Gretzky defied KGB orders, snuck beer to Soviet players during Canada Cup
When Wayne Gretzky wasn’t making hockey history, he was sneaking beers to Soviet players behind the KGB’s back.
The Great One was on the most recent episode of the Spittin Chiclets podcast earlier this week, where he divulged plenty of stories from his time in the NHL. One of those stories involved hosting the 1987 Soviet Union hockey team for a BBQ ahead of the Canada Cup that year.
“I met [Igor] Larionov in 1984, snuck him out for dinner, and so I knew he spoke English,” Gretzky said. “So he said to me in [1987] during the warm-up tournament, exhibition games, he said, ‘Wayne, can we go have dinner?'”
Wayne Gretzky had the Russians to his house for a BBQ before the 1987 Canada Cup and was sneaking them beers behind the KGB’s back.
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Gretzky told the future Detroit Red Wings legend that his parents’ house was only 20 minutes away and that he could bring whoever he wanted for dinner. As it turned out, there was quite a guest list.
“The big five, [Alexei] Kasatonov, Larionov, [Vladimir] Krutov, [Sergei] Makarov…but [Soviet head coach Viktor] Tikhonov has to come and two KGB guys,” explained Gretzky. “I said no problem.”
The Soviet Union was notorious for the strict regiment they enforced on their players. One of those restrictions was that their players could not have any alcohol while playing in the tournament, but Gretzky found a way around that.
“My mom did a BBQ in the backyard, and my basement was downstairs, and I had this old friend, Charlie Henry. I said, ‘Charlie, you stand at the top of the stairs here, don’t let the KGB down,'” Gretzky said. “I took the guys down there, and I had beers down there for them… they were so happy and so thrilled and so, like, thankful.”
This story wasn’t known at the time, but Gretzky admitted that if it had got out, the bulk of the trouble would lie on the Soviet players for getting cozy with the opponent during such a tense global climate with the Cold War at its height.
“Back in those days, it was the Cold War,” said Gretzky. “Not for us, but for them, it would have been not cool.”
Canada would eventually play the Soviet Union in the finals, winning a best-of-three series by a 2-1 margin. Gretzky was lights out as usual, scoring 21 points during the tournament and being named MVP.
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