Paul Henderson visits Kitchener
Posted Feb 19, 2011 06:02:26 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
As hockey legend Paul Henderson peers in at the glass encased jersey he wore during the 1972 Summit Series, he can’t help but feel baffled.
“What’s going through my head is that this thing sold for 1.27 million dollars, that’s worth more than my house…My grandkids tell me why didn’t you keep it, you idiot?” he says with a laugh.
Henderson visited Kitchener on Saturday, along with his very expensive jersey that was auctioned off last year. The jersey is now making its way across Canada as part of The Henderson Jersey Homecoming Tour. Henderson, the jersey and a truck load of memorabilia will be making several more visits to Ontario cities before heading across the prairies and British Columbia.
Henderson told Waterloo Region fans how pleased he was to be in such a great hockey city as Kitchener. It’s a special place to him, he says.
“I won the Memorial Cup in Kitchener back in 1962, so a lot of good memories with Kitchener in my background.”
That good feeling seemed to be mutual among the fans at the Jersey Tour. For Paul Moser, he’ll always remember watching the winning goal in school.
“When I was 12, I was in a cafeteria with hundreds of other students when he scored the goal,” Moser says. “Everyone went crazy. Since that day I’ve wanted to meet him.”
Henderson was the main attraction while he was at the event for a couple of hours. The jersey was also of course a big draw for fans. But for Patty Ray of Waterloo Region, the big screen televisions playing the winning goal were even more meaningful.
“Just watching people rejoicing after the winning goal, that’s the part that gives you the chills,” Ray says.
The Summit Series basically started as a political exhibition between Canada and the Soviet Union. The game is one of the most dramatic in Canadian history.
