Ice War Diplomat

June 13, 2022
Canadian diplomat Smith debuts with a nostalgic account of the 1972 hockey series between Canada and the Soviet Union. He describes the “ugly bickering, bad feelings and raw emotion” between Team Canada’s roster of NHL professionals, who were expected to dominate, and the Soviet “amateurs,” who had Politburo backing and home advantage in the final four games of the eight-game series (the first four games were played in Canada). Off the ice, the stakes were even higher, as Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau seized on the series as a way to “move beyond” a strict nuclear containment policy and “improve bilateral relations.” Claiming that life as a diplomat in Moscow in the 1970s “was akin to living in an intense pressure cooker,” Smith details entrapment ploys by KGB agents, awkward encounters with ordinary Russians, and “blow off steam” as a member of the embassy’s hockey and broomball teams. He also recounts negotiations with his Soviet counterparts over everything from press coverage to ice thickness and the criticism Team Canada took for its roster selection. The story gets bogged down by diplomatic protocols, but comes alive when Smith narrates the on-ice action, including Canada’s series-clinching win in Game Eight. This is an appealing account of sports diplomacy in action.

Starred review from August 1, 2022

Former ambassador Smith has elegantly assembled an honest and uplifting sports history that represents a rare insider view of the diplomacy process and its successes and failures during the Cold War. In 1972, a team of Canadian hockey players and a team of the then USSR hockey players were assembled to play an epic eight-game series titled the Summit Series. Created to build better international relationships between the two countries, it was ultimately successful. Now, it is often remembered fondly as the beginning of a grand historical bond between the two nations. Just prior to this series, Smith began his 30-year career as a Canadian diplomat, receiving his first assignment at his country's embassy in Moscow, Russia. Among other duties, he was given the awesome task of working to make the series a reality. VERDICT Readers, especially history and hockey fans, will be mesmerized by this account and will come away with a clearer understanding of the numerous intricate details that are involved in successful diplomacy and how they affect historical events. Highly recommended.--Steve Dixon

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