The Goal of My Life (25 page)

I called him and told him, “Bradford, this following you around has gone on long enough. Now I’m following your having cancer!”

It was devastating news – don’t get me wrong. All I knew was that I had to deal with it. I believe there is a reason for everything that happens to you in your life, even when there is no understanding.

Having cancer has given me a new platform to speak to people from. Now I wasn’t just Paul Henderson, the guy who scored the Goal of the Century; I was Paul Henderson the hockey player who had cancer. In addition to wanting to talk
to me about the goal, they would now ask me, “How are you doing?” and that would give me an opportunity to speak to them about how my faith was helping me through this, backing up the beliefs I have had all along.

John had mentored me since 1976, and I had memorized so much scripture by this time that it really helped me deal with all this. The comforting words of the Bible rang so true to me during this time. And the Lord assures us that He will help us through everything.

Jesus is speaking to His best friends, His apostles, in John 16:33, when he says, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you
will
have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Note that it says you
will
have trouble – no maybes! There is no such thing as a trouble-free life, but we will find help and guidance from Him at all times.

At no time after getting the diagnosis was I fearful, or even suffering any angst. It amazes me even now that I have been so much at peace with all this. I don’t believe that God gave me cancer, but He knows I have it. And I wouldn’t have it if He didn’t think I could handle it.

I even came to be able to thank the Lord that I had cancer, as it gave me an intimacy with Him that wouldn’t have been possible without it. When you have no fear or angst, it really is amazing how well you can live each day.

Of course it is difficult. But I do what anyone should do, and that is ask the Lord for His help every morning and take one day at a time. You certainly learn to differentiate the trivial from the important very quickly when you have cancer.

I firmly believe that the Lord wants you to try to enjoy life every day. On this side of heaven there are no answers
as to why something like this happens to us. The Bible teaches us to walk by faith, not by sight, and we have to have trust in Him, not ourselves. I trust in the Lord.

This struggle has not been easy. Although the cancer is moving slowly, every day gets a little worse. The biggest challenge of the past two years has been in keeping weight on, the exact opposite problem a lot of people have, I know! But I’ve managed, even though I’ve lost some weight in the last two years.

We all need a reason to get up in the morning and to stay up. My reason is that I have dedicated my life 100 percent to the Lord since 1975 and that has motivated me ever since. I lived the first thirty-two years of my life without a spiritual dimension, so I have seen both sides of the equation. I now know to trust in Him and leave it to Him to decide how this plays out.

I still keep busy and I’m very active. I have no desire to ever retire from what I am doing. I’m always on the go, even since the diagnosis, and still do numerous speaking engagements. I have spoken hundreds of times about my beliefs all over the world. And I have been honoured to speak about my faith to whomever wishes to hear me.

I want to finish well. I want to finish my life well in every way. I still have goals, things to do, and I continue speaking about my faith when the opportunities come along.

I didn’t start off well, as I didn’t become a Christian until I was thirty-two. But for more than half my life now I have dedicated myself to the Lord, and whatever His plans for me are the rest of the way are okay by me.

Hey, look, this time we call life here on earth is not the game. This is just a blip for us really – we are built for
eternity. When you look at your life on earth in that context, you realize this is just a very brief period of time, no matter how long you may live. Everyone dies eventually; it is a part of our lives here on earth. So my viewpoint is: why should any of us fear the inevitable?

I don’t know how much longer I have, but I do know this about my life here on earth:

I want to finish well in every way … and I want to hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant” when I see Jesus.

W
E’VE HAD A CHANCE TO RELIVE SOME OF THE GREAT
memories of the 1972 Summit Series thanks to the Henderson Jersey Homecoming Tour, sponsored by SmartCentres. Our travels have taken us across this great country of ours, and it’s been a lot of fun.

The jersey I wore in Moscow was bought by Mitch Goldhar, the owner of SmartCentres, for $1.275 million. It was a tremendous gesture on his part; he wanted Canadians to be able to relive the experience of the series and he wanted to educate those people not alive in 1972 about it as well.

