Retiring No. 19 a fitting tribute to Team Canada ’72, Henderson

Paul Henderson’s No. 19 should be retired from all of Canada’s men’s national hockey teams.

It`s not going to happen on this, the 50^th anniversary of Team Canada’s epic win in the Summit Series on Sept. 28, 1972.

Nor should it.

Hockey Canada, the sport’s governing body responsible for national teams, has far more urgent priorities today, tomorrow, next week and for many months to come.

To wit, the next round of hearings for the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage is scheduled for Oct. 4 in Ottawa.

But eventually – once Hockey Canada gets its house in order – retiring No. 19 would be the right thing to do.

Team Canada’s victory in 1972 was so seismic, so consequential, so far-reaching in its ripple effect that it deserves something tangible, something iconic, something forever.

Taking 19 out of circulation – it’s understood that it would be the first such number – is just such a gesture.

First and foremost, it would honour all of Team Canada ’72, creating a virtual link to a team that recorded the most Canadian win ever (and all the good and bad that entails).

Second, it would honour Henderson’s historic contribution.

Make no mistake, Henderson was not Canada’s best player – that was Phil Esposito – but Henderson was the premier goal-getter, scoring in six of eight games, including three straight winners in Moscow, the last of which decided the greatest hockey series ever.

“Henderson made a wild stab,” said Foster Hewitt. “Here’s another shot, right in front. Scores! Henderson has scored for Canada!”

It is the soundtrack of a generation of Canadians.

Some half a century later, it remains the most important team triumph in Canadian hockey history and the most memorable individual triumph.

No. 19’s goal at 19:26 of the third period of Game 8 was the goal heard round the hockey world.

“This was Canada versus Europe, so in that respect that goal was the most important goal in hockey ever,” says Swedish great Anders Hedberg, who played against Team Canada in a pair of games in Stockholm before the Summit Series moved to Moscow

You have heard of measuring-stick games, this was a measuring-stick series – a referendum on whether big time hockey existed on the (other) continent.

The answer was a resounding yes and all of hockey was a winner over those 27 days.

There have been gigantic wins since then – Canada vs. USSR in Canada Cup ’87 and Canada vs. USA in the 2010 Olympics – but none has resonated like Summit Series ’72.

Hockey’s philosopher king Ken Dryden said it best: The true measure of historic events is twofold – the original sound and the echo that reverberates in the future.

For those weary of an aging media celebrating a shinny showdown you did not experience, don’t let Summit Series fatigue keep you from understanding – intellectually, if not emotionally – the significance of what transpired in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Moscow and how it held a country in its grip.

Retiring one sweater number – 19 - is a tribute to all the Team Canada sweater numbers – 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17,18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33, 35.

Henderson is the face of those numbers.

Whether Henderson had a Hall of Fame career – if not as a player, perhaps as a builder – is a matter of endless debate but one thing is for sure: he had a Hall of Fame September, 1972, in what was a series for the ages.

For that, he and his teammates deserve an everlasting monument to their place in hockey history.