{allcanada} Gretzky wanted Summit Series sequel

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Wayne Gretzky wanted a sequel to his homeland's most storied hockey showdown, the 1972 Summit Series, reports the Toronto Sun.

"My wish and dream was to eliminate the Canada Cup and do another eight-game series with Canada and the Soviet Union," Gretzky told the newspaper Monday night, after arriving in Moscow for the '72 Series' 40-year anniversary event. "I felt the NHL had expanded so much and so quickly, we could play two games in Canada, two in the U.S., two somewhere in Europe and two in Russia.

"It really was my aspiration, but I never got the opportunity."

Gretzky and Mario Lemieux memorably led Canada to a victory over the Soviet Union in the best-of-three final of the 1987 Canada Cup, but the Great One has never played a hockey game in Russia.

That will change Wednesday night in St. Petersburg, as the '87 Canada Cup acknowledges its 25th anniversary on the ice.

Gretzky leapt at the opportunity to lace up his skates in Russia, bringing friends Mark Messier and Brett Hull with him.

"I was here in '81 and did a documentary with (Vladislav) Tretiak, but I've never played hockey in Russia, and that's one of the reasons I wanted to come. I never got the chance to play here," Gretzky told the Sun. "This is going to be my chance, although I'm 51 and slow."

In the piece, Gretzky vividly recalls his experience as a youngster watching the '72 series in Technicolor.

"My next door neighbour probably had the first colour TV on the street, and my dad would let me get out of school at 12:30 and we'd go there and watch the games," said Gretzky, still in awe of Phil Esposito's play during the eight-game confrontation. "It was so emotional when we won. I was thinking about it today. There was so much friction between the United States and the Soviet Union, but the real friction was between Canada and the USSR as far as hockey supremacy. For the Canadians to come back the way they did and to win the way they did is really unique.

"It's funny, but I have the series on DVD and I was watching it this summer. My kids, who are American, really don't understand what '72 is all about. They laugh because it was the middle of July and I was watching Game 6 out of Russia."

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