In the official release after he purchased the jersey through Classic Auctions, Goldhar was very flattering toward me and what the 1972 Canada–Russia series meant to all Canadians.

“I am pleased and proud to bring this important piece of Canadian history home,” he said. “As a lifelong hockey fan, I know what Paul Henderson’s winning goal against the Russians in 1972 meant to all Canadians.”

I was very pleased that the jersey was brought home to Canada. I had given the jersey to our Team Canada trainer, Joe Sgro, as a gift, and he eventually sold it to someone in the United States. The owner decided to put it up for auction through Classic Auctions, and Mitch Goldhar’s bid was the winning one. It was truly humbling to see the level of interest that auction generated – not to mention the incredible amount of money it fetched.

Recently, the
Guinness Book of World Records
declared that it was the highest amount ever paid for a hockey jersey, and it may be the highest amount ever paid for any sports jersey. And by Mitch Goldhar buying it, it gave us a chance to put together this Henderson Jersey Homecoming Tour.

I made it to a lot of the cities and towns across the country to meet people and hear their stories, and that has been a lot of fun. I dropped the puck at several
NHL
games and did numerous radio and television interviews to promote the tour. I have to say, it’s been really heartwarming. When you walk out onto the ice and get a standing ovation from the fans after all these years, it’s something pretty special. To be able to travel to all those cities and get that close to the game once again is tremendous. I’ve had a chance to talk with coaches and reminisce. In Ottawa, when I dropped the puck just before the start of the game, Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson came up to me and said it was a great pleasure to meet me, a very nice gesture on his part. How can you not feel good about that?

Eleanor travelled with me on some of these stops, and that makes everything extra-special, as we have been a team through all this – and she always asks me, “How does it
feel when you walk out on the ice and hear those cheers. Does it bring back the memories?”

It sure does. It’s very satisfying to be appreciated and remembered like that. And when you think that maybe 60 to 70 percent of people in the building weren’t even born when The Goal was scored, it makes you realize that hockey is in our
DNA
in this country. We love the game like no other country in the world.

I found that out once again when I helped write a book last year called
How Hockey Defines Canada
, and the title is very appropriate, I think. Hockey really does define our great country, and I see proof of that whenever I travel in Canada.

I have embraced this recognition. I have enjoyed it – I always have, but maybe we get even more nostalgic as we get older, so it means more. I have never shied away from the publicity that this goal has brought to me, and I still enjoy sharing the moment with people after all these years.

The Henderson Jersey Homecoming Tour was housed in a forty-eight-foot trailer with double wide-outs that we took around the country, making 104 stops from the time we opened up in Lucknow, my hometown, on my birthday – January 28, 2011 – to our last stop in Georgetown, Ontario, on February 18, 2012. At several stops along the way, other players associated with the series were also on hand, including guys like Yvan Cournoyer for the stops in Quebec, Ron Ellis, Dennis Hull, and even Vladislav Tretiak, who did his best to stop us from winning that series back in 1972.

We started the tour in my hometown of Lucknow and went to Kincardine and Goderich, my old stomping grounds, and then to every province in the country. The trailer was filled with rare Canadian hockey memorabilia and several
screens showing highlights from the series and interviews with the players; interactive games and activities; and, of course, the jersey I wore to score the Goal of the Century in Moscow. The fans came out in great numbers wherever we were, and there were always a lot of pictures taken and stories told. The trailer was usually open for five hours at each stop, and I would talk to the crowd and answer questions and then take hundreds of pictures with people and the sweater.

And before anyone asks, no, I do not get tired of hearing the stories of where people were when the goal was scored – even after forty years! And I get new stories all the time. I wonder sometimes how I could still hear one I haven’t heard before, but I do, from right across the country. Recently, I found out that several people were fired from their jobs for taking time off to watch the game in the middle of the day! I know the country was engulfed in hockey fever, but I guess there was the odd boss out there who just didn’t get it. But even though it cost them their jobs, the people who told me that story all don’t regret it for a single minute. Wow, now
THOSE
are hockey fans!

