When the heroes of Team Canada ’72 make their triumphant return to Moscow, this time as honoured guests, they will do so with a Brock professor by their side.

Goodman School of Business Professor Barry Wright boarded a plane to Russia Tuesday, Sept. 12 alongside the hockey team that held the nation spellbound when it battled the elite Soviet squad for international bragging rights.

The team has been invited back to Moscow to help open a major exhibit at the Russian Museum of Hockey that delves into the legendary Canada-USSR Summit Series — considered the greatest hockey event of all time.

Brock has long had a connection with the iconic national team, as Team Canada ’72 alumnus Dennis Hull (BA ’81) is also a graduate of the University.

The Goodman School of Business, aided by Wright, has been working since 2013 on various projects that aim to protect the team’s heritage, sustain the legacy of the ’72 Summit Series and use that legacy as a way to give back to Canadians. As a result, Wright was extended an invitation to join this week’s historic trip.

“I am honoured to have been asked to travel with the team to Moscow,” Wright said. “I, like most Canadians of a certain age, was riveted by the eight games played between the two teams. Having the ability to assist them now as they work toward securing their legacy is a privilege.”

The main project the business school has helped to launch through the partnership is 28,800 Seconds: The Power of Teamwork. Through the initiative, the iconic hockey players speak in schools about how they turned to their own bonding as a team to overcome great adversity at a time when an entire country was expecting them to come home with nothing short of a victory.

The Canadian players will return to the spotlight this week while spending three days in Moscow celebrating with their former adversaries in a string of events and appearances that includes meeting Russian hockey fans in Moscow’s Park of Legends, and attending a home game of the iconic KHL club Moscow Dynamo.

Also expected to join them is Russian President and renowned hockey fan Vladimir Putin.

Both 1972 teams will attend the opening of the exhibition, World Hockey Classic: USSR-Canada, on Thursday, Sept. 14.