Canada-Russia rivalry still something special

TORONTO -- Steve Yzerman has a vivid memory of playing for Canada against the Soviet Union, and another of managing his country against Russia.
The first is terrible, he said on the eve of the World Cup of Hockey 2016 semifinal between Team Canada and Team Russia on Saturday (7 p.m., ET; ESPN2, CBC, TVA, TVA Sports).

"It was the 1983 World Junior Championship in Leningrad, which is now St. Petersburg," Yzerman remembered on Friday at the Hockey Hall of Fame, a stamp in his image having just been unveiled by Canada Post. "I'd never before played against the [Soviets], and this was my first international tournament.
"They beat us 8-1 or 8-2 [actually 7-3]. I was in over my head. They were flying around. I'd never played against players like that."
Yzerman scored one of Team Canada's goals in that game, after the Soviets had scored three in a first-period span of 1:17. The home team rolled on to win the gold medal with a 7-0 record, scoring 50 goals and allowing 15.
"I am satisfied with the game we played," Soviet coach Anatoli Kostriukov said afterward. "Apparently, we were a little bit faster than the Canadians."
Twenty-seven years later, Yzerman had a happier experience against what was now Russia. As executive director of Canada for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, he watched his team thrash its longtime rival 7-3.
"That's a really good memory," Yzerman said with a grin.
For more than four decades, there has been something truly special about a hockey game between Canada and Russia (or the Soviet Union, until its dissolution 25 years ago). The win-or-go-home World Cup semifinal is the latest installment in what might no longer be the blood-boiling feud it once was, but one that remains a captivating, emotional moment for both countries.
On Friday, five Canadian members of the Hockey Hall of Fame shared their memories of suiting up for their country against the Soviets or the Russians. Their personal histories span 24 years, from the 1972 Summit Series, for Phil Esposito, to the inaugural World Cup in 1996 for Yzerman.

Among them, the five legends -- Esposito, Guy Lafleur, Darryl Sittler, Mark Messier and Yzerman -- played about two dozen series against the Red Machine.
"Games against the Russians are games that you don't have to get up for," Yzerman said. "They're special games and always memorable games, whether they are after the fact for the media and the fans, or for the players who are in them. They're really neat moments.
"I'm hopeful that it's a very good hockey game [Saturday] because it's a great stage, a great opportunity to showcase hockey."
Lafleur represented Team Canada in Canada Cup and Challenge Cup series in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
"It's very special, playing the Russians," he said. "You're so proud and you want to show the whole country that you're better than the rest of the world. For us, it was a great, great feeling. It meant a lot. We knew it wouldn't be easy because they were the Russians.
"The team to beat was the Russians," Lafleur added with a laugh. "Not the Swedish guys or the Finnish guys. There was only one team in mind to beat and that was the Russians. We'd do anything, we'd give 200 percent, just to make sure we would beat that team."
Messier would stare down the Soviets, literally, in the 1980s and early '90s in Canada Cup and Rendez-Vous '87 series and the IIHF World Championship.
"My memories of Canada vs. Russia go all the way back to 1972," Messier said. "I have great memories, great respect for the Russians and their hockey and their traditions. In fact, I tried to emulate some of the Russians growing up.
"Now here we are, how many years later, Canada and Russia again in another big moment, another big game that will go down in history. I'm just looking forward to it. I don't remember how many times I played against them but enough to have deep respect for them. Two hockey powers clashing, head-to-head. You knew you were playing against some of the best players in the world and our Canadian reputation was at stake, every time."
Esposito became a national icon for his stellar play and the heart-on-his-sleeve emotion he showed against the Soviet Union in the historic eight-game Summit Series, a battle that was as much about political ideologies as it was about hockey supremacy.

Saturday was 44 years to the day that Canada defeated the USSR in Game 6 of the series. Canada then won Games 7 and 8 to take the series with four victories against three losses and a tie.
Esposito drew the only assist on Paul Henderson's Game 8 series-winning goal, which came with 34 seconds left in the third period. More than four decades later, the names of both players have been intrinsically linked to that series and the opponent that gave them all they could handle.
"It didn't matter to me who scored the goal, I just wanted to win," Esposito said. "I've said this before; when Paul scored, it's as close as I've ever come to kissing another guy. I literally loved the man at that moment.
"I've watched that final goal so many times. I don't know how I got a little speed on that shot [on which Henderson scored on the second rebound], the way I was positioned with my body. I must have had really strong wrists and forearms to be able to snap it like I did. Why [Soviet goalie Vladislav] Tretiak kicked the rebound out doesn't make any sense to me. For me, it's fate. It's destiny."
Half a world away in Toronto, Sittler was in front of a television set, as was most of Canada, watching Henderson make history. But Sittler, who played against the Soviets in the 1976 Canada Cup and the 1979 Challenge Cup, among other games, had a more interesting point of view.
"Believe it or not, I was babysitting Paul Henderson's kids," Sittler said. "My wife and I moved into Paul's home. I remember looking after the kids -- they were about 8, 5 and 2, I think -- and all of us seeing Henderson score that goal.
"Any time Canada plays in international competition, whether it's the Olympics or whatever, or this World Cup, the fans get to see the best players and the best hockey. When it's Canada against Russia, there's the mutual respect we have for each other as countries. Both have won so many times.
"In a one-game [semifinal] knockout like you have in this tournament, you can't take anything for granted. That's why you play and that's what makes it so intense and so much fun to watch."
Sittler wouldn't be at Air Canada Centre on Saturday for the highly anticipated World Cup game. He and two dozen Toronto Maple Leafs alumni were flying to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to take part in an event tied to the Maple Leafs' training camp.
"We'll probably be watching the game there," he said.
And then Sittler laughed.
"We definitely will be watching the game there."