I met two women who told me they were university students in Windsor at the time, and they just decided they had to find a way to get to Russia to see the games there, even with the cost of going and missing classes. They told me they weren’t going to miss it, no matter what. “For some reason we just had to do this,” one told me.

It really was a special time, and a unique thing that we won’t see again in our lifetimes. It really was us versus them, our way of life versus theirs. Yes, there have been a lot of great moments in hockey in this country and a lot of
accomplishments, but it is called the Goal of the Century and we were the Team of the Century.

Sidney Crosby’s goal was huge for Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and Mario Lemieux’s goal at the Canada Cup in 1987 was beautiful to watch. I went nuts cheering for both of those goals and felt proud to be a Canadian when they both went in. But our 1972 Canada–Russia series was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime event that we’ll never see again, and I was fortunate to have played a part in it, as I have been riding that one goal for forty years!

With two grandchildren in Oakville playing minor hockey, Eleanor and I see more kids’ hockey than we do
NHL
games, for obvious reasons. I still enjoy getting down to the Air Canada Centre the odd time to see the Maple Leafs, and when I do watch, I have to say that the product put out by the National Hockey League today is, by and large, pretty good.

The game is so quick and fast now. The transition game most teams have is terrific – they get the puck out of their own end so fast and in a couple of seconds it’s up the ice, just like that. Like most fans, I don’t like teams that play the trap, but when the game is opened up, it really is great to watch. There is incredible parity in the
NHL
because of the salary cap, which is a good thing – there are always two or three or four teams trying to make the playoffs on the last night of the season, and that makes it very exciting for the fans. There are no dynasties anymore in the
NHL
, and so many teams have a shot at the Stanley Cup.

If you asked me to pick a Stanley Cup winner, I’d have to pick five or six teams – maybe more – before I felt
comfortable that I had the winner. In 2011, not many predicted the Boston Bruins would win the Stanley Cup, but the reality is, they did it. There is no prohibitive favourite anymore, and all in all, that is a good thing for the
NHL
. It gives hope to a lot of hockey fans that their team’s turn might come one day.

In my heart, I am still a Leafs fan. As somebody who lives in Mississauga, I’d like nothing more than to see the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup someday. Now wouldn’t that be something to see!

I like their team speed now. In the 2011–12 season, they had a competitive team, and most nights were really fast, which is why I enjoy going to the games these days. It looks like the team is enjoying playing and they have each other’s backs. I think the Leafs have a lot of character people and a lot of skill, but I just wish they could learn how to win more often, as once again they missed the playoffs.

I live in Canada and I’m an alumnus of the Maple Leafs organization, so I’m going to cheer them on. I do hope that one day they’ll come through for all their great fans across the country. I’d like nothing more.

As I said earlier, Maple Leaf Gardens is a very special place to me, and now it may be coming back into vogue again.

The Gardens has recently been redeveloped, with a Loblaws grocery store on the main floor and athletic facilities for Ryerson University, including a hockey arena, due to open in the fall of 2012. I think it’s fantastic, I really do.

The Gardens has a special place in my heart and I have great memories of it, stretching back to when I was a kid and went there for the first time. Of course, playing in the
building was special, but it was always a classy place to be, and as it would have been for so many other youngsters, my first trip there was very special.

We were living in Lucknow and I was twelve years old. We had a coach who knew Bobby Bauer, the former Boston Bruin, who had arranged for us to get tickets for a game in Toronto, between the Leafs and the Bruins. Well, six of us jammed into a car and off we went for the three-hour drive to Toronto. It’s quite a drive even today, and this was before Highway 401 opened, so it was a major trip for some kids and their coach, to be sure.