TORONTO (Feb. 15) — In the Millennium of Overkill, tonight’s 4Nations encounter between Canada and the United States is being touted as the “best hockey game of all time.” Particularly among the millennials on television who aren’t even old enough to remember Sidney Crosby’s “golden goal” in 2010. To them, Mario Lemieux and Paul Henderson are mythical names from the distant past. As were the likes of Charlie Conacher, Syl Apps and Ted Kennedy to a child (me) of the 1960’s and 70’s growing up in Toronto. You can read about, or watch film/video of, any sports figure or moment beyond memory and it will not come close to personal experience. I can therefore say, without reservation, that tonight’s game at the Bell Centre will have to outstrip its hype in order to match the level of skill and animosity between the bordering countries in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

If you don’t believe me, simply ask the father of Matthew and Brady Tkachuk.

He played in that remarkable best–of–three final, contested from Sep. 10–14 in Philadelphia and Montreal. Hall–of–Famer Keith Tkachuk will quickly tell you it was the greatest moment in American hockey history, matched only by the 1980 Olympic gold medal in Lake Placid. Tonight, we have the Tkachuk boys and Auston Matthews against Crosby, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. In ’96, we had Brett Hull, Pat Lafontaine, Mike Modano and Brian Leetch against Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Steve Yzerman and Paul Coffey. With such others as Eric Lindros, Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens and Brendan Shanahan close to their primes. Any person who remembers that tournament, nearly 28½ years ago, will tell you about the decisive third match… and how it ended. Adam Foote broke a 1–1 tie for Canada with 7:10 left in regulation. It looked as if it might stand as the series winner. Only to have Hull, Tony Amonte, Darien Hatcher and Adam Deadmarsh reply astonishingly for the Americans in a span of three minutes and one second. The stunning, 5–2 victory was the most–exhilarating U.S. hockey moment since Lake Placid. Perhaps of all time, considering the caliber of the players (the 1980 Miracle on Ice was achieved by a cast of energetic college kids no one had heard of until then). How can tonight top the 1996 finish?

Can you remember the emotion that surrounded the men’s final of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City: Canada vs. USA on American soil? The game, itself, wasn’t overly memorable as Joe Sakic and Team Canada pulled away late for a 5–2 victory. Yet, it provided Canada its first Olympic men’s championship since 1952 in Oslo. At a time when our country sent its top amateur players to the Winter Games. The Salt Lake City conquest occurred among NHL professionals. When it happened, there was nothing bigger in Canadian hockey annals.

Undoubtedly, we are victims of recency bias. Particularly involving events we don’t remember. Ask a young Canadian kid today what is bigger: the 4Nations clash tonight in Montreal or Game 8 of the 1972 Canada–Russia series? The likely reply will be “what happened in 1972?” There could be greater awareness of Lemieux’s laser wrist–shot that won the 1987 Canada Cup in Hamilton, only because it occurred 15 years later. Still, that scoring connection between the two most–prolific forwards in hockey history (Gretzky to Lemieux) will not resonate among those who didn’t see it live. Or, who hadn’t yet been born. Even Crosby’s goal in Vancouver is a first–hand memory reserved for those 25 or older today. So, of course tonight’s Canada–USA battle is expected to be the “greatest hockey game” ever. None of the others were witnessed while they happened. It’s simply human nature.

The skirmish that still holds that unofficial title occurred nearly half–a–century ago: the dynastic Montreal Canadiens of Scotty Bowman against the Red Army squad of the Soviet Union. New Years Eve, 1975, at the Montreal Forum. Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Ken Dryden and Co. against most of the players (Yakushev, Maltsev, Kharlamov, Mikhailov) from the iconic 1972 tournament. It finished in a 3–3 tie only because goalies Dryden and Vladislav Tretiak were somehow able to thwart most of the immaculate rushes and passing plays in that memorable three hours. Again, young hockey fans today would need to look up the aforementioned names.

It’s kind of like marveling over the current stars of the NHL, a number of whom will play tonight in Montreal. For a teenager, how can anything top McDavid in full flight? Or Leon Draisaitl one–timing a McDavid pass in Edmonton? Here in Toronto, it’s Matthews scoring like no other Leafs player in history. Has there ever been a more–skilled duo on the same team as MacKinnon and Cale Makar in Denver? There’s lots to love about today’s NHL and its players’ involvement in international events. But, you have to remember: I saw Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux during the height of their careers. Live and in person. Arguably the three most–influential figures in NHL history. It isn’t particularly easy to “wow” me anymore. I was 13 years old and watching on a black–and–white TV with “rabbit ears” the day Paul Henderson beat Tretiak in the final minute to capture the 1972 summit series. From inside my Music room at Dufferin Heights Junior High School. This was the tournament that began everything we see today — the first event pitting Canadian NHL pros against the best of the old Soviet Union.

At a time when the Cold War, with its material nuclear threat, was raging across the globe.

Nothing before, or since, has been as groundbreaking for the sport. Or, as intoxicationg for a resident of Canada. Not Lemieux. Not Crosby (games I covered in person). Not even Darryl Sittler, my No. 1 hockey hero, winning the inaugural Canada Cup (in 1976) with an overtime score against Czechoslovakia. When I tell you the entire country stopped in its tracks on that Thursday afternoon in September, nearly 52½ years ago, there is not a sliver of exaggeration. Truth be known, only once have I felt the same euphoria after a Team Canada hockey triumph. When Paul Coffey broke up an ominous 2–on–1 break by the Russians in overtime of the 1984 Canada Cup semifinal. At the Calgary Saddledome. The host country went the other way and scored: Mike Bossy tipping in Coffey’s point shot. I went nuts. It reminded me of 12 years earlier, in Moscow. Vanquishing those hated Soviets.

So, tonight may in fact be the “greatest hockey game ever” for young people who cannot recall events of the past half–century that shaped the 4Nations. For an old fart like me, nothing can equal that moment in my Music class, 52 Septembers ago. Paul Henderson is my forever hockey God. Recency bias doesn’t stand a chance.

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