Simply put, I don’t think the game of hockey needs fighting anymore. I think we’re past that now because the game has changed so much in so many ways over the years.
For one thing, it’s such a fast game now. And think about when the best hockey anywhere is played: in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Olympics. Now think about how the game is played during these events. There is hardly any fighting in the playoffs and none in the Olympics because it’s not needed.
It takes away from the game, in my mind, and besides, players today are just too big and too strong. I’m really afraid somebody is going to get killed out there.
Staged fighting in particular just drives me crazy. What’s the point of that – a staged fight that everybody can see coming? Those kinds of fights are definitely not necessary.
We also have to ask, seriously, just how many blows to the head players can take before it affects them psychologically. We’ve seen how players who have been enforcers all their careers have turned out. Some of these guys have admitted that they were up all night, worried to death, knowing that they would have to fight the next night and how that would go. During my career, I’d never thought of it from that viewpoint – I just looked forward to playing. But it must have been really tough on some players, especially as they got older. To hear that guys were losing sleep over whom they had to fight next – well, life is just too short for that kind of stuff.
I have always believed that the game will police itself, and I think there is still accountability within the game without the need for fighting. A lot of young kids are quitting the game because the idea of fighting is just not in their makeup, and that is a real shame. I would hate for my grandchildren to have to fight just to play the game of hockey, so why would I wish that burden on somebody else’s grandchildren?
We teach our children that they don’t have to fight in life to be men, and hopefully we are evolving in a lot of ways on that front. The defenders of fighting in hockey will say that it’s always been a part of the game and therefore it should always be. I say no to that. There is no excuse anymore to keep fighting in the game of hockey. We don’t need it. It’s time to get beyond that mentality.
Mainly because of that goal I scored in Moscow forty years ago, I understand what fame is. There is both good and bad in fame and I have accepted it all.
But that fame and my achievement in hockey have not been enough to get me into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The 1972 Summit Series team has been recognized and honoured throughout the hockey world, including inside the Hockey Hall of Fame. Heck, being named the Team of the Century is certainly getting recognized. None of us, myself included, suffer for a lack of recognition in this great country of ours. We were national heroes when we returned from the Soviet Union and we are still recognized and saluted wherever we go for the achievement. The twenty-fifth-anniversary celebrations in 1997 were tremendous, and the upcoming fortieth anniversary promises to be the biggest yet. We all love the attention, even after all these years.
Wherever I go across the country, I guess nine out of every ten people tell me I should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. It is flattering to me that people would think that way and let me know how much they support me. I appreciate their thoughts, I really do. But let me state here, clearly, for the record, once and for all: I have no problem with not being in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Hall has a selection committee, and that committee has its criteria. I understand that. I also understand that if it were not for the 1972 series and what I did, I wouldn’t even merit consideration for the Hockey Hall of Fame. I was a good NHL player, but I don’t have the numbers or the All-Star status or major trophy wins to be a candidate. I feel there are many retired players more deserving than me who still haven’t been inducted.
I had a month for the ages, that’s for sure, but the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee criteria is all about great careers. Don’t take that to mean that I don’t appreciate all the support, or that I am not proud of the career I had in the game. I’m still very proud of my NHL accomplishments. I’m especially proud to have played on two top lines, with Norm Ullman and Bruce MacGregor in Detroit, and then with Norm and Ron Ellis in Toronto.
I thought the Henderson–Ullman–Ellis line was as good as any in the NHL. We were defensively responsible and we could play any style and play with any forward unit in the league. I get great satisfaction in knowing that, and in the way we all contributed. While we were playing together in Toronto, Ellis had 152 goals and 147 assists, Ullman scored 152 and had 267 assists – he was always the playmaker! – and I had 157 goals and 150 assists. How is that for consistency and sharing the wealth!
There was one season where I led the league in game-winning goals with nine out of the twenty-two goals I scored overall. I was an opportunist in that sense, and I really tried to score important goals. I think everybody wants to be on the ice at key times, but I really thrived on that during my entire career, not just in Russia.
