Expectations
At the time, the National Hockey League, and also its best players, consisted largely of Canadians and was considered to be where the best hockey players played. The public consensus of hockey pundits and fans in North America was that other countries, the Soviets in this case, were simply no match for Canada's best. The Soviets were not expected to even give the Canadians a challenge, and Canada was going into this series expected to win handily. According to Team Canada Coach Harry Sinden: "Canada is first in the world in two things: hockey and wheat." Alan Eagleson said "We gotta win in eight games. Anything less than an unblemished sweep of the Russians would bring shame down on the heads of the players and the national pride." The Soviets downplayed themselves, stating that they were in the series to learn.
In a poll of experts conducted by The Hockey News, not one expected the Soviets to win a single game. Journalist Dick Beddoes of Toronto's The Globe and Mail offered to eat his words "shredded at high noon in a bowl of borscht on the steps of the Russian Embassy" if the Soviets won one game. Canadian journalists Milt Dunnell (Toronto Star), Jim Coleman (Southam) and Claude Larochelle (Le Soleil) predicted results of seven wins to one for the Soviets. American journalists Gerald Eskenazi (New York Times) and Fran Rosa (Boston Globe) predicted eight wins to one, while Mark Mulvoy (Sports Illustrated) predicted seven wins to one for Canada.
Before the first game, former Canadiens' star goaltender Jacques Plante gave Soviet goaltender Tretiak advice on how to play the NHL forwards. Plante did this because he was "thinking of the humiliation he was almost certain to suffer." Plante himself predicted Canada would win "eight straight." In a game scouted by Team Canada, Tretiak had given up nine goals, in a game played the day after his wedding.
A few Canadians gave a dissenting prognosis of the series. John Robertson of the Montreal Star warned that Team Canada was too poorly prepared and out of shape to win the series. He blamed the NHL: "This, the most important hockey event of our time, has been tacked onto the front of the NHL season as something only tolerated by the owners, and endorsed by the players as a means of enriching their pension plan." Former professional player Billy Harris who had coached Sweden's national team earlier in the year, predicted a Soviets' win, largely on the strength of Tretiak's goaltending.
Prior to the series, Bobrov held a press luncheon in Moscow. He refused to consider that either team would sweep the series. To him, Team Canada had "the fire power, know-how and goaltending" but how would it adapt to international rules, two-referee system and amateur officials. He conceded that Phil Esposito would "be difficult to move from the front of the net. I expect there will be some surprises for us when we meet your Canadian stars." He also predicted that Valeri Kharlamov "will stand out, even against your best Canadians. By North American standards, he is small but he has an excellent shot. I think he will be effective." Sinden was aware of Kharlamov. He had chosen Ron Ellis for Team Canada especially to cover Kharlamov.
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