For this evening’s hockey viewing pleasure, in its entirety (old school commercials and all), we bring you a New Year’s Eve World Junior Hockey classic from 1977 between Team Canada and Team CSSR (Czechoslovakia) featuring two future Edmonton Oilers, a 16yr old by the name of Wayne Gretzky and another teenager called Miroslav Frycer.
Gretzky only played in one of these tournaments, but he ended it by leading the competition in scoring with 17 points (8g 9a) and being awarded forward of the tournament. He was also named to the Media All-Star team alongside Alexander Tyzhnykh (G), Risto Siltanen (D), Slava Fetisov, Anton Stastny (F), and Mats Naslund (F).
There’s a rumor out there that Gretzky might not have even been invited to the Team Canada selection camp if Bill Derlago, who scored 96 goals the previous season with the Brandon Wheat Kings, didn’t break his leg a month before the start of the tournament.
I bet Hockey Canada is glad they did invite him though…
Other names you’ll notice in this particular game that you’re about to watch are Wayne Babych, Rick Vaive, Mike Gartner, Bobby Smith, as well as Anton Stastny for the Czechs.
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I hope you enjoy the game!
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