from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News,
Let’s have a conversation about Paul Henderson and the Hockey Hall of Fame. A lot of people, including the Members of Parliament in Canada who unanimously voted to pass a motion to urge the Hall of Fame to enshrine him, think he belongs in it along with the game’s greatest players.
Sure, let’s induct Paul Henderson. And while we’re at it, we’d better find room for Jack McCartan, Roger and Billy Christian, Mike Eruzione, Robert Reichel, Petr Svoboda, Sandra Whyte-Sweeney and, after she retires, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson. Start a campaign for those eight to be inducted and your trusty correspondent will yell for Henderson’s inclusion from the highest hilltops. Otherwise, it’s simply a case of Canadians thinking their accomplishments in the hockey world are more important than those of players from other countries.
Because all those people either scored goals or made saves that were every bit as important as the three game-winning goals Henderson tallied in Games 6, 7 and 8 of the 1972 Summit Series. More important, actually, because all their achievements were accomplished on the world’s biggest stage and resulted in gold medals, rather than in an exhibition tournament that raised money for the NHL pension fund and allowed Canadians to continue to puff out their chests over their so-called world dominance because they had defeated the Commies by the slimmest of margins.
Watch the Henderson goal below, Foster Hewitt with the call.
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