Park was nearly knocked out of 1972 Summit Series before it began

Team Canada was just a couple of days into its August training camp for the 1972 Summit Series when the lights went out for defenseman
Brad Park
, courtesy of six ounces of vulcanized rubber.

"I guess
Yvan Cournoyer
didn't want me playing in all those games," Park says today, with a chuckle, of the Montreal Canadiens forward.
Thirty-five Canadian players from 10 NHL teams were assembled at Maple Leaf Gardens, a large roster to be pared down for the historic eight-game series against a team from the Soviet Union, played 50 years ago this month.
On this Aug. 16 morning, coach Harry Sinden and his assistant, John Ferguson, had their troops moving through up-tempo scrimmages.
"I see Dennis Hull coming down the left wing and he's winding up with that big stick of his, about to shoot from the blue line," Park recalled from Sebago Lake, Maine, where he's spending the summer. "I say, 'I'm not getting in the way of this sucker, it's the goalie's problem,' so I start sliding to my left.

Brad Park defends against Russia's Alexander Yakushev, and shaking hands with Vyacheslav Solodukhin at the Montreal Forum before the start of the Summit Series. Melchior DiGiacomo, Getty Images
"Yvan is backchecking, which itself surprises the (heck) out of me," he continued, laughing again. "Just as Hull shoots, Yvan puts his stick in the way to deflect it. I thought, 'Oh (darn), it's coming right for my head.' I had time to turn a bit to the right but the puck hit me in the left cheek. The only good news was that it hit me flat. On the edge, it would have opened me up.
"I remember going up in the air, and I went down and I don't remember anything after that. I was out cold, and vaguely remember two guys getting me off the ice. But I have no idea how I got to the hospital."
A wire-service photo in newspapers across Canada the next day showed him being helped off by two members of the training staff.
"It's about 10:30 that night, I'm in my hospital room and the fog lifts," Park continued. "I'm clear-headed. There are no TVs in the rooms in those days, so I call the nurse in and ask her, 'Have you got a backgammon board? We could play.' "
Watch: Brad Park retired as leader in assists by defenseman
Park was released from the hospital the next morning and was practicing with Team Canada that day, never missing a beat.
In fact, he is one of three players, along with Phil Esposito and Cournoyer, who played all 11 of his country's games through the month of September 1972 -- the eight-game series, two exhibitions in Sweden before Game 5 and one in Czechoslovakia after Game 8.
"Make it 14 if you include our three intrasquad games before the series began," Park added brightly.
The Toronto native was one of seven Team Canada skaters to play in all eight games of the Summit Series, "an emotional roller coaster," in his words. The late Gary Bergman, his partner on the blue line, was the only other defenseman to play the full series.
Park, now 74, was his country's fifth-leading scorer with five points (one goal, four assists), though he gently argues his total was double that, one hockey analyst's video study giving him another five points.
Start with Canada's first goal of the series, when Esposito batted a Frank Mahovlich rebound out of midair past Russian goalie Vladislav Tretiak 30 seconds into Game 1 at the Montreal Forum.

Brad Park's 1972 Summit Series portrait, and in action in a foggy Montreal Forum during Game 1 on Sept. 2, 1972. Melchior DiGiacomo, Getty Images
The play began with Cournoyer, on the boards, making a crisp pass to Park, who was pinching in from the blue line. Park's pass to Mahovlich at the edge of the crease was tipped into Tretiak's pads, and the puck bounced into the air to set up Esposito's swat for the goal.
"'Bergy' never touched the puck," Park said of Bergman, who was given the second assist. "But what does it matter? In this series, your own points meant nothing."
What meant a great deal that night was the shocking 7-3 score in favor of the Russians, after Team Canada's 2-0 lead evaporated by the end of a 2-2 first period. Sinden dressed five defensemen, normal in those NHL days, and Park, Bergman, Guy Lapointe, Don Awrey and Rod Seiling were soon gasping for breath with the rest of their teammates in the hot, humid Forum.

Brad Park pauses during the 1972 Summit Series, and in action at the Luzhniki Palace of Sports in Moscow. Melchior DiGiacomo, Getty Images
"Bergy and I were going pretty much every second (shift change)," Park remembered. "It's only one period and we're sucking wind like you wouldn't believe. We go into the dressing room after the first period and we're sitting next to each other. We're panting. Bergy says to me, 'What do you think?' and I say, 'We're in deep trouble.' "
The superbly conditioned Russians, having barely broken a sweat, would go up 4-2 by the game's halfway mark, Bobby Clarke's goal at 8:22 of the third a flicker of hope for Canada until it was extinguished by the visitors with three straight.
Stunned, the home team immediately chartered to Toronto, and Park recalled sitting with a handful of fellow players in their hotel around 2 a.m., unsure what just hit them. His wife, Gerry, was at the couple's suburban Toronto home, two or three weeks past due with their first child, so he excused himself to make a call.

Brad Park, second from right, joins his teammates on the Maple Leaf Gardens blue line before Game 2 of the Summit Series. Graphic Images/Hockey Hall of Fame
"Gerry tells me, 'You'd better get here quick, my mother's taking me to the hospital now,' " Park said.
He raced the 13 miles from the downtown hotel to the suburban hospital in time for the 4:52 a.m. birth of their first son, James Edmund.
"From the worst moment in my hockey life to the best moment of my family life, all in one night," Park said. "I didn't even think of going to practice the next day. When I knew that everything was fine at the hospital by 7:30 that morning, I just went home and crashed."
He would be a huge figure in Game 2 the next night, assisting on Esposito's second-period, game-opening goal and Cournoyer's massive power-play goal 1:19 into the third, ultimately the winner in a crucial 4-1 victory.
A 4-4 tie in Winnipeg and a 5-3 loss in Vancouver sent the series to Europe with Canada trailing 2-1-1, Esposito famously opening a vein on live television after Game 8 with CTV commentator Johnny Esaw, emptying his heart to the Canadians from coast to coast who by then were trashing their team.

