For the first time, the best players from the world’s best hockey countries – Canada, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Finland, Sweden and the US competed in an international tournament. Canada was naturally considered the team to beat. Led by legendary coach Scotty Bowman, the team included such all-stars as Phil Esposito, Guy Lafleur, Marcel Dionne, Darryl Sittler, Bobby Hull, Denis Potvin and the great Bobby Orr in his last hockey tournament. It’s one of the greatest showdowns in hockey history as the Canadians faced Leafs legend Borje Salming, Vladimir Dzurilla, Victor Zhluktov, Matti Hagman, Alexander Maltsev and Milan Novy on the opposing teams.

Games included:

• Sept 5, 1976 Canada vs USA
• Sept 7, 1976 Canada vs Sweden
• Sept 9, 1976 Canada vs Czechoslovakia
• Sept 11, 1976 Canada vs Russia
• Sept 13, 1976 Canada vs Czechoslovakia
• Sept 15, 1976 Canada vs Czechoslovakia

Special Features:

• Commentary by Hockey Hall of Famers Bobby Clarke and Denis Potvin
• French documentary
• Original programme
• Statistics package
• Photo gallery

"A new four-disc collection, titled Canada Cup 1976, presents six of the seven games involving Canada. The footage has been restored, but some of it is still grainy. The games, featuring a star-studded Canadian Lineup, including Bobby Orr and Bobby Hull, are fascinating." -- Bill Houston The Globe & Mail

My Coupe Runneth Over

by Bill Scheft

Why are you reading when Video Service Corp has filled in all the colors of the hockey rainbow?

Take your memory for the least resistant of jogs and see the finest hockey team ever assembled, as they played, in real time, in a full six-game tableau of power, speed, finesse and dominance in a long-forsaken era devoid of clutching and grabbing and with goalie pads smaller than strap-on kayaks. Team Canada ’76 was as good as we thought, as good as we insisted. And nearly 30 years later, we have Exhibits A, B, C and D.

And much more. Don’t miss… Tournament MVP Bobby Orr, in the last indelible moments of his ice age, playing chess with the puck while the world plays checkers. Oh yeah, and on one leg….A thin Lou Nanne….Borje Salming fighting back tears during a standing ovation at Maple Leaf Gardens….All the Stastnys – Peter, Marian, Bohuslav and Fredo….Bobby Hull and his CCM hairplugs….The Soviets not making the final. Do you believe in hubris? Yesss!!!…Guy LaFleur playing a man down years before he became a spokesman for Viagra….Some jerk screaming “Atta boy, Johnny, hit em!” who sounds a lot like Don Cherry…

The bonus cuts are equally stirring. Present-day reminiscences from, OT-tucking hero Darryl Sittler, Bobby Clarke and Denis Potvin with gleeful insight and no chippiness. Two hour-long documentaries (French and English) fill in the gaps. Sadly, the French documentary has a full eight-minutes of post-game commentary from Alan Eagleson, somehow out of handcuffs. All that, and a pocket-size reprint of the original program, great for settling arguments on the go.

“Canada Cup ’76” should be required viewing for anyone under the age of 35 – provided you can pry it away from anyone over the age of 35. So vivid, you’ll swear you smell something during the final postgame handshake line sweater exchange with the Czechs .

At the beginning of each disc, Video Service Corp. runs a gentle disclaimer about the occasional sound and visual texture glitches in its frame by frame restoration of this long-salivated for footage. They have absolutely nothing to apologize for. This thing is flawed like the Venus de Milo.