1974: The Forgotten Summit Series, captained by Pat Stapleton​​

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It’s been called the Forgotten Summit Series. After being snubbed in the 1972 Canada-Soviet series, which featured only NHL players, the WHA organized their own two years later.

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Pat Stapleton was one of three players who skated in both. The other two were Frank Mahovlich and Paul Henderson, the hero in 1972 who scored the series-winning goal in the dying moments of the final game.

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The 1974 games were filled with drama, superb play by the Soviets, and controversy about the quality of officiating. However, it failed to match the excitement of 1972, with the Soviets winning four games. Three ended in a tie and Canada only won the one in Toronto.

 

In the first series, the NHL had refused to let those who had jumped to the WHA take part. This included superstar Bobby Hull, who had signed a $2.75 million contract to join the Winnipeg Jets. The NHL was doing its best to sabotage the league and put an end to the competition. It barred WHA players from prestigious events like the Summit Series.

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Two years later, the WHA seized the opportunity to showcase their talents. The team included Kingston’s Rick Smith, who won a Stanley Cup with Boston before joining the upstart league’s Chicago Cougars.

 

“All of us recognized that this was a chance for the WHA to make a positive impression,” recalls Smith. “We knew it was important for the success of the league.”

 

Stapleton, who was named the WHA’s top defenceman the previous season, served as team captain in the 1974 series. He played in seven of the games and collected three assists.

 

Smith describes Stapleton as a quiet leader who rallied the younger players on the WHA squad. “He was so well-respected that we were glad to follow him.” 

 

Going into the series, the WHA squad was aware it would be challenging. “We knew we were the underdogs,” Smith says.

 

Team Canada had some marquee stars, including Hull, who was the leading scorer for the team with seven goals and two assists.

 

However, the Soviets were in fabulous condition and trained together – most of the players belonged to the Red Army team. Some of the WHA stars were getting long in the tooth, with Hull playing at age 35 and the legendary Gordie Howe at 46. Howe’s sons Marty and Mark also skated for Canada.

 

“With his boys, Howe was like a mama bear protecting his cubs,” says Smith.

 

The 1974 series was filled with bad blood. The Canadians complained that the Soviet secret police were spying on them and that their hotel rooms were bugged. Some players received mysterious middle-of-the-night phone calls intended to intimidate them and disturb their sleep. They proved that their rooms were being searched by placing hair strands on dresser drawers – which had moved when they returned to their hotel rooms.

 

While he did not skate in the summit series, Kingston’s Ron Plumb remembers playing against Stapleton in the WHA.

 

“He was such a calming experience in the dressing room and on the bench,” he says. Team management would often reach out to him for advice. Known as Whitey for his white hair, Stapleton was a “Steady Eddie” according to Plumb.

 

Stapleton joined the Bruins in 1961-62 and the following season was assigned to the Kingston Frontenacs in the Eastern Professional Hockey League.

 

Many of the Kingston players stayed at the Lucerna Hotel at the corner of Princess Street and Portsmouth Avenue. They would often cross the street to Aunt Lucy’s for a meal and a beverage.

 

Known as a prankster, Stapleton would tussle with fellow players and even the referees. At a game between Kingston and the Ottawa-Hull Canadiens, Kingston referee Art Casterton ruled a face-off should be outside the Ottawa-Hull blueline. Wren Blair, the mercurial Kingston coach, was furious and sent Stapleton over to argue the call.

Stapleton and Casterton jawed at each other for a minute or two. Then Casterton quipped: “Whitey, I saw you at Aunt Lucy’s the other night and you had more chicken in your basket than I did, so the faceoff is outside the blue line.” Stapleton cracked up, headed back to the bench while Blair went crazy, but the call stood.

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While Kingston won the EPHL championship in 1963, the league folded that summer. Stapleton would go on to play eight seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks before moving to the Chicago Cougars.

 

However, the WHA’s strategy of going head to head against NHL teams in cities like Chicago and Toronto would prove to be risky. The league went under in 1978.

Pat Stapleton died in 2020 at the age of 79. The story is that he collected the puck from Paul Henderson’s winning goal in the 1972 series, although he never confirmed this rumour.

 

“They say I have it,” he told the Toronto Sun in 2012. “We’ll keep that one going for a while.”