Brad Park flattens Russia's Vladimir Shadrin during Summit Series action in Moscow. Melchior DiGiacomo, Getty Images
Five days later, on Sept. 13, Team Canada flew to Stockholm through Frankfurt for two exhibition games scheduled against Sweden.
"We never heard Phil's speech," Park said. "Canada did but the team itself, we never heard it or saw a replay of it until we got back home. It wasn't something that motivated us. What did motivate us was when we got out of Canada and away from relatives and family.
"In Sweden, the only ones we had were each other. We started a bond that was unbelievable. By the time we left Sweden and got to Moscow (on Sept. 20, following a win and a tie), we were a unit. As much as we were playing for Canada and our pride, we had become friends, friendships that last to this day."
Canada lost 5-4 in Game 5, after the Russians scored four unanswered third-period goals in a span of less than six minutes.
"The most impressive thing to me was after Game 5, when we went back into the dressing room, we knew that for the first time we'd controlled large portions of a period," Park said.

Brad Park with the 1965-66 major junior Toronto Marlboros and early in his NHL career with the New York Rangers. Graphic Artists/Hockey Hall of Fame; MacDonald Stewart/Hockey Hall of Fame
"We believed we were on even footing, condition-wise. Even though we blew a three-goal lead, there was no panic in the room. There was a calm and determination. Shift by shift, period by period. That's exactly what we did."
Park sent a message at the start of Game 6, Canada's first of three must-win games if the once heavily-favored Canadians were to win the tournament. On his first shift, he hit anything that moved, Russian bodies flying around the Luzhniki rink.
Canada won 3-2, then 4-3 in Game 7. The series was tied 3-3-1.
"After Game 6, we say, 'OK, that's good, now let's win Game 7,' " Park recalled of his team's steely eyed focus. "There was more pressure going into that, we win, now there's a lot of pressure going into Game 8."
Park saved his best for last, scoring once and adding two assists in Canada's historic 6-5 series clincher.

New York Rangers' Brad Park defends against future Team Canada teammate Paul Henderson of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 20, 1969 at Maple Leaf Gardens, goalie Eddie Giacomin making the save. Graphic Artists/Hockey Hall of Fame
In fact, he scored twice. It was not Esposito, but Park who should have been credited with Canada's first of the game when the rebound of Park's shot was swept into the net by Russia's Vladimir Lutchenko, Tretiak giving his defenseman a dirty look because of it.
Park says he didn't realize it until 25 years later, seeing it on DVD.
"I always assumed Phil put it in and he never said anything," he said, laughing. "It's been 50 years, so I'll let it go."
Canada was trailing 5-3 heading into the third period and still, no panic.
"We just said in the room, 'Let's go win this game, let's get one in the first five minutes. Then let's get another,' " Park said. "Down to the last five minutes, the entire team was playing with a full-court press."

Brad Park in Montreal Forum action with the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins. Denis Brodeur, Getty Images
Canada knew it needed a win, which it would get on Paul Henderson's third consecutive game-winner, coming with 34 seconds left to play; on their heels, the Russians began claiming mid-game that with a tie, they would win the tournament based on goal differential.
Canada was so offensive-minded that Park and Bergman each dashed to the Russian net in the game's dying stages, turning a 3-on-2 rush into a 2-on-1 that almost clicked.
Park's name is the last in the scoring summaries of Canada's 11-game 1972 run against Russia, Sweden and Czechoslovakia; he earned the second assist on Serge Savard's game-tying goal with four seconds left to play against the Czechs.
Having skated in 1,113 NHL games, his 1968-85 Hall of Fame career spanning three decades for the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings, Park has no trouble rating his experiences.
"My NHL teams are a five or six (on a scale to 10), Team Canada is a 10," he said. "With Canada, together we went through something that was a storybook ending. And it changed the scope of hockey in that it made the NHL aware that players in Europe could play.

Tony Esposito (left), Brad Park (center) and Bernie Parent, each selected among the 100 Greatest NHL Players in 2017, renew their friendship in Los Angeles on Jan. 27, 2017. Dave Stubbs, NHL.com
"It brought us a whole new appreciation of European players. By the time the series was over, we knew the Europeans could play. The Russians, Swedes and Czechs, those guys are legit.
"We looked at the Summit Series in different ways," Park said of Canada and Russia. "I'm sure from their side, they were apprehensive because they didn't know what we were like, they heard all these stories. We didn't have the respect for them that we should have and they probably had too much respect for us."
A half-century later, Park remembers a team that was like none other, and cherishes a vivid memory from the day after the series was won.
"Playing for Canada was the big picture but we really couldn't think about that," he said. "We had to think about the small picture, what you could control and what you could do. That is, playing for one another, sticking up for one another, making a commitment to one another. You weren't going to be the one who was going to let somebody else down.
"And I remember this, as our flight left Moscow for Prague: Just as the plane lifted off, we all started singing 'O Canada.' "
Top photo: Brad Park chases the puck in front of Team Canada goalie Ken Dryden during a 1972 Summit Series game in Moscow, Canada's Bobby Clarke and Russia's Valeri Kharlamov at left. Melchior DiGiacomo, Getty Images