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1.) The episode is based on the Summit Series, a 1972 match between the Soviet Union and Canada. At the time, the overwhelming majority of National Hockey League (NHL) players were Canadian, and Canada's team was loaded with all-stars who are in the Hall of Fame today (examples include household names such as Phil Esposito, Tony Esposito, Bobby Clarke, Ken Dryden, Stan Mikita and so on). At the time, only amateurs were allowed to play in the Olympics, and the state-sponsored Soviets were classified as amateurs (absurdly enough, since in reality they were anything but), so this series was to settle the question of what would happen if the best Canadian players could take a shot at the USSR's best. Canada, heavily favored, was blown out in the first game by a score of 7-3, quickly fell behind in the series 3 to 1 after five games (the third game was a tie), but won the last three games (by one goal each time) to pull out the series. Most Canadians view this as a major triumph, but many people outside of Canada believe it was a narrow and less-than-impressive escape from what would have been a humiliating defeat.
2.) Karen's referring to the table hockey game as a "vintage 1972 Jensen" was obviously a reference to the year the Summit Series took place.
3.) It should be noted that Brent represents Canada in this episode, whereas Karen plays the part of the Soviets. The winners and losers in each game reflect the way the Summit Series games actually took place.
4.) The math mistake by Davis was necessary to create an eight-game series so as to reflect the actual Summit Series.
5.) As a point of interest, Brent Butt was six years old when the Summit Series took place. Tara Spencer-Nairn hadn't been born yet (Gabrielle either, for that matter).
6.) The song you hear before the games in the episode is called "The Hockey Song," performed by Stompin' Tom Connors. The song first appeared in 1973 (again, the Summit Series was in 1972) but didn't become well known until at least twenty years later. At the risk of offending my Canadian readers, as much as I love hockey, this song is the second-most annoying song I can think of at this writing (the first being "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," an utterly dumbass song that nobody ever sings unless they're already AT the ballgame).
7.) Wanda's "She has a different style of game - very disciplined" was precisely the book (what you would have read on a scouting report) on the Soviet team before the Summit Series began. Brent's "I just dump it (the puck) into the corners" is probably a reference to Phil Esposito, whose considerable scoring touch was largely the result of standing in front of the net when a puck was dumped into a nearby corner, taking a beating, and finding a way to stuff it to the net. In Esposito's best season (1970-71), he scored a then-unheard of 76 goals (the previous record had been Bobby Hull's 58), a record that was not seriously threatened until Wayne Gretzky racked up 92 goals in the 1981-1982 season. From this point on in the episode, Davis basically takes on the role of the Soviet sports authority and Wanda takes the role of his Canadian counterpart.
8.) When Davis says "Brent came out strong, but faded in the end," this is an accurate reflection of the first Summit Series game. Canada scored thirty seconds into the game and was up 2-0 before seven minutes had elapsed, but was outscored 5-1 the rest of the way.
9.) Brent's win in the second game reflects Canada's only win in the first five games of the series.
10.) After the tie in the third game, Emma says "That would never happen in a real hockey series." For those familiar with the Summit Series (the third game was a tie), this is actually quite funny.
11.) Brent's impassioned speech at the end of his Game 4 loss is a very accurate reflection of the televised speech Phil Esposito made after the Canadian team was booed off the ice following a 5-3 loss in Vancouver. If you watch the speech in the episode, you can compare it to Esposito's and see that many of the same phrases were used, to include "disheartened," "disillusioned," "let's face facts," "150%," and the acknowledgement that Karen is a good player: " "To the people across Canada, we tried, we gave it our best, and to the people that boo us, geez, I'm really, all of us guys are really disheartened and we're disillusioned, and we're disappointed at some of the people. We cannot believe the bad press we've got, the booing we've gotten in our own buildings. If the Russians boo their players, the fans... Russians boo their players... Some of the Canadian fans�I'm not saying all of them, some of them booed us, then I'll come back and I'll apologize to each one of the Canadians, but I don't think they will. I'm really, really... I'm really disappointed. I am completely disappointed. I cannot believe it. Some of our guys are really, really down in the dumps, we know, we're trying, like, hell, I mean, we're doing the best we can, and they got a good team, and let's face facts. But it doesn't mean that we're not giving it our 150%, because we certainly are."
The speech is largely credit for lighting a fire under the team and the nation, despite the fact that Canada lost the next Summit Series game in the most disappointing way possible.
12.) I'm not sure if Brent Butt was aiming for this or not, but the look of disappointment on his face after his loss in the fifth game could be a reflection of how the actual Summit Series fifth game went: Canada was up 4-1 but lost 5-4.
13.) Before the sixth game started, Karen pointed out that one of Brent's players was on the ice. Brent says "Oh, that's Esposito. He fell down. That's embarrassing." Esposito really did take a fall onto the ice before the start of the game.
As a side note (an important one regarding note #15), this game was particularly noteworthy because during play Bobby Clarke deliberately slashed (thereby breaking) the ankle of Valeriy Kharlamov, the Soviets' best player. Russians to this day claim that Canada wouldn't have won without that sort of dirty play, and they might be right - although it should also be noted that it could have been an entirely different series if the NHL hadn't been stupid and vindictive enough to exclude Bobby Hull because of his decision to jump to the World Hockey Association.
14.) Before the final game, when Wanda points out that a tie in the game would mean a tie for the series as a whole, Davis said that he would claim victory for Karen because Karen scored more goals. This is, in fact, an accurate reflection of what happened before the final game of the Summit Series. The Soviets had outscored Canada 27-25 in the first seven games, and said they'd claim victory in the event of a tie because of this fact.
15.) Wanda's insistence that Brent slash Karen's shins is probably a reference to Bobby Clarke's slash on Valeriy Kharlamov.
16.) When Brent cries out "Henderson!", this is a reference to Paul Henderson, who scored the game-winning goal for Canada in the final game with only 34 seconds left (he also scored the game-winning goals in the sixth and seventh games). This goal, widely known as "the goal heard around the world," is to Canadians roughly equivalent to what Hank Aaron's 715th home run or the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team's win over the USSR were to Americans in the sense that everyone old enough to remember it knows exactly where they were when it happened or when they heard about it (I don't remember Aaron's homer, but I was in Lake Placid - the village, of course, not the actual lake - when our team beat the Soviets). As of this writing, the goal can be seen here.
17.) In the 1990 Super Series, the New York Islanders beat the Soviet Wings (in Russian, "Krylya Sovetov") 5-4. This has nothing at all to do with the episode, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to point this out.