Coach John Henderson; Dangerously Brilliant or What?

And now the Canadians become totally unglued. Esposito rakes Ragulin and cuts him open and gets a major, Ferguson goes apeshit on the bench and earns them another two.

That, my friends, is what happened in the 2nd period of the 6th game of the 1972 Summit Series when viewed calmly and rationally through a lens 38 years long.

Now imagine its Monday afternoon, September 25, 1972.  A local lad has just left a copy of the Edmonton Journal on the front porch.

While dinner is being prepared, you sit down and turn quickly to the sports pages.  The little lady brings you a rye and coke.

How does the Canadian Press article on Page 1 of the The Sport Pages describe that series of events?

"Near the end of the unruly second period, 230 pound defenseman Alexander Ragulin knocked down Canadian Captain Phil Espoito, and then sent him down again when the forward got to his feet.
Esposito was surprisingly penalized for High Sticking and when the NHL stars swarmed around the referee to question the call, Baader called a two-minute Bench Penalty on the Canadians for interference."

The same article also noted that Kharmolov broke Clarke's stick, not Clarke's stick Kharmolov's ankle.  The writer didn't understand why Clarke got 10 for having a broken stick.

On Page 3, veteran Southam sports columnist, Jim Coleman also discussed the two West German refs.  He thought "their officiating verged on the imbecilic".  Though he was gracious enough to "acknowledge freely that the Canadians deserved most of the penalties they received."

Meanwhile, they're swooning over Pierre Trudeau as the Federal election campaign swings through Nova Scotia - Trudeaumania says the headline.

You ask the Wife to bring another rye and coke, a double this time.