1976 Canada Cup - Final

Final

The 1976 Canada Cup final was a best-of-three series. The first game was played September 13 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Czechs started Dzurilla in goal after his brilliant display against Canada in the round robin. Dzurilla was unable to duplicate his success as Gilbert Perreault opened the scoring one minute into the game en route to a four goal onslaught by the Canadians in the first period. The Czechs were stronger in the final 40 minutes, but were unable to beat Canada's Vachon, who recorded his second shutout of the tournament in a 6–0 victory for Canada. During the game, the Czechs were angered when Canada's Steve Shutt crosschecked Jiri Novak from behind. Novak suffered a concussion and was unable to play the remainder of the series. Shutt was apologetic after the game, claiming he had not intended to hit his opponent in the fashion he did.

Game two was played in the Montreal Forum on September 15. Jiri Holeček, who replaced Dzurilla in goal after the first period of the first game, started game two for Czechoslovakia, while Vachon remained in the Canadian net. As they had in the first game, Canada jumped out to an early lead, scoring two goals in the first three minutes of play. Holeček was quickly pulled and replaced with Dzurilla, who completed the game. The Czechs replied with a second period goal and another early in the third to tie the game. Bobby Clarke re-established the Canadian lead midway through the period before Josef Augusta and Marian Stastny scored goals one minute apart to give Czechoslovakia its first lead, 4–3, with four minutes remaining in the third period. Dzurilla was strong in net as the Canadians put 39 shots on goal in regulation time, but made a critical mistake with less than three minutes remaining. His attempt to clear a puck from his zone went instead to Canada's Bill Barber, who scored into an open net to tie the game and send it to overtime.

The teams played an intense overtime period filled with end-to-end rushes and brilliant saves by the goaltenders. At one point, Canada's Guy Lafleur put a shot on net that snuck through the Czech goaltender, but Ivan Hlinka deliberately shoved the net out of place before the puck crossed the line. He received a delay of game penalty, but prevented a Canadian win. A few moments later, Guy Lapointe rifled a low shot that again beat Dzurilla, however this goal was also disallowed as the buzzer had sounded to end the first ten-minutes of the overtime period one-tenth of a second before it crossed the line. International rules of the time dictated that play was to be stopped at the ten minute mark of each overtime period and the teams would switch the side of the ice they defended. During the break, Canadian assistant coach Don Cherry noted to his team that Dzurilla often came far out of his net to defend and could be beaten on a shot from a sharp angle.

Less than two minutes into the second half of the overtime period, Darryl Sittler received a pass from Marcel Dionne as he skated into the Czech zone close to the side boards. As Dzurilla came out to challenge, Sittler faked a shot that froze the goaltender, took two more strides then fired the puck into an open net. The goal touched off a wild celebration amongst the Canadian players on the ice and the fans in the stands. Sittler's championship winning goal remains one of the most famous in hockey history. During the celebrations, the players of both teams traded uniforms; Bobby Orr was presented with the Most Valuable Player award while wearing a Czech jersey. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau presented Canadian captain Bobby Clarke with the Canada Cup.