THE SERIES OVERVIEW

It was called, the "Series of the Century" and out of it came the greatest goal ever scored. Incredibly, the Summit Series, featuring Canada and the Soviet Union in a hockey showdown, is now 50 years old, but time has only strengthened and immortalized those eight games that changed the game. No moment has faded, and no series of games since has had the same profound effect on a country, a culture and a sport.

The first four games of the series were held in Canada and the final four in Moscow. Using its best NHL stars, Canada was supposed to win all eight games, but the Soviets won the first, in Montreal, by a whopping 7-3 score, and from then on fans were witness to the greatest matchup ever. Canada won the next game 4–1; the third game was a tie and the Soviets won game 4. The Soviets won game 5 to take a three games to one series lead. The Canadians won the final three games in Moscow to win the series 4 games to 3, with one tie. The series featured the leadership of Phil Esposito and the skill of Yvan Cournoyer, the goaltending of Vladislav Tretiak, and the speed of Valeri Kharlamov.

The final game was won in dramatic fashion, with the Canadians overcoming a two-goal Soviet lead after two periods. The Canadians scored three more times in the third. And in the end, it featured the heroics of Paul Henderson, who scored the winning goal in each of the final three games to give Canada the series victory, the final of those goals coming with just 34 seconds remaining in game eight, September 28, 1972 - The Goal of the Century.