This is part of a series of columns by Michael Enright, reflecting his more than 50 years as a journalist and CBC broadcaster covering Canadian and global news events. Fifty years ago this month, the country pulsated with an urgency, an emotional upheaval, a national spasm of unity it hadn't felt since Expo 67.
Canada was playing hockey against the dark forces of the Soviet Union in a tournament of testing: the country that felt it held the patent on hockey as it should be played was going up against the obstreperous Russian bear.
The 1972 Summit Series was saturated in Cold War political rhetoric. It was East versus West, good versus evil, capitalism versus brute socialism.
The term Iron Curtain was still in wide usage. For a few moments, with each game in the eight-game series, ordinary life in Canada slowed down not quite to a crawl.