Ken Dryden Talks About the Significance of the 1972 Summit Series and the 1955 Penticton Vees Team

In promoting his new book on the 1972 Summit hockey series between Canada and the USSR, Ken Dryden talks about the unique nature of the series and how it was about Canada claiming what they thought was rightfully theirs, namely, recognition as the best in the world in hockey. He notes how the 1954 Soviet win of the World Championship stunned the hockey world and how the World Championship the following year, in 1955, garnered enormous attention and pressure on the small town team the Penticton Vees who had won the Allan Cup in 1954 thus earned the right to compete as Canada's representatives in the World Hockey Championships. That was the only series that had gotten as much attention as the 1972 series but of course ultimately could not compete because the 72 team was, for the first time, actually a collection of Canada's very best professional players, although probably the two very best Canadian players in the world did not compete in the 72 series, Bobby Orr because of injury and Bobby Hull because he has just signed a huge contract with the newly formed WHA (the largest contract in pro-hockey history) and was banned from the team because the event was organized by NHL p[layers for NHL players. Note: yes, the audio cuts out briefly but that is because for the hockey files I upload I have a no-spoilers policy. So if Dryden's discussion on the 1955 World Championship gets you interested in seeing the game (which is in our playlists), you can watch it without knowing the score and maybe not knowing the outcome. I want people to have as much fun with old games as possible and if possible experience them as if they are new (yeah yeah, suspend disbelief watching old black & white games etc ... chill, relax).