I always enjoyed when the pressure was on, and I didn’t shrink away from those situations. I also played with some great linemates who felt the same way, and that made it a lot easier to succeed in those situations as well.
It was tough playing on some teams that didn’t win, but any player would feel the same way about that. The Toronto teams I played on were generally older and, thanks to Harold Ballard, were generally in disarray. Nobody was going to win any championships in that situation.
I thought we had a great team in Detroit before I got traded to the Leafs. We seemed to be really close to winning the Cup, but then Doug Barkley lost an eye, Marcel Pronovost got traded, and Bill Gadsby retired. We just couldn’t get over those losses, but I thought we really had a chance to do something special there.
But there are really no regrets from that standpoint either. I had a long career, I made some decent money, and I had the kind of life that the vast majority of people in the world would be very envious of.
Thanks to September 1972, I had lots of fame too! And I had my time in the spotlight, which gave me recognition and a platform in this country to do the work I have been doing with my ministry for many years now, to an extent that wouldn’t have been possible without that recognition.
Every player would love to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but the fact that I’m not seems to bother other people a lot more than it bothers me. The bottom line is, I’ve had a wonderful life and career in hockey that I am very proud of. I’ve been a very fortunate guy.
Even after forty years, the 1972 Summit Series is still receiving accolades for what it meant to the game of hockey.
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) recently introduced an IIHF Milestone Award, to be granted periodically “to a team or teams that have made a significant contribution to international ice hockey or had a defining impact on the development of the game.” The council decided that the first such honour would go to the teams of the 1972 Summit Series.
The timing of this first award was intended to help mark the forty-year anniversary of the series, and it really is quite an honour for all of us to receive, especially after all these years.
IIHF president Rene Fasel was gracious in his comments as he outlined the rationale for the award: “The IIHF has honoured individuals since 1997 with inductions to the IIHF Hall of Fame, but we felt we were missing an award which recognized great events, great teams, or defining moments which have shaped our game. This is why we introduced this new award, and the council felt it was appropriate that the historic 1972 Summit Series would receive the inaugural honour.”
The award was presented as part of the IIHF Hall of Fame induction ceremony on May 20, 2012, in Helsinki, Finland, on the day of the gold medal game of the seventy-sixth IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. In 1972, Canada was sitting on the sidelines as far as international hockey went, so when you consider how much has happened since then – with Canada earning both respect and gold medals at the Winter Olympics, world
championships, and world junior championships – the tournament seems to be a perfect setting for the teams of the Summit Series to be remembered.
My good feelings about our accomplishment in Moscow only get deeper as the years go on. But as I watch today’s players at the Air Canada Centre, it is really hard to believe how time sure flies, especially as you get older.
And my goodness, to think that the fortieth anniversary of that series is upon us! Now where did that time go? It certainly is a perfect time for reflection and looking back, that’s for sure.
Eleanor and I will look in the mirror some days and say, “Who are those people?” We’ve got a lot more wrinkles, and sometimes it does make you wonder where the years have gone. I’m sure my teammates think the same thing some days, although we really have been blessed. In those forty years we’ve only lost three players and one coach from Team Canada ’72: Bill Goldsworthy, Gary Bergman, and Rick Martin, along with assistant coach John Ferguson. But time catches up with all of us, and several of us are battling cancer. We know this fortieth anniversary is likely our last hurrah, so we’re all looking forward to it.
There really is a certain amount of luck that comes with just being around as long as we’ve all been, and having the opportunity to celebrate an event forty years after it ends. When you look back and see all that we have survived, from injuries to illness to other challenges, and you realize that we’ve all made it and had such great lives, you just say “Wow!” to yourself.
When you are young, you think you are immortal. You get a real sense of appreciation for everything in life as you get older, as you realize just how lucky you have been in your life, even just to have played in the NHL for as long as you did.
