The Edmonton Mercurys
-- City of Edmonton Archives
Sunday, February 27, 1994
Mercurys were kings in 1952
By MICHELE MANDEL -- Toronto Sun
When Canada takes to Olympic ice this morning, to strive for gold, to
skate for glory, there is no group of fans who will be cheering more.
For they remember, these old men, the keepers of the golden flame. And
after 42 years, they are more than ready to pass the torch. At last.
They are all still around, still friends, the members of the 1952 Edmonton
Mercurys who went to Oslo and came home with the gold medal. Something taken
for granted at the time; but a feat no other Canadian team has been able to
repeat. Until, perhaps, today.
This morning, three of them will gather to watch the game at the Edmonton
Waterloo Mercury dealership, which owned and sponsored them all those years
ago. Defenceman Donald Gauf and goalkeepers Eric Paterson and Ralph Hansch
will be there to offer commentary for a local TV station, and to relive their
memories. And while they'll watch their place in the record books hang in the
balance, they will cheer.
``All kings fall, don't they,'' laughs Gauf across the phone line from
Edmonton. ``We've had a long, dry run, and I think all the boys feel the same
way, that it's time Canada picked up the gold medal again. And seeing as
they're playing in Norway again, just as we did, maybe the timing is right.''
Gauf will be remembering much this morning: His goal in the last game of
the Olympic series that allowed Canada to hang on to a 3-3 tie against a
determined American team. He was 25 then, newly married, playing for the great
sum of $90 a month.
But it was never about money, or fame. ``The Olympics are the ultimate,''
he says with a pride that still shines.``It is something you treasure
forever.''
Vividly, he recalls their seven straight victories that preceded that tie,
all played outdoors in the crisp, clear air of Norway, with no more than 100
Canadians in the stands to cheer them and a solitary Canadian reporter to
chronicle their accomplishment.
Even when they won the gold, the story was buried on the sports pages back
home. Canada was expected to win hockey gold. They returned, warning that the
competition was getting tougher, that gold could not be taken for granted
anymore. No one imagined how right they would be.
For the longest time, they were the forgotten men. There were no famous
names among them, none who went on to NHL stardom. It wasn't until the Calgary
Olympics neared in 1988 that the team was rediscovered and the players
honored. Gauf knew they had finally arrived when some thief thought his
Olympic Mercurys sweater was worth snatching from his car.
RECENT RESPECT
It is something they treasure, this recent respect. Last month, former
centre Billy Gibson was invited to carry the torch into an Olympic send-off
luncheon for Team Canada. ``They were asking me for my autograph,'' the
66-year-old says with wonder.
But they are not selfish, these hockey players of yesteryear. They have
their medal in glass cases at home; their scrapbooks grown yellow; their place
indelibly in history. Now they even have the recognition that was so long
overdue.
These greying men are eager to pass on the mantle to the eager young kids
of today.
``Records are made to be broken,'' Gibson says. ``They are such worthy,
worthy ambassadors of our country and that's the name of the game. Who better
to cough up the record than to such a fine bunch of young men like these.''
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
