The Toronto Star
January 2, 1988
Jubilant juniors wipe slate clean in nailbiter win
By Frank Orr
MOSCOW - For 365 days it had stuck in Theoren Fleury's craw, a burr that simply couldn't be
expunged by time or the good things that happened to him in Canadian junior hockey.
Greg Hawgood had much the same sort of year after what happened in Piestany, Czechoslovakia,
a year ago yesterday. But he confesses to forgetting about it for large stretches of time.
Fleury and Hawgood, plus Chris Joseph and goalie Jimmy Waite, were members of Canada's national
junior team in the 1986 world championship. They were playing the Soviet Union team on New Year's
Day and, if they won the match and scored five goals, they would become world junior champs.
The Canucks had a 4-2 lead in the second period and were in control of the game when "it"
happened. An innocent looking scuffle between Canadian defenceman Everett Sanipass and a Soviet
lad escalated into a fight, a much-scorned feature in international hockey and, in a move the
Canadians involved claimed was choreographed carefully by the comrades, two Soviet players left
the bench to join the fight. All players on both teams were on the ice and involved very quickly.
Both clubs slapped
The result? The game was suspended and both teams were kicked out of the tournament.
The coaches and players on both teams were suspended from international competition for 18
months, although the players' sentence was later reduced to probation.
"For a year I've figured the Russians took away something very special that belonged to me -
the world championship gold medal," said Fleury, the 5-foot-5, 150-pound captain of the
Canadian team, who is the leading scorer in the Western Hockey League for Moose Jaw Canucks.
Fleury and the other three veterans of last year's debacle regained a big part of what they
lost yesterday here when they edged the Soviet team 3-2 to take over the lead in the '88 world
junior championship. To collect the gold medal the undefeated (one tie) Canadians must beat West
Germany and Poland in their last two games.
Monkey off back
"It hasn't hit me yet because the past seven days have gone so fast," Fleury said. "But when
it does it's going to be a big load off my back because it has bugged me for a year. Really
badly, too, sometimes.
"I didn't think I would get another for a while there because in training camp I figured I had
a small chance to make the Calgary Flames. But when I went back to junior I dedicated myself to
playing the Russians again and getting revenge. I didn't mean beating them up, just beating
them on the scoreboard."
Fleury was fortunate to be around for the finish, when he missed an empty Soviet net by a few
inches. Late in the period a Soviet speared him hard in the groin and he spent a lot of time
on the ice while his body took a vote on whether to survive.
"That guy got me good where the sun doesn't shine," Fleury said.