TORONTO and MOSCOW -- Evgeny Mishakov, a player on the Soviet Union team in the historic Summit Series against Canada, may get the medical help he needs, thanks to a generous orthopedic surgeon in Calgary and the event's 30th anniversary celebrations.

	Series stories
	•	Eric Duhatschek - Hockey won
	•	Sept. 20: Man who helped set up games is erased from tournament lore
	•	Sept. 19: Absence of Bobbys dogged Canada
	•	Sept. 18: Esposito's rallying cry
	•	Sept. 17: A time when some had to eat their words
	•	Sept. 16: Stars left to toast themselves
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	•	Sept. 23: David Shoalts - Soviets deserve Summit rewards, too
	•	Sept. 20: Clarke rejects 'phony' apology
	•	Sept. 19: Friction surfaces between linemates
	•	Sept. 17: Lawrence Martin - A bodycheck to communism
	•	Sept. 14: The Eagle is born again
	1972 game stories
	•	Game 1: Canadian team outplayed in every area, stunned coach admits
	•	Game 2: It's even: Canada beats Russia 4-1
	•	Game 3: Russians' play in 5-5 game shows hockey belongs to both countries
	•	Game 4: Russians win 5-3 in B.C., go home as favorites
	•	Game 5: Angry Canadians blame selves for 5-4 Moscow loss
	•	Game 6: Team Canada is confident it can win series
	•	Game 7: Canada ties series with 4-3 triumph
	•	Game 8: From Russia with Glory
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Mishakov, a left winger on the Soviet team, lives in Moscow on a tiny pension. He is barely able to walk because of swelling in both knees and is unable to afford an operation to repair the damage.

After he read of Mishakov's plight in The Globe and Mail last week, Lowell Van Zuiden of Calgary offered his services free.

Also see:
• David Shoalts - Soviets deserve Summit rewards, too (Sept. 23)

Van Zuiden is an orthopedic surgeon who worked with the Calgary Flames in the 1980s and early 1990s and once accompanied them on a tour of Russia. He said in an e-mail message to The Globe that from reading about Mishakov's badly swollen knees, he believes the former player may need both joints surgically replaced.

Mishakov, 61, may have "significant osteoarthritis" in both knees, according to Van Zuiden. He said the condition is "readily treated by total knee replacement."

If it is determined that this is what Mishakov needs, Van Zuiden said, he will perform the surgery as long as arrangements can be made to bring the player to Calgary and cover his other costs.

When told of the offer yesterday, Mishakov initially didn't seem to believe it. After being convinced, at length, that it was legitimate, he said he was deeply grateful.

"A huge thanks, only thanks," was his solemn reaction.

Van Zuiden's offer was brought to the attention of Ron Ellis, a member of the 1972 Canadian team's players committee, the group that administers the income from the team's various marketing ventures. He said he will talk to the committee about paying the costs.

Van Zuiden said he thinks the hospital stay and other medical costs would cost about $10,000. Air fare and accommodation would probably add at least another $5,000.

Ellis said it "sounds like something that is doable. I'll take it up with the committee and see if there's something we can do."

In a subsequent e-mail message on Saturday, Van Zuiden said he plans to speak to some people in Calgary who may also be willing to help cover the cost of bringing Mishakov to the city.

"The opportunity to help someone who provided all Canadians with such a thrilling series is the least we can do," Van Zuiden said.

Mishakov, already a big, thick man, has knees so swollen that, in shorts, they are often touching each other as he hobbles around on a cane in his tiny Moscow apartment. He said yesterday he has deformative arthrosis in both knee joints, and that he hasn't had an operation on them since just after the 1972 series ended.

He can't afford to pay for an operation because, like many of the former Soviet stars, he now lives on a tiny pension of about $3 a day. He has been effectively trapped in his apartment in recent months, after a car he had been given as a 60th birthday present by some of his former teammates was stolen.

Mishakov, a bit player in the series who gained notoriety when he became the first Soviet hockey player to get into a fight in an international game, was touched to hear some of the Canadian veterans of those games were among those trying to help him.

"I have only the best feelings about them," he said. "I've met them several times since, and we are friends. The battle was only on the ice. It is over." As happy as he was about the operation, Mishakov was almost as thrilled to hear that there had been an offer from the Moncton Via Rail reservation office to send him tapes of all eight games of the series. Like many of the veteran Soviet players, Mishakov has never seen the games because there are few tapes of them available in Russia.

The next step, aside from raising the funds, is determining the exact nature of Mishakov's knee problems and the proper treatment of them. Van Zuiden said he hopes arrangements can be made so that he can receive a set of X-rays of Mishakov's knees.