Legendary coach Scotty Bowman headlines Order of Hockey in Canada class of 2017
Scotty Bowman had coached nine NHL seasons and won two titles by the time he was tasked with leading his country at the 1976 Canada Cup.
The teams set to face Canada that September, including the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, played and practised together year-round, while Bowman’s NHL stars had little time to prepare by comparison.
But what Bowman did have was what he believes to be the best group of defencemen ever assembled.
“When I look back at many of the records of teams that have played, and some that I even coached, I go back to a defence corps that will never ever be duplicated,” said Bowman. “There was Serge Savard, Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe, and also Bobby Orr and Denis Potvin.