PRESS ROOM 1974: Game 3
When It Is Hot On the Ice
Vladislav Tretiak's Diaries 1974
by Vladislav Tretiak
September 1974
Toronto
September 21. 8-5...
Finally, we won. It was a convincing and beautiful
and,
at the same time, a hard-to-earn victory.
Winnipeg is a hometown of Bobby Hull. It's hard
to describe pre-game expectations.
Ticket priced at $ 10 were being sold at $ 200.
It seemed
to me that Canadians were now positive that the
WHA would win the Summit.
I've been in Canada several times and every time
it amazes me how
much Canadians love hockey. They say that local
kids first learn how to skate and then how to walk.
Local child first gets a stick not a dummy. Parents
put the stick into the kid's little hands. He immediately
starts to kick the puck, little potato, stone or
anything around him that is smaller than a football
and bigger than a coin.
At 2, the kid dreams about being a great hockey
player. At 6, he is positive he is going to become
a Bobby Hull.
That's what Canadians say. It looks right.
Back to the game.
We started Game 3 with our strongest players. Boris
Kulagin told the
ones that were not dressed for the game:
"You've got to wait, guys. We have to win
a couple of times and, then,
it will be your time to play."
Harris used a back up goalie MacLeod for this game.
The newspapers said
that Cheevers asked for a day off.
As soon as the game started it became clear that
it's our day. We
pushed
Team Canada into their zone.
As I was expecting, the opponents couldn't
maintain the level they were on in the previous
games. They began to
slow down and we, on the contrary, added speed into
our gears.
In the second period, Walton shot the puck into
my stomach. I crawled
in pain and set on the ice. Terrible head ache.
But the game goes on.
Here comes Henderson. The ones who ever managed
to hold a hockey
puck know that it's heavy. It's like a cobble stone.
And this cobble stone
flies towards you with a huge speed. You don't hide
from it. You need to put
your body in front of the puck to block the shot.
Sometimes it's very
painful. I know many kids who didn't become goalies
because their eyes were blinking when the puck was
shot at them.
If one wants to play hockey, he needs to kill fear
in himself from the
very
beginning. Once and forever. He can't be afraid
of the puck. He can't
be afraid that opponents might hit him.
The only thought in your mind - Block
the Shot! The rest doesn't matter. Opponents...
Hits... Pain... It doesn't
matter.
The score is 7-2. The game is over. Maybe, it's
time to replace me with
Sidelnikov. No way.
While changing the sides after 10 minutes in the
third period, I skated over to the bench. The doctor
held a cotton with ammoniac in
front
me. I looked at the coaches. Maybe they could see
now that I am awfully
tired. No. I have to finish up the game.
In the last 10 minutes, they scored three goals.
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