Customer Reviews

Canada Cup 1976

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Exelent. We could viev all the famous big stars of hockey from the 70`s. This is hockey the way it should be played still. F.B

Even worse than the quality of the video (OK, I get it was 1976 but it's just average as far as '70s hockey pic quality on some of the games) is the skewed focus on the tournament itself? I am Canadian (no, this is not a segue into a Molson Chemical Swill commercial), but let's see some of the other non-Team Canada games, too. I want the Finland 8-Sweden 6 full highlights at least! I mean, playing in Winnipeg in 1976 where guys like the New York Rangers' Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson were making their return to the city where they began their North American pro careers. Sweden 2-Czech 1: A come-from-behind win in the third period on two Borje Salming goals. Czech 4-USA 4: A game that had six goals in one period.

Sure, I want the focus on Canada but it's a "Canada Cup '76" DVD, and it should not just be on "Team Canada '76."

Totally bogus and hugely disappointing despite my being a huge Bobby Orr fan and I did enjoy seeing how good he was on basically one good leg by 1976.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching the actual games, but I wanted to see the entire tournament not just the Team Canada games. (In fact back in 1976 I seem to recall paying a whopping $15 a month [equivalent to over $47 in 2010 dollars] for TSN which started just so I could see the other games.)

The box set comes with a mini-reproduction of the bilingual 1976 Canada Cup program and has some very cool vintage color pics.
There are two different slide covers (one with Orr and Denis Potvin, the other with Bobby Clarke and Darryl Sittler). The discs inside are exactly the same so don't go crazy and buy both box sets thinking you're getting something different with each.
The games on the set are:
Canada vs. USA, Sweden, Czechoslovakia (group game + the two in the Final) and USSR. The bonus feature includes both the English and French versions of the documentary on the tournament and luckily both have slightly different highlights.

This rating of 5 is only for the fact that this is being released.
Wonderful to see more and more of the Canada Cup games available on DVD.
The incomparable 1972 series (series of the Century) was released a little while ago, and the 1987 Canada Cup as well. (though these were only the 3 final games and one highlight DVD - wish the whole series was available, too) and one highlight of the 1991 (Lords of the Ice) (would love to see at least the final round on this). This 1976 series was wonderful, with Booby Orr playing and... I won't tell you the rest, for those who've never seen it. Let's hope the 1974 Canada (WHA) - Russia summit will be done soon, though since it's not the NHL, we never know....
Eventually, all will be on DVD... hopefully.
I haven't seen that set on disc, yet, but no matter what's on the disc, I am just grateful they decided to release this...
Thank you very much!

a trip down memory lane which never grows old. orr at his semi-best,espo on his game and a team of super stars,some hall of fame...some not, make for a great day of highlight reel hockey. watch this once, you'll watch it again.

Yes, the video and audio quality is degraded and there are gaps, but none that are too obvious.

Either the original video direction was quite bad, or the current editors used play break footage (of takes of pretty girls or dignitaries) to cover up gaps or bad video sections in gameplay footage.

Having said that, most of the series was very entertaining... except for the Canada-Sweden game, which was a real snorer(I literally fell asleep twice while trying to get through that game). The late game action in the 2nd Czech game was as good as it gets.

This was Bobby Orr's swansong appearance, and there are a number of glimpses of his greatness... as one of the players said of his performance in the series; "He played better on one leg than the rest of us did on two". There are times when I see Orr "standing around"... and yet the puck would come right to him - this guy had an amazing hockey sense.

Top 5 stars for the series:

1) Barber's overtime game winner.
2) Orr's backhand goal around the middle of the 2nd Czech game.
3) Orr's point-shot goal in the top-left corner, against a screened goalie.
4) LaFluer's first goal in the series (he had been stymied by everyone previously).
5) Clarke tucking in a very important goal at close range (this little guy had a gameplayer's heart the size of Lake Ontario).

Some side comments...

1) Why didn't Cheevers get more playing time?
2) Why weren't there more than 2 WHA players on Team Canada? Paul Shmyr could have certainly played on this team, and as I recall, "Shakey" Walton had had another good year the year before... all the good foriegn WHA players on the non-Team Canada team show how out-of-date the NHL was at the time - Anders Hedberg was in better shape than anybody in this series.
3) Marcel Dionne, in general, had a bad series, and only showed brief periods of his playmaking and goal-scoring capabilities.
4) It took Team Canada a number of games to get their stride, and they did not play well as a team in the first half of the series.
5) Bobby Hull, while past his prime, had a decent series, and was fun to watch on his up-rink dashes, which would alway get a rise from the crowd.

quality is from 1976, you have to remember that when viewing the disc but if you a hockey fan you'll enjoy every minute of the games - i also have the 1972 russian/team canada disc and remember watching the games on tv (after midnight) - the games from russia being sent over to north america - the picture would go out but you could still hear the game

Just got this product which is a must for any hockey fan who enjoys classic hockey. This DVD features a who's who of classic hockey players from a era long gone in professional hockey. Worth it to see Esposito, Orr, Hull, and Potvin among others in their prime.