🇨🇦 Canada 3-3 Czechoslovakia 🇨🇿
Exhibition Game
Sportovní Hala, Prague 🇨🇿
Saturday, 30 September 1972

What few today remember is that after the game (Game 8 of the Summit Series) the Canadians had to fly to Prague, Czechoslovakia, to play an all-star team in what was an historic return home for Stan Mikita, who had moved to Canada as a young boy in 1948 and made a name for himself as one of the NHL’s great stars. Now, nearly a quarter of a century later, he was coming home.

That Czech team consisted of some of the nation’s greatest players ever: goalie Jiří Holeček; defenders Oldřich Machač, František Pospíšil and Jiří Bubla; forwards Jaroslav Holík, Jiří Holík, Václav Nedomanský, Vladimír Martinec, Bohuslav Šťastný and Ivan Hlinka.

Team Canada’s players stayed up most of the night of 28 September and were groggy at best when they left their Moscow hotel at 6 AM on the 29th to catch their flight. The players’ wives flew back to Canada, and Sinden tried to find the healthiest players to dress for one more game.

While Canada put up a good fight given the circumstances, the Czechs proved to be a world-class team that could hold its own against the NHL’s best, just as the Soviets had done. But, incredibly, in an exhausted display of that Canadian determination, Canada tied the game, 3-3, on a goal from defender Serge Savard with only four seconds left in the third period.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
07:12 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Awrey, high sticking
07:12 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Šťastný, high sticking
08:09 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Bubla, interference
08:19 – 🇨🇦 PP GOAL – Savard (Park)
09:26 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Goldsworthy, hooking
13:55 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – P. Mahovlich (Tallon)

2nd Period
23:58 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Hull, tripping
29:02 – 🇨🇿 GOAL – Šťastný (Bubla)
29:26 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Redmond, charging
33:43 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Tallon, high sticking
35:24 – 🇨🇿 PP GOAL – Šťastný
36:57 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Mikita, cross checking
36:57 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Ja. Holík, elbowing
40:00 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Clarke, high sticking major
40:00 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Pospíšil, elbowing

3rd Period
42:28 – 🇨🇿 PP GOAL – Kochta (Holeček)
44:42 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Hlinka, hooking
59:56 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Savard (Clarke, Park)

GOALTENDERS
T: 🇨🇦 Dryden (30-33)
T: 🇨🇿 Holeček (21-24)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇦 13+3+8 = 24
🇨🇿 12+12+9 = 33

ROSTERS
🇨🇦 Goaltenders: Ken Dryden, Tony Esposito. Defence: Don Awrey, Brian Glennie, Brad Park, Serge Savard, Rod Seiling, Dale Tallon. Forwards: Wayne Cashman, Bobby Clarke, Yvon Cournoyer, Marcel Dionne, Phil Esposito (A), Bill Goldsworthy, Dennis Hull, Frank Mahovlich (A), Peter Mahovlich, Stan Mikita (A), J.P. Parisé, Mickey Redmond.
🇨🇿 Goaltenders: Vladimír Dzurilla, Jiří Holeček. Defence: Vladimír Bednár, Jiří Bubla, Josef Horešovský, Milan Kužela, Oldřich Machač, František Pospíšil (C). Forwards: Bedřich Brunclík, Bohuslav Ebermann, Richard Farda, Ivan Hlinka, Jaroslav Holík, Jiří Holík (A), Jan Klapáč, Jiří Kochta, Vladimír Martinec, Václav Nedomanský (A), Josef Paleček, Bohuslav Šťastný.

Article Credit: IIHF
Photo Credit: Team Canada 1974: The Lost Series – IIHF – HHOF – IOC