A sold-out crowd at the Perth Studio Theatre last night gave a standing ovation to the world premiere of ‘Ice-Breaker: The ’72 Summit Series’ – a film that celebrates the 50-year anniversary of the iconic Canada-Russia hockey series.
The 90-minute documentary is based in part on a ‘behind-the-scenes’ book by Perth author Gary Smith entitled “Ice War Diplomat: Hockey Meets Cold War Politics at the 1972 Summit Series”. Smith worked at the Canadian embassy in Russia at the time and helped arrange the Summit Series.
Along with Smith, the film features authentic footage from the games, plus interviews with hockey legends Wayne Gretzky and Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak among others. More than 150 million Russians and 16 million Canadians watched the series’ final game in Moscow featuring the infamous goal by Paul Henderson.
Smith, along with Co-producer Peter Raymont, Director/Co-producer Robbie Hart, Canadian political cartoonist Terry Mosher and writer Roy MacGregor were in attendance at the premiere.
The film runs again today (Wed. Sept. 7th ) at 2 and 7:30pm at the Perth Studio Theatre before moving on to Ottawa and then to Toronto for the ‘Hot Docs’ Film Festival.
(Story by Brian Perkin)
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