Sittler, 1976 Canada Cup hero, excited for 4 Nations Face-Off 

The hat trick, of sorts, was one for the ages, 12 goals scored in three games spanning seven months against three very different opponents.

On Feb. 7, 1976, Toronto Maple Leafs captain Darryl Sittler scored six goals with four assists against the Boston Bruins, his 10-point game at Maple Leaf Gardens still an NHL record.

On April 22, Sittler scored five times in a Stanley Cup Playoff game against the Flyers in Philadelphia, equaling a postseason record that had been set in 1944 by Montreal Canadiens legend Maurice "Rocket" Richard.

Then in overtime on Sept. 15, with the Rocket in the Montreal Forum that he'd made as famous as slugger Babe Ruth had fashioned Yankee Stadium, Sittler scored the 1976 Canada Cup-clinching goal for Canada against Czechoslovakia, setting off a wild celebration in the arena and well beyond.

The 1976 tournament was the world's first best-on-best multi-nation event that included professional players, Sittler's championship-clinching goal an exclamation mark in Canadian hockey lore.

Darryl Sittler raises his stick after having scored the overtime championship-clinching goal in the 1976 Canada Cup, Czechoslovakia goalie Vladimir Dzurilla and backchecking forward Marian Stastny sprawling in vain.

This week in Florida, visiting his family, Sittler will be tuned to the 4 Nations Face-Off when play begins at Montreal's Bell Centre with teams from Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden. He'll be savoring the memory of scoring the Canada Cup winning goal but, of greater personal importance, cherishing the privilege of having been selected to play for his native country almost a half-century ago.

"I'll be following the games with interest, for sure, like all hockey fans," Sittler said in recent conversation. "The competitive juices get going when everyone's representing their country."

In the chaos of Canada's Forum dressing room that September night, Sittler took stock of his teammates – himself and 17 others eventually bound for Hockey Hall of Fame induction – and tried to find perspective.

"I've always remembered the way I felt when I saw Team Canada against the Russians at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1972 (Game 2 of the historic Summit Series)," he told reporters. "When they played the national anthem, it made chills go up my spine.

Darryl Sittler stands between goalie Rogie Vachon, voted most valuable player of Team Canada, and Czechoslovakia's Peter Stastny during the championship game of the 1976 Canada Cup.

"For me, it was a thrill just to be chosen as one of the 25 guys on this (Canada Cup) club. Look at the players in this room. I'm honored to just be here. Then to score a goal like this, well, it's just unbelievable."

Sittler was an improbable hero that night, having been used much of the tournament by coach Scotty Bowman – Team Canada's 19th Hall of Famer – on a checking line with Bob Gainey and Lanny McDonald.

Canada was in the driver's seat in the friendly, raucous Forum, having defeated Czechoslovakia 6-0 two nights earlier in Toronto to open the best-of-three Final, but the plucky visitor wasn't going to skate quietly into the night.

Tied 4-4 after 60 minutes, a loss for Canada in Game 2 would have forced sudden-death two nights later, a dangerous, distasteful thought before the start of overtime.

Darryl Sittler (right) and Team USA's Alan Hangsleben during a round-robin game of the 1976 Canada Cup at the Montreal Forum.

Don Cherry, with Bowman, Al MacNeil and Bobby Kromm one of the home country's four coaches, arrived in the dressing room, having been scouting from the press box. He reminded players that Vladimir Dzurilla, the colorful Czechoslovak goalie, had a tendency to come far out of his net to challenge shooters.

Sittler chuckles at the memory.

"Not to steal Don Cherry's thunder, because you never want to do that, but we'd talked about Dzurilla before Don mentioned him," he said. "He was phenomenal in the tournament, that's how the Czechs got to the Final. He was the difference. They had a good team, but everyone expected the Russians to be there, right?"

Sittler had been used by Bowman not at his usual center position, but on left wing. With three goals and two assists in six games and three periods of a seventh, there was no suggestion that he might be the night's hero.

"I was on the ice in overtime with Marcel (Dionne) and Lanny," he recalled. "Marcel threw the puck over to me, I went down the left wing, looked up and sure enough, Dzurilla was coming out of his net. I made a little deke to my left, and I had an empty net."