The Goal in 1972 was an epic moment. We knew that then, but we know that even more so today. I certainly cherish it more today, that’s for sure. It is such a thrill even to be able to share it with my grandchildren, who are so proud of me for the accomplishment. It’s another generation being exposed to what happened, and when I saw all the young people walking through the Henderson Jersey Homecoming Trailer, well, it really made an old man feel good.
But as you reflect back on your life, it’s the friendships and relationships that really matter the most, isn’t it? That is true of all of us. It’s not how much money you have made, it’s how many friends you have made over the years that is the important thing.
Look, whenever there’s a fire in a house and people have to leave in a hurry, what’s the first thing they grab? The pictures. That says a lot about what is really important to people, doesn’t it?
As I get closer to the end of my journey, I’m so fortunate to be able to spend my life now doing what I want to do with it. Eleanor and I spend so much time together travelling and enjoying our family (and especially watching the grandchildren play hockey now as the younger generation takes to the ice!), and we’re always together – well, except for golf, which is my thing alone – but we do just about everything else together, which is really wonderful. I love my work and I’ll continue to do that until I can’t do it anymore. That shows how much I love what I’ve been able to do for so many years now.
This – our lives on earth – is not the game. It’s just the warm-up. Christ wants us to get to know Him. I believe there is an eternity ahead of us where we will really get to know God intimately, and what He has prepared for us there will absolutely blow us all away. All the hassles, problems, tragedies, failures, and bad breaks that we have had will never even be thought of. Thoughts of heaven and of eternity make living with cancer here on earth seem very insignificant.
The Bible says in many places that we should not fear, not worry, not even be anxious about anything, and that is how I try to live every day. When we are able to do that, there is nothing that happens to us that we cannot handle with God’s help.
As the thirty-fourth Psalm says, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”
I have a simple mantra now: “Start small. Go deep. Think big. Finish well.” That is the way that I try to live my life spiritually every single day.
The Goal of My Life was scored on September 28, 1972, in Moscow. It was such a fantastic moment for me and for all Canadians, and I am so thankful for it. I will cherish it forever.
But to live my life the way I have since I became a Christian, to live a life that pleases Him, to be His Godly world change agent – that is the real Goal of My Life. And I thank God that I’ve been able to pursue that goal for so long.
APPENDIX 1
Timeline
January 28, 1943 Born in Kincardine, Ontario, but raised mostly in Lucknow, Ontario, when his family moved there.
1958 Scores 18 goals in a single game while playing for Lucknow, gaining the attention of NHL scouts.
1959–60 Joins the Goderich Sailors of the Western Ontario Junior B Hockey League after signing with the Detroit Red Wings organization. The Sailors finish second in the league with a 22–8 record (44 points), losing to the fourth-place Sarnia Legionnaires 3–1 (with 2 ties) in the WOJBHL semifinals.
1960–61 Joins the Hamilton Red Wings of the Ontario Hockey Association Junior A league. Accumulates a goal and 3 assists in 30 regular-season games, adding a goal and an assist in 12 playoff games. Team finishes third in the seven-team loop, with a record of 22–19–7.
1961–62 In his second season with Hamilton, Paul finishes fourth in team scoring with 24 goals and 19 assists for 43 points in 50 regular-season games. The team places second among 6 teams in the OHA Provincial Junior A league, amassing a record of 32–12–6. Paul scores 4 goals and 6 assists for 10 points in 10 playoff games as Hamilton defeats the St. Catharines Teepees and Niagara Falls Flyers to claim the OHA championship. The Red Wings then defeat the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors to win the all-Ontario title, then the Quebec Citadelles to become the champions of Eastern Canada. They receive the George Richardson Memorial Trophy and a berth in the Memorial Cup final. They defeat the western champions, the Edmonton Oil Kings, 4–1 in the best-of-seven series, to win the Memorial Cup for the first time. In 14 games against St. Mike’s, Quebec, and Edmonton, Paul scores 7 goals and adds 7 assists for 14 points.
