Looking Back at the First Canada-USA World Junior Hockey Game

Originally written in 2005

By Lucas Aykroyd

The first time Canada played the USA at a World Junior tournament, the Montreal Canadiens were the reigning Stanley Cup champions, Dark Side of the Moon was the hot new album from Pink Floyd, Pierre Trudeau was the Prime Minister of Canada, and Richard Nixon was the President of the United States.

In December 1973, six junior national teams convened in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the Soviet Union for an unofficial, invitation-only competition: Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, the Soviet Union, Sweden, and the USA.

Canada sent the OHA’s Peterborough Petes, coached by Roger Neilson, featuring such future NHLers as forwards Doug Jarvis and Stan Jonathan and defenceman Doug Halward, while the other countries used all-star squads.

Canada’s opener was against the USA on the 28th. Bill Evo of the Petes scored the winning goal with just eight seconds left, putting a slapper past USA goalie Dave Heitz to secure a 5-4 victory.

Ironically, Evo was American-born, hailing from Detroit. He would score two more game-winners in this tournament. Today, the 51-year-old is a lawyer and serves as an officer with the Detroit Red Wings alumni, although he never played an NHL game.

Jarvis, who became the NHL’s all-time “Iron Man” with 964 consecutive games played between 1975 and 1987, notched his second goal of the game for Canada on a penalty shot in the third period to spark his team’s comeback from a 4-2 deficit.

Also scoring for Canada were Gord Duncan and Paul McIntosh. The latter played 48 NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres and later coached the OHL’s London Knights.

Jim Warner, Steve Short, Tom Ulseth, and John Shewchuk replied for the Americans. Warner played 32 NHL games with Hartford, while Short appeared in five games with L.A. and one with Detroit.