In the entire long and successful history of Czech and Czechoslovakian hockey, there was only one decade when our national team did not experience a medal drought at the World Championships, and that was the 1970s. The label golden decade suits it for one more reason – that was the first time it was possible to not only win, but also defend the gold at the World Championships, which – as a worn-out sports truth goes – is always more difficult.
Even Milan Nový, a phenomenal striker with a productivity that is rarely seen, knows about it. In the second half of the 1970s, his goals helped both his home club Kladno to dominate the domestic league and the national team to win world laurels. And he was the guest of the third episode of the Ice Bearers podcast series.
Last episode of Ice Bearers
The hockey gold rush of the 1970s
In 1972, the Czechoslovaks finally broke the decade of waiting and won the title of hockey world champions again. From today’s point of view, it is also necessary to recognize the fact that both overseas teams were absent from the tournament, and the Nordic countries were weakened by quite a few players who headed to try their luck in North America after the emergence of NHL competition in the form of the WHA. On the other hand, beating the then Soviet Union, who had won an incredible 10 World Championships and Olympic tournaments in a row, was a feat not to be forgotten!
But Prague’s golden success was only a harbinger of what was to come in the following years. For several years, a world-class team was being built, until the memorable year 1976 came. At the Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Czechoslovakia finished unluckily second, also due to an unfortunate absence and mainly due to a flu epidemic in the team. At that time, five minutes were missing from the Olympic gold in the match against the Soviets…
At the world championship in Katowice, Poland, a few months later, the Czechoslovak lions were already healthy and, above all, hungry. In the ten matches of the tournament, they did not know the bitterness of defeat, they only drew once with Sborna in a decided state of the tournament. And with a huge lead, they celebrated the fourth title of world champions in history. Six of the top 10 scorers of the tournament were Czechoslovaks, and Holeček, Pospíšil, Nový and Martinec were in the all-star team of the tournament. And that was just the beginning!
Stories from the history of hockey
Foto: Getty Images
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List News has prepared a series of articles on the history of hockey championships. Where was hockey passion born, when were the Czechs champions? Unknown stories from the history of this sport.
In 1977, the Czechoslovaks defended their title in Vienna, and it was all the more difficult because, years later, overseas selections returned to the tournament, already with permission for the start of NHL professionals. So far, there was not much interest in the starts in Europe, so Canada received, for example, a 1:11 dart from the USSR. But the hard-playing overseas professionals also had better days, like when they drew 3:3 with Czechoslovakia. Then our selection even lost to the Soviets 1:6 and the defense seemed lost. But when the Czechoslovaks successively beat Sweden, the USA, in the final group of the USSR, Sweden again, all they had to do to win the gold medal was to beat Canada. But the sneaky grinders with the maple leaf on their jersey rallied to another excellent performance and won overwhelmingly 8:2! The title seemed lost, but just like in 1947, rivals helped. Sweden unexpectedly beat the Soviets 3-1, and that gave the title to Czechoslovakia. For the first time in history, our hockey defended the world gold.
Even a year later in Prague, all the fans believed in the third golden bead in a row. From the beginning, everything went like clockwork, seven matches in the basic group, seven wins. This pick just had power! In the final group, the home team again defeated the Swedes and the Canadians, and in the last duel with the Soviet Union, it was enough to lose by a goal! But the Czechoslovaks lost the match 1:3. What to say that Martinec may have scored the second goal, the referees did not recognize him. Instead of a golden hat trick, a sad silver came. And a single goal decided it!
First time against NHL stars
In 1976, the first major world tournament with the participation of all the world’s best hockey players took place – the Canada Cup. The four best European teams were not missing, but also the best professionals from the NHL in the jerseys of Canada and the USA. Although Czechoslovakia arrived as world champions, overseas journalists did not take it very seriously anyway. They were mainly interested in the defeat of the Soviets. The famous Canadian coach Scotty Bowman even stated that only the nice jerseys attracted him to the Czechoslovak team. But on September 9, 1976, in Canada, they had to admit, willy-nilly, that there are great hockey players in a small country in the middle of Europe who can beat the proud stars of the NHL.
The duel of a lifetime was caught by the already thirty-four-year-old experienced goalkeeper Vladimír Dzurilla, at other times more like a substitute for Jiří Holeček. He first received ridicule when he slipped while stepping onto the ice. But then the fans in Montreal stopped smiling. The stocky fighter from Bratislava, who was supposed to finish his career in Brno, was absolutely unbeatable on the overseas ice. The Canadian stars did both the possible and the impossible to overcome the cheerful Slovak, but in vain.
In addition, less than five minutes before the end, the Czech gunner of the gunners, the best scorer in the history of our top competition – Milan Nový, hit the opposite net.
“I saw that when the goalie falls, that if I shoot quickly with my wrist across the ice, there would be a chance for it to go through. And it went through, didn’t it? Well, it wasn’t a coincidence again, I thought it through, but it depends on the speed, the timing. I got the puck and I didn’t expect that, yes, today the player waits, waits, and it closes for him,” Milan Nový describes the famous moment in a recent episode of the Nosiči ledu podcast series.
It was a legendary 1:0 win. For the first time, our hockey players beat Canada in its strongest lineup! The Czechoslovak team finally made it to the finals of the tournament, but it was not enough to beat Canada in two matches. However, no one could take away the recognition of the cradle of hockey from Czechoslovakia.
Milan Nové’s impressive record
Let’s stop at the scorer of the famous goal of Milan Nové. His numbers in the Czechoslovak league are absolutely impressive. In 16 seasons, he played 633 matches and scored an incredible 470 goals in them, which is 42 more than the second Vladimír Růžička. He scored on 357 more goals for a total of a staggering 827 Canadian points!
Photo: Michal Turek, Seznam Zpravy
Milan Novy
His record-breaking 1976–77 season also seems completely incomprehensible from today’s perspective. In 44 games, he scored 59 goals and added 34 assists, which is again a record and incredible 93 Canadian points! 12 of his goals were also winners!
He was able to score four goals in a match against opponents in the top competition six times! In total, he scored an incredible 26 hat tricks in the top competition! He scored his first league goal on his debut in 1969, his last goal in 1989 was assisted by a colleague from the attack, a certain Jaromír Jágr.
Nový was the top scorer of the top league three times, the best scorer three times and the most productive player four times. And that was in the days when almost all the biggest stars played at home. He then celebrated league gold six times and added two silver and two bronze medals to that. There is probably nothing more to add to that.
Ice Bearers
Sound design: David Kaiser
The Seznam Zpráv podcast series, in which Tomáš Kučera describes the most interesting moments of our rich hockey history and interviews those who were personally present at the greatest successes.
Every Thursday – from 21.3. – to be listened to as a bonus episode of the related podcast Nosiči vody on Podcasty.cz, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast apps.
Feedback is welcome at the e-mail address [email protected].
2024-04-04 09:00:00
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