1962–63 Paul enjoys his best junior season, leading the OHA with 49 goals in 48 games, while adding 27 assists for 76 points. Is awarded the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHA Junior A league’s most outstanding player. Registers 2 goals in 3 playoff games. Also makes his NHL debut as a call-up for 2 games with the Detroit Red Wings. Records no points but spends 9 minutes in the penalty box.
1963–64 Turns pro and plays 38 games with the Pittsburgh Hornets of the American Hockey League, Detroit’s farm team, where he registers 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points. He is called up to the Red Wings just after Christmas and scores 3 goals and 3 assists in 32 games. In 14 playoff games with Detroit, he notches 2 goals and 3 assists as the Red Wings are defeated by the Toronto Maple Leafs (4–3) in the Stanley Cup finals. He will remain with the Red Wings until March 1968.
1964–65 Plays his first full NHL season, appearing in all 70 regular-season games, with 8 goals and 13 assists for 21 points. Records 2 assists in 7 playoff games as the Red Wings are eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks (4–3) in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
1965–66 Has his first 20-goal season in the NHL, with 22 goals and 24 assists for 46 points in 69 regular-season games. Nine of the 22 goals are game-winners, tops among NHL scorers. Scores 3 goals and adds 3 assists for 6 points in 12 playoff games as the Red Wings defeat Chicago in the first round but lose to the Montreal Canadiens (4–2) in the Stanley Cup finals.
1966–67 Chest, groin, and knee injuries as well as breathing problems limit Paul to 46 regular-season games. He scores 21 goals and 19 assists for 40 points. (His average of .46 goals per game is third-best in the NHL.) Red Wings finish fifth, missing the playoffs by 14 points.
1967–68 Puts up 13 goals and 20 assists for 33 points in 50 regular-season games with the Red Wings be
fore being traded, with Norm Ullman and Floyd Smith, to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Frank Mahovlich, Garry Unger, Pete Stemkowski, and the NHL rights to Carl Brewer on March 3, 1968. He notches 5 goals and 6 assists for 11 points in 13 regular-season games with the Maple Leafs. Leafs finish fifth in the East Division, missing the playoffs by four points.
1968–69 In his first full season with the Maple Leafs, Paul sets new career highs in goals (27), assists (32), and points (59) in 74 regular-season games. Leafs finish fourth in the East (fifth overall) but are swept 4 straight in the first round by the Boston Bruins. Paul records 1 assist in the 4 games.
1969–70 Despite a groin injury, Paul records his fourth 20-goal season in the NHL, with 20 goals and 22 assists for 42 points in 67 regular-season games. Under new coach John McLellan, Toronto finishes sixth in the East and fails to qualify for the playoffs.
1970–71 Scores 30 goals for the first time (his fifth season with at least 20), adding 30 assists for a career-high 60 points in 72 regular-season games. Leafs finish fourth in the East (sixth overall) and are defeated by the New York Rangers (4–2) in the Stanley Cup quarter-finals. Paul scores 5 goals and adds an assist in 6 playoff games. Scores the winning goal in both of Toronto’s victories in the series.
1971–72 Scores a career-high 38 goals, and adds 19 assists for 57 points in 73 regular-season games. Ranks tenth in the NHL in goals, and fourth in shooting percentage (19.9 percent). Maple Leafs finish fourth in the East, sixth overall. Meet the Boston Bruins in the quarter-finals and are defeated 4–1. Paul scores a goal and two assists in the series.
January 25, 1972 Plays in the twenty-fifth NHL All-Star Game in Bloomington, Minnesota, on January 25. Wears number 17 for the East Division team (his familiar number 19 was assigned to Jean Ratelle of the New York Rangers). The East defeats the West 3–2 before a crowd of 15,423. 21 of the 38 players who take part in the game will be on the roster of Team Canada 1972.
The Goal of My Life Page 20