1972 - Vancouver Boos the National Team

On Sept. 8, 1972 the behavior of Vancouver-based hockey fans is the story (and not for the last time).

In Game 4 of the Summit Series between the Soviet Red Army and a team composed of Canadian-born NHL all-stars, the U.S.S.R. emerges victorious with a 5-3 victory to seize a 2-1-1 lead in the series. During the game, the crowd serenades the underachieving home team with boos, prompting Phil Esposito to "rally the nation" with a rousing, emotional post game speech.

"It was a turning point for you guys, it wasn't a turning point for us," Esposito tells the media nearly 40 years later. "Half the guys never even heard it. I didn't even see it until a decade later...It was a turning point for the fans, I guess."

Continues Esposito 40 years later: "I almost swore twice during [the speech], no doubt about that, and it was because four or five young guys standing by the Zamboni entrance yelling that communism is better and stuff, I almost threw a stick at them like it was a spear. Communism is not better. Period."

Birthdays

1930 - Jack McIntyre

1945 - Roggie Vachon

1964 - Norm Maciver

1978 - Marco Sturm

1985 - Teddy Purcell

1992 - Nino Niederreiter