It has been written and said--indeed, it has become part of the folklore of America--that television coverage of the assassination of John F. Kennedy was a singly unifying moment in the history of the United States, a fleeting period in late November 1963 when Americans everywhere, all at the same time, experienced shock and grief at the sudden, violent death of the young president. Now just imagine that happening to a large, diverse country, only the collective moment that everyone experiences at the same time, that everyone follows on television, is one of pure joy and pride and accomplishment and satisfaction. No one died on September 28, 1972. There was no collateral damage.

What happened to Canada that day, what we all saw happening right before our very eyes, was nothing short of a blessing to a country that has always been insecure about its place in the world, always a bridesmaid, always an understudy. But no one but Canadians fought for Canada that day. There was no British governor or French priest or American general to lead the way. Canada succeeded in the limelight, at the center of the world's stage, all by itself and in the end against great odds. They had done it. We had done it. And in the school gym that day, I felt as though I had done it. It was to me a gift then. And it is a gift that is still with me all these years later.

In case you don't already know, that day all of Canada was watching a hockey game. A hockey game. The final game of the 1972 Summit Series, a bright idea forged by hockey executives to bring together some of Canada's best players to play against Soviet stars in an eight-game exhibition series. Four games would be played first in Canadian cities--Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. Then the teams would go to the Soviet Union for four games. It was supposed to be a branch of détente but it became a bloody fight. By the time the series got to Game 8, it was tied 3-3-1. The Canadians, facing the biggest home-ice disadvantage in history, didn't just win the game in the last seconds. They won it after trailing, they won it after controversy, they won it in a way even the cheesiest novelist would never have dared to imagine. You couldn't make it up. And yet it happened. And we all saw it.

A million words already have been written about this and there isn't much more I can add. It is all Canada has been talking about this past month, as one anniversary after another from the Series is replayed and honored. There are thousands of web pages and links and videos where you can chronicle it all. For the past 40 years, in fact, Canadians have celebrated this team, this series, this game and this result. It is one of the few things during that time, indeed during the nearly 150 years of Confederation, that has bound the country together, French and English, Montreal and Toronto, for the miracle that day was forged by Quebecois and Western Canadian boys alike.