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SUPER SERIES '76-77: Team USSR
Clubs vs. WHA clubs
Quebec City (CP)
January 9, 1977
Quebec City, Quebec (CP)
Curt Brakenbury didn't want the part when it was
first offered him, but he finally accepted coach
Marc Boileau's casting of him as the third man,
and Quebec Nordiques drew the rave reviews.
Brakenbury scored two goals, half his regular season
production,
to that time, as the Nordiques whipped the Soviet
Union's national
team 6-1 Saturday night., the second defeat for
the Russians in
a eight-game World Hockey Association tour.
"It was the third man we put on their blue
–line or in the neutral
zone who won the game for us," Boileau said.
"He could stay back
with our defensemen and break up their attack. The
Russians were
not able to capitalize on their long passes. The
third man won the
game."
Brakenbury, playing right wing on a line with Steve
Sutherland, and
Bob Fitchner, said he disagreed with the tactic
when Boileau outlined
it to him but later became the greatest convert
to the cause.
"Boileau was right after all, I guess. He
told me to stay on the
blue-line while Fitchner and Sutherland fore-checked
the Russians
in their zone. I wanted to go after them with three
men and hit them.
But I did what Marc asked and I am not sorry now.
"I was playing the blue-line and I was able
to intercept quite a
few of their passes. We were able to come back with
the puck right
away and my goals resulted from that."
Fitchner muscled the puck along the boards in their
zone and fed
Brakenbury for the games first goal at 6:49 of the
first period.
Serge Bernier beat Russian starting goaltender Vladislav
Tretiak
less than three minutes later and the Nordiques
were ahead 2-0. Marc
Tardif, Christian Bordeleau, and Normand Dube added
other Quebec
goals after Boris Mikhailov scored for the Russians
at 12:40 of the
opening period to cut the Nordiques lead to 2-1.
Dube and goaltender Ed Humphreys who stopped 29
shots are both on
10-game tryouts with the Nordiques after joining
the team from Beauce
Jaros of the North American Hockey league. That
team folded last
month.
"I was really nervous when I got to the rink,
but I forgot about
it during the warm-up", Humphreys said. "I
never dreamed I would
be playing against the Russians one day."
Humphreys was called into action Friday night in
Hartford, Conn.,
for a 7-3 triumph over New England Whalers after
Richard Brodeaur
was injured. Serge Aubry, the other regular goalie,
has not seen
action in a game for more than a month.
The Nordiques lost the services of two more players
against the Russians.
Paulin Bordeleau suffered a broken nose and was
expected to miss
two games, while defenseman Wally Weir injured a
knee and has been
shelved for two weeks.
"I was trying to change lines quickly,"
Boileau said. "Everybody
played almost perfect. The Russians have a great
machine and to be
able to contain them like we did we must have a
pretty fair hockey
club."
Clarence Campbell, president of the National Hockey
League, was among
11,119 spectators who gave the Nordiques a standing
ovation in the
closing seconds of the game.
Some Nordiques saw the result as a vindication
of the league after criticism. The Russians lost
the first game of their tour before compiling six
consecutive victories.
"Last year the Montreal Canadiens tied a Russian
team that wasn't as good as this one," said Tardif,
referring to a 3-3 deadlock on December 31, 1975
between the Canadiens and central Red Army in Montreal.
Real Cloutier, the WHA's leading scorer, said
he was excited by the
Nordiques showing.
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