Lemieux and Gretzky celebrate the famous goal in the ’87 Canada Cup Final.
Those, like myself, who aren’t old enough to have lived the 1987 Canada Cup will get a second chance to see the series that many have dubbed the greatest hockey ever played. Those who were lucky enough to see it live will get a second chance. TSN is re-broadcasting each game of the 1987 Canada Cup Final between Canada and the Soviet Union this week.
Each broadcast will air in a three hour window, from 7:30pm until 10:30pm Eastern. Game 1 airs on Tuesday, September 11; Game 2 on Wednesday, September 12 and Game 3 on Thursday, September 14. For those who don’t know the results, I won’t spoil them. Game 1 was played at the Montreal Forum, with the 2nd and 3rd games at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton.
Both teams were lined with stars. Canada included Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Doug Gilmour, Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr. The Soviet team included future NHL stars (Soviets didn’t play in the NHL at the time) such as Viacheslav Fetisov, Igor Kravchuk, Igor Larionov, Valeri Kamensky, Sergei Makarov, Anatoli Semenov and Vladimir Krutov.
The games were originally broadcast on CTV with commentators Dan Kelly and Ron Reusch. Of note, Kelly died only two years later due to lung cancer. He is considered one of the greatest hockey commentators in history. TSN will supplant CTV’s original coverage with their own studio segments hosted by Mike Johnson. Mike Keenan (Canadian head coach), Larry Murphy (Canadian player) and Igor Larionov (Soviet player) will join Johnson in studio for analysis.
The coverage will be shown in re-mastered 4:3, it’s original picture format. TSN will also add a scorebug to their coverage.
A Rouge Point 
Spoiler: maybe the best three-game series of hockey ever layed
By telling us that the best-of-three series went to three games, you’ve already told us that the winner of game 1 loses game 2. :)
I wonder what they will cut out of game 2 to fit it in a three-hour window, that was a double OT game…
By the post saying three game dates on TSN scheduled, you know its going to three games……
Minor spoiler. I think most know how many games were played and who won 2 of the 3 games.
TSN didnt spoil anything dumbass, young wanna be,noobs!
it was scheduled to be a 3 game series.
first game at the Forum and two at the Copps.
I did a bit of research and am not sure if you’re actually right about this, but the 1984 and 1991 Canada Cups had best of three finals (i.e. game 3 was not played if the same team won the first two games).
Whether you’re right or wrong doesn’t give you any right to call me a dumbass or noob. Just because I wasn’t alive in 1987 doesn’t mean I don’t know hockey. Just about every other 3 game series in the history of hockey was a best-of-three. If this one was a rare exception, then sorry I was (a bit) wrong.
Doesn’t matter anyhow because nobody was blaming TSN for spoiling anything. Just a bit of joking around. Lighten up.
Let’s see. On the one hand, the Globe and Mail from September 12, 1987 (the morning after game 1) refers to the game as the first of a best-of-three series, and the statistics page clearly has game 3 as being on Tuesday September 15th at 8pm Eastern, “if necessary”. On the other hand, Ken says it was always scheduled to be a 3-game series, and he backs it up by calling someone he doesn’t know a dumbass.
While Ken makes a persuasive argument, I think I’ll go with the Globe and Mail, especially since what it published matches everyone’s memory of what happened 25 years ago.
the picture of gretzky and lemieux from above titled “the famous goal” was not the goal that won them the series in the last 2 minutes of the 3rd period in the final game.they were in the white home jerseys for the last game.and as great as the pictured goal up above was -it was nothing to when the soviet goaltender stumbled back against the crossbar when gretzky fed lemieux for the winning series goal…at least in my opinion.