Former Toronto Maple Leafs captains Darryl Sittler (center), Doug Gilmour (left) and Wendel Clark pose before the 2017 Rogers NHL Centennial Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and the Maple Leafs at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium on Dec. 31, 2016.

Sittler buried the shot, Dzurilla and frantically backchecking forward Marian Stastny sprawled out of position, and the celebration was on.

Spontaneously, Canadian forward Peter Mahovlich pulled off his sweater and traded it with a Czechoslovak player. Goalies Dzurilla and Rogie Vachon of Canada quickly traded theirs.

"We all followed suit," Sittler said. "I ended up getting Bohuslav Ebermann's No. 25 when I gave him mine. We skated around proudly with the Canadian flag, some guys wearing their Czech jerseys, some just in shoulder pads. That was a special moment for all of us."

The new Canada Cup trophy was presented to team captain Bobby Clarke by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Sittler, who was named to the tournament's all-star team and voted player of the game for his clinching goal, offered a soapstone carving on Forum ice by Maurice Richard.

At Maple Leaf Gardens the following day and for the next week, switchboard operators answered the phone not with the arena's name, but with "Home of Darryl Sittler."

Darryl Sittler featured in Canada Post's 2016 Great Canadian Forwards stamp series, coincidentally issued 40 years to the month after Sittler's Canada Cup heroics.

Beyond instant national hero status, Sittler enjoyed something else: Maple Leafs coach Red Kelly gave him and McDonald, his dear friend then a Toronto teammate, a short break before they were expected to report to training camp. Sittler, his late wife, Wendy, and McDonald and his wife,

Ardell, headed northwest to Parry Sound, Ontario, to a small lodge to go fishing.

"Lanny didn't catch anything and I didn't catch a lot, but he's from Alberta where they don't do as much fishing as we do in Ontario," Sittler joked. "We had a wonderful time. Lanny and I and our wives had become close friends, as you do when you go through the playoffs, tournaments and trades together.

"All these years later we're still very close. Lanny and I have a lot of respect for each other, even though we're miles apart and sometimes don't see each other for a while. When we get back together, it's just a chemistry that's everlasting. And we never take it for granted."

Ten weeks after the championship game, the NHL season well underway, Sittler was among a group of Canada Cup players invited to a cocktail reception at 24 Sussex Drive, the official Ottawa residence of Pierre Trudeau and his wife, Margaret, then a gala dinner in a Parliament Hill ballroom.

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Darryl Sittler during a game at St. Louis Arena on March 15, 1977.

Sittler can still recall a young boy in pajamas, a month before his fifth birthday, sitting on the stairs in the Trudeau home, dazzled by the hockey heroes in his midst.

"And now Justin Trudeau is prime minister," he said.

Asked to say a few words at dinner on behalf of his team, Sittler took the advice of Canadian Senator Keith Davey to speak of the diversity of the roster.

"I spoke about this team being from all parts of Canada, French and English, east and west, united to win this tournament for the country," said Sittler, another standing ovation greeting him.

Almost a half-century later, Sittler will settle in front of his TV and watch the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Darryl Sittler speaks Feb. 2, 2024, at the NHL All-Star Future Goals Kids Day presented by SAP at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre during the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend.

"The reality as you know is that other countries have caught up," he said, Canada no longer the game's sole superpower.

"There's more parity in these international tournaments than ever before. We still feel we can win and should win, but I think people respect how great the United States is, and the Swedes and Finns, too.

"I never experienced being on a Stanley Cup team, but to be on that Canada Cup club in 1976 is something I'll never forget. Thirty-five guys went to training camp and they cut 10, so just to be part of the 25 was a great honor.

"It remains with me to this day. I'm introduced as the guy who scored a record 10 points in a game, and also the guy who scored the winning goal for his country in the Canada Cup. Of all that I achieved in my career, the creme de la creme is still winning that tournament. There is no greater honor than being asked to play for your country."

Top photo: Darryl Sittler accepts a soapstone carving from Montreal Canadiens legend Maurice Richard at the Montreal Forum on Sept. 15, 1976, after Sittler was named Team Canada's player of the game for his championship-clinching goal in the Canada Cup tournament.