Series game in Moscow in September 1972. Melchior DiGiacomo, Getty Images
He grew uncommonly serious as he considering the thinning ranks of the team.
"Tony Esposito, Pat Stapleton, Stan Mikita, Rod Gilbert, on and on," he said, 10 members of Team Canada no longer alive. "It's a sad thing but at the same time, we've been able to celebrate this team. Being honored by the government this year, that was a fabulous thing. That was the highlight for me out of all that was put together for the anniversary."
And then Mahovlich took stock of the line of fans, of all ages, who had come out on this day.
"I guess it's not surprising, in a way, that so many people still come out to see us because of the impact the series had on all of Canada at the time," he said. "It wasn't just a hockey series, it ended up being a political battle between what communism and capitalism were at the time.
"The world was in a bad place with the Cold War, Canada was in a bad spot with talk of Quebec separating from the country. The Summit Series sort of united Canada, and I think that's what has made this country great."
Top photo: 1972 Summit Series teammates in Toronto on Nov. 12, 2022. From left: Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, Yvan Cournoyer, Peter Mahovlich, Frank Mahovlich. Dave Stubbs, NHL.com